50 Times Photoshop Users Didn’t Know When To Stop, So They Didn’t

Every now and then, someone is exposed in an embarrassing case of Photoshopgate. You know, the person who thought they could sneakily edit a photo without anyone else noticing. But netizens are sharp. And they're not afraid to call out any of the Kardashians, royal princesses, or even presidents for trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Photoshop is a super useful tool when used professionally or for fun, without malicious intent. Sometimes, it's glaringly obvious that an image has been tampered with. Like the hilarious ones on this list... But other times, it takes a keen eye to notice a discrepancy that reveals a little magic wand might have been at work.

"It’s okay when you’re creating something or removing distracting elements from a photo. I’d say that photoshop is not okay if you’re deliberately trying to misrepresent someone or something," professional photographer Alessio La Ruffa told Bored Panda during an interview. "Estate agents can’t remove undesirable parts of a property, and you the rule of thumb in beauty retouching is not to remove a spot or blemish that will still be there in two weeks. In other words, if it’s permanent, it stays."

We asked La Ruffa how we can achieve some of the edits featured on this list.... "To change heads, you’d have to cut out the head you want to use and paste it on the body you want to use it on. From there, you should try mimic the light and colours so that it looks more natural," he replied. "The same would go for putting someone in a new location. Be sure to add realistic shadows so that it doesn’t look like they’re floating!"

The expert added that we should always start with a good concept. "It should make someone laugh just by looking at it and not having to explain it," said La Ruffa. "Exaggerating proportions is a quick way to make a photo hilarious."

But if you feel a bit intimidated, La Ruffa says there is other software to help you out. "Photoshop is pretty much the industry standard for image editing. They make apps for PC, Mac, mobile phones and tablets," he told us. "There are some alternatives like Affinity Photo, Pixelmator Pro and Gimp."

When we asked La Ruffa to give us an example of a photoshopped image that stands out for him, he pointed us in the directions of a guy called James Fridman, or @fjamie013. He does hilarious edits at people’s requests, the photgrapher told us. And we were already giggling because Bored Panda has featured Fridman a few times before. "He takes his requests literally and edits them accordingly," said La Ruffa. "He’s amassed over 2 million followers on Instagram."

One woman is on a mission to educate the public on how to spot a photoshopped image. In particular, one where a celebrity has been made to look different. Caroline Ross is an experienced commercial photographer and photo retoucher based in Vancouver, Canada. She's gone viral on TikTok for outing celebs or publications that are trying to trick us into believing something that's not real.

“Nearly every published image of celebrities is retouched," revealed the expert. "It’s more prevalent on photos of women over 50. Women in media aren’t allowed to age."

Ross says that retouchers and celebrities know that we are onto them, so they will often try to hide all signs of Photoshop. "For example, a 60-year-old-plus woman may still have a few wrinkles in the published image, as removing all of them would look too fake," explains the expert. "This often tricks viewers into thinking that the image is real, as there are wrinkles in the image.”

While celebrity photoshopping is widespread, some of our faves tend to do it a lot more than others. "The Kardashians are some of the worst culprits for Photoshop," said Ross. But many of us already suspected that. And if you needed further evidence, go ahead and browse through a few of Bored Panda's stories on the topic. Kim came under fire just a few weeks ago. As did Khloe. And while Kris Jenner goes viral for her new plastic surgery, she too has made plenty of headlines when it comes to Photoshop fails.

So how do you know when a celebrity has gone under the Photoshop knife? Sometimes it's obvious, says Ross. "A telltale sign is when frequency separation is evident in the texture of the skin. When done poorly, we can see areas of smoothness beside textured areas or the same spot cloned multiple times," explains the expert.

"Other signs of Photoshop on the body include when the areas closest to the model's waist are curved or warped, such as arms," adds Ross. "Often, our elbows sit near our waist, and this area can appear large because the waist has been pulled in."

La Ruffa agrees. "Inconsistent lighting and shadows are what come to mind first. The lighting should come from the same angle across all people and objects," he told us. "When it comes to fashion and beauty shoots, look out for warped body parts, or the background immediately surrounding the person looking a bit squashed or stretched. Plastic skin with no pores is quite common on poorly photoshopped beauty photos."

Ross believes there should be more transparency when it comes to celebrities being photoshopped. “When celebrities photoshop their images and post them on social media, their main audience is fans, millions of fans, people who don’t see this celebrity in real life,” she says. “This is an issue when all images from a celebrity are retouched and this unrealistic beauty standard is now being presented as reality.”

But thankfully, there are many celebrities who agree with her. Some have gone as far as to boycott publications that insist on photoshopping their images. Or calling out media outlets for making them look completely different.

One of them is "The Good Place" star, Jameela Jamil. Commenting on an Instagram post featuring a photograph of her, she wrote, "I don't look like this. They airbrushed me to death."

"It made me so mentally unwell trying to live up to this image in person," Jamil captioned the post. The actress claimed her arms were digitally slimmed down, her skin was lightened, and her knees, ankles, and breasts were all airbrushed in the picture.

When Zendaya was just 19, she called out a magazine for heavily retouching an image of her. "The actress posted a before-and-after comparison of the photo on Instagram and thanked Modeliste Magazine for taking down the retouched version," reported Business Insider.

Zendaya said her hips and torso had been "quite manipulated" and slimmed down, leaving her "shocked" when she saw the cover photo. "These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have."

"Anyone who knows who I am knows I stand for honest and pure self love," added the acress.

Transparency is a hill Ross is willing to die on... "I love Photoshop and use it frequently," she says. "But I think when body modifications have been done on images used for advertisements and commercial purposes, like social media influencers and ads, there should be a disclaimer at the bottom of the photo stating that the body has been modified."