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Camera Filters

Yeshuasdaughter

You know, that one lady we met that one time.
V.I.P Member
I find it really disturbing when people use filters on their photos or videos online. No one looks like that in real life, and the synthetic face really activates my aspie hackles.

It's one thing to take a photo at an attractive angle. I guess a little filtering would be okay, to you know take out a blemish or something. But I don't know what it is about those new, heavily filtered "instagram style" pics, but I just hate something about the false, too-symmetrical, fuzzy appearance. Even though the pics are asthetically beautiful, there's something about them that literally turns my stomach, as if I saw something grotesque.

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when looking at heavily filtered photos online? It's usually women that post them of themselves.
 
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Yes! That's so true! Now that I think of it, I would feel more warmly towards a C3PO or an R2 type of robot (droid), than if it appeared eerily human.

I know right! It's a very interesting phenomenon! I think people with ASD are a little bit more sensitive to this since we tend to pick up more details and thus get bothered by the unrealistic parts more than NT people.
 
I’m guilty of using filters sometimes lol but I have a really unattractive face and ugly hair (or so I’ve been told) so I have terrible self-esteem. I try not to share a lot of pictures of myself because of that.

But I would never edit a picture to make myself look skinny. That would be completely dishonest and there is enough bodyshaming already, and unrealistic, unattainable body standards that are given children eating disorders and depression.
 
There are any number of methods that humanity chooses to enhance their appearance. Media photoshopping images, plastic surgery, makeup, hairstyling, hair replacement, teeth replacement, hair coloring, fashion..and so on. All indicative of human vanity attempting to keep Mother Nature at bay, apart from lining the pockets of others.

I'm just not sure I can find one single point in it all as to where one should draw a line against such practices. Should we consider it all a form of deceit, self-improvement or just capitalists exploiting vanity to create unnecessary demand?

I'm not sure...:confused:

I suppose such things will always be up to debate given how society maintains conflicting and subjective standards of aesthetics. Being mindful that it's better to debate multiple standards than maintain and enforce only a single, monolithic standard of aesthetic values that probably would still be less than realistic as well. Considerations such as "socialist realism" or "kultur".
 
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There are any number of methods that humanity chooses to enhance their appearance. Media photoshopping images, plastic surgery, makeup, hairstyling, hair replacement, teeth replacement, hair coloring, fashion..and so on. All indicative of human vanity attempting to keep Mother Nature at bay, apart from lining the pockets of others.

I'm just not sure I can find one single point in it all as to where one should draw a line against such practices. Should we consider it all a form of deceit, self-improvement or just capitalists exploiting vanity to create unnecessary demand?

I'm not sure...:confused:

I suppose such things will always be up to debate given how society maintains conflicting and subjective standards of aesthetics. Being mindful that it's better to debate multiple standards than maintain and enforce only a single, monolithic standard of aesthetic values that probably would still be less than realistic as well.

Yes, I completely agree. And I don't think it makes a lot of sense to attempt to vilify young women using filters/Photoshop/Botox/lip fillers etc either, as much as it isn't good, because the standards that pop culture and social media push on young girls are horribly unrealistic and are detrimental to their self-esteem and mental health. I'm a millenial, and I'm horrified by what Gen Z girls are being exposed to, especially on Instagram and TikTok. There are so many girls and women now who are being made to feel ashamed of not looking like an "influencer." And it's wrong.

There is a reason that Gen Z girls have some of the highest rates of depression, eating disorders, and suicidal ideation.
This article from TIME Magazine does a good job of explaining the trap this girl fell into as a teenager, and I fell into in 2016, even though I was already an adult at the time.

Instagram Is Doing Grave Harm to Our Generation. We Need Help to Stop It
 
I'm just not sure I can find one single point in it all as to where one should draw a line against such practices.
The standard camera on my phone does a significant amount of processing to each image on its own with just the default settings it came with. Unprocessed images are likely a rarity given the dominance of mobile phones as cameras now.
 
Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when looking at heavily filtered photos online? It's usually women that post them of themselves.

For me it's not just in pictures. Many women go out of their way to make their appearance "more perfect" but to me they no longer look human. They look like a lump of plastic.

I try not to smirk when I see bold examples of this, my assumption is that they aim to make themselves more sexually attractive but it makes me think they're going to end up with a boyfriend who gets sexually excited by watching Snow White And The Seven Dwarves.

Photography has been one of my on and off hobbies over the years, and I am a little bit pedantic about where I draw the line between what is a photo and what is a piece of hand drawn art. To me a photo is a reasonably accurate image of what I saw instead of an artwork depicting what I wish I could see.
 
The standard camera on my phone does a significant amount of processing to each image on its own with just the default settings it came with. Unprocessed images are likely a rarity given the dominance of mobile phones as cameras now.

True, though not surprising in a technological sense. Bitmapping/rasterized graphics conforming to various algorithims. But then I don't fundamentally object to such things. For me image manipulation is a hobby. It's fun to defy nature and whatever a viewfinder may depict. Probably started for me long ago, when as an amateur photographer someone once asked me if I could improve on a person's appearance in various ways.

Though I'm not selling it for monetary gain either. From my previous statements, there's no question that there are many using such technology to create a aesthetic false narratives for profit. Perhaps it's that intent as to where one should draw a line. That real standards of beauty should not be dependent upon unreal and unattainable imagery.

Otherwise to me a camera is just another medium to create an image whether real or surreal. Reminds me of an artist I saw on tv some months back. They specialized in creating paintings that seemed indistinguishable from photographs.
 
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