With her ABC political drama Scandal in its third and most successful season, Kerry Washington seems to be covering practically every magazine these days. The 36-year-old appeared on Ebony's March 2013 cover, Elle Magazine's June 2013 cover, Vanity Fair's August 2013 cover, Glamour Magazine's October 2013 cover, Essence's November 2013 cover, and now Lucky's December 2013/January 2014 cover. 
 
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 But this most recent image makes Washington's face practically unrecognizable. The Django Unchained star's eyes seem to be narrower and the lighting on her face appears to have distorted her features. 
 
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 Washington's hair was cut in an edgy, shoulder-length style with bangs, and she wore a white and purple two-piece ensemble covered with a sheer, patterned dress. 
 
 Jason Merritt/Getty Images 
 
 But if Washington is concerned by her cover look, she's not saying so publicly. Less than an hour after the cover was unveiled, she tweeted the image with the caption, "WOOO HOOO!" and even made the cover her Twitter avatar. 
 
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 The recent Saturday Night Live host has plenty to celebrate these days. Us Weekly broke the news in late October that Washington was pregnant with her first child after secretly marrying NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha in June 2013. ||||| Kerry Washington believes her cover of AdWeek doesn't accurately reflect how she looks. 
 
 In a Facebook post, the "Scandal" star praised the magazine and the profile of her that was published in it, but admitted that she was "taken aback" when she saw the cover. As a result, she added, she's having trouble celebrating it completely. 
 
 "Look, I'm no stranger to Photoshopping. It happens a lot. In a way, we have become a society of picture adjusters - who doesn't love a filter?!? And I don't always take these adjustments to task but I have had the opportunity to address the impact of my altered image in the past and I think it's a valuable conversation," she wrote. "Yesterday, however, I just felt weary. It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror. It's an unfortunate feeling. 
 
 "That being said. You all have been very kind and supportive. Also, as I've said, I'm very proud of the article," she added. 
 
 James Cooper, the editorial director of the magazine, acknowledged in a statement obtained by ABC News that her photo was altered, but minimally so. In a tweet, he wrote that his team added volume to her hair "for dramatic effect." 
 
 "Kerry Washington is a class act. We are honored to have her grace our pages. To clarify, we made minimal adjustments, solely for the cover's design needs," he stated. "We meant no disrespect, quite the opposite. We are glad she is enthusiastic about the piece and appreciate her honest comments." ||||| There are many things to admire about Kerry Washington, but what I love most is that sometimes people say I favor her. It’s a silly, vain thing, but it’s true. Our lips, our eyes, and even our hairline draw comparisons. 
 
 Every week on Scandal, I get to see someone who looks like me negotiating deals with heads of state, combating the abuse of power, and, sometimes, saving lives. But even if Kerry and I looked nothing alike, she would still mean something to me, as she does to many black women. As they say in the #BlackGirlMagic corners of the internet, representation matters. 
 
 So it hurt, in 2013, when a poorly portrayed Washington landed on the cover of Lucky. She was practically unrecognizable. And then it happened again, in 2015, with Instyle, and most recently, with Adweek. It raises the question: At what step along the way did these magazines fail her? 
 
 “For shooting black skin, it's all about tone,” photographer Andre Wagner told me. The subjects of Wagner’s photography, mostly black people, often make their way onto his Instagram page. “Tone and lighting are the most important parts in not trying to distort black skin. Sometimes photographers overexpose subjects to hide blemishes and skin imperfections, but with black people it's not so successful because you can't just wash out black skin.” 
 
 But there’s more to consider than the photographer, of course. There’s the art director, the makeup artists, the editors, the post-production re-touchers – all of whom play a part in the final image. When it comes to Kerry Washington, sometimes this team gets it right. Her 2013 covers of Glamour and Vanity Fair are testaments to that. 
 
 But when this team of artists and editors attempt to morph Washington into someone else, the images fall flat. In Washington’s case, bad lighting and Photoshop bear the brunt of the blame. Her Lucky cover might have benefited with a softer light source. “With black skin, natural light does wonders,” Wagner said. “Andrew Dosunmu and Bradford Young [a director and cinematographer responsible for the films Restless City and Selma, respectively] are known for shooting in natural light, which is opposite the industry standard.” 
 
 Overzealous Photoshopping also appears to be an issue. On the cover of Self, Washington looks like a wax figure of herself, and on Lucky, a vigorous attempt to smooth over Washington’s under-eye circles went horribly awry. Little tweaks are one thing, but when you try to strip away what makes Kerry Washington Kerry Washington, those tweaks become a problem. 
 
 So for the next team that photographs the incomparably beautiful actress: Don’t erase the tiny shadows that fall under her eyes. Use a softer light that hugs her skin. Ease up on the Photoshop. And above all else, include people who celebrate, instead of muzzle, the beauty that is black skin.
– Kerry Washington says she was thrilled to be invited to appear on the cover of Adweek—but "taken aback" when the photo was so altered she barely recognized herself. "I'm no stranger to Photoshopping. It happens a lot," the Scandal star writes in an Instagram post with a picture of the cover, explaining that she doesn't "always take these adjustments to task," but she felt "weary" after seeing the Adweek image. "It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror," she writes. "It's an unfortunate feeling." She stresses that she has a lot of respect for the magazine and is pleased with the interview and images inside. Washington doesn't spell out the changes she's unhappy with, though Ashley Weatherford at New York notes that "the incomparably beautiful actress" has been unrecognizable on previous magazine covers. She urges future photographic teams to "ease up on the Photoshop" and "include people who celebrate, instead of muzzle, the beauty that is black skin." ABC News reports that according to Adweek Editorial Director James Cooper, the magazine only made "minimal adjustments," including adding volume to her hair. "We are honored to have her grace our pages," he says. "To clarify, we made minimal adjustments, solely for the cover's design needs."