Hewlett-Packard's Photosmart M and R series digital cameras include a "Slimming Mode" that makes any object or person centered in the photo look thinner, creating the illusion that a person is 10 - 20 pounds lighter. The feature was reportedly inspired by the number of people who told an HP survey that they hated having their picture taken. The Photosmart models can even take the compensation a step further with a mode that will virtually eliminate oversized pores and facial lines.
"We had a personal trainer wanting to use the camera as a motivational tactic for her clients," said Linda Kennedy, a product manager for digital photography at HP. She added that "putting a good photo of the person on their refrigerator so they can say, 'I do want to look like this,' as opposed to the fat picture in a bathing suit," can be inspiring.
Anthony Spina, an adjunct professor of sociology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey feels that the slimming and skin tone tools are inspired by society's desire for physical perfection. He noted that they could also make for some interesting encounters were people to use them in online profiles.
"It almost does contribute to people changing their identities, for whatever reasons they are motivated to do that," Spina said. "Particularly, I can see it being used on a dating service. Now you can say the picture is current and still lie. But what I want to know is: What's going to finally happen when you meet that person? Even if you are not using it for that, its only interest is to make you look better. But why would you take a picture of yourself and give it to people who know you if it doesn't really look like you?
"This feature is a classic demonstration of American culture today, where illusion is deemed more important than reality," explained Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate and author of a popular weight loss book titled, Natural Appetite Suppressants for Safe, Effective Weight Loss. "Western culture is increasingly about the use of tricks, shortcuts and illusion to achieve an apparent outcome rather than the use of personal responsibility, healthy eating habits and good decision making," he said. "Too many consumers want to create the illusion of being physically fit without having to earn it."
Peter Southwick, associate professor and director of the photojournalism program at Boston University, worries that people's confidence in photographs will be shaken by these tools, having massive ramifications on both the legal and photojournalism worlds.
"People in the legal world are now concerned about whether photos can be accepted as evidence anymore, especially when you can alter the scene as you click the shutter," Southwick said. "And in the old days, there was an original, now there is no original. Photography as a tool for providing evidence, or as proof, may not exist anymore."
Southwick added that, while he was giving lectures in the past, he would ask how many people had heard of Photoshop, and 10 to 12 people would raise their hands. Now, he claims, everybody does. Southwick said that effect Photoshop has on the way people feel about photography's integrity will pale in comparison to the impact of in-camera photo-editing features.
"The consumer products and all these changes in photography, to me, are going to cause an undermining of people's ability to believe a photograph, which is the foundation of photojournalism," he said. "Now that it is at the consumer level and people are going to see this, I am not sure on a fundamental level that they are ever going to believe a photo when they see it."
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