They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How much is a true image of a model worth?

The movie below shows what goes into transforming a model from what she really looks like into what she looks like when she appears on a billboard ad. The transformation includes not only of hair and makeup, but also Photoshop. The results are startling.

Ask yourself: At what point does this cease to be a picture of a real person?

Here is what she looks like when they begin:
Model Reality

Here is what she looks like after hair and makeup:
Model After Hair, Makeup, etc

And finally after the computer changes her image:
Model after Photoshopping

Pictures are nice, but the movie (below) shows all the steps involved. I’d love to know how long this transformation took in real life.

Watch the whole transformation (Quicktime, iPod format).

iPod iPod-compatible version (right click to save) (7.3 MB)

Note that the “iPod Version” is exactly the same as what appears in your browser.

I generally don’t consider myself much of an activist, but this was particularly striking, not only for the expectations that it places on girls/women, but also boys/men. If you’d like to learn more, checkout the Campaign for Real Beauty.