Altered Existence

• New ads for Victoria Beckham's Emporio Armani campaign were unveiled May 6, and the fashionista and mother of three looks a little less severe in the ad. Beckham, who once said she had 'saggy skin' and looked 'really awful' naked, looks pretty great on the 20-foot banner. The Daily Mail claims she has had a 'discreet hand from the airbrushers' and we have to agree. Whose hips are those anyway?
  
  
  

  Getty Images / JPI Studios

• Racing icon and role-model for young women everywhere, Danica Patrick posed for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit edition for the second year in a row. Her photo in 2008 (on left) shows the racing phenom with an American flag tattoo on her back. In the 2009 images (on right), her tattoo (which now has wings added) was Photoshopped out.
  According to CNBC, Sports Illustrated acknowledged that the tattoo was airbrushed out, but a spokesman didn't comment as to why that editorial decision was made. Publicists for Danica said she "is aware of the edits and is comfortable with the final photos." So why was the tattoo acceptable in 2008 but not in 2009? Her 2009 images were clearly more Photoshopped to create the 'perfect body', instead of the 'real body'. Have our ideals of women's bodies changed so much in one year?
  
  
  

  SI.com

• Katie Holmes is the new face of Miu Miu. Their new Fellini-esque advertising campaign was shot by photographers Marcus Piggott and Mert Alas. Piggott and Alas also photographed the Armani ads for the Beckhams. While the image does mirror Fellini's wildly eccentric film style, it's still ridiculously Photoshopped. We could have done without Katie conjuring up fire from her unfeeling fingertips. It's just too over-the-top.
  
  
  

  Miu Miu | WireImage

• UPDATE: After this cover and her final (very Photoshopped) album cover were released, Kelly joked on her blog about how her recent album cover was manipulated. She wrote, "they have definitely photo-shopped the crap out of me but i don't care haha! whoever she is, she looks great ha!"
  The cover art for Kelly Clarkson's new single has been released and man, she looks a little, uh ... different? The cover is fun and the color is great and we get that it's supposed to be a little bit fantasy with the fake sparkles on the lips and lollipop, but shouldn't the cover resemble the singer? If her name wasn't splashed across her forehead we would never have known that it was the former American Idol winner.
  This seems to be a trend with the photographer, Mike Ruiz. The bulk of his stuff (especially more recent) tends to have an over-Photoshopped plastic look to it. It's not bad and he does brand his work as "surreal," but don't you still need to be able to tell who's in the photograph?
  
  
  

  WireImage

• Now look, Mario Testino, we took up for you when critics said you Photoshopped Jessica Alba in the Campari ads, but we can't help you here. Usually a mess, model Kate Moss looks 10-years younger and 10 pounds thinner in the new Versace ads photographed by Testino. It's not a terrible Photoshop job, but there is something odd about it, as well as the lighting. For example, the light landing on her right wrist -- it forms a weird curved shape. The shadowing along her left arm is also very strange and uneven. We won't even get started on her waist ...
  
  
  

  Versace | WireImage

• Media outlets and gossip blogs were buzzing with the news that Jessica Alba was Photoshopped for the Campari calendar photographed by famed photographer Mario Testino. The Daily Mail is reporting that the photo on the left is the same photo as the right. It's not. The photo on the left is a handout photo shot by someone on set, positioned behind Mario Testino. They were not using the same strobe lights as Testino, nor were they shooting from the same the angle, therefore their argument is moot. Clearly the images were touched up but with the different angles and poor lighting, it is unfair to make comparisons like this one from the Daily Mail. Leaked photos which have been posted on various internet blogs show an original shot of Jessica posing for Campari, an image which was later airbrushed.
  
  
  

  B. VanDerPlas, Campari | Mario Testino, Campari

• Skinny Curvey, a women's blog devoted to body issues, did acknowledge they knew the images they were comparing were not the same photos. Their blog post from 12/06/08 reads: "So let's see the differences between real Jessica and photoshopped Jessica (I am aware that these are not the exact same pictures, but they're the closest thing to it)." They are right, they are the closest thing to it. We call out media and advertising for airbrushing celebrities all the time, but angles and lighting need to be factored in to the equation.
  
  
  

  B. VanDerPlas, Campari | Mario Testino, Campari

• Former model and Baby Phat CEO Kimora Lee Simmons,shed a few pounds via Photoshop for the ads promoting the second season of her show on Style Network, 'Life In The Fab Lane'. Who does Style think it's kidding?
  
  
  

  Style | WireImage

• Welcome to Britney's Big Top, or more specifically, the House of Mirrors. The picture on the left is the promotional poster for Britney's new album, 'Circus'. The poster picture looks nothing like her, not even close. Poor Brit, she has worked really hard to get in shape and she has come so far. She looks like a plastic Barbie doll in the poster image and maybe that's what they were going for, but they should have at least made her face look similar.
  
  
  

  Getty Images

• Then there is another iteration of how Britney's record company thinks she should look. On the left is her new album cover for 'Circus'. We think her face is prettier on the real picture on the right. Since she is human her arm is obviously different and has a little more to it.
  
  
  

  Britneyspears.com | WireImage