All that filters isn't real

"All that glitters isn't gold", everyone has heard of that proverb, right? I used a modified version of it as the topic for this article and I will say it suits it well. Considering the visually-driven society we have today, it has become increasingly common to see pictures enhanced with filters. Filters have been around for a very long time now and back in the days, it was hard to come across some of the filters we have today.

What do I mean? These days, AI-powered photo editors can pretty much apply any type of filter you want automatically to a picture. Apps like Snapchat even do that on the fly! They apply filters even before you take the picture. But back in the day, you will have to go through the effort of editing your pictures before you can get the perfect filter.

I played a lot with those apps many years ago and when I saw some of the pictures I edited years later, I was a lot embarrassed. It became even worse when I remembered I posted those pictures on Facebook, back then they were very good looking but I later realized they didn't represent the real me. I edited anything I didn't like; gave myself pink lips that looked like I put on bright red lipstick, remove pimples and acne to the extent that my face was as smooth as a doll, and even changed my eye color.

Do I still use filters?

I think the real question is; do I even still take photos of myself? No. It's surprising because back in the day, I am a big photo freak and I'm always taking pictures of myself, other people, and different things. But these days, I barely take pictures (the last picture I took was last month during my seminar presentation at the university) and even when I do take pictures, I don't apply filters.

Why? That's because my camera does that for me. Most phones these days automatically apply filters and they can be little filters that you might not even notice or big ones that are very noticeable. Some years back, I used to use Snapchat to take a lot of pictures and I used any filter I could lay my hands on, including the very ridiculous ones, like the one below that I took back in 2019

But those things are just for fun, that's why I'm usually not alone in most of my Snapchat photos; some of my crazy female friends are there with me as well 😅 and we do funny faces while applying different filters and then we laugh at the result. I updated my Snapchat app yesterday, I haven't used it since last year and I will probably start using it again

Is there anything wrong with filters?

As someone who has used a lot of filters in the past, I will say it depends on how you look at it. Some people just use filters for fun or they apply little filters to their pictures that only show a subtle difference from their real self, and I will say that's okay but it becomes a problem when things start getting too extreme.

I like to think of filters as makeup; only use them to complement your beauty and don't allow it to become a full representation of who you are. Despite their popularity, there are compelling reasons why it isn't always wise to apply filters to pictures and one of them is that it hinders self-acceptance. Look at it this way; if you have accepted yourself for who you are, why use filters to change your skin color from dark to light?

Some people use filters to the extent that you can walk past them on the street and not recognize them because they looked so different from the pictures they posted on social media. But with all these, have I been deceived by someone's filtered pictures? I don't think so, and that's because I learned a very long time ago to never judge a person by the pictures they post on social media.

As someone who has a lot of experience using filters, I can easily tell if a person is using filters on their photos. And as I said earlier, modern-day smartphones come with automatic filters that help us take better photos. The filters are very subtle and you might argue that the pictures are as natural as they can be but there's actually a difference between that and reality.

So, I never think too much about a person's pictures online, especially if I have never seen the person in real life. There are definitely going to be differences and that depends on the amount of filters the person uses. Snapchat is even worse, there's a stack difference between its pictures and reality, so I don't even pay lots of attention to it when I come across Snapchat-generated pictures online. But all in all, filters are wonderful tools that also has their negative sides, it just depends on how they are used.

Thanks for reading

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