Travel blogger responds to backlash over photoshopped Paris pictures

‘I admit it wasn’t my finest photoshop skills’

A travel blogger has responded to criticism after posting photos on Instagram of herself photoshopped over Parisian backgrounds.

Johanna Olsson, a 28-year-old social media influencer from Sweden, has more than half a million followers on Instagram and 33,000 subscribers on YouTube.

In October she shared a series of pictures from her recent trip to Paris, showing her photographed at famous landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

While the photos at first seemed picture perfect, several eagle-eyed Instagram users quickly noticed that some of the images appeared to have been heavily edited.

In one of the images, it’s apparent that Olsson has been photoshopped onto a bridge backdrop, as she appears to be levitating above the ground.

In another, supposedly taken at the Loulou restaurant at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a faint white glow can be seen around Olsson’s hair, indicating that the photo has been altered.

Several Instagram users have commented on Olsson’s decision to digitally alter her photos.

“Photoshop on point,” one person wrote.

“Lmao girl no one is falling for your poor job at photoshopping!” another person remarked.

Olsson has since removed the comment section from some of the photos in question.

She’s also responded to the backlash on her Instagram story, explaining that she’s not the only influencer to photoshop pictures on social media.

“I wanted to talk a little bit about the pictures I posted in Paris,” she said, according to The Mirror.

“So I did one picture, shot it and didn’t think it looked that nice... so I took a different background and put the background into it. And when I put it up nobody noticed so I thought, this is good.

“So I admit it wasn’t my finest Photoshop skills. Now in Sweden this thing has gone crazy and TV shows want me to come on and talk about my ‘fake travelling’.

“It’s a bit ridiculous I think,” she continued. “There are a lot of influencers out there that use Photoshop in birds, rainbows or crazy skies and I could do that but I don’t like that.

“I just wanted to make that clear that I was in Paris, but I did photoshop the background, but I’m not going to take them down because it’s a collaboration and they’re nice pictures – it’s a good outfit!”

Numerous Instagram influencers have been faking sponsored posts on the social media platform as of late to increase their following, an article published by The Atlantic claims.

One individual told the publication that faking sponsored posts gives people “street cred”, explaining that “the more sponsors you have, the more credibility you have”.

The Independent has contacted Olsson’s representatives for comment.