Is this photo of Michael's vitiligo photoshopped?

[ScaredOfTheMoon]

Does anyone know if this picture is photoshopped?

I was told it was and was wondering if it was true or not. I don't understand why fans feel the need to photoshop pictures of Michael's vitiligo when there are so many real pictures of him that already shows it.

 

[barbee0715]

I've seen this picture a million times and it looks very photoshopped to me. I don't understand why people do that stuff either.

 

[InvincibleMJ]

Here's another version of it (from Brad Sundberg's website) with the same discoloration, I don't think it's photoshopped because I think that's pretty much how he looked like in Bad era without makeup. The only thing I think was done in the picture you posted is some color and brightness fixing maybe.

 

[SoCav]

Yeah, wasn't Brad the first to post this pic anyway? I don't recall seeing it before he shared the story about the newspaper tradition during the Bad sessions. I doubt he'd photoshop the pic.

 

[InvincibleMJ]

I agree SoCav. The picture I posted (from Brad's website) is captured by a camera (and not a scanner) so the colors are all wrong as a result (you can see it has a reflection of someone holding a camera or a smartphone in front of it). the first picture (by ScaredOfTheMoon) looks like a decent scan even though it's not the original scan size and quality - the colors in the first one look real to me, this was Michael's skin tone and this is how vitiligo looks like AND we know for a fact the discoloration is real (because it's in both pictures and because there are other pictures that show the same patches). I say 100% real.

Check the one from The Way You Make Me Feel and the Charlie Chaplin one, even though he was wearing makeup in them you can still see his skin was darker on his forehead, temples, eyes and nose.

 

[Tony R]

Many of those are photoshopped also, ask yourself why he would pose for them when he painstakingly tried so hard to cover his patches up at all other times.

 

[InvincibleMJ]

Tony, which photos do you think are photoshopped?

why he would pose for them when he painstakingly tried so hard to cover his patches up at all other times.

First of all, MJ did pose and even filmed one of his short films and official photoshoots with no make up with his marks showing many times. Why would he do that? I don't know but that's a fact and I also think it's not that surprising that he did. Second of all, the picture Brad Sundberg posted is a private photo, it's from one of their studio session. Like the picture of him talking on the phone from Frank Cascio's book. Third, many of these pictures sources are available to purchase so you can check their source and see they're not fake.

 

[Bringing Brighter Days]

this picture is not real

 

[Snow White luvs Peter Pan]

Most of the pictures that appear on Tal's collage are from official photoshoots, I don't think they're photoshopped. Did photoshop exist in the 80s and 90s?

Another official one from the BOW photoshoot. Look at his finger from his right hand and his wrist from the left one, his pigmentation is uneven.

 

[TinnyandOdd]

I don't know if the photo itself is real, but when he wasn't wearing makeup to cover it up, this would be a fairly accurate depiction? To be honest, I was always so impressed with how well they could cover it up, especially on places such as his face? Considering how publicly photographed he was, when you think about it, there really aren't a lot of photos showing just how widespread his Vitiligo most likely actually was, which I assume is mostly due to how well he was able to conceal it with makeup. It's no wonder he kept a hold of Karen for so many decades? That must have been brutally time consuming?

 

[HIStory]

I hope no one thinks that these are photoshops:

 

[InvincibleMJ]

Did photoshop exist in the 80s and 90s?

I don't know about photoshop as we know today it but there were advanced ways to edit photos, that's how they covered his markings that still showed. I think Michael said Bad cover is airbrushed and I have seen a Bad tour picture that some tabloid changed Michael's hair to blonde his eye color to blue in the early 90's.

By the way a few days ago I took the picture from Brad Sundberg website and made a small color correction (setting black, white and grey point). I didn't touch the markings. You can see them in the original photo without the color correction but since I wanted to make sure before I answered ScaredOfTheMoon's question, I checked. The fingers reflection is still there.

 

[SheilaMJFan4Ever]

I don't know about photoshop as we know today it but there were advanced ways to edit photos, that's how they covered his markings that still showed. I think Michael said Bad cover is airbrushed and I have seen a Bad tour picture that some tabloid changed Michael's hair to blonde his eye color to blue in the early 90's.

I remember seeing that picture! It was featured in a United Colors of Benetton magazine, the subject matter being race. They altered pics of numerous famous people to kick start dialogue. I think one of the pics in that same issue was of Queen Elizabeth II as a black woman. Benetton was always doing controversial stuff like that, mainly for the shock value.

 

[InvincibleMJ]

I remember seeing that picture! It was featured in a United Colors of Benetton magazine, the subject matter being race. They altered pics of numerous famous people to kick start dialogue. I think one of the pics in that same issue was of Queen Elizabeth II as a black woman. Benetton was always doing controversial stuff like that, mainly for the shock value.

Thanks Sheila, so it wasn't in a negative context originally? I've seen tabloids that used it to make fun of him. :glare:

 

[SheilaMJFan4Ever]

Thanks Sheila, so it wasn't in a negative context originally? I've seen tabloids that used it to make fun of him. :glare:

No, not from Benetton. The tabloids twisted the original intent of the photo. I wish I still had that magazine, because it was put together well and the purpose of altering the races of famous people was for people to discuss how race can either unite us or divide us. What I got from seeing people in a different skin (so to speak) was it didn't change how I saw their accomplishments or how I respected them (or not). It did spark a conversation and a sensation, lol!

