Is Photoshop/digital photo adjustment part of photography?

Question

A lot of people say it isn't, but others say otherwise. Is digital photo adjustment "fair?"

Answer 1

It's called "post-processing" because that's what it is. It's processing that happens after the photography part is all done. It's not part of photography, but it is part of making the final image.

Is it "fair?" Of course, it's fair. You can't use it irresponsibly to create false journalism, but otherwise, why wouldn't it be fair? Unless we are reporting a factual event, we are just making something that is pleasing to the eye.

Here's my recent example... My son took a photo through the window of an airplane while crossing the Carpathian Mountains on a trip that he is not very likely to repeat. You can't see to owell through airplane windows and it was an overcast day, but what was he supposed to do? Try again next time? You just take the picture in this situation and hope you get something to work with.

Here's his original shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1165244120/

Here's my edit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1165264850/

He thought that this looked "unnatural" and asked me to back off a little bit and here's where we are now: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1179100838/

Is this "fair?" Do they still look like mountains and clouds? Did I put any flames or mushroom clouds on the horizon? Of course, it's fair. I just took the information gathered by his camera and located the image hidden behind the glass and haze. What if I DID put in a man waving from the mountain top? As long as I was not going to use that to misrepresent something, it's just a picture. How fair is it to paint a scene and leave out something you do not like or add something that you wish was there? It's all fair.

Answer 2

Depends on what you think is fair. No photograph is ever absolutely perfect. Every professional photographer (defined as someone who makes more that 50% of their income from photography) I know does some adjustment or manipulation of a digital image before submitting it for sale. It is one of the things that separates a photo that will sell from one that won't. Adobe Photoshop is at this time the best way to make adjustments and manulipulations. Some may not consider it fair, but for a real professional it is just another tool used in producing a sellable image and when depending on using photography to make your living, if you don't use all the tools available to you to produce a successful image, you are a fool!

Answer 3

All iamges are manipulated. It starts with the selection of subject, framing, perspective, exposure, etc.

What image manipulation is appropriate comes with the what the intent of the final image is. As a photojournalist, there are things that I can do with an image that are unethical in that context, so they aren't allowed, but if I am producing another kind of image for a different purpose they wouldn't be any big deal.

A professional keeps the post processing to a minimum for pragmatic reasons. We need to produce images and, if there isn't a reason to do it ourselves, we don't.

That doesn't necessarily hold true for all photographers, though. Every fine art photographer I know does their own post processing and manipulates the image to a final representation of their vision.

Landscape and wild life photographers may, or may not, manipulate their images.

If I am shooting spot news, I just get the pictures and dump them off to an editing room over the net and they take care of them however they want.

If I am shooting something like a photo essay, then I do my own post processing and manipulate the images so that they support the emotional tone and the theme of the story. Is that fair? To me it is. I am not doing straight reportage, I am telling a story. Do I fake images? No.

To answer your question about fair, the answer depends on what you are doing.

To answer your question about it being part of photography, the answer, again, depends on what you are doing.

When you get to the realm of photography as art, then image manipulation is part and parcel of the world and as a an artist using photography as their medium, digital manipulation is very much part of photography.

Vance

Answer 4

it can be, but not necessarily. It's not really a big part of my photography, but it may be a big part of other people's photography. Do all pictures come out perfect? Obviously not, but some do. In fact, many do. The better photographer you are, the better your ratio of good pics to bad pics. How much editing goes into a picture? It depends on the picture, and it depends on how you define 'editing'. Do you mean 'photoshopping', or do you mean 'post-processing'? As others have stated, the best practice is to get it right the first time, in the camera (instead of relying on the computer to fix your mistakes). The less editing you need, the better.

Answer 5

Is darkroom photo adjustment fair? When you shoot a roll of film and you screw up the exposure by 2 stops and you take it to the lab to have it processed and they fix that for you so that you get normal great looking prints that you thought you took all on your own is that fair? I own a polarizing filter, a warming filter and a split neutral density, I can make things happen you can't, is that fair? LIFE ISN'T FAIR... get over it.

Answer 6

OF COURSE ITS FAIR, unless you are putting things in a photo and passing it off as un retouched. Say, you take a photo of JFK on the fatefull day in texas, you then cut and paste Ossomma Bin laden on the grassy knoll with a gun and say you have proof he killed Kennedy, youd be lying and wrong!

Answer 7

Yes it's fair. It's but one tool of many at your disposal. When you go to a concert...you think the guitar REALLY sounds like that? No...it's processed beyond belief....but it's part of the guitarists toolset. Having said that...if you do bonehead moves like the idiots at CBS: http://lonestartimes.com/images/2006/09/Couric%20Doctored.jpg
or Time, or Reuters...it's called cheating....or in proper terms...lying.

Answer 8

Used sensibly I think it is fair. I took a photo of our grandchild on a swing and was able to correct a slight out of focus and crop in.

BUT if adjustment is done to trick other people I feel that is unfair.

By the way if you want to trick the law, they can soon find out if the picture has been tampered with.

Answer 9

Yes, its fair. Its called "photo manipulation" and they do it in studios to enhance portraits and such. I think it is fair, and it can be used to make some amazing photos!

Answer 10

yes its fair.Its all part of the 'art' of photography in the modern age