Digital Photography Ethics

1
Digital Photography Ethics

• Just because you can doesnt mean you should.

2
What is the difference between

• Adjusting an image to correct a defect?
• Adjusting an image to remove a distracting minor
  element?
• Adjusting an image to emphasize something that
  the original photo didnt emphasize?

3
For the sake of representing honest and accurate
information, the digital editor should avoid
anything that will change the actual event or
scene as it was captured by the camera. This
includes adding, removing or moving objects in
such a way that the context of the event is
altered. The digital image editor must be careful
to let the photos speak for themselves. So it's
not permissible to alter any aspect of place or
time -- like removing wrinkles or gray hair.
Fred Showker
4
The National Press Photographers Association
(NPPA)

• Code of ethics

5
As photojournalists, we have the responsibility
to document society and to preserve its history
through images.

• Accurate representation is the benchmark of our
  profession.

6
(No Transcript)
7
TIME darkened the handout photo creating a five
o'clock shadow and a more sinister look. They
darkened the top of the photo and made the police
lineup numbers smaller. They decided Simpson was
guilty so they made him look guilty.
8
(No Transcript)
9
The photo is accurate, but is it necessary to
display it?

• If the public needs the information in the photo
  in order to make informed choices for society,
  then we must run the photo.

10
A house fire started by a 12-year-old boy playing
with a cigarette lighter results in the death of
his little brother. The news desk gets a moving
photo showing the boy, despondent, sitting on the
front steps of the gutted home. The photo is
remarkable, showing all the devastation and
emotion of that horrible moment in time. Do you
run the photo?
11
(No Transcript)
12
Do you help or not?

• Where does your moral responsibility begin and
  end?

13
(No Transcript)
14
The magazine wrote on the credit page
Cover Photograph by Jim Myers Styling by Karen
Eubank Accessories courtesy of Rancho Loco,
Dallas boots courtesy of Boot Town, Dallas
motorcycle and leather jacket courtesy of
Harley-Davidson, Dallas Leather pants by
Patricia Wolfe Stock photograph (head shot) By
Kevin Vandivier / Texastock
15
If the photo looks real it should be real.

• You cannot assume that the audience will
  understand the manipulation.

16
(No Transcript)
17
If you remove the wires, is that okay?
What is the difference between a big lie and a
little lie? How does your credibility hold up?
18
(No Transcript)
19
What would be the difference if SI had simply
cropped the picture?

• Think about what purpose a photograph serves in
  news What does a photographer have to provide a
  news audience?