Saturday, December 29, 2012

Education Series - Buyer Beware of Photoshopped Lip Colors

Photo Courtesy of eHow.com

Like you, I am drawn in by the glossy, rich colors of lip tints, glosses and lipsticks that I see on the internet. After all I love this stuff! I think, "WOW! How did they get all of their photos to have the same pose?" Then I look at the other photos displayed just a little bit closer and I can easily see that all of the examples are from the same original photo and only the lip color or glossy element has changed or maybe its been cropped a little differently. Oh my!

I'm amazed at how many people are Photoshopping images of their own handmade products. I know the big name cosmetic companies and magazines use these "tricks" all the time. Did you know that with an easy search in Google there are lots of free tools to use with Photoshop to change lip color in a photo? Yes I know pictures sell but let's be honest here, personally I don't think it's proper for a handmade item to be Photoshopped in the name of sales just so your colors look amazing or different from how the product will actually look on a consumer. After all, I believe people shop for handmade items for other reasons such as quality of raw materials, craftsmanship, flavors, etc. Then I got to thinking...I don't know if most shoppers even notice that this is going on.  

So in a nutshell what I'm saying is that technology is a fantastic thing as long as it's not deceiving anyone and to please be aware that this practice is being used. We all work hard for our money and we want to spend our dollars wisely and we want to spend it on a quality handmade product that the artist who created it is proud of.

Do you think this practice is deceitful? If you've noticed photoshopped lippies too I'd love to hear how you feel when you see them.