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I stood up for Madonna in class today


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I'm studying television production and media theory criticism in school, and in one of my classes today we had a guest speaker from (Adobe) Photoshop give a presentation. He was a really cool guy who had graduated from my school X years ago, but when he went to show the class examples of celebrity Photoshop, he used this "infamous" concoction (oddly enough, I had a strong feeling this was going to show up):

MADONNA-PHOTOSHOP3.jpg

Of course the moment it was shown, the class started to snicker and make some ignorant ageist remarks. I raised my hand and rebutted that I had a huge problem with the example, only because - as a big Madonna fan - the "before" picture is clearly Photoshopped, too. Any diehard M fan knows that the woman rarely goes in sunlight, so how could she have aging sun spots all over shoulders? Plus the fact that the pictures from this photo shoot were never actually used or officially released proves that anyone could have altered their appearances. I closed my argument by stating how I had seen her front row at her last concert, with no clothes on or any Photoshop in sight, and the bitch is FLAWLESS!!

Needless to say, the entire class erupted in applause and happily gave it up to the Queen! Immediately after, some people started to say really cool things about her, like how she goes out in public almost daily with little-to-no make up, or the fact that she still looks so hot at her age. It's amazing how people think as sheep when others make valid arguments.... Long live the Queen!

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It's horribly airbrushed either way. It's like Russian airbrushing. Leave it to the professionals.

And if he's from adobe, shouldn't he be airbrushing them himself?

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I'm studying television production and media theory criticism in school, and in one of my classes today we had a guest speaker from (Adobe) Photoshop give a presentation. He was a really cool guy who had graduated from my school X years ago, but when he went to show the class examples of celebrity Photoshop, he used this "infamous" concoction (oddly enough, I had a strong feeling this was going to show up):

MADONNA-PHOTOSHOP3.jpg

Of course the moment it was shown, the class started to snicker and make some ignorant ageist remarks. I raised my hand and rebutted that I had a huge problem with the example, only because - as a big Madonna fan - the "before" picture is clearly Photoshopped, too. Any diehard M fan knows that the woman rarely goes in sunlight, so how could she have aging sun spots all over shoulders? Plus the fact that the pictures from this photo shoot were never actually used or officially released proves that anyone could have altered their appearances. I closed my argument by stating how I had seen her front row at her last concert, with no clothes on or any Photoshop in sight, and the bitch is FLAWLESS!!

Needless to say, the entire class erupted in applause and happily gave it up to the Queen! Immediately after, some people started to say really cool things about her, like how she goes out in public almost daily with little-to-no make up, or the fact that she still looks so hot at her age. It's amazing how people think as sheep when others make valid arguments.... Long live the Queen!

Good for you Kydonna! The Queen would be so proud :queenbitch:

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Even if the first one is photoshopped she simply looks like she needs a good nap.

The one that she is supposed to be photoshopped in she looks like a cartoonish fool.

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Well done Kydonna. Some people do act like sheep regarding Madonna and other celebrities as well because they just go along with the garbage that they read and hear from the media. It is similar when they try and say that Madonna is not talented etc then you mention several of their songs and they inform you that they "love her music so much" and also quote other songs of hers back to you as examples.

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aw :)

the photoshop in the after (AND before) is horrible anyway though. it's disappointing they expect and are totally fine with ageist comments and choose for "the older woman" as the "photoshop" example..

on a psychological now, the "sheep" mentality is quite interesting!

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Awesome!!! I always defend Madonna as well. I shower people with facts and numbers until they conform to giving respect to the Queen!

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Why would someone professional use a fake as an example of a before? Isn't that highly unprofessional conduct for lack of a better word?

I hope u made him look like a fool!

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I took a closer look to the "before" photo, as I have the HQ version (I think it leaked some years ago) : I don't see any aging spots on her shoulders neither on the original photo I have, nor on the smaller version posted here.

And I don't think the "before" photo - as presented here - has been airbrushed at all : it's typical of Klein's 2008 work. Little-to-no makeup and lighting work, as it was all up to Giovanni Bianco in post-production.

That said, using that specific photo to highlight Photoshop's possibilities is irrelevant : as said above, this whole session remains unused and has seen the light of day because of the whole HQ photos/outtakes market; the retouching shown above could have been done by anybody, and it's overdone on purpose - so you were absolutely right to say so in class. ;)

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Funny how your guess speaker didn't introduce anything from Beyonce or Britney Spears or pretty much any other female celebrity out there.

It's funny how people jump on the assumption that because Madonna is in her mid 50's she has to look old or something. They quickly print pictures of Madonna where she doesn't look good and who can forget how the media went all out against "those hands"? They are pathetic!

Beyonce bans anybody from showing bad pictures of hers but the media's got no problem with it and all hail queen bey... such hypocritical bunch!!

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Why would someone professional use a fake as an example of a before? Isn't that highly unprofessional conduct for lack of a better word?

I hope u made him look like a fool!

After I made my point, he "claimed" he used the M pictures as an example of someone criticizing the use of Photoshop. That it was "so obvious" the before image was altered...but his tune was a little different moments before my tirade :chuckle:

Funny how your guess speaker didn't introduce anything from Beyonce or Britney Spears or pretty much any other female celebrity out there.

It's funny how people jump on the assumption that because Madonna is in her mid 50's she has to look old or something. They quickly print pictures of Madonna where she doesn't look good and who can forget how the media went all out against "those hands"? They are pathetic!

Beyonce bans anybody from showing bad pictures of hers but the media's got no problem with it and all hail queen bey... such hypocritical bunch!!

He showed an example of Britney for her god-awful Candies campaign, where (yet again) the before image was just as 'shopped as the after. Truth be told, I think this whole phenomenon has to do with the industry and not the celebrities/models (obviously). But strange how people are so quick to jump in and pick one side over the other, when in fact every part of the process should be analyzed.

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Retouching photos has always existed actually - remember when Madonna was so pissed at Glamour after they retouched her tooth gap in 1990 ?

But it sure is very heavy these days.

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^ You're absolutely right, it dates all the way back to the 1800s. But that's not to say there isn't something completely ethically wrong with turning a person into a cartoon caricature with a little editing "magic"

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The before photo also has a completely fake scar on her exposed shoulder which we all know she does not have but some fucker put in to make her look bad.

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Here are some crops from the original unaltered photo :

140425070716727796.jpg

It's not a fake scar, it's actually a mark caused by the bra she's wearing - there are tons of photos where she has some marks because of the fabric she's wearing (I'm thinking of one of the M&M 2010 photos where even the retouched version shows these marks)

A closer look (photo is real-size here) :

140425070723245024.jpg

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