8 Hilarious K-Pop Photoshop Fails: When Idols & Agencies Heavily Edit Photos

Heavily editing photos for social media posts and advertisements is not new in the K-Pop industry. But some edits are too obvious; hence, they get nitpicked and heavily criticized by the fans. Below are some of the Photoshop fails that trended all over social media.

1.

IVE member GAEUL's missing arm

To commemorate the success of IVE's kick-off show for the "Show What I Have" world tour earlier this month, the girl group took to its social media pages to share some of its favorite moments from the show in South Korea — held at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul. One photo, however, made rounds online after fans noticed that GAUEL's arm faded into the background with a shadow left behind.

2.

BTS Jungkook's Calvin Klein advertisement

BTS member Jungkook stunned the entire K-pop community earlier this year after getting named as the new ambassador for Calvin Klein. Though most of his fans praised his toned body and stunning visuals in the advertisement, some were disappointed as the apparel brand seemed to have edited some of Jungkook's facial features, most notably his nose.

Additionally, Cosway — a manufacturing brand that starred BTS as its ambassador — also faced backlash from ARMYs, who alleged that it attempted to edit out Jungkook's tattoos from the former's campaign advertisements. The company, however, uploaded the "unedited version" and explained that it had no intention of removing the tattoos. The editor simply tried to balance out Jungkook's skin tone.

3.

LE SSRAFIM's pre-debut photos

When Source Music dropped the pre-debut photos for LE SSERAFIM last year, the K-Pop community slammed the company for its "sloppy" editing. There were photos with gaps, unmatched hair colors and extra limbs, per Koreaboo. Clear and corrected photos have since been uploaded on the girl group's Instagram account.

4.

ENHYPEN's Jungwon fails to recognize his own photocard

Earlier this month, the 19-year-old leader of ENHYPEN made rounds online after a hilarious interaction with one fan. In a video uploaded by @GDS_0209, Jungwon was seen signing a photocard without realizing that it was him in the photo. Some fans suspected that the heavy editing made him unrecognizable.

5.

Lovelyz Lee Mi-joo's Taipei trip pictures

Lee Mi-joo took to her Instagram account to share photos of her previous trip to Taipei. But what caught the attention of her followers was how one of the photos had a distorted background, specifically buildings that appeared curved.

6.

IVE Jang Won-young "Music Bank" stairs photo

Aside from her stunning facial features, IVE member Jang Won-young is also known for being one of the tallest female K-Pop idols. In 2021, a photo of her standing on "Music Bank's" iconic stairs went viral online after fans noticed her legs were edited to appear shorter.

7.

MOMOLAND JooE's ID photo

In 2020, JooE shared her new ID photo on Instagram, which made some of her followers envious for having such a nice formal photo. Others, however, questioned whether it was JooE in the photo as some of her facial features seemed to have changed.

8.

Red Velvet's Irene and Yeri's Photoshop mistakes; Aespa Winter's bent cellphone

TikTok user @ilveorse previously shared a compilation of Photoshop mistakes by female K-Pop idols. The user mentioned that Red Velvet members Irene and Yeri were notorious for using Photoshop, especially when editing the background of their pictures. The user added aespa's Winter's mirror selfie, which showed the side of her phone bent like a tin can.