An Australian photographer is on a mission to prove that you don't need Photoshop or makeup to make a model look beautiful (Duh?). After working in the fashion industry for the last three years, Jack Salzke had become fed up with the media "telling everyone that these women are actually ugly without make-up and Photoshop." So, Salzke decided to prove "everyone" wrong. The photog began shooting bare-faced models without a drop of makeup, only relying on light and angles to bring out the models' natural beauty. The portraits turned out just as stunning as he'd thought, which prompted him to start a Kickstarter to create a photo-book featuring 100 models free from makeup and Photoshop.
On the Kickstarter page, which is titled "This Is Real Beauty: The Camera Doesn't Lie," Salzke describes his process: "A beautiful set of girls, some flattering lighting, and black and white conversion in Adobe Lightroom, that’s all it is."
Salzke has already photographed 12 different models and put up the photos on his Kickstarter page. And while they are all super gorgeous, the black and white conversion has made the models' skin look absolutely flawless. But that also could be because of something else: the use of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Let's back up for a second — while I think this is a super noble effort on Salzke's part and the project has great intentions at the heart of it, the Aussie photographer does admit to using some Photoshop. Adobe Lightroom is, in fact, a Photoshop software and on his Kickstarter page, Salzke admits that he will be using the program to remove blemishes. Salzke prefaced this on his page, saying the following: "All images will be converted to black and white using Adobe Lightroom, no Photoshop will be used, however I will be removing obvious pimples from the models using Lightroom’s very basic healing tools (I will only be removing blemishes that will have disappeared within a day or two, anything permanently on the models face will remain such as scars and/or freckles)."
Hmmm. Isn't that technically still Photoshop, though? Kind of defeats the purpose of the whole "down with unattainable beauty standards" argument, right? While I do appreciate that each of the model's natural freckles and scars remain untouched, it's a bit of a bold statement to say that absolutely no Photoshop is being used here. I still think it's a great idea, especially with the no makeup rule, because these gorgeous women clearly don't need it. But perhaps he should just call it what it is: Real Models, No Makeup (dropping the part about "No Photoshop"). What do you think? Is removing blemishes and pimples still technically photoshopping? Check out the Kickstarter video below and tell us what you think on Facebook and Twitter.
