Catfish ChroniclesI think i follow them on instagram.

But why do they look different in real life?

Farah Sefian

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Behind The FacetuneFarah Sefian

Now we all know the power of the “selfie”, but what if I told you it can be altered into another type of power? With the help of photo-editing techniques and photoshop; “Facetune” allows you to use pro-level photo-editing capabilities to touch up, or even manipulate your images/selfies. Facetune is an app that allows you to smooth, tweak, reshape and add filters to an image. The developer of facetune; “Lightricks” launched this annotating application back in 2014 with the intention of a “fun and powerful photo editor that enables everyday users to easily achieve professional-level results”. Lightricks is the leading developer of premium photo editing and software applications for mobile phones and the developers of very popular editing applications. They initially commenced in Israel by 5 entrepreneurs with a background of computer science PhD student. After creating the ‘safebrush’ tool; the soon went on to improve and evolve the application into an even better editing application; Facetune.

Facetune is available for purchase in the apple store for $3.99, but there is another version for free that doesn’t include all the features and tools as the original. The full version has a series of tools and features including smoothing and editing your skin (Removing imperfections and brighten dark circles), Instant plastic surgery (Reshape, redefine cheeks and jaw bones/lines, enlarge/shrink certain areas of the face/body.), Emphasize eye area (Changing eye colour, size and red/ white effects), Perfect smiles (widen, refine, whiten and brighten smile), Apply makeup (Blush, Eyeshadow, lashed, brows and lips.) and Lastly, enhance your image by blurring the background, focus/ defocusing, improve lighting, add special effects, filters, textures, frames, rotate and mirror the image. These features allow a simple image to be transformed into a vivid and drastic change. The application also contains a walkthrough section, where creators outl8ine the “how-tos” of the tools provided. The main tool in Facetune is the technology used to “auto” edit the image. With the use of facial

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recognition, you can “auto smooth” instead of manually going over your face. with the tool; this feature is also available in the real-life camera. With the camera, you can choose what you would prefer to enhance whilst in motion; you can now add makeup and choose to either take a video with effects placed on your face automatically or take a simple image with the effects. The ‘auto’ tool also continues in the blur feature; the app automatically identifies the main target/ aspect of the image (mostly a human figure works best) and blurs the background surrounding it. The creation of Facetune also brought about the issue of ‘catfishing’ and ‘over-editing’ within social media. Social media influencers appear to be perfect online but can sometimes be called out by the public for their extreme editing. This overuse of changing the way y0our body looks with reshaping and smoothing tools can allow you to have an hourglass figure and clear face with the click of a button.

However, this influences young girls to want the same body, making them go to extreme lengths in real life to do so... even though, it’s all photo editing. This issue goes further than just editing, younger girls have now started to purchase slimming products that are also advertised on the Instagram page such as drinks, waist trainers and supplements as if the influencers use them to get that hourglass figure. Famous influencer Chrissy Tiegan weighed in on the issue by saying “i don’t know what real skin looks like anymore”; with the increase of teenagers using mobile phones and social media up to 73%, the total average of adults who edit their images also increased to a shocking 68%. Facetune has ruined the factual and reality of images, making people very wary of what they believe online today.

References: Facetune - Revenue & Download estimates - Apple App Store - US. (2019). Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://sensortower.com/ios/US/lightricks-ltd/app/facetune/606310581/overview?iap=all&watch_enabled&rankings_type=free&min_cost=0&max_cost&device=iphone&category=6008&date=2019-10-17&show_store_data=trueFacetune Maker Lightricks Lands $135 Million Series C At A $1 Billion Valuation. (2019). Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://news.crunchbase.com/news/facetune-maker-lightricks-lands-135-million-series-c-at-a-1-billion-valuation/

Harrison, L. (2019). The Increasing Use of Facetune. Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://onhsnews.com/1282/news/the-increasing-use-of-facetune/Israel’s Lightricks, the Company Behind Facetune, Secures $60 Million to Change How the World Creates Content. (2019). Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/israels-lightricks-the-company-behind-facetune-secures-60-million-to-change-how-the-world-creates-content-300753237.htmlLightricks Press Kit 2019 – Google Drive. (2019). Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ouwl7WBLPCfcbeeegJKwNPM1qnEC9X66Manovich, L. (2016). Instagram and contemporary image. Manovich. net, New York.

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FACETUNE RANKING IN APPLE STORE AUSTRALIA

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Facetune tutorial page

ranking (top 10)The effects and features

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