Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/04/03

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] fired for photoshopping
From: Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@pacbell.net>
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 17:24:49 -0800
References: <LNBBLBNFHNEHGFKFMALGCEBKFBAB.tim@KairosPhoto.com>

Tim

You mean the "Cockroach Theory" applies?

Jerry

Tim Atherton wrote:

> In a way, what we are talking about is "Photoshop Creep"
>
> It goes something like this:
>
> In the "old" days it was just black and white - if you were lucky, and the
> deadline wasn't too tight, you could play with the image a bit - different
> contrast paper. darken the skies a bit , do a bit of dodging here and there
> to make the picture feel a bit more like you thought it should look.
>
> Then came colour and you couldn't do much with it, but pretty soon, along
> came Photoshop and desktop scanners.
>
> The colour processing was often not that great, so now you could clean up
> some of those horrid spots with the wonderful little "rubber stamp" tool -
> boy was that cool.
>
> And you could alter the colour and saturation a bit again. Make it look a
> bit more how you think it should.
>
> And Photoshop's so cool you can fool around with it - stick the editors head
> on the body of that huge fat guy you did a story on who was so big they had
> to take the wall of his house down to get him out. That one sure looked
> funny stuck on the office wall.
>
> But every now and then when no-one was looking, you got rid of that
> telegraph pole that stuck out of the top of some kids head, or that
> disembodied hand that somehow got in the edge of that great picture (hey -
> in the "old" days you would have just cropped it anyway right?)
>
> And then they went all digital and it became even easier. No more sitting
> there scanning - just do everything on the desktop. No-one even knows that
> the original had those annoying power lines were there in the sky or not -
> and you only do it every now and then, just to improve things. Just like
> taking out the odd dust spot from the CCD.
>
> The pay is really crap, the competitions tight and you probably had to pay
> for most of this really expensive digital gear out of your own pocket
> anyway. So, if you can just touch things up every now and then to make the
> picture sing a bit more (as the "manipulated" picture in question does,
> compared to the other to), then go ahead and do it - it's not really that
> much different than Don McCullin printing his skies so dark and ominously in
> every picture it looks like it's just about to rain. Sure, most of the time,
> it's dust, and sharpening and colour and contrast, maybe the odd wire or
> lamppost. But occasionally, just getting rid of something a bit more
> obvious, or moving something just a bit (after all, the photograph itself is
> artificial - an inhuman 1/250th of a second - everyone was moving anyway) -
> if it somehow makes the picture just that bit better.
>
> NOW - if you don't think something like this is happening in almost every
> newsroom in the country, you're fooling yourself. It's never really talked
> about, but everyone knows it goes on, to some degree or another.
>
> tim
>
> --
> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

Replies: Reply from Tina Manley <images@InfoAve.Net> (RE: [Leica] fired for photoshopping)
In reply to: Message from Tim Atherton <tim@KairosPhoto.com> (RE: [Leica] fired for photoshopping)