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It’s common sense that anyone would want to put their best foot forward on social media. After all, it’s pretty human to want to leave a good impression. However, some folks also don’t want to put in the work it takes to have whatever passes for a “perfect” body these days, so, instead, they resort to some less-than-plausible photo manipulation.
So take a stroll through the land of make-believe to see just what sort of edits netizens have tried to pass off as real images. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
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#1
I Hit The Gym And That Happened
Ace 6 months ago (edited)
I genuinely don't know which of these is supposed to be the 'faked' pic. I see a gross hugh jarse in the left hand one, a kinda normal looking person on the right, so instinctively feel that it's the right hand one that's been shopped. It's not though, is it? Someone really thinks they look better in the left hand picture?
Tabitha 6 months ago (edited)
Back in the day we used to call this having a big a*s/fat a*s and that big a*s being something to diet and exercise to get rid of. I know this because I had a booty back then (graduated high school in 1978). Not as exaggerated as now, but I was an hourglass at a time when being practically an X-ray was the goal. Hell, the original seventies cast of Saturday Night Live did a repeat skit about an entire family of people who looked normal when sitting behind a desk, but when they stood up you could see they all had ginormous asses. I think they were called The Widettes or something. Now, I am not knocking people’s body shapes. Not at all. I am, however, mentioning how fickle and constantly changing fashion can be, and how perceptions of what a “perfect body” is has changed. Radically.
George Costanza 6 months ago
Wait, she thinks the pic on the left looks better somehow? In what universe??
RELATED:
#2
I Wasn’t Sure If There’d Be A Whole Lot Of Coming Back From This But An Attempt Has Been Made!
#3
Now We Don't Have To Shoot The Horse
With filters, retouching software, and smart apps at everyone's fingertips, it's hard to know what's real on social-media images. But there are some telltale signs that make you an expert at sniffing out when someone has used too much of the digital editor's magic. By training your eye to notice lighting cues, texture discrepancies, geometry out-of-placeness, metadata anomalies, and contextual incoherence, you'll be a human lie detector scroll after scroll.
Natural light is governed by laws of physics: if the sun's on the left, highlights and shadows will be similarly on the left throughout the image. When you see a face or body radiantly lit against a background darker still, or shadows that cast in unlike directions, that's typically a sign someone selectively lit or composited two images together. A lit model might appear stuck over a nighttime cityscape with no light spill on surrounding objects corresponding, for instance.
#4
Yet Another Successful Organ Transplant! ⛑
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
Seriously. How could anyone in their right mind expect to carry this off?
#5
Wavy Elbow Issues
#6
I Tried Xd
Slimming and body-shaping tools compress or stretch areas of an image, but will warp straight lines in the process. Lamp posts get subtly warped, door frames curve outward, and tile floors appear as if they're wobbling. Check edges parallel to the frame of the photo, walls, floors, tables, carefully and see if they're still straight. Any wiggle is a tip-off that the "liquify" or warp tool has been used on the subject.
#7
Out Here Looking Like Gumby’s Wife 👌🏻
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago (edited)
What is this thing about having a big arsē. It's not even attractive!
#8
Unbend-Agram
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago (edited)
'Lolita'. Well. That says pure class. She's obviously never read the book.
#9
Breath In, Breath Out, Breath In, Breath Out
Clone-stamp and healing-brush tools enable you to cover up blemishes or unwanted items, but these have a tendency to drop in the same areas of texture as identical patches where they should be random. Scan for repeating items on textures of clothes, leaves, or skin surfaces, two identical shaped leaves, repeated stone patterns, or repeated freckles. If you notice one repeat, the entire cloned area normally becomes noticeable.
#10
The Swell Tool Is A Hell Of A Thing
#11
Might Have Gone A Bit Too Far On The Edit, Markers Were Hard To Find On The Black Coat
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
No bladder: check. No kidneys: check. No colon: check. No brain: check. Done.
Untouched, raw skin has pores, minute hairs, and invisible color transitions. Zooming in on a doctored face, you might find a plastic-smooth surface without pores, loose hairs, and evenly-colored skin devoid of variation. But eyes or lips could be hyper-defined against a soft-focused background, i.e., selective sharpening or detail-enhancing filters were used. Authentic portraits are in balance with softness and texture; anything excessively idealized is a red flag.
#13
Legs For Days vs. Legs For Minutes
#14
Posted An An Advert For A Photoshopping Service. Wtf???
