Pics - Too Pretty?

[Rhonda Jean]

I've been around the block a time or two. That's no brag, that's a lament. Picture-wise I started with a Polaroid (the only camera we had) when I was a teenager. I got my first 35mm SLR when I was 20 and upgraded for the next 20 or so years until I got my first digital. I'm not into taking or posting pics of myself anymore (another story), but the point is I've done a lot, including a Glamour Shots in about 1980. In all that, nothing that approaches what I see commonly online today.

What I haven't ever done is FaceApp or any of those enhancements, so I could be easily fooled. I'm not going to talk about any of the pics on this site to avoid singling anybody out or leaving somebody out. I'm talking about Reddit, and I'm sure there are lots of other cd picture sites. I cannot believe the pageant queen beauty of so many girls on those sites! It is shocking to me, and I don't say that lightly. I often come away wondering if it's a ruse. Somebody (many somebodys) posting pics of beautiful girls and claiming that it's them, or using some kind of computer enhancement to erase imperfections and add, well, perfections. My first (and many later) photos are not in my possession, but I remember some of them, particularly the very first ones. Even the ones where my wife did my hair and makeup... horrible, really. These girls have incredibly feminine bodies, in most cases no trace of beard shadow, they have beautiful clothes and know how to wear them and how to pose. I find it all incredible, maybe unbelievable, and sometimes depressing.

I'm curious what everybody's take is on this. You who are tech-savvy might explain. Have we experiences some kind of incredibly fast evolution to where boys today are prettier than most of the girls from a generation or two ago?

[bridget thronton]

I was curious and used mtf gender swap filter on headshot I used at work - I was impressed at the results but I would rather keep working on my makeup skills to try to look better in real life (perhaps only a dream - part of why I do not post pictures of my fem self here - but I sure admire the people do post pic here they look great)

[Maid_Marion]

It is part of our culture. Magazine covers have always been altered. Before Photoshop artists used airbrushes to make women look better.
Movie stars have dental work to look better. I'm sure a lot of them wish they didn't since those old veneers weren't as good as their original teeth.
But, it is part of the job of being a movie star. Taylor Swift has been very vocal about the unrealistic demands placed on GGs.
She has the advantage of being rich and powerful. She literally has an army of Swifties to protect her. But not when she was starting out.

[AmyJordan]

Hi Rhonda I agree many pictures look amazing and can make you feel inadequate but many are computer generated and completely fake. I personally don't see the point in doing that as its then not even a picture of yourself. My pics are of me with no computer manipulations just help from my wonderful wife and continuous practice, yes we all like to think we look amazing but we have to accept we're never going to be gorgeous. I once printed out some amazing photos using Faceapp and my wife threw them away saying 'it's not you' so back to practicing.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Rhonda :hugs:, I have often thought about some of those pictures,

Hi Amy :hugs:, Your pictures are always very Beautiful,

>>>>>>>>>>>Orchid**O:daydreaming:O**

[paulinescotlandcd]

I would have to say i do agree with you that you are right to be just a tad cynical. I am the same age as you and followed the same timeline photography wise. Up until a few years ago i used to post photographs online on Flickr but i had to stop due to a change at home. Anyway, i have tried Face app a few times and they were fun but not real. At most all i did on my Flickr photographs was to just lighten then up due to the flash on the camera not being too good. Waht you see on my Flickr photographs are the results of my fantastic makeup skills and nice dresses to distract the viewer...lol. At the end of the day i suppose you can't blame people for trying to look as best they can but in the final analysis I reckon i can spot those people who post pictures where they look frankly incredible. I just take it all with a large pinch of salt and chuckle :)

[ShelbyDawn]

I see them on Instagram, too. Some are up front and some aren't. As for FaceApp, Check my avatar or profile to see what it says I would look. I just wish... :)

[Di]

Face App here HAS to be acknowledged in the thread .

https://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?276395-Face-App

Other side from a member:)

Just my two cents from a partner of a CD that loved taking pictures and videos .

I know you were not accusing anyone here but people used to and it was hurtful to her .
I would point out to said people HELLO look at her music videos..we are not Disney studios this is her singing, dancing and no difference from her pictures. One thing she did have was killer makeup skills- as before we met and while she used to be married she locked her in the bathroom for hours learning everything- the results from years of doing that her girl face transformed.( contour, beard cover ,brows, shading, her eyes - things to make a male face female)
We had a durn cell phone and that is it. She was 5 ft 7 and very fit, had her fantastic makeup skills ( makeup on GGs and CDs is not the same ( hiding the guy)
We had no fancy equipment and certainly no face app and do not think that was around then.
Just wanted to give the side from a wife and her photographer.
Guess this reminded me of unfair accusations in the past.
Nothing you said .
Also
I have met many CDs with my partner at events and not calling them out but most look just as fabulous in person.


