A Look at Image Editing

I ran across this well written article today and thought I would share. 

Retouching... Much Ado About Nothing

The article isn't super recent, but it talks about an issue of Marie Claire magazine that advertised that the whole issue was done without using retouching. Obviously this excluded advertisements (which make up most of the content of fashion and beauty magazines). The author of the article talks about how the images employ tricks used at the time the photograph was taken, well chosen lenses, filters and posing tricks.  And yet the images lack punch. The author calls them banal and says she wouldn't buy a magazine with such images.

Image editing isn't new. This image was included in the article. It is a 1930's portrait of  the actress Joan Crawford taken by George Hurrell:

Source: http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/2010/04/04/retouching-much-ado-about-nothing/

The medium and techniques were different, but editing images has always been around. I believe it began with the idealized and stylized images painted by the famous painters of the past before photography was even invented. It is here to stay as well. Adobe Photoshop is our current tool, but who is to say that will always be the case?