Topic3: Alterations in journalistic photography

The press acts as an important tool in providing the public with the opportunity to gain different world perspectives on current events, issues, and assists us in making daily decisions with information that may impact us. The act of altering photographs can completely change what a picture stands for and because of this, journalists have the great responsibility to provide the public with images that best represent the truth.

I believe that it is unacceptable to alter photographs presented by the press. Manipulating photographs has been a very controversial issue since the growing trend of digital media. Because the photographs taken by journalists are presented to the general public, Journalism and news media have a great influence on us through numerous outlets including print, the web, social media outlets, and Television. This influence can persuade viewers/users to make decisions that can have a great impact in a positive or negative manner.

In addition, digital media has made it a lot easier and convenient to manipulate photographs. Through such programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photo Paint, photographers are able to enhance, crop, blow up, and retouch images seamlessly. “Photographers who once had to abandon the scene of a story in order to process and print are now able to remain in the field as they file digitally direct from cameras or select, edit and transmit from their laptops. The resulting images are often distributed to audiences almost immediately via Website portals.” This quote reiterates that digital media has made distributing and the manipulation of photos easier then ever.  With a set of skilled hands using Adobe Photoshop, photographers can remove a person from a picture while changing the background with ease. In order to build a set of standards relating to manipulating photos, the United States for example, has the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) that is Code of Ethics promoting the accuracy of published images. In addition, SND protect the reliability and truthfulness of news reports, to really build a trusted relationship between the media and general public. 

Photojournalism will continue to have a large influence around the world because of its potential reach, making manipulating photographs a very important concern to control and guide. Below are examples of before and after post-edited photos. Editing a photo with a simple layer of darkness or cropping a photo can dramatically change and alter what the photo stands for and symbolizes.

An edited  photo of Martha Stewarts "so called" weight loss according to the headline. By simply cropping the photo and adding shape to her shirt on the right, Martha Stewart looks a lot more thin. 

A photo taken manipulated to enhance the darkness in smoke. Adding darkness to the smoke makes the photo a lot more dramatic than the original photo. 

A photo of a model from Ralph Lauren with an extremely slim waist. The model was clearly edited to create such a thin waist and torso, and it is not an accurate display of a women's body. Photos such as this, are irresponsible making young girls think this is natural and portray the body shape in such inaccurate ways. 

Sources:

http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/11-photo-editing-flubs-digitally-altered-photo-disasters/story?id=8780937&page=3

Discussion Board 11: Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson vs. Smith and Salgado

Comparing the photography work between Andrew Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson in contrast to Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado, it is clear that they all have a diverse style of shooting but they all bring a unique and distinctive offering to photography through their work and have had a great influence on photojournalism.

Each photographer take a distinctive approach on how they photography and report an image and that is what truly differentiates each one from another. Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier- Bresson were two European photographers that are recognized for assisting in the development of “street photography” style. Andre Kertesz is best known for capturing the “decisive moment” which entailed taking pictures at that very instance that he felt were powerful and encapsulated the true feelings and emotions of a person or place. “Everything is a subject. Every subject has a rhythm. To feel it is the raison d'être. The photograph is a fixed moment of such a raison d'être, which lives on in itself,” is a quote taken from Andre Kertesz that reiterates how important capturing the moment was. This style is very similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson and his mind set when taking photographs. Both photographers also believed that it was important to remain unnoticed when shooting photographs. They wanted to remove any outside influences or distractions and they believed that by staying invisible, the photographs taken would capture true and raw emotions of their subject. 

Eugene Smith and Sabestio Salgado shared a different approach that can be perceived as a bias approach but they believed in manipulating their photographs in to tell a story from their point-of-view through images. Being "invisible" was not important in capturing the moment. 

Which photographer offered the better journalistic approach is a difficult question to answer. I believe that each photographer provides a unique and distinctive style in photography, but all share their pros and cons. While staying invisible and leaving photography un-edited can bring out raw emotions, editing photographs can assist in the creative direction of telling a story. Kertesz and Cartier- Bresson's style is appropriate for photos taken for journalism purposes should remain unedited because of strict guidelines and morals within the manipulation of journalistic photographs. In comparison, Smith and Salgado's style would be best for leisure and artistic style photographs including parties, landscapes, portraits, etc. Having the artistic freedom to edit photos can enhance the image to the liking of the photographer. 

In conclusion, the work of Andrew Kertesz, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado all have had a great influence on photo journalism and provide a diverse history in shooting styles. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare.  -Shooting a photo at the very moment was always the inspiration.

Eugene Smith- Edited to show more contrast. 

SOURCES:

- Learning Module's Week 10 & 11

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson

Topic 2: Press photography versus art photograph

Photography is a great means of communication between journalists and the general public while also being credited in the art world for the ability to express ones creativity through photographs. Below are photographs taken from a few Toronto Star articles and pictures taken by photographer, Terry Richardson.

Press photographs are similar to those of art photography because they still must be able to display a clear image or idea to the viewer. If the viewer cannot interpret or understand a photograph, then it has lost its purpose or goal. In addition, both forms of photography must still consider the essentials involved in taking a picture including lighting, angling, aperture, shutter speed, and other important criteria. The photographs above simply display the people relevant to each news story. The photographs do not use much photographic elements such as lighting or camera angling. It is just important to have a picture to go with the story.

The photographs above are taken from Terry Richardson, a fashion photographer known for his provocative and sometimes controversial pictures. Art photographs can be different from press photographs because of the purpose of each photo. While press photographs must be clear and concise to help the reader/viewer understand a story, art photography can be abstract and difficult to interpret or understand. Press photography can also be positioned to allow the editor or newspaper to receive credit on a story and to grab the readers/viewer’s attention. The creativity or quality aspect of photo can sometimes not be as important as to the relevancy to the story at hand. This can happen in order to get a news story out in a fast manner. Art photography in contrast, provides photographers the opportunity to express themselves through photos.  To many it may just seem like a photo, but for other it is distinguished by different form of uses and may be separated by meaning. Terry Richardson is considered a great fashion photographer for his ability to bring out the personality of each of his subjects. In the photos above, the cast of Jersey Boys is seen having a good time and joking around (what they are well known for on their hit reality show).

SOURCES

Press photography

http://www.thestar.com/news/torontogta two kids

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/890111--brampton-mayor-resigns-from-her-own-private-fund (Brampton mayor)

Art photography

 http://www.brusday.com/tag/mike-the-situation/ (jersey shore)

http://www.hhnrocks.com/post/269718283/hangingonmytongue-bohemea-suicideblonde (justin timb)