Real? Or Photoshopped? 'Airbrushing' Run Amok

At first, they seem slender and sexy, lithe and luminous.

(Amazon.com/Handout)
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But look closely at some of the latest images of Kate Winslet, Kate Moss, Britney Spears and Heidi Klum. Look at how their skin shows not one wrinkle or blemish, how their limbs lie in anatomically awkward positions, how their waists appear more fitting for dolls than for flesh-and-blood females.

Blame airbrushing. Photographers, magazines, models and even celebrities have relied on digital trickery for years, but lately, it seems the retoucher's Photoshop tool is being wielded less like a brush and more like a knife, slimming and sculpting stars into shapes that bear fleeting resemblance to their actual bodies.

"The more and more we use this editing, the higher and higher the bar goes. They're creating things that are physically impossible," said Hany Farid, a Dartmouth College professor of computer science who specializes in digital forensics and photo manipulation. "We're seeing really radical digital plastic surgery. It's moving towards the Barbie doll model of what a woman should look like -- big breasts, tiny waist, ridiculously long legs, elongated neck."

Below, Farid dissects some of the latest acts of what he sees as out-of-control airbrushing.

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Kate Winslet

Many Hollywood actresses wax poetic about the importance of a healthy figure; Kate Winslet is one of the few that actually walks the walk. In 2003, she criticized British GQ for whittling her figure on the magazine's January cover, telling Britain's GMTV, "I don't want people to think I was a hypocrite and had suddenly gone and lost 30 pounds, which is something I would never do, and more importantly don't want to look like that. ... They made my legs look quite a bit thinner. They also made me look about 6 feet tall, which I'm not, I'm 5 foot, 6 inches."

Given that, it's surprising another magazine would apparently commit a similar sin. But Winslet graces the December cover of Vanity Fair svelte beyond belief. A photo spread inside the issue features Winslet sprawled atop a fur throw, the small of her back carved out as if it was made of clay.

Winslet opened up about this cover too, but this time it was to deny her image had been manipulated.

"Kate is furious at suggestions that her body has been airbrushed," her publicist told People magazine in November."She is in terrific shape and what you see is how she looks or she would never have agreed to pose for those shots."

Farid isn't buying it.

"All the body fat is removed, all the wrinkles are removed, the skin is smoothed out," he said. "Some of that is makeup and lighting -- professional stylists can do wonders -- but almost certainly what's been done is all of her blemishes and wrinkles have been digitally altered. There's a Photoshop tool that creates a very smooth effect. Effectively what you do is paint over the whole body."