Pictures That Lie

 

I  found this picture on news.cnet.com and apart from being an  interesting image I have to admit I did laugh quite a bit when I first saw it. This picture was used as the cover of TV guide in 1989. It was altered by cutting out the head of Winfrey,placing it on Anne-Margret's body and adding color to the image since Anne-Margret's picture was in black and white. The person who created the composite did it without permission of Winfrey or Anne-Margret and it was eventually detected by Anne-Mergret's fashion designer who recognized the dress. In the Hollywood world, I guess artists have to be "perfect" in all aspects. Oprah is definitely admired by millions of people by her public speaking ability, presentation skills, sense of humor etc., but the fact that she does not have the "barbie" body, desired by all Hollywood stars, is a huge disappointment for many people and maybe even for her. As shown in this cover Oprah is falsely portrayed as having this "perfect" body and so now she is definitely "perfect" in all aspects of life, making her a true Hollywood star.

This is the total opposite to the idea that people had in the Renaissance period when being overweight actually made a person more important. Back in that time it meant that this person had the money to nurture himself/herself.
The manipulation might have been disturbing to Oprah since it is kind of saying that her body is not good enough, but the public in general would either find this image attractive or simply not even care.

In this two minute video about Photoshop, we are shown how to add a layer mask to a photo. The purpose here is to blend two faces together. By choosing the correct commands and using the appropriate tools, the instructor is able to line up the inserted face to the background painting. I chose this video because I think it fits in really well with the Oprah/Anne Margret picture I found. My guess is that the person who created that composite definitely used this adding a layer mask technique.