Photo edits - more fake in a fake world?

I have done some manips for a friend of her doll, and i heavily edited the photographs, because these dolls are expensive and delicate, sometimes it is easier to add in an effect later then it is to work out how to create that effect in real life without damaging the doll.

However if the photo is for sale purposes I think it shouldn't be edited as that could be misleading.

 

I think there are definitely different levels of things. I have been using photoshop for close to 7-8 years now and there are definitely the minor adjustments and the major alterations.

A minor adjustment is smoothing things out, like frizzy hair, its not necessarily about someone being beautiful enough its about removing those annoying hairs flying everywhere that are ruining your shot. I do a lot of color enhancement and adjustment, mostly because when you take a picture its not necessarily how it looks in real life. Too much flash will wash something out, give it red eye. Flourescent lights make things yellow and orange. Unless someone is willing to go full scale photographer and buy all the lenses, filters, flashes and take lessons perfection is not going to happen in the camera (even prof edit afterwards).

There are also minor adjustments to enhance, like adding a glow or lightening a dark picture. Adding extra color to eyes and lips to give it that pop. I also have no issue with this especially not with non living things or pets because objects and pets dont over analyze and strive for perfection. Things like gradients can give it an extra touch going with theme. Like a sepia overlay in a western shot.

Major edits is where the line blurs for me. If you want a glamor shot of yourself all photoshopped up then fine, I have no issue with it. If you want to alter a picture of a woman until it almost doesnt look like the same person to use in a make up campaign, then things start to turn to the almost scamming level for me. Its like saying "buy this powder and you will have perfect skin like this girl" when its really "Buy photoshop and photoshop every picture you take and you will have perfect skin like this girl".

I do major edits, mostly involving hair but a lot of it is what I call balancing. Like if the hair is too big on the left side and unbalancing things I will compress or flip it. This is something the person can do themselves and achieve and doesnt make them ugly by any means, its just perfecting a picture. I also add extra volume etc. With dolls I dont really mind if you change the whole picture, as dolls are drafted by our desires in the first place so photoshoping them to our perfection isnt much different. I do faux hair on horse pictures to add fullness or give hair to horses who dont have any.

With blemishes or acne I also dont see issues with covering it. Acne doesnt last forever and blemishes we cover with make up in real life, this is just someone doing it on a computer. For the most part I am fine with altering things as long as you arent using them to misrepresent something.

The only time I have done major altering edits on someones face was altering a human face into an elf face and I also did one where I removed a lot of make up, or made someone more child like. I think there are lots of amazing alterations you can do without crossing any moral lines.

 

From a photography standpoint there is nothing wrong with editing your own photos. If you took them you have every right to mess with them... you can even mess with the saturation and turn the rainbow colored. It's art.

But if you're trying to give an accurate depiction because you're selling a doll... you need to remain faithful to how they truly look or else your buyer may get angry that it's "not as shown." That's the only reason I can think of to not overly edit.

But I do edit even natural pictures because... something is fuzzy or ill lit or not the correct color or it needs to be cropped. Editing can fix those problems. I was listening in on a digital photography class and that's pretty much why they digitally edit. But then they can move past that and mess with different things like saturation or temperature or different filters. If it's art they can mess with it until they like what they have.

 

I make my living as a canvas painter. Sometimes the photos of my paintings are so off from the "real" color of my paintings that I need the photographer to use digital software to correct the color errors. I haven't read everyones replies but I am assuming that I am adding to the list of people who have made the point that cameras don't necessarily take the most realistic photos! So editing may make a photo look more real then it would have without the editing.

 

Hmmm... i can see what you're getting at. I agree that it's wrong to edit a photo if you're selling a doll and you make it look absolutely perfect. When I look at shops I want to see what I'm buying, but I think adding sparkles or a flower border or text is just fine. As long as they have one photo or enough space in a photo that's real so you know just what you're getting.

 

I already posted in this thread, but I thought it was kind of funny that it came up to the top the same day I took a group photo of my crew. Two of whom don't have bodies.

I still feel the same. If you're selling, keep things as real as possible (and that includes color-correcting if the lighting is showing your doll unrealistically). For "show" photos, though, have fun! They're art.

No matter how carefully I check over the doll before photographing him/her, I still find a stray piece of lint on the face, or a stray hair in the wrong spot, or something in the background that shouldn't be there in most photos. I'm so grateful for Photoshop. Somehow Crow managed to have red-eye in that group photo. No idea how that happened, but I fixed it on him same as I would on a human.

 

This is why when I buy a doll I try to find pictures of no face ups first, then spend days looking at multiple photos of the doll. To see its natural beauty and potential.

This is what everyone should do. Like the saying "don't judge a book by its cover"

I edit my pictures a lot. getting rid of a piece of lint or cat hair, unwanted stray hairs, making a yellowed doll matched with its un yellowed hands even editing out joints!

Now if your selling the doll you should take unedited photos and note that s/he is yellowed, crack, dent, uneven eyes.

