Annie Leibovitz, the celebrity photographer behind some of the most iconic cover shoots of the past three decades, does not consider glossy magazine covers as photographs because of the extensive digital “retouching”.

The American snapper – whose covers include the naked and pregnant Demi Moore, John Lennon and Yoko Ono in an embrace, and transgender reality star Caitlyn Jenner – said none of the subjects in her new exhibition would be digitally enhanced.

Speaking at the launch event of Women: New Portraits the 66-year-old in London, Leibovitz said: “I think we are smart as an audience. We know when something has been screwed around with, we just know."

She said: “I don’t think there is a cover for Vanity Fair or Voguethat goes out that is not retouched. I don’t know whether I consider the covers photographs, it’s very close to advertising if you ask me.”

The exhibition, which opens at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station in January, will feature a series of images including comedian Amy Schumer and tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.

Her own photographs of Lena Dunham for Vogue last year came under fire for digital enhancement. She said Photoshop was accepted now but for the exhibition, she said: “If there was any retouching it was to the background.”

The show will also include a recent self-portrait of the photographer with her three daughters and an image of former US Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner, who has transitioned into a woman.