viz.

Image Credit: Ralph Lauren, by way of Photoshopdisasters

As a followup to my post last week on the British government's plan to meet with health officials, fashion executives, and advertisers in October 2010 to discuss the legal status of the un-indicated use of photoshopping in advertisements, I would like to re-showcase a blog entry by Tim Turner from October 2009 when British and French politicians began discussing possible photoshop disclaimer requirements.

The above ad, in which the circumference of Filippa Hamilton's waist appears to be less than that of her head, is a prime example of photoshop abuses in fashion photography and the rationale for next month's meetings. View Tim's "Photoshop Disasters" entry reposted after the break, or link to the original post and the comments, which include a video interview with Ms. Hamilton. 

Some of you may have seen this story on the Huffington Post about an apology issued by Ralph Lauren for the peculiarly skinny model pictured here:

The image was first noted by Photoshop Disasters, one of my favorite blogs about visual culture (other than Viz., of course). The images collected there are often hilarious and sometimes unintentionally tragic (as this super skinny model indicates). The blog itself is a terrific read, and a hilarious way to pass a few spare minutes. What's great about it, however--in addition to its delightfully relentless snark--is how it invites a deeper engagement with images. In many cases, the tragedy of the poor photoshopping is obvious, in an impossibly thin waist or a terrifyingly elongated neck. In other cases, you have to look harder and closer to locate the details. One of the unintended consequences of living in the age of photoshop may be an increase in visual literacy: spotting the falsifications sometimes requires a keen eye for close-reading.