Photoshop

I got this from a link at AppleGeeks, and it was pretty incredible.

http://www.iwanexstudio.com/

Go to the "Portfolio" section and start clicking the thumbnails... rollover the resulting image for the original...

Some observations:

• As a colorist, I can't help but notice that they're adding a lot of yellow to everyone's faces. It's always the Magic Hour for stars...


• One of my favorites is the guy in the bottom middle. His picture is of a teen heart-throb... while the original is a former teen heart-throb with a seven year-old kid. They shaved several years off of him. But as they say, it's not the years, it's the mileage...


• Also looking through my professional eyes, they're using the oldest trick in the book to sell these retouches: blow out the image. Just like cinematographers used to overexpose women, and defocus them, to hide wrinkles and blemishes, all of these photos get severely brightened. They're smoothing out in Photoshop, too, and cleaning up the skin, but this is helping them make it seem more "real."


• She actually looks normal, but because of the touchup, now the girl on the bottom-right corner looks like she's had a stroke in the original.


• Top row, second from the right: this time, it's the mileage they pulled off.


• Eva Longoria's (bottom row, 5 from the middle) pic is pretty drastic. Look at the folds of the sheet... you can see artifacts of the original when you A/B the images. Also, they cleaned up a stray crease on the pillow. Leave no stone unturned...


• After looking at all of these, I can say with assurance: my skin isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was.