Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Long ago, I wrote about making yourself look thinner with Photoshop techniques.

• Starling Fitness – Make Yourself Thinner With Software

Back then, I said:

In the end, there is no software that can make you look better. You have to do the work to look better. I have never had a better photo taken of me than the quick clicks of friends when I am healthy and strong.

It looks like photography websites are eagerly jumping on the bandwagon of making their subjects look thinner using this technique. Here is a video showing photographers how to make their clients look a little bit thinner in their photos using the Transform Tool in Photoshop. If you are using GIMP, use the Scale Image tool.

There is also a way to do something similar to this using the Liquify Tool. If you are using GIMP, use the iWarp tool. Here is a video tutorial showing those techniques as well.

I think that minor manipulation of photos like this is just a way for us to fool ourselves into not seeing our true selves. Until we are willing to look at our bodies and accept the way they are RIGHT NOW, it’s impossible for us to make the appropriate decisions to change it. If you accept your body the way it is and love it, that’s great! If you accept your body the way it is and want to change it, that’s great, as well. The first thing you have to do, however, is ACCEPT your body the way it is.

There is one exception to this thought and I will talk about that tomorrow.

Via: Pioneer Woman Photography – Ree Drummond

If you don’t own Photoshop and don’t want to pay the $600 price tag for it, there is a great open source program available that can do almost as much as Photoshop for FREE. You can download it here:

• GIMP – The GNU Image Manipulation Program

Update 06-25-09: I’ve found another good tutorial that really gives you a clear idea of how to do this: