Blog Post #6

#6 In your opinion, when is it beneficial, ethical, or appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? When do you think it is inappropriate or ethically wrong?

In the world of art photography, I believe it is completely ethical to alter photographs. When done with a creative purpose in mind, the sky is the limit in my mind. There have been so many amazing and creative photos that would not have been possible without digital alteration, and it would be a huge shame if this form of artistic expression were eliminated, leaving the imagination of these types of artists unexpressed. I think of it sort of like special effects in movies. It is certainly not unethical to use special effects in movies, in fact, many people really enjoy seeing the different effects used to create the illusion of reality in unreal events. They help make the movies interesting and dynamic and express the ideas and images the producers had in mind when creating the movies. No one walked out of the Matrix complaining “I feel so cheated and deceived, did you see the way those people were moving? That was such a lie, people can’t do that.” Instead, the special effects used in the movie added to the enjoyment of those who watched it. If you think of photographs as sort of still movies that tell their own story, photo editing is their form of special effects.

However, there are certain types of photography in which editing the images would absolutely be unethical. Photojournalism is an example of this. Photojournalism is meant to document the way the world is, to show the real truth and provide information. It can be done in creative and artistic ways, but it is and should be limited to what is actually there, how it is actually happening and what the camera actually captures. Changing images that will be presented as truth is wrong and completely inappropriate. A news organization will lose its legitimacy and its reputation in the eyes of the public and its peers if it is caught producing digitally altered images. There have been many cases of photographers who edit their photographs without telling anyone and getting caught, and it is never a positive thing for their image. Changing even small details, such as erasing  unwanted legs in the background of a picture can ruin the entire career of the photographer that commits this unethical lie. In photojournalism, the image is what it is, and that is how it should be.