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What is Next Nature?

With our attempts to cultivate nature, humankind causes the rising of a next nature, which is wild and unpredictable as ever. Wild systems, genetic surprises, autonomous machinery and splendidly beautiful black flowers. Nature changes along with us.

The Photoshop Beauties: Before and After

The Photoshop Beauties: Before and After

Usually we don’t realize the hours of photoshopping spent on magazine and advertising images before publication. The raw photographic material reveals a lot about the fine craft of ‘beauty construction’. The photo above shows documentary maker, former soap actress and challenger of the beauty industry Sunny Bergman, before and after ‘the photoshop’.

Sunny’s latest documentary Beperkt Houdbaar (Limited Preservation) makes a powerful analysis of the cultivation of the body for the beauty industry’s economic benefit. We are looking forward to her contribution at the Powershow Next Nature in LA.

The photo is part of a larger photo series of new feminists by Manon van de Zwaal & Monique Bergen Henegouwen for HP de tijd magazine. I would love to see some reversed photoshopping done on the magazine models of which we haven’t seen ‘the before’ as well.

stine jensen

Stine Jensen.

Myrthe hilkens

Myrthe Hilkens.

Photos: Manon van de Zwaal for HP de tijd magazine. Image retouche: Monique Bergen Henegouwen /MissMo.nl. See also: Virtual Miss, Simulacra for Dummies, The Photoshop Reporters, Natural Breasts, Hyperbreasts, Modernistic Vaginas.

Discussion

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  1. Awesome. Though the end result is a bit too much on the uncanny valley side on the first and last image. The second one is exceptionally well made, except for the jaw line. That makes me remember the Dove clip two years ago.

  2. bailey blakeney

    this is amazingly creepy!

  3. swept

    very cool photoshop work, but creepy images. they definitely look better in the “before” photos. but if i never saw the “before”, i would think the “after” was real.

  4. Little social experiment I did with photoshop:

    http://www.nikanika.com/photoshopme.htm

  5. Nice example Rosa Maria. By doing such an experiment with your own picture, you must have in mind an ideal image of the woman you want to be or… how you want others to see you according to ‘the standards’.
    And so it happens that the value of ‘beauty’ is inadvertently being carried out through these kind of video’s:
    http://www.nextnature.net/?p=956 (Dove) and http://www.nextnature.net/?p=2110 (Foster Farms).
    But if carried out thoroughly over the internet, we will grow mediated and come to recognize whether an image is real or not. So it’s videos like these that help us develop new sense-organs like the ‘photoshop-antenna’. It’s my hope that everyone with a photoshop-antenna will also develop a true sense of beauty whithout too many cosmetical, economical and social side-effects: just BSUR

  6. Lola

    the last girl looks so much better natural than photoshopped! that photo in particular is proof that the winning ‘beauty proportions’ cant take into account what is beautiful about someone’s lack of perfect symmetry.

  7. Julianne

    wow these are amazing. These ones are a bit different to the others out there that mainly focus on creating flawless skin, eyes etc. In these the structure of the face is pretty much re-constructed. Well done to the artists for their work and being able to create this, I know I cant.

  8. Alie Sulemani

    lol its funny the way people change :)

  9. jelena

    i agree alie sulemani :)
    they shoulnd’nt change because they should be happy with themselves :) )

  10. Alie Sulemani

    SOO TRUEE Jelena have we met before?

  11. jelena

    hyahah yeah i think we have :)
    you seem very familierr :D
    lmaoo
    xx

  12. Alie Sulemani

    ohhk. Do you know Sasha?
    xo <3

  13. jelena

    funny you ask because sash is my brother !
    do you know two girls calle kujtime and shpresa?
    xx <3

  14. Alie Sulemani

    OMG! they my sisters! ayyyeeee you goo DHS! you should know what that stands forr :D
    xo<3

  15. jelena

    bahahaha yeahhh ! DHS! IN AMERICAA AYEE ?
    LOL
    !
    aye you on fb /\
    omgh are you albanian ?
    broo i lovee albanians !
    theyerrrreeer soooc oool :) )
    lmaoo
    xoxo peacee girl.
    oh are you a girl btw
    ?
    coz you seem like a guy ;)

    xo

  16. Alie

    lol yehh ima chick :)
    why did uasume i was a dude ;p
    i got fb buhh im not giving it too you:P
    i will never ever accept you wierdo! :)
    xo <3

  17. jelena

    because your name is pronounced like ‘ ali ‘ or is it like the serb and wog name like it’s ‘alije’ ?
    ‘j’ meaning ‘y’ yeah ?
    hahahah lol
    fine dont add me on fb ill get my bro too ?:)
    and then yeah well probs become bestfroend FOREVER AND EVER !
    xo <3 xox

  18. Alie

    yee man nahh its the wog way with the J! :)
    lol ewww SASHAS a homo! :P
    lol :D hheehehhe :D
    yee man BFFL forever :D
    <3
    ayye lets continue with the food pyramid shit :P

  19. jelena

    yourr a homo :00
    yeah coz thee blonde teachers gonna like catch us not doing healthh !!
    :) 0
    loool
    yeahh BFFLS FOR FIFFLES :)
    LOL iay otgay hatthey ffoaye arasayy ;)
    lmaooo
    xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox<3

    hahahahhaah loool

  20. azad dabirzadeh

    so cute ….

  21. Jonas

    Hey, i’m sorry but this is no good.
    You overdone it.