Transcript Ethical Issues in Visual Communication

Ethical Issues in
Visual Communication
William Kubie
BYU-Idaho
www.willqb.com/photoshop/
Ethical Issues in
Visual Communication
William Kubie
BYU-Idaho
www.willqb.com/photoshop/
Is it wrong?
By the World’s Standards:
• Outcome or Effect
– Were they caught?
– Was someone fired?
– Did it cost money to fix or result in lost revenue?
• Magnitude or Severity
– How many changes were involved?
– How many people saw it?
– How many people were involved?
Is it Wrong?
By the Lord’s Standards:
13. We believe in being honest, true,
chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in
doing good to all men...
— THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
Is it Wrong?
By the Lord’s Standards:
2 Nephi 28: 8-9
8. And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be
merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little
sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his
words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all
these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty,
God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in
the kingdom of God.
9. Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner,
false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their
hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord;
and their works shall be in the dark.
Case Studies:
Reuters photo that appeared on web sites August 5, 2006
Photoshopped version
Photo later claimed to be the unaltered original
Original
For Discussion
Merits/Ethics of using a digital tool
like Photoshop to:
• Remove a child’s runny nose?
• Hiding skin blemishes, fixing teeth,
reducing glare on “foreheads”?
• Merge two or more original shots into one?
Additional Examples
• L.A. Times
• BYU accused of removing tattoos
Is It “Real” or Just
Computer Graphics?
Still frame photograph from
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
CG image by Mihai Anghelescu
Nikolai Yezhov and
Stalin, before and
after retouching.
How Visual Communications
Can be Misleading
• Captions, descriptions, or
narration used to accompany
images
• Proximity of images to text or other
photos
• Photo Selection or exclusion
• Cropping
Photoshop Tips
• Omni Edge Sharpening Action –
Sharpens photos with less noise and
smaller file sizes in compressed web
images
For clean image transitions
• Masked layers
• Effects (such as glow & screen)
• Layer attributes (multiply, screen,
luminosity, etc)
• “Adjust Curves” – For quick color
balance and contrast adjustments
Concluding Thoughts
“To thine own self be true, And it must
follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not
then be false to any man.”
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet, act 1, scene 3)
“We cannot be less than honest, we cannot be less than
true, we cannot be less than virtuous if we are to keep
sacred the trust given us. Once it was said among our
people that a man’s word was as good as his bond. Shall
any of us be less reliable, less honest than our
forebears?”
— Gordon
B. Hinckley,
“An Honest Man — God’s Noblest Work,” Ensign, May 1976, 60
References
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Wikipedia: “Photo Manipulation”, “Photoshopping”, “Digital image editing”,
“Photoshop contest”, “Photoshop tennis”
LittleGreenFootballs.com, Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?
CNN.com, Reuters says Mideast photographer doctored shots
Reuters, Reuters withdraws all photos by Lebanese freelance
L.A. Times, Lebanon photos: Take a closer look
National Geographic News, Shark "Photo of the Year" Is E-Mail Hoax
Deseret Morning News, BYU says tattoos were not ‘erased’
Dennis Dunleavy: Blog, Photojournalism
Doctorzebra.com, Woodrow Wilson’s bad teeth
Poynter Online, L.A. Times Photographer Fired Over Altered Image
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Altered photo forces UW to reprint 100,000
brochures
National Press Photographers Association, Altered photos, media
guides, colleges
Hany Farid, “Digital Tampering in the Media, Politics and Law”, “Computer
Graphics or Photographic?”
Nephew - Runny Nose by Grogg (Posted on Flicker.com)
By Omnicolor (User ID), Omni Edge Sharpen Action