Part 4

I have commenced this part of the course after having read the course notes and had a good look through the recommended websites in the bibliography and various resources that are in the resources link.  I am starting this module with an open mind to the rights or wrongs of photographic alterations and corrections.   My first thoughts are that overly altering photographs is not ethically acceptable, however it is clearer not as straightforward as never changing a shot.  In my mind there is never anything wrong with altering the exposure or brightness on an underexposed photograph for example.  It is also possible to alter photographs for art such as the example below.


Copyright MickStephenson

To my mind this type of changed photograph is perfectly acceptable within context, noone really believes that money can be squeezed form a sponge.

However if you are using a photograph for historical record and you are effectively changing the facts that could be considered unethical.

Public domain no copyright

Alterations of photographs have been going on since photography started, the example above demonstrates an early example of an alteration.