Category: Ethics

  • Wade Laube » When a picture seems too good to be true

    It transpired that before being acquired by the wire service, the photograph had been in the possession of an Icelandic newspaper and it was there that some fairly liberal digital dodging and burning took place. When a comparison was made with the original, it became obvious that post production had been applied to sufficient extent…

  • Illegal exhumation – A debate about Marco Vernaschi´s methods | Lightstalkers

    On January 25th 2010 a 10 years old girl named Babirye Margret was found killed by the police in the Katugwe village, with a part of the right leg and the whole left arm cut off. Three suspects including the caretaker, his wife and a traditional healer have been arrested to help in the investigations…

  • Disaster Pornography from Somalia

    Somali doctors and nurses have expressed shock at the conduct of film crews in hospitals. They rush through crowded corridors, leaping over stretchers, dashing to film the agony before it passes. They hold bedside vigils to record the moment of death. When the Italian actress Sophia Loren visited Somalia, the paparazzi trampled on children as…

  • Wider Angles: Photoshop "Content-Aware Fill" – A Picture's Worth

    Adobe Photoshop Project Manager John Nack previewed the “Content-Aware Fill” feature that will make its way into the Photoshop CS5 later this year. The Content-Aware Fill allows operators to remove parts of the scene without laborious retouching. The implications for image security, watermark removal, and creative expression are enormous. How should photographers, photo buyers and…

  • Article on ABC Footage of Shooting Raises Questions – NYTimes.com

    Article on ABC Footage of Shooting Raises Questions – NYTimes.com

    Article on Footage of Shooting in Zambia Raises Questions for Media A New Yorker article reports that ABC showed footage of an alleged killing in Zambia in the 1990s — and did not inform Zambian authorities about the shooting. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/business/media/29newyorker.html?partner=rss&emc=rss “We were allowed to accompany patrols in Zambia after we agreed not to identify…

  • A Photo Editor – Ask Anything – Copying Other Artists

    Ask Anything – Copying Other Artists – A Photo Editor Former Art Buyers and current photography consultants Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease have agreed to take anonymous questions from photographers and not only give their expert advice but put it out to a wide range of photographers, reps and art buyers via A Photo…

  • PDNPulse: Stylized Photojournalism: Where to Draw the Line?

    Shot with his iPhone using a Polaroid film filter app, the images simulate the classic look and feel of Polaroids. The washed out colors and soft focus lend the series a dreamy, remembrance-of-things-past feel that makes the images compelling, and in some cases, beautiful. Which raised the question: is this a case of style and…

  • Picture Perfect – Audubon Magazine

    Audubon has sent me to lots of wild places over the past 31 years, but I’d seen only one wolf and three cougars (a litter) until December 8, 2009. On that day, before noon in the Glacier National Park ecosystem of northwestern Montana, I encountered not just one wolf but two and not just one…

  • Viewer or voyeur? The morality of reportage photography

    Viewer or voyeur? The morality of reportage photography Do you look away from images of real-life horror, or look closer? A series of shocking photographs from Somalia asks disturbing questions about the ethics of bearing witness via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/08/world-press-photo-sean-ohagan Do you look away from images of real-life horror, or look closer? A series of…

  • Alex Welsh, the SFPD, Shield Law and the Responsibilities of a Photojournalist « Prison Photography

    Alex Welsh, the SFPD, Shield Law and the Responsibilities of a Photojournalist « Prison Photography

    Alex Welsh, the SFPD, Shield Law and the Responsibilities of a Photojournalist THE DOCUMENTS OF A PHOTOJOURNALIST Last April, San Francisco’s Superior Court played host to legal wrangling between the San Francisco Police Department and a young aspiring photojournalist. … via Prison Photography: http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/alex-welsh-the-sfpd-shield-law-and-the-responsibilities-of-a-photojournalist/ Legally, this is a very interesting story and ethically it is…

  • S.F. State student who invoked Shield Law reveals murder scene photo in national contest

