Photoshop has been blamed for supercharging the unhealthy comparison that normal women make between themselves and the unearthly beauties featured in glossy magazines. And conversely, whenever a celebrity is papped without make-up, they tend to be written about in a negative way, because they have deigned to step outside without their full regalia.
One photographer who wanted to show a more natural side to the modelling world is Melbourne-based Jack Salzke, whose subjects don't have a lick of make-up on them.
Talking to HuffPost Lifestyle about the idea for the project, he said: "At least once a week for the last year or so I’ve seen articles written online about models and celebrities “caught” without their makeup, and it’s always bugged me. And I thought about the way that the media is bringing down these women because they were “caught” in a personal moment.
"I wanted to show everyone that these women are actually incredibly beautiful without their makeup and without Photoshop."
Although it's hard not to look at these photos and not be envious, it's a good reminder to not get caught up with the crowd of shaming other women.
SEE ALSO:
Porn Stars Without Make-Up: Second Chapter Of 'Before And After' Hit
Make-Up Artist Reveals Jaw-Dropping Before And After Photos Of Women Transformed Into Models
"Whenever a photographer, model, or whoever posts an image of a model online there’s always a few people that try to bring that model down by saying she’s been Photoshopped to perfection. How do you think that makes the model feel - especially if the image has hardly been touched? She’s just been told she’s not as beautiful as she is in her own photos, and that can’t be easy to take."
However, it is hard for people who don't work in the industry to differentiate between an image that is heavily Photoshopped and something with just a light touch. "It’s definitely overused," says Jack "but not everyone overuses it… I believe it has it’s place.
"In terms of whether or not Photoshop should be blamed for giving women unrealistic expectations of beauty - it should quite obviously take some of the blame, but not all of it by any means, there are numerous other factors to consider and to place the soul blame on Photoshop would be unfair."
The rules of Photoshop for this particular set of photos was to only remove temporary scars - so a pimple - but not freckles or other scars and imperfections. He used Adobe Lightroom to convert to black and white.
Take a look:
Models Without Make-Up
Jack has created a Kickstarter campaign so that he can convert his photos of models into a book.