Professionals and amateur photographers alike use Adobe Photoshop to airbrush photos.
National magazines often use Photoshop to retouch or airbrush the subjects, especially for major covers. It can sometimes be difficult to tell whether a subject has been adjusted by Photoshop, especially if the deed is done by a professional retoucher. There are a few give-aways as to whether a photo has been shopped, as described below.
Instructions
1. Look for any inconsistencies or physical impossibilities. For example, a photo of a woman shopped to make her arms and legs abnormally thin, or with body parts positioned in an impossible way. Also, look to see if the subject's skin is too smooth, or if the body is too perfect.
2. Zoom in on the photograph and look at the photo pixel-by-pixel. Note any sharp lines that look out of place; these lines occur as a result of pasting one image over another, and is thus a sign of photoshopping. More adept photo retouchers can better scrub these lines away.
3. Take note of the pixel ratio. Normal pixel ratios include 640 X 480 or 1024 X 768. If the pixel ratio is unusual, such as 500 X 500, then it was the original image, and it was adjusted in photoshop.
4. Use an Image Error Analyzer. This tool allows you to see different qualities of compression in a photo that occurs when a photograph has been manipulated.