 

[barbee0715]

The Benetton thing is interesting. Never seen it before. Rather shocking.
I know the Spike lee pix and Frank's pix are are real. And the Brad Sunberg original one looks real. The rest look somewhat photoshopped to me.

My mothers first job in the 50s was in a photography studio where she did airbrushing and photoshopping as it's called today. It's been around forever.


(By photoshopped in these pix, I mean the colors have been altered, enhanced).

 

[InvincibleMJ]

 

[JM77]

I've seen this picture (http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luptbkBN4l1qj1pboo1_500.jpg) in the book 'My Friend Michael' by Frank Cascio - I don't think it would be photoshopped if it was in fact taken by Frank...

 

[Antwort]

Poor, darlin' boo............makes ya just want to hug and cuddle and kiss him, right? One can only imagine the level of insecurities that go along with this dreadful disease. I ain't exactly the world's most confident little girl, but it can't compare to what poor Michael had to go through.

And as if that wasn't enough he also had to deal with people's ignorance about his supposed "self hate". Considering how many still continued to doubt him even after the interview, I'm not even sure opening up sooner would have helped. Some people are just helplessly ignorant and hateful. Not only that, but people's medical history should not be the object of public exposure.

 

[KOPV]

that pic of MJ on tour never looked like vitiligo to me.. it looks like makeup dripping off his face dripping down his chest.. The way it collects at his neck, and drains down the center of his little chesticals lol

 

[MJYT]

Dude I died of laughter. You said you don't think a Cascio would produce something fake.

 

[la_cienega]

I remember seeing that picture! It was featured in a United Colors of Benetton magazine, the subject matter being race. They altered pics of numerous famous people to kick start dialogue. I think one of the pics in that same issue was of Queen Elizabeth II as a black woman. Benetton was always doing controversial stuff like that, mainly for the shock value.

It's funny how much that looks like Paris.


MJ's vitiligo would show in photos, he wasn't always covering it up. I mean it wasn't always possible to cover up as he'd have to cover his body in make up every day and who has time for that?

that pic of MJ on tour never looked like vitiligo to me.. it looks like makeup dripping off his face dripping down his chest.. The way it collects at his neck, and drains down the center of his little chesticals lol

That's actually what that photo is meant to show. That means when it was taken his vitiligo was already to the extent he had to wear make up to cover it on his face. Lots of people claim he only developed it after Thriller because he got popular and wanted to become "white" as that's when it became a visible issue for him so people claim he started bleaching then, but this shows just how he was already struggling to cover it up years before.

Also, if you look you can also see that there's lighter patches that show up on his skin because of the way the make up is getting sweated off. Like along his chin and neck.

 

[1nn5]

and in this photo, I think we see vitiligo

 

[MJWATER]

What was going on with Michael's nails

they are brown in this picture

 

[Doggone]

Re: What was going on with Michael's nails

You know that he had Vitiligo right? Michael used a lot of cremes for his treatment against vitiligo. You can't use the creme under your nails. This is the most logical explanation I can think of.

 

[Bringing Brighter Days]

Re: What was going on with Michael's nails

Vitiligo does not make your fingernails turned orange/brownish like that........if vitiligo attacks the skin's ability to produce pigment, then it could not have made his nails change colors like that

 

[barbee0715]

Re: What was going on with Michael's nails

You know that he had Vitiligo right? Michael used a lot of cremes for his treatment against vitiligo. You can't use the creme under your nails. This is the most logical explanation I can think of.

You are correct-Michael used the cream to even out the blotches on his skin-all over his body-you can not use the cream under your nails.
The skin under the nail is his original color.

I don't know how people are seeing orange-it must be the lighting in this picture.

 

[InvincibleMJ]

Re: What was going on with Michael's nails

Vitiligo makes the skin lose its pigments, especially in areas that are more exposed to the sun. His finger nails did not turn brown, they just stayed the color that they were.

Vitiligo does not make your fingernails turned orange/brownish like that........if vitiligo attacks the skin's ability to produce pigment, then it could not have made his nails change colors like that

As usual you speak without having enough knowledge. Congrats.

 

[Erandi]

Re: What was going on with Michael's nails

You know that he had Vitiligo right? Michael used a lot of cremes for his treatment against vitiligo. You can't use the creme under your nails. This is the most logical explanation I can think of.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Bringing Brighter Days]

Re: What was going on with Michael's nails

Vitiligo makes the skin lose its pigments, especially in areas that are more exposed to the sun. His finger nails did not turn brown, they just stayed the color that they were.

As usual you speak without having enough knowledge. Congrats.

that picture u posted, shows affects on the person's skin.....not that person's nails, this person's nails still possess their natural color

I'm in my 40s, and I've known what vitiligo was since I was 9-10 years old, this is why when during that 93 interview with Oprah Winfrey when she asked Michael why his complexion had changed the way it did, I already knew seconds before what he was going to say, and he didn't even say vitiligo, he said "skin disorder"....

anyone can go to a real licensed medical professional, and that person will tell you male or female that vitiligo can not change the color of your fingernails, if anything, if vitiligo was able to penetrate the hard plate that aids in producing/protecting your nails, if this disorder attacks your skin's ability to produce melanin, then your nails would actually become void of color

and those pictures of MIchael's fingernails, his nails at that point were much darker than they were originally and we all know this