“Good thing I still have MS Paint on my computer,” said Dugnutt. “Microsoft doesn’t give a shit about objectifying women.”
Photo By Sharon Roth
Recently, Adobe has ruffled some feathers following an announcement about their updated version of Photoshop. In addition to improving performance, the update introduces several features that CEO Gordon Crunch claims will “revolutionize the future of photo editing by changing the way we see the way women change the way they see themselves.”
The update boasts several new capabilities, such as an upgraded object select tool. Previously, users needed to drag their mouse around an object and Photoshop would automatically find the borders of the object using color contrast. Now, with Smart Object Select, the software can not only recognize whether the area users select contains an entity, but it can use artificial intelligence to identify whether that entity is an object or not. Gordon Crunch called this feature Adobe’s “feminist pièce-de-resistance,” as it would recognize the entity as a woman but “refuse to imprison her in the confines of the selection area, because, as my lawyers keep telling me, women are not objects.”
Britney Dugnutt, a San Diegan wedding photographer, took to her Instagram page to express her thoughts on the Photoshop software update. Dugnutt shared a post that showed how she could not use Photoshop to edit an image of a bride mid-sneeze. “It’s a blow to my career,” said Dugnutt in the post, “because the new Photoshop has so many new settings that I can’t turn off. I don’t know what to tell the brides I photograph.”
The automatic settings Dugnutt mentioned are Photoshop’s new EmpowerHer package, which is a set of adjustments and tools that apply to what the software deems “non-objects.” One deviation is that the EmpowerHer setting does not include the clone stamp tool. Gordon Crunch explained, “why would you need to clone yourself when there’s one unique you?” The EmpowerHer setting also retouches photos to “bring out inner beauty.” In addition to the red eye tool, Photoshop users can deploy the red lips tool, eyeliner tool, and plastic surgery tool. Furthermore, after identifying a woman, Photoshop automatically enables the “inner glow” layer style. Britney Dugnutt demonstrated the EmpowerHer retouching filters on herself. “I don’t recognize myself,” she said, “Photoshop somehow gave me simultaneous lip fillers and lip reductions. I have never had skin that smooth. And it looks like my nose job got a nose job.”
Despite professional and amateur users alike expressing frustration with the Photoshop update, CEO Gordon Crunch shows no sign of retracting the changes. In a statement released by Adobe shortly after their announcement, Crunch wrote, “I see women everywhere saying they hate the new Photoshop. But if I’m being honest, I’d be much more willing to listen to them after the red lip tool and rhinoplasty filter have a go at them.”
Sharon was “born” in 1801. She inspired the Archie Comics, which later inspired the hit TV show Riverdale.
