Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/07/07

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Subject: [Leica] Photoshopping truth - a polemic
From: chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com (Chris Crawford)
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:35:22 -0400

That's your opinion. No more, no less.


-- 
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-424-0897

http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio

http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My latest work!



On 7/7/10 5:31 PM, "Philip Forrest" <photo.forrest at earthlink.net> wrote:

> The truth is that it's just wrong to edit a photo as much as the one in
> question. That's the truth.
> 
> Phil Forrest
> 
> 
> On Wed, 7 Jul 2010 17:06:48 -0400
> Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Most discussions of photographic "truth" tend to obscure the fact
>> that ALL photographs are abstract representations of an external
>> world. When Margaret Mead showed Tahitian natives black and white
>> photographs of themselves and their village, they rotated the photos
>> this way and that, shook their heads, and handed them back. "Nice
>> designs", they said, "but what are they?" Mead then realized that
>> photographs were such abstractions that only long experience enables
>> their interpretation.
>> 
>> Closer to home, your dog does not jump into the TV screen to frolic
>> in the fields shown in the dog food commercials. Neither does it
>> growl or flee from the TV intruders in your household. The image on
>> TV is not the real world to the animal but a flickering pattern on an
>> illuminated tube. We see the image as a depiction of reality because
>> our intelligence and experience enables us infer the scene from its
>> abstract representation. The animal does not.
>> 
>> The obvious limits to the truthful photographic depiction of the
>> world are inherent in the photographic process which represents a
>> three dimensional moving scene as a two dimensional static image.
>> Lens resolution, color fidelity, contrast compression are just a few
>> of the constraints on image reality. Motion picture and three
>> dimensional photography remove some limits but add others. Printing
>> and reproduction processes add still more. It is possible to fool the
>> eye into perceiving an image as reality in carefully controlled
>> laboratory situations, but the moment the viewer shifts head position
>> or moves with respect to the image, the effect vanishes.
>> 
>> In addition, our standards for reality are ever increasing. Audiences
>> recoiled in horror when the first full length motion picture (The
>> Great Train Robbery) showed a speeding locomotive heading straight
>> for them. To get a similar audience response today requires IMAX and
>> 3D glasses. In a few years year reality might require moving
>> holographic images, and ultimately, a Startrek type Holodeck in which
>> viewers are allowed to fully interact with the images as a form of
>> controlled hallucination.
>> 
>> And, of course, there is no absolute "truth." By framing a portion of
>> a total scene in a camera viewfinder the photographer makes an
>> editorial judgment about what "truth" will be presented to the
>> viewer. That is as true when photographing natives in villages as it
>> is when covering newsworthy events. Even lens selection influences
>> photographic truth. Perspective distortion through the use of extreme
>> wideangle or telephoto lenses has become a staple of many
>> photographers, often substituting for content or creativity.
>> Thankfully, many news photographers eschew this trick since picture
>> content is still more important to the news media than artistic
>> creativity, but thumb through most photo mags. and count the small
>> number of images taken with a normal perspective.
>> 
>> If you think your photographs truly represent the scene in front of
>> the camera, I suggest this Turing test for photography. Take a photo
>> out of the window of your house, preferably one with a nice view.
>> Make the best possible print you can of the negative or digital
>> image, then hang it on the wall next to the window. If a visitor to
>> your house cannot tell the difference between the view out the window
>> and the picture of the view out the window, you have a truly
>> realistic photo.
>> 
>> Someday photographic images may pass the Turing test, presenting three
>> dimensional, moving, full color scenes directly to the eyeball and
>> other sense organs, indistinguishible from actuality. Until then,
>> assertions of photographic "truth" are like assertions of virginity
>> among whores.
>> 
>> Larry Z
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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In reply to: Message from photo.forrest at earthlink.net (Philip Forrest) ([Leica] Photoshopping truth - a polemic)