The Non Beauty in Beauty Photography

The amount of post production in fashion photography kind of takes the "beauty" out of creating images with a lens and film/sensor. Fortunately for some, tools like Photoshop and techniques like this (photoshop tutorial on achieving smooth skin) help sell products and make it possible to save money on the costs of making the images used for advertisement campaigns.

Unfortunately for others, especially impressionable young women, the editing and post production sell the idea that we are not beautiful enough, and that we must live up to some unachievable standard.

This isn't to say that I'm not a fan of fashion photography, beauty photography and other forms of photographic expression (even the use of post production techniques). However, it is my feeling that the industry should play a bigger part in making sure that impressionable young women are aware of these techniques so that they stop doing stuff like this.

Though it doesn't solve the "runway model" problem, where models appear in uneditable forms (i.e. live action), fashion photographers have a great new way to take an already good looking model and make him/her look that much better. I'm all for post production in fashion photography because it has this amazing ability to sell products and keep models alive while doing it, but I'd really like to see more ad campaigns and fashion photography that promotes the natural beauty of people.