14 DAY TRIAL // Until Beyonce joined social media and launched her own website, fans had very little access, if any at all, to personal photos, and it made sense to have this happen because, after all, she was (and is) one of the biggest stars of recent times. Beyonce is now fully in control of her image through photos.
And by that we mean fully in control. Take the shot above for example: at a first sight, it doesn’t seem as if there’s anything wrong with it but word online has it that it’s been Photoshopped to give her a thigh gap, i.e. to make her appear much skinnier than she is in real life.
Beyonce, husband Jay Z, and daughter Blue Ivy are now in the Dominican Republic on vacation, with the singer posting on her website a series of photos showing what they’re doing for fun while there. Golfing, it seems, is one of their favorite leisure activities – as also is some bad Photoshopping work.
Take a better look at the photo, with particular attention to the thigh area. Aside from the obvious fact that anyone who knows Beyonce knows that she doesn’t have a thigh gap because she’s naturally curvy (very toned, but curvy), there is also a certain unevenness, as if the hand wavered when shaving off “excess” flesh on the leg.
Besides, the line in the grass behind Beyonce is abruptly interrupted in the space between her legs.
The Frisky says that Photoshop experts can tell right away that something is “off” with the photo because all the signs are there to indicate it has been tampered with.
“The slight wavy unevenness and a certain sharpness where there should be a natural curve indicate that the clone stamp tool was probably used to whittle down Bey’s thighs and butt area, just enough to look unnoticeable and natural at first glance,” the e-zine says, adding that the tool used was most likely the “clone stamp.”
Fans who have seen the photo (and another one also included in the same batch of vacation pics) have also picked up on this, taking to Twitter to point it out and accuse Beyonce of being a hypocrite: you can’t preach body acceptance and body diversity, say you’re very happy with yourself and then go and Photoshop the photos you put online claiming to be candids.
And that’s what it all boils down to, if you think about it. Since when did we start altering and “improving” our personal photos and our selfies? Are filters and angles and lighting suddenly not enough to make us look good? Is a candid photo still “candid” if you add to it things you don’t have in real life, like a thigh gap?