Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and More Go Under the (Digital) Knife
Britney Spears allows release of "before" photos from Candie's campaign.
April 14, 2010 — -- Britney Spears is paying her dues, giving fans a glimpse of what her body really looks like.
The 29-year-old pop star has allowed the pre-airbrushed images from a fashion shoot she did for Candie's to be shown adjacent to the digitally-altered ones, so people can see how a little Photoshopping can have a huge impact on how stars look.
Spears' waist, bottom and thighs look noticably slimmer in the retouched photos. Her airbrushed skin bears no bruises or cellulite, and a tattoo has even been erased from her back.
Jessica Simpson recently graced the cover of Marie Claire sans makeup and digital touch-ups to illustrate the similar point that celebrities don't always look like they do in photos.
But not all acts of airbrushing are so honest -- it's rare that the "before" image stands alone or gets released to the public at all.
"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, four more recent instances of seemingly extreme airbrushing.
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