spaceytracey Loc: East Glacier Park, MT

There you go.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

dwermske

Give me a break!! How long have professional photographers been modifying photographs and passing them off as original shots? Most studios touch up their work to make their clients look better. Most photos in magazines have also been modified as well. This has been going on for decades, long before digital. It's just now easier for the ordinary semi-pro or beginner to make their photos look as good. Call it art or call it the original, if it looks good to the observer then you have done your job to bring your image to their attention. Both your images are very good. The first one presents a warm feeling while the original is a well composed image of a beautiful pond. Keep up the good work.

levinton

I very much agree with this point. Just about all electronic images are modified, esp raw images. But there are, in fairness, degrees of modification. Substituting images, such as cloud formations, is a step beyond adjusting exposure, or making small changes to reduce shadows (localized underexposure, so to speak). Famous photographers, such as Ansel Adams, ARE famous, for darkroom adjustments to images. Tricks, like using wide angle lenses at interfaces, lead to spectacular images with often multiple reflections. These are baked into the photo itself. So it is hard to make rules, but nevertheless, it is often obvious when you have been fooled.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

That's only true if you believe that all photography should be used for is creating accurate images. That has never been true. Photography is so much more than that. We don't expect painters to create accurate images of what they are painting.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I totally agree about images, or portions thereof, being one's own. It's not all yours if you used pieces of someone else's image(s).

dwermske

Whose to say that a sky didn't look like or similar at some point in time to the sky that has been added. Just because something isn't there at the point the shot is made doesn't mean that it has never been there before. I don't believe that any photograph is a true and 100% accurate image of what was actually seen by the human eye. They have all been modified in some way. Even crime photos have been modified to being out things that might have been missed by the human eye.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

As a club, you can agree on whatever set of conditions you may find consensus. Perhaps setting up categories for different degrees of image manipulation would be an interesting exercise.

Personally, I'd just say let the *viewer* see the work and ask the questions. The ground rule is be honest with your answers, but a simple, "Yes this is altered" will suffice. I'd let the photographer have the option to explain HOW it was altered, and have the final say in how much detail to reveal.

What's important to me is to communicate visually, and/or to evoke emotions, memories, or reactions in my viewers' minds.

Again, photography has many branches. We're not talking about forensics or photojournalism or "truth in advertising" (an oxymoron!) here... We're talking about "pretty pictures." (I hate that term, but I use it to describe what doesn't have to be a perfect reflection of reality.)

epd1947

[quote=Delderby]There would be no need to ask - we know that brushes were used.
Photography is the art of capturing the real moment as it happened. If you cannot, or aren't good enough, to do that, then you're no photographer. You'd do better to go back to a coloring book and wax crayons.[/

“Photography is the art of capturing the real moment as it happened.” - where is that definition codified? Or is it just your rather myopic and narrow minded opinion?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

[quote=epd1947]

We can simulate a point of time from a certain perspective and point of view, but we cannot capture it. It is fleeting...

delder Loc: Maryland

I agree that the IMAGE is the message!

lensmaster Loc: Chicago

Everyone 'adjusts'/modifies their work. It is just assumed some work was done.

Unless the image is being used for evidence, where there can be no adjustments, keep your mouth shut...absolutely no reason to say anything.

The view likes the photo, or doesn't like the photo. Not your problem.

elee950021 Loc: New York, NY

damianlv!

All camera images are "Edited" whether one is aware of it or not! The jpeg image you see on the camera screen and also embedded in a raw file has been processed by the camera to the OEM's specs and color space. You can also individualize the image(s) by using a camera's "Picture Control (Nikon)," menu settings to change the color balance and other characteristics of the image: "Auto, Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait or Landscape." Each category can be further determined by + and - : "Sharpening, Clarity, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and Hue.

You can even do more after taking your image by using the "Retouch" menu: "Trim (Crop), Resize, D-Lighting, Red-eye Correction, Straighten, Distort, Perspective Control, Monochrome and Image Overlay!"

To confess or not? It's an individual decision but think about a viewer's eyes when they glaze over by the description of what you did in editing rather than just enjoying the image for what it is!

Be well! Ed



With Fuji cameras, you do the same but the images take on characteristics of Fuji's legacy color films:

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I almost always change the size - but that doesn’t mean much.

I will change the plumb angle - because people {especially here} will be so bothered they won’t even actually see the photo.

I will probably crop the photo - but that also does mean much.

I may slightly adjust WB - but my camera does that when making a JPEG.

I tend to say something if I made a substantial change - but I don’t access FaceBook so I don’t know what they standards are.

If a person makes major changes in a photo, for example turn a dark day into a bright one without shadows, it just doesn’t look genuine to me.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Where it isn't stated that you need to divulge details, there is no need to tell unless you personally want to. If someone asks, then sure you should honestly describe what was done. Post-processing skill is something to be proud of!