The Curse of Technology

So there was one other thing I wanted to make note of, but just remembered now.

As long as I've been learning photography, one of the big things I've taken away from it all is that altering an image is a bad thing. There's an old picture from a protest at Kent State University where someone has a piece of pole directly behind her head. It was taken out, and much complaining ensued. Time magazine got into a whol heap of trouble for darkening a picture of O.J. Simpson to make him appear more sinister. The Post got into trouble for taking out a can of Coke from a picture.

So it's just not good. You don't go around altering images like that, just because there's something kinda distracting. You either get over it or find another picture to use.

It's annual report time around here, which means lots of pictures being used. At one of our branches, there's a large quilted portrait thingy hanging over the main desk. It's rather creepy, so I do my best not to get it in the frame. Well, one of the pictures I shot is being used, and it happens to have a portion of the portrait in there. There was discussion of just using Photohop to 'take it out,' and I'm like, "you can't do that."

I mean, you CAN, but you know what I mean.

So, of course, our other designer comes in and says she'll just take it right out with Photoshop. Naturally, I'm a bit miffed. You don't go altering images just because something bugs you. Not in this context. In purely art-y things, like the program flyers I make, it's a bit more acceptable.

Anyways, I find out yesterday that the image was cropped tight enough to hide the offending portrait without digitally altering it.

But, because that would be too easy, I found out that another picture in the report is being altered. An exterior shot with some pipes in the foreground is being used, and a brush tool is being used to hide the pipes.

Why not just crop it like the other one?

Sorry if none of this makes sense, or if it rambles a bit. But it bugs me.

In the words of Tom Servo: "Just because you CAN edit, it doesn't mean you SHOULD."


Dave