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Christopher D. Green wrote: “For us, of course, if, say, _Time_ magazine
published retouched photos roday we'd scream "Fraud!" At a time when
the "meaning" that photos have today hadn't fully crystalized, when
the days in which newspapers and magazines regularly used drawings were within
living memory, when the quality of photos was such that they often didn't
reflect features that were fairly obvious to a direct observer of the
photographed scene, retouching may have had a different relation to the viewer
and to truth.” With today’s technical innovations, there is not
a picture that appears in Time magazine (or your Intro Psych textbook) that has
not been retouched (photoshopped). And what is the nature of truth with regard
to photographs anyway? Is cropping or framing lying? What about color “correction”?
Choosing to include one picture and not another? Are the subjects of black and
white photographs actually devoid of color? Photographs are not objective
facts. They are included with a story to emphasize a point. National Geographic
has a nice column every month called Final Edit where the photo editors give
some insight into why certain photos get into a story and others don’t.
Some very striking images do not illustrate a story because the picture does
not advance the point of the story. As a psychologist who considers carefully the
difference between sensation and perception, I recognize that truth, if it is
to be found, is only in perception, not in raw sensation. I think our
postmodern world is well past being scandalized by a “retouched”
photograph. As to the use of photographs as scientific evidence of something, I
don’t think that a photograph can be used to provide empirical data of
anything but the most obvious and measurable characteristics (like the distance
between a person’s eyes, for example). They can be easily manipulated and
are, therefore, useful as stimuli in experiments but their main use in research
publication is as an illustration of a concept (in which case you will usually
use the best example to make your point, leaving the rest on the cutting room
floor). Rick Dr. Rick Froman You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
- Re: HH Goddard Rick Froman
- Re: HH Goddard Christopher D. Green
