Photoshop law requires retouching disclosure

The French national assembly passed legislation that is being called the Photoshop law. The law requires all Photoshop retouching that is performed on models be clearly labeled. The Photoshop law is included with other legislation designed to safeguard the health of models used in fashion shows, commercials, advertisements, and photography. Photoshop is being regulated by requiring a disclosure when publishing an altered image that has been modified in such a way that it “makes the silhouette narrower or wider” of a model.

This is the first known legislation in Europe in which using Photoshop is illegal if it isn't fully disclosed. Violations of the Photoshop law are punishable by 6 months in prison along with a fine of 75,000 Euros. Israel also recently enacted a Photoshop law which requires disclosure of image manipulation of models, and also specifies a body mass index (BMI) for those working in the modeling profession.

The push to regulate Photoshop comes after many widely publicize incidents of models and celebrities being made to appear thinner through retouching. While excessive Photoshop retouching originally was criticized by advocates for maintaining a healthy body image, especially among young women, the cause has expanded to a much wider group. Some celebrities have criticized advertisers and publishers for the excessive use of Photoshop on their own images. Despite a movement towards more natural looking images, there remain almost weekly occurrences of celebrities sharing images that involve excessive use of Photoshop, generally used in an attempt to thin their appearance. Ironically at the same time one government is passing laws regulating the use of Photoshop, another government across the world was posting official images that were clearly manipulated.

This new Photoshop law is part of a more comprehensive set of legislation that seeks to also make certain that models are of good health. The original legislation also included a specific body mass index 9BMI) requirement, but this was replaced with a requirement that a physician certify that models are in good health.

One aspect of learning Photoshop is understanding when retouching is useful and acceptable. A Photoshop professional will work to improve images tone, contrast, lighting, an emphasis. Yet care should be placed into using Photoshop in a way that limits changes to the intent and appearance of an individual in any way that causes them to appear unnaturally thin. This Photoshop law attempts to address this by forcing retouching artists to label any work that changes the silhouette of a model.