Editing is completely natural. It brings out a lot of potential of the doll.

 

I think I wiil try to find other's doll and then decide to buy!
because some official picture is really cheating!!

 

I can’t see any problem with picture editing with photo stories. However the use of them to adversities dolls for sale seems a good reason for caution when buying dolls from the internet.

 

That's weird... red eyes is a reflection of the blood vessels in your eyes, right? So how..

Anyway, on topic now!

I think that pictures for selling items should never be edited. Well, they should be 'fixed'. By fixed I mean the white balance and cropping should be corrected and things like that. But only because adjusting the white balance or exposure helps show the true color of the item for sale and cropping out distracting elements in the background puts the focus on your item. But overall color changing, distracting filters, effects, or hiding flaws like scratches is a major no-no.

As for personal dolly pictures... I see no problem with photoshop. For some people it's the only way to achieve certain effects or styles.

Now ethically... if it were a person there are things I would do and things I wouldn't do.

Would Do:
-Smooth the skin
-Brighten the eyes
-Edit out stray hairs

Wouldn't Do (though I can):
-Change facial features
-Change colors of skin, eyes, or lips
-Add digital 'make-up'.
-Change body size or shape.

But since we're talking about DOLLS, not people... I see no problem with any of it. The reason why I'd do or not do certain things to certain pictures of people would be Self Esteem. I would want to enhance what they did have rather than creating falsities. That way, they can look at the picture and think 'I have pretty eyes' not 'that photographer GAVE me pretty eyes'. I once cringed when I read an article about a wedding photographer who was told by the bride that she wanted to look thinner... and he did it. NO! That's just feeding the customer's insecurity.

This does not matter with a doll. It's a doll. It doesn't have self-esteem issues. It doesn't take psychological damage because it want to be thinner or wants a smaller nose. It's a doll. If I edit my doll, it won't long to be that 'pretty' image that doesn't exist.

So the difference with editing a human's pictures and a dolls, morally, is that the doll isn't going to be damaging itself trying to reach an ideal that doesn't exist.

But if you're drastically editing the shape of your dollies molds in many pictures... then maybe they need different molds. ^_^()

 

I don't edit my photo's because to be honest I don't think my Reiko needs it as she's lovely without highlighting anything.
But, then if you want to then go for it!
Nothing wrong with it if you ask me~
:]

 

I think it's fine to edit them if you are doing an artistic shot and you want something to look a certain way. However, if the photos are going to be used to sell the doll or something like that, then it's definitely wrong. False advertising, you know? It should at least be noted in that case that the photo has been altered, and where and how it has been altered, so that people have some idea of what they are getting. Personally, the only thing I've ever altered in a photo is the background, because I take most of my pics in my house, and the walls are ugly :P

 

The difference between dolls and women in magazines is that most owners aren't trying to sell something. They're not the media elite trying to spin an image of how real life people are supposed to look. These are dolls, they are not human, they don't get the same rules applied to them in most cases.

The only time this is wrong is when you're selling something and don't want to admit how damaged it is.

I edit my dolls' photos because I stink at photography in general and my camera is only a point and shoot type, it's not going to take amazing photos on its own

 

For you own artistic use you can Photoshop your doll all you want. That is the right of the artist just like painting or tracing over your photos. Even photographers who use a black room have tools for burning etc...so that they can lighten and darken areas of their photos.

If it is for resale you should avoid any Photoshop except maybe a level adjustment if your photo is too dark. Just take your doll outside and sit them in the shade on a sunny day and you will provide the most accurate photos to a potential buyer. That way everyone can see what they are paying for.

 

I can admit I've edited photos before -pokes icon- but only for the sake of balancing the photo out. In my icon, the original picture didn't have all four corners be shadowed, and -sadly- my doll has a scrape on his nose that I blended. I was simply doing him the favor of taking a picture that flattered him as a doll.

I see nothing wrong with altering photos, so long as you aren't, say, completely removing a gouge in a doll you're trying to sell @_@

 

I usually edit because my camera is shit and my photoshop skills are not I clean up colors/ clarity in software, give it a finished look.

 

Generally I edit out things like doll stands, clear rubber bands that help hold hands in place, and stuff like that. The one real big edit I did was when I posed Nagi 'holding up' the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I had a student help by holding the doll then photoshopped her out. I may play with filters and layering and blending options for artistic effect, but I don't try to make the dolls more beautiful.

 

I have pretty bad camera, and I don't think it's bad to edit the colors on image to make it look a little better, or to use photoshop to add some (or many) effects to the picture.

 

All the meets I've been too took place in cafes with horribly yellow lighting. Color editing and correction really is a must. And I'm glad to at least be able to Photoshop the yellow-ness out of the photos.

 

I don't edit, I don't know how to work photoshop XD it can certainly help a picture to look better, but if a picture isn't good to start with it will not become a better photo no matter how much you edit. I will use every preset on my compact-cam to get the image I want, but that's it, I don't remove anything or make the doll look better, after all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder XD