There’s something minor I’ve been struggling with for months now, which is the odd disparity between various photo agencies in their photographs of Lupita Nyong’o. One photo agency publishes photos where her skin looks very dark, and another always has photos of Lupita where she looks very well-lit. I’ve thought, this whole time, that it was just an issue of the flash. Photographers use different flashes, use different cameras, process digital images in different ways. I bring this up because some critics are saying that People Magazine has “lightened” Lupita’s skin on her Most Beautiful cover. But I’m not so sure.
Lupita Nyong’o has been named PEOPLE’s Most Beautiful woman of the year – a coveted honor, unless the 12 Years A Slave star’s skin was digitally altered? One expert has told RadarOnline.com that he believes the famed magazine used creative lighting to brighten the breakout actress’ skin tone and make her look lighter.
“This is though a classic example of a ‘well lit photo’ versus a photo with poor lighting,” Giles Fabris, the Chief Executive Officer & Director of Operations for LookBetterOnline.com, told Radar in an exclusive interview. “She looks washed out in the PEOPLE magazine photo.”
This is not the first time a magazine has been accused of such trickery: In January, Vanity Fair was slammed online from readers who said Nyong’o’s dark skin looked noticeably lighter.
But Fabris said any change would have been innocuous and not motivated for nefarious reasons.
“I don’t think that PEOPLE magazine have lightened her skin in any attempt to ‘whiten her,’” he added, “this is evident when looking at the color of her hair… Isn’t she beautiful.”
Yeah, I was looking through red carpet photos of Lupita from different agencies, and I think this is just a lighting issue, not a lightening issue. Of course, many magazine do lighten black women’s skin, and it’s not inconceivable that People Mag did it to Lupita. I’m just saying… I think People just used really bright, warm lighting for the most part, because I’m not seeing much of difference in her skin color between the People cover and a well-lit red carpet photo.
Meanwhile, Lupita is close to signing on to her first post-Oscar role. That role? Doing the voice for Rakcha, the mother wolf who adopts Mowgli in Jon Favreau’s live-action version of The Jungle Book. Scarlett Johansson is also in talks to voice an animal (Kaa the snake), and Idris Elba has already signed on to voice the tiger Shere Khan. Sure. Voice work is good and Lupita has a great voice. But let’s get a real movie, OK?
Photos courtesy of People Magazine, PR Photos and WENN.
She’s quite obviously a dark skinned black woman, no matter how much they flash her with the camera lights. And she looks wonderful.
Agreed. Also, it’s definitely lighting. Most people, no matter their skin color, looks lighter in photographs. Lighter lights takes away blemishes and wrinkles and stuff.
+1 Halle Berry is a good example. Sometimes she appears lighter and other times she appears more caramel complexion.
Yeah, I look positively ghost like in most bright lighting or flash shots.
I think it’s the lighting. And also whatever foundation the make-up artist used on her can react to the camera a bit. God, she is lovely.
She is beautiful. I wish the media, including the writers on this site would just stop with the “colouring” and “lightening” discussions and let Lupita be. Stop circulating these stories that appear to be an attempt to put her down because of her skin tone. Sorry for my rant but Im becoming so annoyed.
Agree.
She’s a stunning women, as she is.
I agree, Kaiser. Even in Lupita’s own Instagrammed pics, her skin is different shades.
My youngest daughter is very dark skinned and the way she photographs is completely subjective to the lighting. I usually only shoot with natural light and her skin tone changes vastly even with the arc of the sun.
I think, obviously, that lightening does occur (hello, Beyonce) but I don’t think this is the case at all with the People magazine cover.
I agree. Also looking at the little image of Jennifer Lawrence on the cover she looks why fairer than the usual. I find Lupita absolutely stunning…her face is total perfection.
I agree with everything you wrote on the post, sometimes people will look for anything to complain about. Fairer black women like Beyonce and Rihanna also photograph a bit lighter or darker than they are depending on the photographers technique.
