The Illusion Filters Create in Reality

The truth remains that photo filters have become a dominant part of our social lives. Filters enhance the appearance and add a creative touch to our pictures, giving them a higher level of beauty. Answering the question, if I apply filters to make myself look better, the answer would be yes, but not all the time.

Adding filters makes ordinary pictures look captivating. Apart from that, filters are used to refine pictures by balancing, correcting, and adding different visual arts to the image while maintaining identity. The truth remains that these filters can be very deceptive as they make one look flawless, hiding all the imperfections and presenting one's ideal self.

Myself

Personally, I don't see any wrong in using filters. Since the main reason we take pictures is not dependent on the tools we use, but on our ability to capture quality images and convey meaning, using filters in a mindful way does no harm to the images. Being moderate in our application of filters would help maintain transparency and originality. While we are trying to be creative, we should not be excessive in applying filters in order not to set unrealistic expectations.

Many people in the social media landscape are fond of applying filters to pictures in order to meet the societal standard of beauty.

The majority of the friends I have are people I met online. There is this particular friend named Favor. We used to work for an online company before I stopped due to personal reasons. What made our friendship work were our shared values and interests. No day passed without her making a video of herself promoting the company's services.

In the videos, she always appeared flawless and there was no evidence that she was using a photo filter. One day, I couldn't help but appreciate her picture, and I was equally tempted to ask her about the phone brand she uses, expecting to hear iPhone, but it wasn't. She told me it's Redmi, and I assumed maybe that's why her pictures are so sharp and flawless, along with the videos she posts. The company celebrated its one-year anniversary, and there was an in-person gathering at the head office. I was excited as we would finally have the opportunity to meet each other face to face.

We were all told to arrive a day before the big day, as the manager had booked a hotel for all of us. One by one, the hotel was getting filled. However, when Favour arrived, I don't know if others felt what I felt, but I was taken aback. I couldn't hide my shock, but I allowed her to finish all the introductions just like we did. "WOW, finally, I have met my online princess, but this face looks so different from what Redmi has been showing me. Regardless, we are all beautiful."

The truth was that reality was so different from the illusion. The flawless face in her pictures was not the same as the dark complexioned girl I had seen in person. It sent a wave of disappointment over me. One good thing about Favor is that she possesses inner beauty and doesn't really look that ugly, but her excessive use of filters in all her pictures conveyed a deceptive message about her true appearance.

After my encounter with Favor, I became very mindful of how I use filters. Whenever I'm using any filter-enhancing tool, I make sure the one I'm using is simple and doesn't set unrealistic expectations.