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Archive 2015 · What do we owe Photography?

  
 
aFeinberg
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · What do we owe Photography?


I few days ago I wrote a blog post which I dont normally do. At least with regards to non-imagery based. There was an image posted on a social media site that caught my attention and then caused me to do a double take. A discussion with the photog ensued (in private) and inspired this blog.

Since that time 2 more photographs have been posted to various places that have fallen in to the same category. I find this quite troublesome and worrying.

I hope this inspires some discussion, civil, and that we can come away with an understanding of what we should be responsible for perhaps.

<3
aF


http://www.afeinbergphotography.com/blog/2015/02/what-do-we-owe-photography/



Feb 10, 2015 at 02:21 PM
BluesWest
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · What do we owe Photography?


You're fighting a losing battle on this one, Aaron. Photoshop is so powerful, and the urge to manipulate photographs is so widespread, that, IMO, the best approach is to assume that no still image accurately depicts reality.

John



Feb 10, 2015 at 02:38 PM
kylebarendrick
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · What do we owe Photography?


Another way to think about it (assuming I'm getting Aaron's point):

Two photos look almost identical. Both show a full moon rising over a southwest landscape with a beautiful sky. One of them is a single exposure (or maybe even bracketed for DR or focus) and represented the culmination of significant research to find the exact day when the moon would be in the right place along with the patience and luck to get the right atmospheric conditions. The second was of the same landscape but the sky and moon were added from other exposures taken some other time in some other place. But again, both resulting photos look nearly identical.

Does the fact that one was "organic" and the other "manufactured" matter? To whom? Is there any value at all (besides personal satisfaction) to putting the effort into getting the organic shot?

Agreed that this discussion has been held before and nothing we say here is likely to make a difference.



Feb 10, 2015 at 03:00 PM
Prevelige
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · What do we owe Photography?


Aaron,

I have had this thought when looking at other people's work, "what an amazing image..." only to realize it's a composite. I felt betrayed. It was no less artful as a composite, still in fact a wonderful piece, just not what I thought it to be initially.

I don't know the line, as I routinely crop, alter or enhance color, crop out stray hair or branches, etc. I haven't felt guilty, or the need to disclose. Interesting discussions with no meaningful resolution are the only possible outcome.

Bob



Feb 10, 2015 at 03:55 PM
hijazist
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · What do we owe Photography?


Prevelige wrote:
Aaron,

I have had this thought when looking at other people's work, "what an amazing image..." only to realize it's a composite. I felt betrayed. It was no less artful as a composite, still in fact a wonderful piece, just not what I thought it to be initially.

I don't know the line, as I routinely crop, alter or enhance color, crop out stray hair or branches, etc. I haven't felt guilty, or the need to disclose. Interesting discussions with no meaningful resolution are the only possible outcome.

Bob
...Show more

+1... The problem is that all digitally captured images are manipulated one way or another, whether by the camera's JPEG engine, Camera RAW, PS, sharpening, contrast, cropping, you get the idea The dilemma is where to draw the line whether something requires disclosure or not. Very often as photographers we can, at least to some extent, identify whether an image has been heavily manipulated or not.

IMHO another pressing issue is that the emphasis on capturing the emotions of the scene or the moment has shifted now into the technicalities of capturing that scene, i.e. the gear used, the processing, etc... I always have to remind myself not to get too drawn into the technical side.

Interesting discussion nevertheless Aaron



Feb 10, 2015 at 09:16 PM
bf5hpjg
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · What do we owe Photography?


Great article Aaron! I agree with the main points. If I understand your article correctly, your issue is not with the minor PS/post processing adjust, i.e, color, sharpness, exposure, noise....., but with the altering of the image by replacing parts of the image with parts from a different angle of the same image or from other images. This is apart from blending/stacking an image where the scene is stationary, the camera is stationary but sunrise goes to mid morning to afternoon to sunset....clouds enter the scene, rain, snow...
Back to point...inserting a mountain not in the original, moon, sun, trees, fg/bg...needs to be identified in the posting of the image.
Do I understand this correctly??
Angelo



Feb 11, 2015 at 08:51 AM
Jason_Brook
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · What do we owe Photography?


While I understand your point; the same idea can be expanded into almost all photography, manipulated or not. Take the very famous picture of Nguyen Ngoc Loan (google him) assassinating a VC. There's zero way for the picture to convey the events leading to that infamous image. Without knowing the circumstances, it looks like a soldier murdering a civilian, but that is far from the truth. Is it still deceptive?

IMO, it's the nature of photography. After all, it is art. Just like literature, it can be fiction or non-fiction.



Feb 11, 2015 at 12:21 PM
Paul Mo
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · What do we owe Photography?


BluesWest wrote:
the best approach is to assume that no still image accurately depicts reality.

John


Indeed, to a degree... strong ethics still run deep in the documentary community. Although even there you have some awful (staged) work trying to pass itself off as 'found' imagery.


kylebarendrick wrote:
Does the fact that one was "organic" and the other "manufactured" matter? To whom? Is there any value at all (besides personal satisfaction) to putting the effort into getting the organic shot?



For some unfathomable reason it matters to me. I love images that are magic because of serendipity, not post processing skills.

It is hard to articulate but I would take as natural an image over manipulation/digital art any day. And here I think we start to split hairs talking about degrees of processing and adding in elements which were not present when the shutter was pressed.

Give me the 'realer' of the images.


kylebarendrick wrote:
Is there any value at all (besides personal satisfaction) to putting the effort into getting the organic shot?


There could be - to a discerning collector.



Feb 11, 2015 at 07:45 PM
jim allison
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · What do we owe Photography?


Journalism strives for objectivity. Art is subjective. Lines get crossed and it is human nature
to cheat if the motivation is strong enough. For my money W. Eugene Smith was the greatest photojournalist ever to pick up a camera, yet much of his non war photography for Life magazine was staged and carefully lit. To me his work transcended journalism and became art. If you've never scene his work, it's really worth a serious look!! It's an interesting topic.I wish that there was more discussion of this natureon FM!



Feb 13, 2015 at 07:47 PM
aFeinberg
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · What do we owe Photography?


Thanks all for the discussion. Sorry I have been absent. BF5 is correct.

Ansel was the one who pioneered darkroom work. And by in large, even with all our fancy tools, we are still doing much the same. My issue comes with moving/adding/subtracting portions of an image which were not as was seen.

I dont care that it's done. Just add "artistic liberties" were taken in the description to give the viewer that whatever they are looking at best represents what the artist wanted to achieve and not necessarily what nature provided.

aF



Feb 13, 2015 at 08:04 PM





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