#15
My Take On This Rather Infamous Image. Painted Over The Legs, Bobies Are More Of The Same Size Now, Put Her Organs Back, Not Sure What Else Is Missing
Mirrors, sunglasses, water, and shiny floors should show the scene accurately. If you notice an empty mirror in the background of a character, a reflection that shows an alternate pose, or water that is not reflecting the person or surroundings, someone has likely gone in and touched up the image. The same applies to shadows on feet and objects, broken or misplaced shadows usually accompany cut-and-paste work.
#16
Just A Wild Slenderwoman Roaming The Streets Of Seoul 🚶🏻♀️
#17
Slightly More Human
GenuineJen 6 months ago
It's really so sad. I'm sure someone else has already said this, but the "before" shots are such an improvement (except for the pre edited ones). But even *those* beauty standards were harsh not that long ago. The "after" images are so unreal and unbearable to look at.
#18
Fixed The Drapes
If you can retrieve the original image file, check its metadata (EXIF data) through a photo-previewing application or on-line EXIF viewer. Metadata may reveal what image-editing application was used, alter timestamps, and camera settings. A Photoshop stamp or a program name like "Facetune" in metadata is a give-away that the photo has been manipulated.
#19
The Organ Transplant Was A Success!
#20
Successful Organ Transplant!!
#21
I Did My Best
Finally, look at the larger picture. Does the spot where the image was taken fit in with other photos of the same location? Do different entries from the same account have varying body proportions or background information? Reverse-image search sites such as Google Images or TinEye can assist you in discovering earlier unedited versions of a photograph or finding where it originally appeared online.
#22
I Tried My Best But It Didn't Turn Out That Well
#23
Way More Realistic
#24
Un-Warped Reality
By keeping an eye out for these inconsistencies, lighting and shadow orientation, sheared geometry, replicated texture, unnatural skin tone, shattered reflections, color anomalies, metadata warning signs, and contextual mismatches, you'll be better poised to recognize the filters for what they are. And when you catch one doctored detail, you'll usually find a whole chain of fiddles under the surface, and that's when the real story behind the doctored post begins to emerge.
#25
My, What Bendy Walls You’ve Got!
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago (edited)
... and this is the reason that I don't have timber panels in my house. Too dimensionally unstable.
#26
Vent Needed Some Help
#27
I Fixed The Popeyes Forearms
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
I think that I know the secret as to why he looks so buffed. It's a teenaged boy thing.... Fortunately, it doesn't looks as though he's actually gone blind. Yet!
#28
~ Bring Me The Horizon ~
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago (edited)
I don't think that I've ever seen the ocean bend to the will of anyone other than Poseidon
#29
From Drumstick To Thigh 🦵🏻
#30
Chin So Snatched It Has Its Own Gravitational Pull 👌🏻👌🏻
#31
Sorry Shakira, Those Hips Do Lie
#32
I Didn't Even Know Where To Start. Best 5 Min Effort
#33
Now She Can Breath
#34
I Tried My Best
Blue Bunny of Happiness 6 months ago
The original isn’t that original, judging by the bendy bricks and facial filter
#35
A Girl This Thin Shopping Herself Is Unbelievable. I Don't Understand
Queen Boudicca 6 months ago
Because it is never enough. Women have to be beautiful and meet society's standards or we are not valued (at least that seems to be the current belief).
#36
Whoever Edited The Original Mspainted Her Stomach All One Color And Idk How To Draw Ribs Realistically LOL
#37
If One Of Your Shoes Is Twice The Width Of Both Your Calves Combined, You Might Have A Problem.🤷🏻♀️
#38
Organs? Never Heard Of Them
#39
Thought I’d Take A Crack At This One
Blue Bunny of Happiness 6 months ago
The standard of construction these days is terrible, judging by all the bendy bricks, plastering and warped doorframes etc. #sarcasm
#40
First Time I Try To Fix A Photo, I'm Not Great At It, But I Think I'm Getting Close
#41
Is It Still Catfishing If It’s This Obvious?
#42
From Cute To Cuter 💕
#43
Waist So Snatched It Has Its Own Gravitational Pull 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
#44
~ Bring Me The Horiiiizon ~
#45
From Anime Girl To Human
Sophie Vivian 6 months ago (edited)
You know the anime girl type of thing personally I’m more forgiving of a lot of photoshopping depending on intent. If it’s never meant to look realistic , then like , this is well done.As in If you’re aiming to look like a photographed art of live action anime style photoshoped to an anime look that you know and I know isn’t possible then that’s fun and neat. . But I doubt that is what’s happening here. Meaning, if it is intentionally photoshoped to impossible body shapes but it is say a steinsgate cosplay where the art style is very long and very thin arms and limbs and everything. Do that have your fun ! That’s art. But if it’s trying to present that your body looks like that and being dishonest than that’s sad.
