Friday, February 26, 2010

Photography: When is it real? When is it fake?

In the olden days, photographers enhanced their photos in the darkroom. Art directors have long cropped photos for size and to emphasis certain aspects of the original frame. So how far can a photographer or an editor today go in manipulating an image and under what circumstances?

The "invented reality" in two winning photos in Modern Photography's 16th Annual Readers Contest raised some questions. Winners in the "Action/sports" and "Travel/Places" categories were composites.

The New York Times technology columnist discusses in Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real? The answers may surprise you.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I think most photographers depend on photoshop to play and put some effects to make few changes in the pictures.In my opinion a good photographer can take a good picture by setting his camera instead of using the photoshop to keep the real picture.

fatima almarzouqi said...

There are few "real" photographer who dont use the photoshop. most protograpers use it to make their pictures different and make it creative. I think any one who adjust photos with Photoshop is not a great or even good photographer because he depend on photoshop and not learn anything. the real photo is in my opinion which is black and white taken by old photographers in many years at that time where there is not photoshop.

Sara Al Dhaheri said...

Photoshop isn’t to be blamed and many other programs that photographers use to enhance their pictures aren’t to be blamed since it is first created to fix and enhance the pictures taken. The photographer is blamed when he uses those programs and says he doesn’t. There are few photographers who don’t enhance their pictures and the number is decreasing. I am a photographer and I use those programs to fix the pictures but I still take the photos as any other photographer. Those programs really give us choices that the camera doesn’t give us.

Noura Fahed said...

The world is developing in technology so I believe that photographers have the right to use photoshop or any different programs in editing their photos but, in legal terms. For instance, I think that photographers can do color or light corrections in their photographs to make them more acceptable.

Fatima . M . Al Ali said...

Real photography is when the photographer use the manual setting of the camera and show his or her pictures as he or she took by the camera and not edit them on any programs like the Photoshop.

photography is fake when the photographer use such these programs and change them totally.

I think its fine if the photographer uses these programs to add little touches on his or her pictures to adjust the lighting in the pictures, but not change them totally.