With Photoshop, and CGI, none of what you see is real anymore. I explain why.

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Music and links from this episode

Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie

Nothing Like Captain Crunch by Broke For Free

The Wrong Way by Jazzer

Line-by-line notes

I recently watched a YouTube video about David Fincher

If you dont know him, he's a film director 

He's a pretty big deal 

He's directed things like Seven, Fight Club, The Social Network, and he was very influential in the making of Netflixs House of Cards

As I said, he's a big deal

The video I watched was about Fincher use of CGI in films for things that seemed, well, pointless

He'd use CGI for putting stuff on Cork boards in detective's rooms

And CGI for most of the blood spatters

He does it so he has absolute control over how the blood spatter looks

He doesn't have to rely on anything as boring as gravity and physics to ruin his shot

It got me thinking of the comparison in design

Or at least, Photoshopping things

And how nearly any photo you see these days

Just isn't real

This is AADA, and I'm Craig Burgess 

MUSIC

Let me ask you a question 

When you see a photo in a magazine or on a billboard, do you think it's real? 

It's a question you probably haven't considered much

What is real anyway? 

You'll see it, and see its a real human, so yeah, you probably think it's real

Or it's a real country side, so yeah, it's real

After all, why would anybody bother to fake it rather than just take a photo? 

It's sound logic

Surely it's easier to send a photographer to a location and take the photo? 

Because I'm a designer, I see these things differently. 

I know how hard it can be to get a perfect photo

I know how much some photos are altered, and sometimes completely changed

It isn't often you see a side by side comparison 

Between an original photo and the retouched one

Just like David Fincher using CGI for surprisingly small things, you'd be surprised how often photos are retouched or photoshopped as most people say

I've seen everything from composite photos made

Which is where an entirely new image is made from several other images

This is usually done for things like movie posters and car advertisements 

And everything down to using it for things swapping out skies

Or making the sun brighter, or darker 

Photoshop is a stupidly powerful tool

And it isn't always used for innocent purposee

I can't do an episode about photoshop without talking about models

Most models are photoshopped in every photo

Everything from simple things like removing pores from skin so skin looks smoother, to brightening eyes, removing wrinkles, 

And the most despicable of all

Changing a models shape

Making a model thinner

Taller

More muscly or more curvy, depending on the model and the purpose needed

These photos aren't anything like just taking a photo

These kind of photo shoots with models and I say that with lots of inverted commas

Are a two part process

Photos are taken with the model looking their best

The after that, the photos are given to photo retouchers to make them look extra specisl

Or to make the model look like they always do in magazines or movies

Photoshop has become such a powerful tool at retouching photos

Just as CGI is in movies now

That you just can't trust a single thing you see anymore 

And I'm saying that from somebody in the know. 

MUSIC

This was AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess

Music featured in this episode was:

Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie

Nothing Like Captain Crunch by Broke For Free

The Wrong Way by Jazzer

For a line by line rundown go over to https://www.askadesigneranything.com/ep147

Find me on Twitter at @craigburgess

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