So I stumbled upon This website. I have no issues with the site itself, just with the add in the upper right corner for a site called pageantphotoretouching.com.
Hey, the site may be great but that picture just looks…wrong. Wrong on so many levels, from the head being the wrong size to the over the top hair to just looking like something out of a bad '50s clip art illustration.
Of course, that could be a description of child beauty pageants in their entirety, i suppose.
On review I find the ad in that slot changes, so you might not see the pic I was looking at. If you do, you’ll know what I’m talking about. :smack:
It’s funny, that site - it’s like she read one tutorial on how to retouch “magazine style,” decided she was an expert, and put a webpage together.
What she’s doing is technically correct - putting the image on two layers, heavily blurring the top layer, unsharp masking the bottom layer, and then masking the detail areas to blend the two images. Adding layers of digital rouge and blurring them… etc…
Ordinarily, though - you would set the opacity of these layers much lower, so the effect would look more-or-less realistic – instead of making the kids look like they’re made of vinyl. Yecch.
What’s particularly creepy is that Alycia CAN do a more traditional airbrush cleanup shot, but is offering the doll-eyes look as an extra level of product - suggesting that pageant people and/or parents actually WANT that look. :eek:
As if pageant culture wasn’t creepy enough… shudder
There’s really something quite disturbing about the idea that someone would actually take the time to retouch a baby photo to “remove dark circles” and “remove drool”. Og forbid the baby actually look alive or anything - makes you wonder if these pageant moms ever evolved past the stage of playing with dollies.