Mod Hat on


ADD
Please no pictures in this thread, we are trying to keep picture threads in the gallery and the OP did not post one or ask for pictures. Thanks

[docrobbysherry]

I unappologetically wear masks. As someone who never thot to dress before age 50, I never had the chance to present fem when I was young!:sad:

I don't use any face apps or Photoshop my pics. When I mask I look like my photos in person. I like looking good! And, think any other trans who wants to should be able to without criticism!:battingeyelashes:

I have entered a couple of those online photo contests on a lark. I once won 3rd in the, "Super cougar", catagory for dressers over 65!:tongueout

[Diane P]

I agree that lots of people like to do what they can to look better in photographs. I have no problem with that, because at least on these forum, they are upfront about using FaceApp. I tried it a couple weeks ago. I was kind of impressed with what it did to my picture but have no plans to use it any more. What you see in my avatar and profile pic is what I looked like in Mar at the Girls Nighrt Out in OKC after having a professional makeup artist do my makeup. I wish I could look that good doing it myself. I understand it's gong to take time and practice and time is something I have plenty of since I retired last Jul after my wife passed away.

[Genifer Teal]

I think it waters down the unaltered pics. I usually assume some amount of alteration or filter.

[Princess Chantal]

I have not been questioned about altering my own appearances via apps and etc. I guess my makeup skills and feminine appearance are not worthy of it. However, I have had emails from folks accusing me of cropping and layering myself into the pictures of some of the interesting backgrounds. My running joke with my partner Vanessa and close friend Mutt while we are somewhere awesome is a statement by one of those emails - “get real, no crossdressers will go there”.

[MarinaTwelve200]

The only things I have ever done to alter my pictures was to erase an "inconvenient" mole or replace a missing tooth.---- But I have fixed both of those problems long ago in RL. Part of the whole FUN of this CD thing is to display our artistic talents and take PRIDE in our ability to use makeup and clothing to show what we would look like as women. How can you take pride in faking it with Photo shop? And why should we have to compete with those who USE extensive computer enhancement? Still, I am OK with it and various filters so long as we are told.

[gillathome]

I think that altering photos with filters has been normalised for quite a while now, so it's definitely likely that some are altered.
However, there are certainly some young people who do just look that good!
And I think it's much easier to learn makeup skills and to share online than it used to be - and remember that you are only seeing their very best picture!

[CharlotteCD]

90% of what you see on Reddit is fake. There are telltale signs if you know what to look for.

[kimdl93]

My take is that too many people (of all genders and ages) seek validation through social media sites, and its common for them to embellish their appearance in order to garner more likes or whatever. Its unhealthy.

I know its tempting to employ various gimmicks, in particular FaceApp, to present a more appealing image. I have not attempted this. In the end I would ask what is the point? If I manipulated image, I know its not me and I know that when I face the real world that flattering image remains nothing but pixels.

I think its pretty (sadly) obvious that, other than extracting the backgrounds ocassionally, my images are not retouched in any manner.

[jessicabf]

Whenever I think I look great in the mirror, and then take a picture, I wonder ?what the hell happened!?? so I guess some people understand lighting and posing to get a good shot. Think of all the hundreds of pictures are taken, to get that one good one to put on social media. And then on top of that, the apps and programs than alter things too.

Or course, make up is essentially what was created to change appearance before computers.

we can just enjoy the process when on our own and the hope we look as good as possible when out. *shrug*

[Amanda James]

Sense I was very young I loved to dress up and pretend I was a girl, I feel FaceApp is just an extension of that. I know I'm pretending to be a girl(woman)and I know my FaceApp profile photo is pretend also.
That said never thought it mattered to anyone but me.
I realize this thread is not about me but it's opened my eyes to the fact that FaceApp altered photos can have a negative effect on others.
As soon as I figure out how to do it I will add "It's a
FaceApp photo" to my profile photo. Have a great day Ladies!

[Heather76]

Understand a few things. First, many pictures may not be of the person claiming them. Next, know the pictures can easily be altered/enhanced by someone who knows what programs to use and how to use them. Finally, remember if a person has the money to hire makeup artists, most any donkey can be made to look like a thoroughbred. I never compare myself to others as I know I'm just an old man trying to enjoy his feminine side as much as possible.

[Karren H]

I wish I were tech savvy and knew how to use FaceApp. I would have saved a fortune in makeup!

[Rhonda Jean]

We had no fancy equipment and certainly no face app and do not think that was around then.
Just wanted to give the side from a wife and her photographer.
Guess this reminded me of unfair accusations in the past.


Well, since you brought her up I'm not going to miss the opportunity to talk about Sher. I think I can follow the rules and keep it more or less on the original topic.

