Photography and Ethics

Using Picture Manager I changed the colour of the photograph taken of my three sisters and I. The original photo seemed very dull and needed some bright colour to it, so I heightened the saturation and brightness. The photograph afterwards looks a lot better and shows the actual colours of what everyone is wearing and what colour the bricks are, it’s more appealing to the eye.

I recently dyed my hair a dark red-purple and shaved the sides on my head into a Mohawk style, so I wanted to the picture to show the true colour of my hair and the design to the best of my ability. Again, I raised the saturation and brightness of the picture to bring out the colour of my hair as well as my skin, although the orange-yellow isn’t the real colour of my skin the main purpose was to show off my hair. With the picture of the side of my head I had raised the brightness and contrast even more to bring the attention to my hair, my skin is a lot brighter almost white and my hair draws the attention of the audience to how dark/bright the colour is. 

Press Photography vs. Art Photography

Differences: The main differences between press photography and art photography is that with the press the pictures are taken right when an event happens whether is it a tragic event of a damn going through a bridge or a happy moment where President Obama is shaking hands with the public. Art photography is edited while being taken; meaning if the photograph is being taken of a ballerina then the photographer can direct her to the different types of poses he wants to take of her.

Similarities: With art photography you can edit the photographs the way the background looks, the way the object or person is facing or the type of expression they have, and with press photography the similarity is that the author can edit their photos if they wish. It is much better to look at a press photograph and see the real picture and the meaning behind the story, but photographers may wish to edit the lighting to the photo or substitute another technique to changing a photograph to grab the audiences’ attention. The main similarity is that both art photographs and press can be edited.

Mike White        http://darkins.net/photografy-art.html

Tim Irving            http://papercrave.com/new-sponsor-art-photography-by-tim-irving/

By Joseph Weber
23802/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/6/obama-50b-for-transit/

Tajuddin              http://www.bigpicture.in/collection-of-best-press-photographs-2010-part-2/

I don’t think press photographs should be altered because it won’t be the real picture that was taken at the time, it will be just another picture that was edited to be called your own photograph. As much as the picture may be crucial to the public they deserve to see the truth behind the photograph including the actual photograph. As well, I think art photography should be altered because the photographer is the one creating an art image and if it is theirs then they should be able to edit the picture however they want.