Yesterday, I went into my older daughter’s fourth grade class to teach how most images that kids see online and on the cover of magazines are not real – they’re manipulated.
The class was studying body image, and how comparing themselves to images of supermodels could make them feel upset, because they cannot possibly ever achieve perfect skin, teeth and eyes.
Instead, I turned their teacher (and principal, too) into supermodels, using a live photo demonstration.
I walked them through how real people look (the before images), and what we can do with Photoshop and other tools (the after images).
I set up a black background and used an Einstein 640 studio light umbrella to capture these images. The camera (Canon 5D Mark III, with a 50 mm f/1.4 lens) was tethered to my laptop, so as soon as I snapped a photo, it showed up on the projector in front of the whole class. I then showed the class how easy it was to soften skin tones, whiten teeth, brighten and sharpen eyes, and even lengthen necks. Or change eye color, make their nose smaller, or even smooth out their hair. All in less than four minutes per photo.
Here’s the before and after images.
Before – straight out of the camera.
After – quite a bit of post-processing and photoshopping.
Enjoy and share! Thanks much for my teacher volunteers….
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