Reach out and retouch someone

In class last week we started a conversation as to whether it is ethically ok as a photojournalist to retouch a picture. We used the example of removing a blemish from a flower (see below)

It became quite the heated discussion. There were great points made for both sides. When it comes down to it though, I think it is really a matter of what the picture in question is. In the case of this picture, honestly, I can’t really say it is a terrible thing to remove the black spot.

After finding out how magazines edit the appearance of the people on the front, making them look thinner, removing their freckles, fixing their teeth, and other physical changes, I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with changing the appearance of anything to make it a misrepresentation of what it was before editing. By changing a person’s appearance, you are misrepresenting who they really are. As soon as you change a picture of someone, that picture really stops being of them. It starts being of how you want people to see them: your view of this person. But how can you agree with not changing a person’s appearance, but agree with changing the look of a flower, or a landscape?

I’m not gunna lie. It has a lot to do with aesthetics. A magazine with a great picture of a flower on the cover is gunna sell better then one with a flawed flower. How is this different from changing a picture of a person? With a person, you are trying to sell their image. You are trying to sell their looks. With the flower, you are just trying to make it look like your photographer knows how to take a good picture. You are selling the picture, not what it represents. But how can I not see changing it as a misrepresentation of the flower? Well, with the flower, you could have leaned over and removed the spot when you took the picture. Or covered over top of it. With a person, you can’t make someone thinner on the scene. You can’t make their eyes look different, or their smile better at the shoot.

I think in our jobs, it is really important to know where to draw the line. I have a pretty good idea of where my line is and what it means to me. I hope everyone else does to