The Clog from OzBeauty is in the Eye of The Squinter
November 23rd 2006 06:17
“Everyone is beautiful if you squint a bit” – Unknown
That’s for sure, all the blemishes and imperfections of the person you’re looking at aren’t noticed when you’re squinting. But if you happen to be looking at someone who is terribly overweight, your squinting won’t help you at all – reducing the focus doesn’t change the size of what you’re looking at!
I think this reduction in focus when you’re squinting is what photographers are aiming to do in the model shots of celebrities you see in magazines. Those dramatically airbrushed photos can be altered so far from the original that sometimes it is difficult to even identify who really is on the cover of Dolly or New Woman. No wonder young women are so self-conscious and obsessed with their bodies.
But with me, I’m usually squinting at things. Although I wear glasses or contact lenses all the time neither of them are the right prescription so I am usually giving this pained wincing expression when I’m focussing on something. I know I should increase the power of my lenses but my theory is if I do that my eyes will become even more dependent on my glasses and get even crappier… So for the moment, I’m just squinting at things.
What I am actually doing is semi-closing my eyes so I can see things close to me better, but if you stand at a distance from something the opposite occurs. This is when you get the out-of-focus airbrushed look of whoever you are looking at. So I think for close examination of things we squint and doing so also distorts our images of distant objects. It’s the same physical action to produce two opposite effects. Just like blowing on your soup to cool it down and blowing on your hands to warm them up!
That’s for sure, all the blemishes and imperfections of the person you’re looking at aren’t noticed when you’re squinting. But if you happen to be looking at someone who is terribly overweight, your squinting won’t help you at all – reducing the focus doesn’t change the size of what you’re looking at!
I think this reduction in focus when you’re squinting is what photographers are aiming to do in the model shots of celebrities you see in magazines. Those dramatically airbrushed photos can be altered so far from the original that sometimes it is difficult to even identify who really is on the cover of Dolly or New Woman. No wonder young women are so self-conscious and obsessed with their bodies.
But with me, I’m usually squinting at things. Although I wear glasses or contact lenses all the time neither of them are the right prescription so I am usually giving this pained wincing expression when I’m focussing on something. I know I should increase the power of my lenses but my theory is if I do that my eyes will become even more dependent on my glasses and get even crappier… So for the moment, I’m just squinting at things.
What I am actually doing is semi-closing my eyes so I can see things close to me better, but if you stand at a distance from something the opposite occurs. This is when you get the out-of-focus airbrushed look of whoever you are looking at. So I think for close examination of things we squint and doing so also distorts our images of distant objects. It’s the same physical action to produce two opposite effects. Just like blowing on your soup to cool it down and blowing on your hands to warm them up!
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