What's cheating, what's not (Page 2): It depends on what someone is looking for. Some years ago, my family went through Toronto during a garbage strike. In that case, the city needed...

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Tracy B. wrote:

Interesting video. I feel like it is cheating in away. Example: the airplane added at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes photography is catching those remarkable moments. Anyone can "fake" it. I guess there is a fine line because deleting a garbage can in a scene doesn't seem like cheating to me.

It depends on what someone is looking for. Some years ago, my family went through Toronto during a garbage strike. In that case, the city needed more ‘cleanup’ than merely removing a garbage can, but the garbage was an important part of the scene. We had lunch at a city park - that was an awful experience - but the garbage was a part of that experience.

Around twenty years ago, I posted a photo at a forum devoted to a particular narrow gauge railroad, a photo taken at their main depot, taken in their first few weeks of operation. Almost immediately, a ‘friend’ who was leading cosmetic restoration of their telegraph system asked for a crop of just an ugly box on a utility pole up in the corner of the photo. I had basically ignored the corners, but he had never seen anything like that. What seems like an unimportant detail to us may be important to someone else.

Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

rehess wrote:

It depends on what someone is looking for. Some ye... (show quote)

Of course, if garbage is your subject of choice, than deleting a garbage can would be pointless. Lol

I and referring to anything that is not intended in the photo. Like: a loose hair in the face, a blemish on a nose, a stain on a shirt.....

Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

On my recent trip to Hawaii, I took a photograph and on the edge of the photograph was a goat. He was going to be crapped out so I moved him over so he would be in the photograph. Is that cheating....

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Architect1776 wrote:

Lightening and darkening some parts to make them pop is harder for me to say one way or the other.

Lightening and darkening are often necessary to recreate the scene as the human eye saw it, as opposed to the way the camera sensor was able to record it.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Tracy B. wrote:

On my recent trip to Hawaii, I took a photograph and on the edge of the photograph was a goat. He was going to be crapped out so I moved him over so he would be in the photograph. Is that cheating....

Oh course not - it was there;
it would have been “cheating” if you had introduced a rubber ducky that wasn’t originally there or ‘painted’ a bridge green that was known to be some other color.

greenwork Loc: Southwest Florida

Good point. IMHO the only “honest” photographs are those taken by the DMV or traffic cameras. All others are manipulated by the maker even by the choice of what to shoot. Pre visualization and shooting with intent are part of an artistic tradition.

tcthome Loc: NJ

JohnSwanda wrote:

I'm surprised he didn't differentiate between photojournalism and photography as art. That has everything to do with our expectations of photographs. I was glad he noted that photographs can be dishonest just by what is included or excluded from the composition. Same thing with the timing of the exposure.

I'm a dishonest photog in the way that I will remove distractive objects like tree branches in bird photos. Or garbage & objects in a near city urban landscape if it takes away from the photo. But nothing to serious & am not trying to tell you it is the travel destination of the year.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I believe that the only photography that cannot waiver from the actual scene is that taken for scientific, forensic, and intended to be used in a legal context. Even journalistic photography is staged at times to create impact and to draw interest to a situation at the time. Yes, that has, and it does happen. All other photography is a form of art or a remembrance of a moment of time for the taker. After all, if the truth is so important, then why would there be such a thing as coveted and as highly valued as abstract art which portrays nothing as it really is?

If "cheating" were truly discouraged, we should never watch commercials or believe in what the packaging of products claims. Of course, we should never elect a single politician nor believe the child that says they did not take a cookie from the jar even when the evidence of chocolate is still on its lips.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

--Bob

Architect1776 wrote:

If the work is art then fine, but do not pawn it o... (show quote)

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Then there is the work of Jerry Uelsmann. But, there's no way anyone could think his photographs were just taken.
--Bob

NickGee wrote:

Given the number of times we've had this debate ab... (show quote)

NickGee Loc: Pacific Northwest

rmalarz wrote:

Then there is the work of Jerry Uelsmann. But, there's no way anyone could think his photographs were just taken.
--Bob

Absolutely ... and a great many other photographers of renown.

One of the interesting points in the Windsor vlog is that many photos that we're all familiar with and admire are in fact in some way staged, posed, or manipulated. Ansel Adams, a veritable god on this site, is one of the most extreme manipulators of captured images. Makes many of the comments in this thread somewhat contradictory.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

"Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships." - Ansel Adams
--Bob

NickGee wrote:

Absolutely ... and a great many other photographers of renown.

One of the interesting points in the Windsor vlog is that many photos that we're all familiar with and admire are in fact in some way staged, posed, or manipulated. Ansel Adams, a veritable god on this site, is one of the most extreme manipulators of captured images. Makes many of the comments in this thread somewhat contradictory.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

rmalarz wrote:

Then there is the work of Jerry Uelsmann. But, there's no way anyone could think his photographs were just taken.
--Bob

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

rmalarz wrote:

"Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships." - Ansel Adams
--Bob

True.
Raw is that way, needs to be fixed to get shadows and highlights. It is all there but due to some technical reasons cannot be seen but the amazing eye could easily see it.

All1317

Did u take photos? Did they look good to u? Do others like them? Does it matter if u got ice cream from a trim s truck or the store ? Does it taste the same? Was it cheating because u didn't make the ice cream urself? The point is if it's what u want and got what u wanted, DOES IT MATTER! the end justifies the means