It’s hot.

Gather 'round the social media garbage fire children, and let me tell you a tale of the before times...

At the time, having a camera on your phone was a new thing. Phones were for calling/SMS, maybe playing snake if you bought a flagship model. If you wanted good pictures you'd have to spend $200-300 on a digital camera (in 2000 dollars, $400-$600 today) or take a film photograph and have the negatives scanned (drug stores and some retail stores also did film processing).

Very few people had laptops, mostly people who would frequently travel or tech professionals/nerds(same thing, at the time) but most people had a home desktop PC and they would often purchase a separate external camera to use for video chatting on the web; hence, the term: webcam. Since they were not restricted in size by being in a phone, they could use larger sensors and so they typically had a higher quality (but not by much) than phone cameras. Also, image processing was way too heavy of a lift for phone processing hardware, so they often sent the image directly off the sensor while PC webcam software could include basic things like denoising and exposure adjustment.

In order to make images with an effect like Instagram filters, you'd have to use Photoshop and the average person just knew enough to run a web browser and login to myspace. Instead of filters people would use lighting and angles. You've probably heard the term 'myspace angles', this is approximately the era where that term was invented.

All of that being said, Boxxy had a good webcam but she was doing a bit and the overexposure was part of the bit. Evanescence's use is more of an artsy representation of the same mainstream style that Boxxy was parodying.

We also wore an onion on our belt, which was the style at the time.

OHSHITOMG! It's BOXXY!!!!

The woman who took my senior photos did this to them. It took my a while to understand what she was going for but we ended up retaking them ourselves before I ever saw that album art

Boxxy!! I named my new vehicle after her!

This would be contrast, not exposure, no? High exposure would boost the lows too. Very erm ackchyually, I know.

I saw Evanescence last week! (With Spiritbox and Nova Twins).

The level of goth in the audience across the generations made me happy 😁.

the second is what a webcam would look like with normal lighting. all these popular streamers/youtubers nowadays have production crews.

also, using two examples to make a point, one being an album cover with a particular aesthetic that was popular and has nothing to do with the second image.

These youths don't realize that's just what digital cameras looked like at the time, insta filters didn't exist!

The one on the left is an album cover and that style was very popular in the 2000s. Especially in cheesy sci-fi shows (looking at you Stargate Atlantis…)

The one on the right though, that’s just what cell phone and cheap digital camera pictures looked like when you posted them on MySpace.

This style still rules imo

Camera and photo quality were lacking then compared to now. Gotta work with what ya got!

I wish I could get back into my old myspace account. I bet there's some treasures there haha

Don't forget the MySpace angle.

... duck face was a mistake though, jfc.

turning the exposure up

Sure, by using the definitely-existent photo settings on your Razr to change the output of your 0.001 megapixel camera (that turns the battery into a cooktop when the camera stays on for more than 3 seconds).

Or by using Photoshop CS3 after paying $800 or downloading [-Photosh0p-].mp3 (2).exe.rar through Limewire.

Hell yeah

Simple and effective

That’s still kinda the case now though, right? Filters play with the exposure to hide imperfections.

Bro, like today, same back then people were. Don't fucking judge them!