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Image Tool Catches Fashion Industry Photo Alterations
Image Tool Catches Fashion Industry Photo Alterations
- By Brandon Keim
- November 28, 2011 |
A new photograph-analyzing tool quantifies changes made by digital airbrushers in the fashion and lifestyle industry, where image alteration has become the psychologically destructive norm.
"Publishers have legitimate reasons to alter photographs to create fantasy and sell products, but they've gone a little too far," said image forensics specialist Hany Farid of Dartmouth University. "You can't ignore the body of literature showing negative consequences to being inundated with these images."
In a Nov. 28 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study, Farid and doctoral student Eric Kee debut a computational model developed by analyzing 468 sets of original and retouched photographs. From these, Farid and Kee distilled a formal mathematical description of alterations made to models' shapes and features. Their model then scored each altered photograph on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 signifying heavy retouching.
To validate the scores, Farid and Kee then asked 50 people randomly picked through Amazon's Mechanical Turk task outsourcing service to evaluate the photographs. Computational and human scores matched closely. "Now what we have is a mathematical measure of photo retouching," said Farid. "We can predict what an average observer would say."
The researchers started developing their model after learning of the British government's plans to label photographic alterations in advertising. Psychologists have become vocally critical of such images: By employing an arsenal of retouching techniques, from unnaturally slimmed limbs to the old standby of cleaned-up skin, retouchers create unattainable standards of both beauty and normalcy, ultimately leading to self-destructive body image disorders.
In June, the American Medical Association urged advertisers to work with activists in developing alteration s.... Setting limits, however, is easier said than done.
"One criticism of the British legislation is that they were presenting a blunt instrument. Photographs would be labeled as retouched or not. Anybody knows that there's different types," said Farid. "It's an interesting scientific problem: How much is too much? That got us thinking about whether we could quantify this."
Farid and Kee's model doesn't precisely determine a numerical boundary between psychologically appropriate and inappropriate; that's a judgement call to be made by society, Farid said. But they do provide an objective metric for evaluating images and trends.
Read the rest here.
Tags: Photoshop, alteration, image, software
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jean Marie on -
oh, i feel so much better about myself, ha ha.
I once heard of a mathematical theory or equation,
which could predict beauty.
saw this on a show called the Science of Beauty i think.
no idea now, what the name of this equation found in most things ppl think are beautiful, from flowers to faces, dawg, wish i knew that name.....or equation, was a very compelling show.
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Permalink Reply by Adriana on -
I saw that show, too but can't remember the name either. The flowers part was about the Fibonacci series, I think. Faces had to do with symmetry.
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Permalink Reply by Michel on -
For some reason the Fibonacci series is all over the place when we appreciate something as 'harmonious'. It might have to do with how we weigh the relative importance of horizontal vs. vertical visual information.
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Permalink Reply by Adriana on
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It is all over nature, actually. So it's not just how we process the info, it's a pattern that fits many natural processes.
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Permalink Reply by Jean Marie on
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maybe that is what i saw in the show, must be it.
Here are some other links on the mathematics of beauty, too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio
http://www.intmath.com/numbers/math-of-beauty.php
whatever the equation of human beauty is,
i do think my beauty should have been multiplied a few more times, rofl!!
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Permalink Reply by Michel on
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The Fibonacci Chamomille.Fibonacci sequences appear in biological settings, in two consecutive Fibonacci numbers, such as branching in trees, arrangement of leaves on a stem, the fruitlets of a pineapple, the flowering of artichoke, an uncurling fern and the arrangement of a pine cone. In addition, numerous poorly substantiated claims of Fibonacci numbers or golden sections in nature are found in popular sources, e.g., relating to the breeding of rabbits, the spirals of shells, and the curve of waves. The Fibonacci numbers are also found in the family tree of honeybees.
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