Two plus-size models asked a photographer to heavily photoshop them to make an important point about body image.
Diana Sirokai and Callie Thorpe posted the before and after images to their Instagram accounts to show just how misleading heavily retouched photos in media can be.
Diana Sirokai (left) and Callie Thorpe. To see the original image, before photoshop, hover on the right-hand edge of the photo and click the arrow button.
The pair have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and are powerful voices in the social media site’s body positivity community, where models, bloggers and influencers share unretouched photos celebrating the glorious diversity of the human body.
The pair called on photographer Karina Poltavtceva, whom Diana has worked with previously, to edit their photos - making them much slimmer and cellulite-free.
″[We] have asked our photographer to use photoshop on us,” explained Diana in the caption.
“The purpose of this was to show you all how magazines and the media takes editing to a different level. Models and celebrities do not even look like theirselves. We live in such a fake world its time to bring real back. Own who you are and slay.”
Callie Thorpe (right) said in the caption of her post: “It’s no wonder women are laden with insecurities. For years we have been subjected to perfect airbrushed and often altered images across the media. Whilst photoshop has its place and need in some parts of industries this is the extreme when it comes to editing, it just goes to show how much we can really alter ourselves.
″[We] look perfect just as we are, two friends smiling for a photo. We want to show women that it’s okay to look ‘normal’ to have cellulite, stretch marks and tummies that aren’t flat and toned. Be happy with you who you are and the skin you are in.”