Influencer Who Came Under Fire for Using Fake Clouds in Photos Now Partnering with Editing App

Char Adams

An Instagram influencer came under fire for editing fake clouds into her photos using an app. Now, she’s working with the editing app to make more fake clouds.

Martina “Tupi” Saravia, 26, is a travel blogger based in Buenos Aires whose Instagram photos show vibrant colors, stylish outfits, and Saravia showing off her toned body in picturesque locations — with white, puffy clouds in the skies. But last month, social media users began noticing the cloud formations were similar in several of Saravia’s photos.

“This travel ‘influencer’ spookily has the same clouds in every photo,” one person wrote on Twitter. Another added: “To be serious for a sec, isn’t this kinda strange behaviour? It goes to prove that the digital world and the real world really are night and day.”

However, Saravia tells PEOPLE she’s always been honest with her 315,000 Instagram followers about her photo editing tools. She says she’s even shown before and after photos of her posts on her Instagram Story after using the Enlight Quickshot app.

Courtesy Martina Saravia
Courtesy Martina Saravia
Martina Saravia (this photo contains fake clouds) | Courtesy Martina Saravia
Martina Saravia (this photo contains fake clouds) | Courtesy Martina Saravia

“It was never a secret. It was kind of funny when some people were talking about me being exposed, because I was always honest about it,” Saravia tells PEOPLE. “I’ve always made fun of my clouds! I’m always joking about the same clouds following me around the world. My followers have supported me because I’ve been honest with them. I think a couple of clouds are harmless.”

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Saravia also addressed the criticism in an Instagram post, revealing that she downloaded the app about a year ago to help bring her “artistic vision” to life.

View this post on Instagram

Ibiza vebé ✨ @kiwanoinsta ✨

A post shared by ⛅️Martina Saravia ⛅️ (@tupisaravia) on Aug 25, 2019 at 1:17pm PDT

Then, in an unexpected twist of events, Enlight officials contacted Saravia to collaborate on Aug. 29.

“We are in talks to work with her to have her curate a pack of her own skies within Enlight Quickshot,” says Stav Tishler, a spokesperson with Lightricks Ltd., which owns Enlight Quickshot. “We love Tupi’s Instagram feed and we’re excited to see what she creates with us.”

Saravia says she never expected the situation would lead to the partnership and called Enlight Quickshot one of her “favorite apps.”

View this post on Instagram

Está chequeado lo lejos que volaron mis nubes ? 😂 Después de toda la repercusión de la edición de mis fotos.. paso a aclarar un par de cosas🌝 Hace un año conocí Quickshot, una aplicación que permite agregarle cielos a tus fotos. Siempre fui 100% honesta acerca de mi tipo de edición, de hecho es algo que enseño en mis Workshops y hasta hay una historia destacada en mi perfil de hace MESES donde muestro el antes y después de las ediciones que les hago a mis seguidores (con cielos epishi). Editar fotos significa jugar con la exposición, el contraste, la claridad y todo lo necesario con tal de ajustar la imagen a MI visión artística (que puede no ser la misma que otros, súper respetado). Agregar nubes para mejorar la composición de una foto no cambia la esencia ni mucho menos significa que yo no estaba ahí 🤣 Es algo que hacen muchos fotógrafos cuando el cielo se ve quemado o sobreexpuesto.. no hay ningún secreto 🌝 Es solo un par de nubes, no estoy vendiendo una realidad que no es por que siempre fui sincera y aclaré todo al respecto y los que me siguen hace rato saben que soy de las pocas que siempre comparte las apps que usa 🙌🏿 de hecho el chiste de que me persiguen las nubes a todos los lugares donde viajo lo hice yo primera 😒 En mis Workshops siempre explico la importancia de tener una identidad clara en tu perfil.. mis fotos pueden parecer utópicas pero en mis historias muestro lo que no se ve en la foto.. ahí es donde llegan a conocerme de una manera más real 🥰🥰 Igualmente, buenas noticias para los que se sintieron afectados por dos nubes: voy a empezar a subir la foto editada a mi gusto y la original !!!🌝 Y para los que les preocupaba que siempre uso las mismas nubes otra noticia AÚN MEJOR!!! ya me contactaron de la app y vamos a estar armando un cielo nuevo que bautizaré #NubiSaravia así puedo variar de nube pues chequeado que son pagas y #dolara62 🥰 ENGLISH VERSION IN COMMENTS 👇🏽 (ahrejurababeyonce #bilingue #chequeadoqueusegoogletraductor)

A post shared by ⛅️Martina Saravia ⛅️ (@tupisaravia) on Sep 1, 2019 at 9:52am PDT

“I’m super excited to have the possibility to work with them creating alongside my followers!” Saravia tells PEOPLE. “Now I’ll have the option to change the clouds I use, for all the people who pointed out that I use the same ones.”

Saravia added in an Instagram post that she will have her own, personalized cloud formation called “Nubi Saravia.”