[Leica] Photoshop vs Journalism

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

The problem is as much a problem of perception rather than reality.

Now mind you, I thought the photos from the Danish(?) contest were *way*
overcooked. And there is no excuse for adding or subtracting actual image
content, changing the color of Obama's swimsuit, or doing a film noir
number on O.J.'s face. But "gotcha" charges of photo manipulation have
gone way beyond that at times.

Because the "Greedy S.O.B.'s" do what they do, newspaper and magazine
executives probably have boardroom discussions about how to get the public
to trust them again.  The photo editor ends up explaining what can be done
in Photoshop to The Big Guy (or Gal), who hasn't a clue about the
nitty-gritty.  Next thing you know, T.B.G. has ordered a policy of zero
tolerance for photo manipulation.  Which includes stuff that have been
done in the darkroom for over a century.

Fast forward, and some honest photographer gets "caught" dodging a face,
burning in a background, or balancing the color so that a photo looks like
what the photographer actually saw.  Said photographer is pilloried,
disgraced, fired, made an example of.  The public gets a scapegoat. 
Management has "taken decisive action to correct an aggregious violation
and restore public trust."  All is well.

This atmosphere also gives jealous colleagues a way to discredit someone
who beat them to a story, or won a contest. Or for those of a particular
political stripe to discredit a photo that puts their point of view in a
bad light. The public have not been taught the subtleties, they are told
that the only question to ask is whether the photo was manipulated or not.

Film and sensors impose their own version of reality on the scene.
Sometimes a bit of processing is required to make a photo look like what
we would have seen if we were there.  Photographers are in an impossible
situation in the current climate.  They have to be better than Caesar's
wife--not only beyond reproach, but beyond any possible appearance of
reproach--when they work in a dirty and imperfect real world.

The real question is whether the journalist and the publication have
integrity or not. And whether the fact that tools can be abused is a good
reason to take away all the tools.

--Peter