Fashion Photography

When is an image a portrait when it is a fashion photograph?

It is a portrait photograph when it is just purely of the persons face with no editing or manipulation to the subject face. A portrait photograph is there to portray a persons personality and show the expressions that show off that personality

It is a fashion photograph when you take an original image and manipulate it to what you want that person to look like in Photoshop either raising their neckline and head or enhancing the eyes so that they stand out more. Most photography companies and not just the ones in fashion do this technique so that people looking at the model on a billboard or poster will aspire to be like them and look like them.

To what degree should an image manipulated to go into a fashion magazine?

After the photograph is taken the person editing the photo will take it into Photoshop and play around with it. Small enhancements like colouring the background or sharpening the textures are all fine, but when the editor starts to enhance the persons facial features, it starts to get very manipulative and out of the persons control. In the film the editor enhances the eyes by making them larger than they were and raises the neckline and head. These changes are purely what the editor wants for the company not what the subject wanted out of the photo, but that is not the intention of the photo