Can you believe what you see?

A while back I created a file I titled "amazing photo's" and began to save those photo's that bring those responses of ahhhhhh, wow, beautiful, awesome and etc. You know like some of these.....

and when I need a little lift I watch them on a slide show but recently I have begun to wonder if what I see is real. There are many photo blogs to peruse and I think many use programs like photoshop and etc. to enhance their photo's but how far do you go to enhance before it becomes photo manipulation?

Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception (in contrast to mere enhancement or correction). However, photo manipulation has been regularly used to deceive or persuade viewers, or for improved story-telling and self-expression. Oftentimes even subtle and discrete changes can have profound impacts on how we interpret or judge a photograph which is why learning when manipulation has occurred is important.

The growing popularity of image manipulation has raised concern as to whether it allows for unrealistic images to be portrayed to the public. In her article "On Photography" (1977), Susan Sontag discusses the objectivity, or lack thereof, in photography, concluding that "photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored and tricked out".^[11] A practice widely used in the magazine industry, the use of Photoshop on an already subjective photograph, creates a constructed reality for the individual and it can become difficult to differentiate fact from fiction. .

Here are a few examples ....
enhancement...

 Change of reality

 Deception

Now you know how those diet ads work...

 The sensational

Helicopter Shark is a composition of two photographs that gives the impression that a Great white shark is leaping out of the water attacking military personnel climbing a suspended ladder attached to a special forces UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The photo was widely circulated via email in 2001, along with a claim that it had been chosen as “National Geographic Photo of the Year”.

Manipulation for political purposes.....

 a black face is inserted into the crowd.

Hoping to illustrate its diverse enrollment, the University of Wisconsin at Madison doctored a photograph on a brochure cover by digitally inserting a black student in a crowd of white football fans. The original photograph of white fans was taken in 1993. The additional black student, senior Diallo Shabazz, was taken in 1994. University officials said that they spent the summer looking for pictures that would show the school’s diversity — but had no luck.

Photo manipulation is nothing new....

This nearly iconic portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln’s head and the Southern politician John Calhoun’s body. Putting the date of this image into context, note that the first permanent photographic image was created in 1826 and the Eastman Dry Plate Company (later to become Eastman Kodak) was created in 1881.

 The bazaar for "entertainment".

So what's the big deal?

From the time we are children we look for models. With the potential to alter body image, debate continues as to whether manipulated images, particularly those in magazines, contribute to self-esteem issues in both men and women. It is hard to find a famous woman over 60 years old that really looks 60 years old and not enough long term marriages to give hope to even have one. There is a one shining light and I share it with you......