Photoshop Research Paper

Abigail Caulfield Caulfield 1
April 5,2014
English 9
Mr.Beskin

The Other Side of Photoshop

Part 1:
Everyday magazines, ads, television and all sorts of media produce images of impractical beauty. Photoshop has not only changed the face of society but altered how people view themselves. The reason that I decided to research photoshop is because I am interested on how much photoshop is done to a model and how the viewers and the models react to it. After researching articles and documents about photoshop I came to the question, does photoshop affect what people think of themselves? I thought of this question because it can relate to everybody, models, readers and even the people who use the photoshop. More
people should be aware of this topic because most people think the models actually look like that in real life.
According to Seventeen Magazine fifteen percent of 18 to 24­year­olds surveyed, were convinced that the images of models and celebrities in advertisements or any type of media accurately displays what these women look like in real life. People should know more about how photoshop can change a person and the impact it has on people because it can lower self­esteem and cause sorts of depression. Study and tests shown at the University of Michigan people feel worse about themselves when a product is being displayed and the model is photoshopped rather than a model on a cover being photoshopped. Before I started researching I didn’t know that much about photoshop or how often it was used.

Caulfield 2
When I started researching I realized it is a bigger topic than it seems and so many magazines have campaigns to limit it. I’m happy I chose photoshop because I am starting to realize it has big
effects.

Part 2:

Caulfield 3
Growing up in this modern world everyone looks flawless in the media, everyone

seems and looks perfect, it’s considered looking normal. Photoshop distorts peoples true beauty and leads us that it’s unrealistic and unachievable. Photoshop on advertising levels doesn’t filter or adjust the picture it changes it into something different and sometimes a completely different looking person. Society promotes a flawless image. From magazines to television ads we are constantly surrounded by unreal photographs.
The Uruguayan model
Luisel Ramos, 22 , was told that she could “make it big” if she lost a significant amount of weight. For three months she ate nothing but salads and diet coke in hopes of reaching a size zero. Minutes after stepping on the catwalk, she dropped dead from heart failure. Many magazine campaigns and laws are being made to prevent what happened in Uruguayan from happening again. Some of the top magazines are taking a stand against models who look to skinny or like they have an eating disorder. Vogue magazine one of the worlds top magazine in style said they were no longer photographing women who look like they have an eating disorder. In Israeli underweight models are banned from being in any type of advertisement and runways. From Usatoday.com psychologist Sharon Lamb says “ It use to be you would only see one or two skinny models, now we are bombarded with them and messages telling us to be like them” she also studied that only 18% of women can reject from changing how they feel about themselves. The American Medical Association even tried to take a stand against photoshop. They urged advertisers to
discourage

Caulfield 4 photoshop. AMA stated “ There is a correlation between negative body image, eating disorders and what makes the cover.” The AMA is against image manipulation and these unrealistic ideas magazines give us.
Dove campaigns are a big contribution to the “Say No to Photoshop.” Dove researched that only 2% of women describe themselves as beautiful, 63% agree society expects them to look like models and 68% agree the media is advertising an unrealistic standard of beauty. Dove also researched that seven million girls under twenty five suffer from eating disorders and more than half of them are trying to achieve something different from what they are. Since 2005 Dove has been using real women in their ads and advertisements.
In 2006 Spain banned thin models from all runways, Dove agreed with their law and made a video called “Evolution” showing the transformation process of a real women into a model.
Dove created a Self­Esteem Fund to educate, help and inspire women and girls on there own beauty. In 2007 Dove researched that 91% of women 50­60 believe society needs to change how they feel about women aging. Doves campaign celebrated the essence of women fifty and over. In 2011 Dove researched that only 11% of girls around the world say the word pretty when describing themselves. It’s not only Dove that agrees with Real Beauty
Campaigns, many other magazines and companies also agree too. Upworthy catalog is using plus size models and other real beauty models to spread a better content. Seventeen
Magazine agreed to never change a woman 's appearance in their magazine at all after a petition was sent to them from girls ages fifteen to seventeen stating how the would rather have a not photoshopped women on the cover instead. Photoshop discourages women, promotes the wrong image and shows an unrealistic view of women and what they want to become. Caulfield 5
Part 3:
I really enjoyed this assignment, it is one of my favorites we have done. I liked how we could choose what we wanted to research. From choosing what we wanted to research I got to pick a topic and understand more about. I also liked how organized this paper was. We received many sheets that kept everything together and in place. This paper was really long and had many steps but it helped that we were able to research during class in computer labs. I wish there wasn’t a huge word count. I felt that I had to add so much additionally information that didn 't flow with my essay. I think it would be easier if there was a smaller one. Overall though I agreed with what we had to complete and what the assignment was. If I could change or improve something about this paper it would be my research process. I felt that I was just writing what I saw and not quoting and citing enough things to put in my essay. I would also improve writing things down and not just highlighting them or printing them out because I find it easier that way. What I thought I did good was keeping organized, I followed the organizing sheets to have my information in front of me and to keep me researching. I learned many things from this paper. I learned how photoshop has a bigger affect on society from what people would think. It sounds like a small topic when thinking about it but after researching I realized it’s more than that and that rules and laws have been made on it. Im happy I chose photoshop as my topic because I know more about it and how somethings or most images you see might be photoshopped.

Part 4:

Caulfield 6

Works Cited
Botelho, Greg, and Melissa Abbey. "Seventeen Magazine Vows Not to Alter Images, to

‘celebrate Every Kind of Beauty '" CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Campbell, Steve. "10 Ways How Photoshop Changed The History Of Photography." MakeUseOf. MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved, 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Lago, Alexa. "Negative Impacts of Photoshop." The Buchtelite RSS. The Buchtelite, 13
Oct.
2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Swinson, Jo. "False Beauty in Advertising and the Pressure to Look 'good '" CNN. Cable
News

Network, 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Wilson, Eric. "Smile and Say 'No Photoshop '" The New York Times. The New York 27 May 2009. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

Times,