Photo Manipulation’s Role and Use in Society Photos can be seen all around us; from the streets to Internet, from magazine covers to TV commercials. Its role and usage in the society are far more exposed than one thinks. To be more specific, photo manipulation is greatly involved with politics, journalism, advertisement industry and economics. In this section, there will be a focus on photo manipulation’s role and usage toward body images and the advertisement industry while a short focus on the first use of photo manipulation will also be briefly discussed and explained. Manipulated politics. Long before Photoshop ever existed, people began to manipulate photos for political purposes. Photo manipulation even became a rising source of economics due to the inventions and popular needs of photo manipulating programs. From Delana (2010)’s Politics of Photoshop: 15 Shady Edits for Political Purposes, an overview of notable manipulated photos throughout politics history is presented. In several photographs dated around the 1900s, some political leaders are cropped out due to reasons such as arguments between political parties or disagreement between partners or friends. (Delana,
Andrew Dixon (2013), a personal trainer for more than 10 years, reveals in his article Seduced by the Illusion: The Truth About Transformation Photos that many before and after pictures of body training and weight loss are manipulated with “Photoshop, professional lighting, postures to degrade or enhance their look, pro tans, sucking in or pushing out a bloated belly or flexing muscles” (Dixon, 2013). Weight loss advertisement often publicizes different programs that guarantee fast results in months or less than a year. Regarding such issue, Dixon (2013) responds by saying that long-lasting results actually require years of hard work, consistency and