I agree I think it’s lighting. I am a black Hispanic woman, and my complexion is golden, like Rihanna or Keri Hilson. If there is a lot of bright light or flash in a picture, I end up looking very fair. I think the same thing happens to Lupita. My goodness, she is breathtakingly beautiful, no matter how you photograph her.
ugh this issue is so overdone. 90% of the time it’s just because of the bright white lights most photographers use. yada yada.
Also, Jungle Book voice? Girl needs a real movie.
I think is a lighting issue and that reminds me how there was a post in Tumblr explaining the history of Photography and how filters lights and such were never made with POC in mind and/or to show them as vastly different from white people and how from that departing point advances have gone on but not exactly helped address the issue of disparity of subject hues …it was a looonng ass thing Im paraphrasing but that is why to this day if you have subjects and they are vastly different in skin colors photographers still have a shiton of adjustments to make to show both in the best most flattering light etc
I think it’s lighting as well.
I just read an article about the same thing. In our family we have Japanese, Native American, White (like, the whitest) and African American members. Trying to get my camera set so we all look normal is a feat of epic proportions. Sometimes the darker of us are crazy washed out and the White people look normal or the opposite. It’s really difficult to get the lighting just right for everyone.
I think the article I read was actually about film and how film and exposure testing was always done on someone’s secretary, who was usually a fair White woman, so they never tested things on people with darker tones. And that technology still persists today.
I read the same thing or something similar: http://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skin
IMHO, they didn’t light her in order to lighten her, but they lit her in order to better expose/illuminate facial details and features. There is a difference.
That’s what it looks like to me as well. Highlight more so than lightening.
She looks beautiful.
I was ok with you using “light” and “lighten” in one sentence but that last “lit” really sent me over the edge.
Never do that again please…you know I’m not feeling well today..
I don’t know why this comment is killing me but it is 😂
Thank you Kitten!
LMAO….okay.
Kitten ae you still drunk from last night, you are cracking me up today.
I was, but the drunkenness is wearing off, V4Real…now it just feels like my head is in a vice.
Now where are those mimosas?
I think it’s lighting as well.
I will say this, JLaw looks like Mr. Incredible in that picture, and that is not a compliment.
Mr Incredible?
I like her, but I’ve never found her to be a compelling face. There’s just nothing interesting going on there. Her personality adds a lot to her look.
From the cartoon The Incredibles? Dude had a huge chin, very distracting. She doesn’t normally look like him but there’s something about that photo.
Blue you are on one today just like TOK. JLaw looks like Mr. Incredible; Balls, now I can’t unsee it. 🙂
I’m black and really sick of these faux controversies about skin lightening. I doubt People mag lightened Lupita’s skin, when she’s known for her beautiful dark skin. It’s one of her most striking assets. The fact is, the skin tone of people of color can look different depending on how well the room is lit, the use of flash, etc., etc. Our skin tone also changes based on the seasons. My skin got about three shades darker last summer, making my foundation look ashen. My skin tone is even different on various parts of my body at any given time. My arms–which I often expose–can be shades darker than my legs, which I don’t expose as much. Let’s focus our energies on real acts of racism rather than looking for controversy where none exists.
If her skin looks different it may be because of makeup. It’s probably her foundation. It’s hard for women with darker complexions to find foundation that matches their skin tone. I think IMAN is the only brand that makes foundation with darker complexions in mind.
I used to love IMAN but I think they removed from many department stores, so I use MAC instead. I think MAC is pretty good for women of color as well.
NARS also makes fantastic foundation shades for all types of skin tones!
They used foundation to lighten the heck out of Oprah on her magazine covers, and it was no secret. She once did a piece on it, allowing a pic of her arriving at her studio with no makeup — big difference. It was mainly her T-zone where they used a kind of mustard-y color-correcting foundation as a first layer.
