Fashion

Meet Instagram's Photoshop Police

by Sienna Fantozzi

If you've ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and felt that annoyance creep in when some photos were obviously retouched, then you might want to follow this new account. WePhotoshoppedWhat calls out bloggers and celebrities who photoshop pictures, so those retouched images are no longer on the DL. Watch out.

The account takes photos (mostly from bloggers, but there is a Beyoncé shoutout) that they feel have been photoshopped, and reposts the picture with pink arrows to indicate how and what has been altered. It's a little Regina George-ish of them (it's like a burn book gone digital), but it is interesting to see how photoshop is permeating our culture. We've known celebrities have been retouched in magazines, just this week the press called out Britney Spears for a photoshopped cover, but to see it from bloggers and our friends, on a commonplace outlet like Instagram — now that's taking it to another level.

It's worth mentioning that there have been articles written showing how you can look thinner just by how you pose, so not all of these pictures may be digitally enhanced, but for those that clearly are, I think we need to take a step back here. If you want to edit out a zit or some zombie-esque red-eye — go for it. But altering your body to a non-natural state is only contributing to the body shaming cult of perfection (and who needs that, you're beautiful as you are). So if you want to share your life on social media, make sure it's a real one, because you just might get caught by the photoshop police. And that would be embarrassing, to say the least.

Images: wephotoshoppedwhat/Instagram