New York Times Magazine, June 1st, Cover story on Tyra Banks as the next big female branded self. The photography is by Ruven Afanador, who is an excellent fashion and glamour specialist. As usual, the re-toucher is not acknowledged, but my money would be on Pascal Dangin (and company), who regularly does work for the Times magazine.
The interesting element here for me is the "keeping it real trend".... but how real is real? Pascal Dangin did the work for the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, and he has been quoted as saying...
"Do you know how much retouching was done on that job?...it was a challenge to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive."
This portrait of Tyra has all the faux/real trademarks....the just out of the shower wet hair, the selective freckles, the slightly unkempt eyebrows, and the invisible cosmetics.
If you can get your hands on an actual copy of the magazine, this is a fantastic study in "find the photoshopping". It doesn't take a very keen eye to find the brushwork here. There isn't a wrinkle in sight. Just follow the areas where you would normally see age lines....scan across the surface of the skin and see the textural changes, or more accurately, lack of any texture at all. If I was teaching a photoshop class, I'd be using this portrait as a case study.

Ruven Afanador

Campaign for Real Beauty

Pascal Dangin

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