When I joined this forum in 2006 the whole world was a very different place for us. For those of you who weren't around, Sher is THE legend around here. She didn't need computer enhancement and she didn't need to embellish her story. Her beauty and her story are what others are embellished to even resemble. To be as hot as Sher and be married to someone who truly celebrates and encourages feminine beauty boundlessly, that, my friends, is hitting the lottery! Sher and Di invented honesty and openness. In fairness (in a self-serving way) I must point out that it must be easy to be open and honest with a wife who as enthralled with your femininity and beauty as Di was with Sher! I was in an accepting marriage at the time, but not THAT accepting. I could only dream! I think that's called ENVY!

Oh yea. The topic. FaceApp and the like aside, everybody is a photographer now. I remember quite well setting up an SLR in a hotel room on a tripod with a bulb shutter release or a timer and having the film processed, knowing that people saw my pics before I did. 24 pictures was a lot. Film and processing was expensive, not to mention that even the expensive equipment was archaic compared to today's cell phone camera. My pics from when I was 15 or 25 or 45... yes, that's it! Bad equipment!

No. The difference between Sher's pics and mine (aside from the basic fact that Sher was just prettier than me) is that mine were taken in lonely cheap hotel room and Sher's were taken by someone who loved her. There's no app for that.

[Sandi Beech]

We are about the same age and I have to admit as I look in mirror, I see an older and older person. I can not do anything about that other than to do the best I can do with what I have to work with.

There will always be prettier CDs out there, so I do not spend a lot of time lamenting over it. But I do wish the aging clock would stop sometimes. Anyhow, it has not stopped me from getting out there and having some fun and pretending to be younger. Many will respond to a positive attitude better than even having the best of appearance.

Sandi

[Maid_Marion]

I've been told not too long ago by my GG friends that I could pass for someone in my 20s if I dyed my hair.
Some of us have lucky genetics and don't age as fast as normal. I'm sure that some of it is wearing a wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off my face since the 1980s.

Marion

[SherriePall]

First off, I agree with Rhonda's comments about Sher. Such a lovely girl who was very fortunate to have Di at her side. As far as today's young ladies and their photos, I, too, wonder if some aren't passing a GG off. Or a GG isn't pranking us. Or if some technical wizardry hasn't been used. No matter what, there are some gorgeous girls on the internet, including this site. Fact is that I do get a little envious. However, I realize some of those charms have left the building as I get older.

[Aunt Kelly]

I have no doubt that ALOT of the pictures we see are heavily Photoshopped/FaceApped, or are actually of GG's. I will never understand the need/desire to perpetrate such falsehoods, but it is clearly common. Mind you, I'm not against people indulging in their fantasies, as long as they are honest about it.

[DianeT]

You can Goggle a picture if you have your doubts and want to trace its origin back. Just save the picture and past it on the Google image search tool. It won't trace back FaceApp processed ones, but actual GG pictures have a good chance to pop.
I also observe that pictures are far from being the only things that get embellished on this site :) Good candidates for the Writers' section seem to accidentally end up in the MTF section from time to time...

[MonicaPVD]

The unprecedented connectivity that we have access to today presents a curious situation. So, you go on a platform like Reddit and connect to a community of tens or hundreds of thousands of CDs and/or trans or gender nonconforming humans. The fact that you scroll through 50 or 100 pictures of beautiful people seems remarkable because many of us will live our entire lifetimes without encountering 50 or 100 beautiful CDs or transwomen in person, in real life. Yet, those 50 people are only a tiny fraction of that community. Subsequently, those beautiful people who post their pictures inadvertently help perpetuate unrealistic beauty standards that cause us regular-looking people to shy away from posting our own pictures. This has a snowball effect.

The same thing happens on platforms like Instagram where you can spend weeks scrolling through tens of thousands of posts by absolutely stunning women, and then you go out into the real world and you would be hard pressed to randomly encounter anyone who looks that good. One example of the power and danger of getting too wrapped up in social media.

Fascinating stuff.

[alwayshave]

I have seen the pictures on Reddit and have wondered as to their authenticity. As far as my pictures, no filter is used. It's just plain old me.

[azncd]

I've mentioned my thoughts a bit before, but I'm still a little torn I guess...

On the one hand, SOME of the apps and enhancements are such that there's absolutely NO resemblance at all to the original picture or person. It's just basically a completely fabricated image.

Some of the other apps are more like wrinkle reducers, skin lighteners, etc... just basically an automated photoshop filter that used to be slightly less common? but still completely achievable.

But the other half of my conundrum is that first off, very few people would recognize any of us wearing makeup, wigs, pretty dresses, etc. The whole thing here is presenting a different image of ourselves in a way that we would like to be seen, and in a way, filters sort of help enhance that as well. It's sort of like when I see videos and pictures of amazing makeup artists who are able to transform themselves into completely different looking people.

I don't think there's an easy answer, and being proud of "unaltered" pics is fine too, but there's still angles, lighting, exposure, etc. that goes into account to take a "good" picture.

