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Photoshop and Ethics

In the media production and design and time-based media courses, the first assignment entailed either altering a single photograph and changing its context or create a triptych where tools in Photoshop may be used to connect the three images.

As you can probably imagine, Photoshop is a great tool for the creation and alteration of images but there are also ethical considerations when the content involves reality, such as a war, and perceptions of that reality are forever changed in the minds of one's audience who may not know the image has been altered at all.

Here are two examples:

Katie Couric has lost a few quick pounds instantly with the help of Photoshop (you'd think someone would notice when she was on TV that week looking heavier that the jig was up!). This altered photo appeared in a promotional magazine for CBS.
Couric 1Couric 2


Image courtesy of the NY Times (be sure to check out their article, Ease of Alteration Creates Woes for Picture Editors, registration required). The first 2 images were taken by Photojournalist Brian Walski for the LA Times while he was in Iraq. The last image was the composite he made using the two images.
Walski

There are certainly many more examples than this. Our entire celebrity culture is based on creating perfection. Is there something to gain in this ability to edit and alter images or is it appearing to be lose-lose? What is your thinking on this, know that you have a better understanding of Photoshop?

Also check out this Dove video, to further the discussion of ethics involved in alteration and our concept of beauty:

Posted 02/11/07 by Liz | Filed under: Media Ethics

Comments

While in high school, I attended an assembly on how most of the images of women and men we see on TV and in magazines are not reality. We were shown before and after photos along with mark-ups of what the editor wanted taken out and put in for a variety of magazines. One example was of a top paid model at the time. They removed acne, unwanted hair, cellulite, wrinkles, veins, and altered the overall shape of her face and body. The difference between the before and after shot were amazing, you would never have expected them to be the same person.

While it is amazing what technological advancements have been make, the way they are being used today are causing more harm than good. Self-esteem issues are greatly hurting our youths and even adults. Campaigns such as this one by Dove are a wonderful start but this is only the beginning. Much more needs to be done about these issues. Anorexia and Bulimia are huge problems and are now affecting girls at a younger age than ever. The problem is with our culture and the media is a great place to start. The media is a wonderful thing in that it reaches so many people. What needs to take place is a change in values. The media should be used as a tool to change the perception we have of what is in and what is out. What is good and what is bad. What is pretty and what is ugly.

Posted by AlexandraW at 04/03/07 08:38:25

Being able to alter media to create art is fantastic, but all good things can fall into the wrong hands and can be used for evil. All of the aforementioned examples alter the truth. They are dishonest, deceiving. The picture of the soldier had potential to have a devastating affect on people's perception of the parties involved. This type of transformation is not right. I also think the creators went too far in the first and third examples. I say use as much make-up, hair products, and flattering clothes as you want, but actually going into a computer program and erasing part of someone's jaw to make their face narrower or lengthening a model's neck to make her look more elegant is going too far. If people want to create art, as in something that's going to be hung in a gallery or that people know to be altered to achieve certain affects, then these modifications are fine. However, when they are supposed to be advertising a product or a televisions show, there should be as much truth as possible. LIES, LIES I TELL YOU, IT’S ALL LIES!!!! AAhhhhhhhhhhh!!

As a response to Allie's comment, I don't know if the advancements are causing more harm than good, but that really isn't the point. Any harm is not good and it certainly is prevalent. Not only are anorexia and bulimia huge problems, but self esteem issues related to skin are also huge. All you see in magazine and on television are people with perfect faces and perfect skin. In reality millions of teens and plenty of adults suffer from acne and other skin disorders and when they compare themselves to these models and actors it can have an incredibly detrimental effect on their ego, their confidence, and their willingness to interact with others. It would be interesting to see more films and more magazines that showed graphics that were a little more "real" in nature.

Posted by ElaineC at 04/10/07 03:26:23

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