Are You Hiding Behind The Filter?

Article by BR Natalie

Who doesn't love Instagram?!  Admittedly it took a while to 'get it' but now a quick check of the notifications on the BR feed can end up with me scrolling and double tapping for half an hour.Little snapshots in to people's lives, motivational posts, beauty hauls, nail looks.  It's like Pinterest on the go.

Now I know there are many an IG afficianado among you, so what I'm going to say may raise some eyebrows or indeed, backs.

I'm getting just a little bit over filters.  Filters are overused.  Filters hide what is really in the photo.  Filters are the new Photoshop - and we've had many a debate about the effects of the now industry-standard photoshopping of models in the media.  Unrealistic expectations.  Body shaming.  Poor body image.  Low self esteem. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Instagram, here's a quick overview.  It's essentially a Facebook status or a Tweet, in the form of a photo.  100 million users upload 40 million photos every day, tagging them with things like #beautyreview, #bestbeautyboxever.   Users upload photos, crop them to a square and have the option to edit things like the brightness, focus or even add a 'filter'.  This gives them a retro feel - think Lomography photos - over exposed, under exposed, soft focus lighting, lo-fi imagery. 

You can see why it appeals to the hipster / artiste right?  But with the faux-retro, faux-artisan and faux-nostalgia shots, came another use for the filters.  Making us feel better about our selfies and photos of ourselves, by shifting the focus so to speak. 

For example I could post a selfie with a hint of a double chin (who am I kidding, make that a heaped serving of chins) on a bad skin day, and apply a filter that makes my skintone look perfect and literally darkens out the chins.  I often see photos that have focus on a gorgeous shade of lippy, but a blur applied to the rest of the face, softening features (and presumably hiding 'flaws') making the face almost look distorted. 

Now in real life, despite the best efforts of blur creams, people will not see you through a filter, so why should the cyber world? Who are we trying to kid?!

We all know behind every good selfie are 50 that didn't make the cut and I can totally get on board with that.  There's nothing worse than being tagged in a hideous photo, where you've been caught at the wrong angle for a second and immortalised on your firend's wall looking awful - but why can't we just be happy with a good photo of ourselves?  You know, the photos where you look at yourself and think, "I don't look half bad in that.  That's a keeper."

If we're feeling fabulous and decide to show off our #motd (yeap, sorry menfolk, that's no longer Match Of The Day, that's Makeup Of The Day) surely we want everyone to see the true colours?  And with rumours of celebrities like Beyonce, photoshopping their 'candid' shots before posting on Instagram, I can't help but wonder if the 'me' we're portraying online, is in fact the 'you' people see in real life.  Aren't we just deluding ourselves, when we should be accepting ourselves?

It's time to take of the rose tinted glasses and let the cyber world see us as the real world does.  Liberate your photos from the filter, accept a good photo without picking up on, and trying to hide, every flaw.  You are beautiful.  You are beautiful with that blemish.  Not in spite of it, not by hiding it, not by filtering it.  You are just beautiful.

Show us who you really are - come on, shout it loud, #nofilter

Are you an avid Instagrammer?  Do you apply filters to all of your photos and does it help your confidence in posting them?  Do you agree with BR Nat that filters will create the same issues as Photoshopping in the media, or is she talking wet?