[Jasmine23]

I have no doubt that the majority of those photos are fake or enhanced in some way. They are too perfect to be real, they are not just passing, but, more beautiful than most women, so hard to believe most of them are real. I don't mind people playing around with thes apps to make themselves look more feminine as long as they tell us.

However there are some that are genuine, some were just born lucky, have feminine facial features, slim builds and have become experts in make-up, feminine fashion, and lighting. Some of these girls are extremely dedicated, they spend hours and hours perfecting their makeup skills, remove their body hair, use high quality wigs, breastplates, padding, etc. They also buy high quality clothes, lingerie and shoes and practice their feminine mannerisms; how the walk, sit and pose, until it's second nature to them. As we all know the Internet is a huge resource for tips and tricks for passing and some of these girls have become experts in applying all of these tricks, so passing looks like it's come easy for them, but they've put a huge amount of time and effort into passing. I wish I had their time and dedication but, like most people here I have a life outside of crossdressing which severely limits my crossdressing.

[Roxxxi]

In this modern times one has access to lots of things that were not available in the past, for instance: online makeup tutorials. Personally I've learned a lot from those YouTube videos of GG and expert crossdressers who teach us how to conceal imperfections and enhance attributes to the point of looking like a completely different person/gender. For me that's the main difference.

In addition nowadays everyone has an almost professional camera in their pocket equipped with amazing technology to select the perfect brightness, contrast, shutter speed, etc to get the best possible picture, and that most camera apps have a "portrait" filter which tends to hide all minor imperfections. Also, having the camera in the pocket allows us to take several pictures with different angles, poses, outfits at a time so at the end of the day if I want to post a picture I have several to find the best ones (I'm not going to post ugly pictures online, are you?).

Finally, today everyone has access to buy realistic breast forms, breast plates, even full silicone bodysuits, different types of body shapers, hip pads, beautiful clothes, makeup, heels, etc. I don't think crossdressers in the 90s had all these options, at least not only a few clicks away from getting those things delivered to your home.

Sum all that and then you get why crossdressers today have better photos that say 20 years ago, and I'm not even mentioning faceapp or similar apps which alter one's face digitally.

[Rhonda Jean]

90's? Try 70's.

I agree with all that's been said. I do not like the enhanced pics. I've seen a few where the enhanced pic was posted along with the unaltered pic and I personally found the unaltered pic more attractive. I just prefer real to fake.

I also seriously think that boys are more feminine now. Fitness, skin care, genetics, influences, trends in appearance and grooming... the list goes on. Add to that that boys aren't so afraid to be feminine today. Their starting point is a little ahead of where it was for most of us. Pretty easy to see why someone starting with all those might want to see what he looks like in a dress.

This thought isn't reallly on topic, but for all our differences every one of us had that moment when we put on a dress and looked in the mirror for the first time. It still happens every day in much the same way. Maybe they're just better at it than I was.

[Vale]

To be fair, I don?t post any pictures of myself male or female on the net. For decades now I and many others have had sufficient image processing skills to doctor photos at will. Recent apps allow people who are not experts similar capabilities. So nothing fundamentally new here. I like to think of photos people post as artistic expressions of what they feel inside. Maybe call them pictures of the deeper ?reality? inside? The advent of deep fakes is rapidly pushed us to recognize that pictures are communications just like words. Neither pictures nor words are facts. Let?s enjoy the beautiful and nuanced communications we can fashion. . . . Vale

[Bridget Ann Gilbert]

This is an interesting thread. I have to agree with Rhonda Jean that a genuine image is preferable to a digital creation. When gender swap filters first came out, I took full advantage of them because my wife prefers me with facial hair, which puts a real cramp in transforming into Bridget. MTF filters, at first, were good for filling the need to see my fem self. But over time I realized how they all created a cookie cutter version of a 20-something woman. The eyebrows were always just so, same for blush, skin tone, etc. I finally realized what they were doing wasn?t really me.

I do believe the technology has its place. I used FaceApp with my current profile picture, but just to replace the background from my less-than-attractive bathroom. I also played with the hairstyle filter where it added a touch of volume to my wig, but it also evened out my complexion. The surprise result was to make me look just a bit more feminine. I chose not to use that enhanced version here because I want to present myself as authentically as possible.

I think, in the end, we all just want to present the best version of ourselves. As has been pointed out, photo editing has been around a long time. There shouldn?t be any shame in using modern methods as enhancements. It?s up to each person to decide how far to take it.

[Jane G]

I know nothing of face apos and such, other than what I have read on this forum. I do know that foundation and make up are far better at hiding my stubble and wrinkles, than that were 40+ years ago, I expect that makes as much difference as some of the apps.

[Joanne108]

In my pictures it is all me. However onetime I did a side by side picture of me using a Snapchat filter. Then me after my makeup. It was fun.