The image to the left is a digitally enhanced photo of Filipa Hamilton (real-life on the right), A former Ralph Lauren model who has recently been fired because she is ‘too fat’.

I pulled the following from a sermon I preached in ’07 about this very thing. Sorry, can’t recall the original source…

Thanks to technology, often not even the models themselves can compare to their portfolios. Increasingly, photos for print are enhanced and perfected to an astonishing degree. Not only are moles, big pores, acne and subtle facial hair erased from already pretty faces, but retouchers are routinely asked by editors and advertisers to enlarge eyes, trim normal-size ears, fill in hairlines, straighten teeth and lengthen the already-narrow necks, waists and legs of 18-year-old beauties. “We’re always stretching the models’ legs and slimming their thighs,” says a photo retoucher who works for a high-end Manhattan agency. In some cases, hands, feet and even legs are replaced in photos when the subject’s parts don’t add up to a perfect whole.
“Sometimes I feel a little like Frankenstein,” says the retoucher, who would only speak anonymously because of the potential for professional backlash. The irony, she adds, is that the models and actresses pictured have usually already been through hours of hair styling and makeup—including body makeup—to remove the slightest blemish. Yes, you heard that right, even after all of that, a 5-foot-10, 110-pound model still does not have legs that are long or skinny enough to suit some advertisers and fashion editors.
One might argue that photo alteration has been around for eons, but what is new is the industry shift from film to digital media about four years ago. Now it’s easier, faster and more routine to clean up and “perfect” faces and figures. The doctored images are now so believable that our eyes are becoming too accustomed to them. “The result is a culture of kids who are believing that unrealistic images are real and normal.

Makes you think doesn’t it?