She doesn’t look that different than the red carpet pics. So I’m gonna say, they didn’t lighten her.
Nah, its just highlighter. It’s time for us all to just get over this “is she too dark” b.s. and just appreciate her for her talent. Do people worry about Djimon Honsou’s (sp?) skin as much as hers? I doubt it.
I think she is absolutely beautiful the way she is. It is a disgrace to make her lighter. People magazine is full of dumba**es.
I don’t think she’s looks lightened. In winter times I look completely fair and during summer I’m back to my looks. Might be that for her together with the various photographic flashes and time of day I assume.
I missed yesterday’s stories. So happy to see she got a People cover! C’mon movie studios, this woman is a fine actress, well spoken, beautiful, and popular enough to cover magazines and advertising campaigns. Bring on the lead roles!
I came here looking for a post about that casting rumor. Idk how I feel about it. I feel like her current lack of a role/role announcement sparked a dialogue about roles for women and especially, women of color, that weren’t being written or offered at the same rate as those for white men. My fear is that, that dialogue will get shut down as soon as she signs up for this role, which let’s be honest, is a bit underwhelming for a post oscar follow up.
The People color looks very similar to many other photos I’ve seen of her. I totally think it depends on the lighting. It certainly happens and should be called out when it does, but I don’t think that’s the case here.
I’m going with lighting, too. I think Oprah Winfrey’s show had special lighting meant to flatter darker skin tones. It would be dumb of People Magazine to purposefully alter her most lauded physical attribute and I think they know that. I’m glad we’re coming into an age where those special considerations are being met.
I just don’t get the hype about her…yes, she is pretty and intelligent…but she has been in ONE MOVIE. ONE. in the mean time, there are so many other actresses of minorities (don’t know if that’s the correct term, so please, don’t eat me) who have been working for decades and get next to no attention….let alone a cover of People! I’m not saying she isnt talented; I saw the movie she was in but she has yet to prove she can make it long term in Hollywood and I think it’s kind of unfair that she’s been in HW for a total of five minutes and is already taking away all of the attention from the other harder working black actresses/actors who struggle to get noticed….plus, aside from her skin color, she is very conventionally pretty…i’d be more impressed if Melissa Mccarthy or Gabby Sidobe had scored a spot on the list. YOu are all, obviously, free to like her but she just seems extremely contrived to me. Besides, it’s unnerving to me how everyone treats this thirty year old woman as if she is seventeen…..she is not some innocent sheltered kid….
honestly, I think people fetishize her to the point of obsession and it is extremely disturbing. Besides, as other commentors have pointed out, she is not some born from broke actress…she is wealthy and has access to more oppurtunities than most…(btw I am mixed as well, my mother is White/Chinese and my father is Native American).
I kind of agree. I mean she was obviously stellar in that one movie and she IS incredibly beautiful (althoug I still think her Oscar dress was very unflattering). So I understand totally why people like her and want to see more of her etc. But I get annoyed with the way the press kind of insinuates that she’s a modern Cinderella – a poor Kenian girl who gets famous in Hollywood. Because she’s none of that, not a girl but a fully grown woman (thankfully, there is enough youth cult in Hollywood already) and she was definitely born into a privileged and wealthy family. She had great opportunities and the best education. I don’t fault her for this, why should her, but compared to the flack other actors get for being born into rather good circumstances it’s a bit.. unnecessary. And I don’t think it works in her favour either.
It’s the lighting. I’m mega-pale but I have dark hair and green eyes. My eyes are very deep set, so they look dark brown, unless I’m in bright sunlight. I work in radiology and the x-ray room is rather dark, so that we can see the positioning lights better. I had a patient insist that I must be Greek, or Southern Italian because of my very dark complexion and dark eyes. I am Russian and Scottish….so no.
She is okay. I don’t get why people here keep on praising her she is beautiful. She is cute but not THAT pretty. She is average. I too am disturbed by these fake praises.