#46
First Post, How Did I Do?
#47
Subtle, But Deadly
#48
This One Made Me Sad Because She Enlarged Her Friend To Make Herself Seem Smaller
#49
“High Waist” Indeed
#50
Fix By U/Ashthundercrow
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What do you think ?
StrangeOne 6 months ago
This is just sad. Many of them look really good in the before pictures. None of them had to do any retouching.
Slmd 5 months ago
the "before" pictures aren't really before, it's gone through two levels of photoshopping. It is probably still a bit unlike the actual person.
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sturmwesen 6 months ago (edited)
what freaks me out is, that most of them were already more than conventionally beautiful before... I am nearing 40 and catch myself baffeled/envious on some socialmedia/public personas, fully knowing it's often operations or photoshop/filters... how are young people supposed to have realistic expectations for themselves or others
Amnarie 6 months ago
I think what's being missed by most commentators here is that these are Photoshops of Photoshops - trying to work back from the weird editing to try to see if they can recreate what the original MIGHT have looked like. Some are well done, while others are a bit of a lost cause, imo.
Earonn - 6 months ago
I feel so sorry for parents of teenagers. To be bombarded with this fake filter shyte, at a time where one's body image is shaky at best anyway. Goes for girls and boys alike. If you read this and you're a teen: You ARE lovable as you are now. If you don't like your weight: this is the easiest time in your life to do something about it (ask your family doctor, not some YouTube, TikTok or whatever online experts). No matter what the shape of your body is: there's people out there who like it, take it from a fat, middle aged lady. :)
J R 6 months ago
It's so sad to me how so many of the people look like they have anorexia or some other health condition that makes them incredibly underweight. And then for them to not be able to see what everyone else sees, which is that the edited versions don't look good because they give off uncanny valley vibes...it must be a very terrible state of mind they live in.
TheReader19 6 months ago
Some of the retouching; just looks like the people have some sort of deformity. It makes zero sense.
Luke Pavel 6 months ago
I hope these people know that they look way more gorgeous in the original photo than the shopped pic
Anony Mouse 6 months ago (edited)
So like nobody understood this post at all? People posted pictures of themselves online. Some heavily edited, yes, but some lightly or maybe not at all. One is a catalog picture for Pete’s sake. Then someone goes in unasked and “corrects” their photoshop efforts. I think it’s kind of insulting and rude. Sure some pics are ridiculous, but they have the right to post them without some jerk editing them to make them look fatter.
StrangeOne 6 months ago
This is just sad. Many of them look really good in the before pictures. None of them had to do any retouching.
Slmd 5 months ago
the "before" pictures aren't really before, it's gone through two levels of photoshopping. It is probably still a bit unlike the actual person.
Load More Replies... sturmwesen 6 months ago (edited)
what freaks me out is, that most of them were already more than conventionally beautiful before... I am nearing 40 and catch myself baffeled/envious on some socialmedia/public personas, fully knowing it's often operations or photoshop/filters... how are young people supposed to have realistic expectations for themselves or others
Amnarie 6 months ago
I think what's being missed by most commentators here is that these are Photoshops of Photoshops - trying to work back from the weird editing to try to see if they can recreate what the original MIGHT have looked like. Some are well done, while others are a bit of a lost cause, imo.
Earonn - 6 months ago
I feel so sorry for parents of teenagers. To be bombarded with this fake filter shyte, at a time where one's body image is shaky at best anyway. Goes for girls and boys alike. If you read this and you're a teen: You ARE lovable as you are now. If you don't like your weight: this is the easiest time in your life to do something about it (ask your family doctor, not some YouTube, TikTok or whatever online experts). No matter what the shape of your body is: there's people out there who like it, take it from a fat, middle aged lady. :)
J R 6 months ago
It's so sad to me how so many of the people look like they have anorexia or some other health condition that makes them incredibly underweight. And then for them to not be able to see what everyone else sees, which is that the edited versions don't look good because they give off uncanny valley vibes...it must be a very terrible state of mind they live in.
TheReader19 6 months ago
Some of the retouching; just looks like the people have some sort of deformity. It makes zero sense.
Luke Pavel 6 months ago
I hope these people know that they look way more gorgeous in the original photo than the shopped pic
Anony Mouse 6 months ago (edited)
So like nobody understood this post at all? People posted pictures of themselves online. Some heavily edited, yes, but some lightly or maybe not at all. One is a catalog picture for Pete’s sake. Then someone goes in unasked and “corrects” their photoshop efforts. I think it’s kind of insulting and rude. Sure some pics are ridiculous, but they have the right to post them without some jerk editing them to make them look fatter.
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