Daddy 'shopped' mommy!

Darling hubby's hobby is photography.  He takes it seriously.  Enough to want to compose an image to turn out just right.  He'll sharpen it, saturate or desaturate it, lighten it or any other edits he 'sees' fit.  He's a perfectionist.  

I don't want my daughters to think that every single photo of them HAS to look perfect.
Imperfection is beautiful too.  I'm okay with the REAL me in photos.  Too much of anything isn't always the best option.

The other day, our eldest, Sabrina, came around his desk chair as he sat at his computer editing a photo.  A photo of me.  He was tinkering with a 'trial' photo editing software he'd recently signed up for.  I was sitting nearby.  Listening.

S: 'What are you doing, Daddy?'

DH: 'Oh just testing out some edits on this photo of Mommy.'

S: 'Why.  She looks pretty in that picture.'

DH: 'Yeah, I know but come here.  Take a look.'

He pulled up a before and after screen to 'show' her.


DH: 'Can you see the difference?'

S: 'Oh gosh! Mommy's skin looks HORRIBLE in the other picture!'

DH: 'Well, it's not horrible but it does 'look' better in this one.'

S: 'How did you DO that?'

DH: 'I shopped it!'

S: 'That is SO cool!  Mommy, mommy, daddy shopped you!'

DH then grabs a photo magazine with a bombshell of a woman on the cover (in black and white) looking all sexy with her tousled hair and her tee shirt barely covering her thighs and explains:

DH: 'You see this woman here in this picture?'

S: 'Yes. She's BEAUTIFUL!'

DH: 'Okay, yes, do you know WHY she's looks beautiful?'

S: 'No.  Why?'

DH: 'Because this entire picture was shopped or edited to make the woman look perfect and beautiful.  This is NOT how people look everyday.  Your mother is beautiful but she's doesn't LOOK perfect and this is NORMAL.'

S: 'Ohhh.  But Daddy, Mommy's picture DOES look better without that big pimple in it.

DH: 'Yeah, you're right.'

*I think she got the gist of this lesson.