gerald_lewis

Computers and digital manipulation of images are a fact of life and just wishing it would go away will not help. A computer and software are merely tools no different than lenses, filters, enlargers and dodging tools. Making the image fit the artists eye and soul is the important part. I do wonder about the manipulation of some images though. Just recently there was a TV documentary about the fashion industry. Part of the presentation was a photo cover shoot for the a magazine and how it was brought to the final presentation. It involved one of the current crop of "supermodels" After a traditional shoot with a Hassy the chromes were scanned and then digitally altered for final publication. What kind of alteration? Thinning her thighs, smoothing her skin, taking out cellulite, etc. I think we all know the possibilities. Now, what concerns me is that there are hords of young women in our American (and others I'm sure) culture that use these "covergirls" to set up goals for their own looks. This has led to severe health problems with bolemia and anorexia as well as emotional problems. All trying to match what is not real or even possibly attainable. In the wild we may get a distorted image of nature, but what about the human damage such images can bring when it is not made known that even the most noted supermodels require extensive digital manipulation to look that "good". I know that this is not exactly nature but relevant to the technology and ethics of digital manipulation.

 

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Jerry

This is all getting to sound a bit Zen. It reminds me of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle where the act of observation alone changes and influences what is being observed so we can never know if what we are observing is real. It would seem irrelevant whether it is on silver halide or charged particles.