Why Photoshop® Perfect?

Taylor Gestes
Senior pictures photo shoot
November 3, 2010
Photograph by Tom Atwood

First of all, I'm not saying Taylor Gestes is perfect. But she doesn't need to be photoshopped. No one does at age 17. Or maybe at any age. Photoshop® is computer software that allows not only basic digital enhancements like additional saturation and contrast, but it also enables changes in skin tone, eye and hair color, even body parts. Look at Taylor. What would you change about this photo? In fact, after the shoot, I asked her if she wanted me to do "skin corrections," to remove moles (what used to be known as "beauty marks"). "No," Taylor said. "Then it wouldn't be me."

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Photoshop®. But it is not photography. It is one of many newly emerging digital art forms that creates something photography cannot. I'm not saying it's bad. It's just that I don't believe in it. Or at least, I'm an agnostic.

Shutter: 1/100; Aperture: f/2.2; ISO: 100; Focal length: 35 mm.