    S.F. State student who invoked Shield Law reveals murder scene photo in national contest

    S.F. State student who invoked Shield Law reveals murder scene photo in national contest Last April, San Francisco was home to the sort of ethical controversy that occasionally erupts when the priorities of journalists and cops collide. A San… via SF Weekly: http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-03-03/news/s-f-state-student-who-invoked-shield-law-reveals-murder-scene-photo-in-national-contest/ The trickier question is whether Welsh made the right decision — choosing…

  • Proving The Wrong Point With The Wrong Arguments Or How Photography Competition Juries Harp On The Trivial While Ignoring The Egregious « The Spinning Head

    So let me understand this: its the tiny shoe that was erased that is the problem here and not the fact that nearly 90% of the original image was simply cropped, a small area of focus was then enlarged, color converted, burned and dodged and a completely ‘new’ image created for submission. Link: Proving The…

  • PDNPulse: Yet Another Photo Doctoring Scandal

    In Rudik’s case, for instance, he was disqualified for removing the smallest element, but I would argue that all his other manipulation to the image in question did much more to change the meaning. Link: PDNPulse: Yet Another Photo Doctoring Scandal

  • Behind the Scenes: Altered and Out – Lens

    Behind the Scenes: Altered and Out – Lens

    Behind the Scenes: Altered and Out The manipulation of digital imagery has — briefly — claimed another important victim: the World Press Photo Contest. via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/behind-35/ The manipulation of digital imagery has — briefly — claimed another important victim: the World Press Photo Contest.

  • World Press Photo disqualifies photographer

    World Press Photo has disqualified photographer Stepan Rudik for altering his images “beyond the boundary of what is acceptable practice Link: British Journal of Photography – World Press Photo disqualifies photographer [updated @ 3.50pm] via: World Press Photo disqualifies photographer | duckrabbit – we produce beautifully crafted multimedia

  • Did David Burdeny copy Sze Tsung Leong's photographs? – latimes.com

    Last month, the New York-based photographer Sze Tsung Leong was on location in La Paz, Bolivia, when he received a phone message from his New York gallerist, Yossi Milo. It had come to Milo’s attention that a Canadian photographer was exhibiting a series of works in Vancouver that bore a striking similarity to an ongoing…

  • The Free-Appropriation Writer – NYTimes.com

    The Free-Appropriation Writer – NYTimes.com

    The Free-Appropriation Writer Copying passages from another author used to be an unforgivable sin. But remix culture is coming to literature. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/weekinreview/28kennedy.html?ref=weekinreview After a blogger and fellow novelist announced that Ms. Hegemann had blended sizeable chunks of his own writing into hers, Ms. Hegemann, instead of following the plagiarism-gotcha script of contrition and retraction…

  • Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real? – Pogue's Posts

    Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real? – Pogue's Posts

    Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real? If you were running a photography contest, at what point would you draw the line and say “That’s not photography anymore?” via Pogue’s Posts Blog: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/photoshop-and-photography-when-is-it-real/ the editorial is about the magazine’s annual Reader’s Photos Contest. This year, in two of the categories, the winners were what the…

  • Times Reporter Accused of Plagiarism   Is Said to Resign – NYTimes.com

    Times Reporter Accused of Plagiarism Is Said to Resign – NYTimes.com

    Times Business Reporter Accused of Plagiarism Is Said to Resign The reporter, Zachery Kouwe, is said to have resigned at a meeting called to discuss possible disciplinary action, including dismissal. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/business/media/17times.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

  • PDNPulse: Copycat or Not, Part II: A Case of Nothing New Under the Sun?

    Yesterday we posted a story about the similarities between a series of images called “Sacred & Secular” by Vancouver photographer David Burdeny, and a series called “Horizons” shot earlier by Sze Tsung Leong. Leong has reportedly challenged Burdeny for copying. Burdeny denies it, saying the similarities arose because he happened to shoot from some of…