Doctored images are an everyday occurrence in today's society where perfection is easily attained with a simple computer program. There is a big debate about photo manipulation in the newspaper industry.
It is easy to say that manipulating photos is wrong and unethical no matter what changes are being made. Photos are supposed to be accurate representations of the subject and any changes to alter the subject are unethical.
But if you think about all of the pictures that you have of yourself, can’t you find at least one where you wished that someone could get rid of that giant pimple on your face?
I’ve taken pictures at my grandmother’s yearly class reunion. These people are in their seventies and many of them comment on the wrinkles and age spot that weren’t there last year. Is it unethical to make the subject of the photo look as he remembers himself?
Is it a completely different issue when the manipulations change the story of the photo? Yes.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you manipulate a photo to up that number to thousands of words, that is unethical. It is wrong to manipulate a photo to create talk about that picture or if the manipulations change the subject of the photo.
An example of this type of manipulation is to merge to photos that were taken in the same place. Merging photos to create one photo is a type of manipulation that changes the story of the subject. This type of manipulation is unethical and will likely get you fired if you are a serious journalist.
No comments:
Post a Comment