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Guest Post: Do Photos Lie? by Joshua Graham

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  1. Amazing post…that picture is so shocking! I remember a post that Ryan@Wordsmithsonia wrote about how photos can be manipulated (not the photo itself) but just by the way it is presented without any background information and it amazes me how we can be led to believe certain ideas or perceptions!

    • Yes, exactly….I think photographers often take photos and initially do not realize that they can be manipulated by the media by presenting background that is not the whole truth, etc.

  2. I was a journalism major and I bowed out of getting my master’s degree by 3 units because the last class I had to take was an ethics class and it was all about doing what you shouldn’t do, in order to get the story. Seriously! I had a real problem with this train of thought and my journalism professor sat me down and said that my stand would prevent me from EVER getting a story that people would want to read. So I changed my major to Mass Communication, which wasn’t much better.

    That first photo’s caption just took my breath away.

    • I cannot tell you how obscene journalist ethics is…it really depends on the school and the teacher…there are some of the mind that you have to do anything to get the story and then there are those that are looking for the truth…facts…and reporting those. But are we really just interested in facts…not opinion or clarification/modification of the story? Is it a matter of the supply meeting the demands? or is the supply tailored to what someone thinks the public demands?

  3. Some really interesting things to ponder. I’m not always sure what to believe or accept as truths.

  4. Have you seen the Official Book Trailer for DARKROOM?
    http://youtu.be/4FrxbbyBIqU

    • Impressive trailer! I love the premise of the book. I have been fascinated with the unintended things that end up on photos. Our lives told through a series of accidental images.

  5. Great post and the book sounds fantastic! I agree with what others have said as well. It’s hard to know what’s real today with the way photos can be changed to alter the reality.

  6. Oops, sorry but that link that short blog post is actually a repeat of this one, which you’ve already read, hopefully. 🙂

  7. Hi Everyone!

    Thanks for the thought-provoking comments and feedback. You know, photoshop manipulation of images is one thing, but as one person said here, even an unaltered photograph taken out of context can be misleading. So much of life is a matter of perception, it’s hard to know what the truth is. But does that mean we resign to a life of moral relativism?

    I should hope not.

    But what is truth? Is there anything absolute? There are some who say that NOTHING is absolute, to which I say, “Are you absolutely certain of that?”

    Anyway, I would love to hear more from you and invite you to connect with me on my social network links below.

    And by the way, DARKROOM is available for:
    Amazon/Kindle: http://bitly.com/w2Qx1w
    Barnes & Noble/Nook: http://bit.ly/vG22no

    You might be interested in a short blog post I recently did regarding some inspiration for this book: Here
    http://networkedblogs.com/wT9LD

    If you’d like free sample chapters, please come to my facebook page: http://on.fb.me/joshpage

    I’d love to hear from everyone, so please feel free to reach out to me on facebook, my blog, or twitter: @j0shuaGraham

  8. Wow, just seeing the photo gives you one idea, then hearing the story about it gives you another. Very interesting, and like the previous commenters, it’s so hard to know what’s true and what’s not in the media these days especially with Photoshop.

  9. Interesting ideas. I always felt, when all the heat was on Clinton for his behavior with Monica Lewinsky, that there had to be plenty of politicians and others who were being hypocritical on that issue, and who therefore shouldn’t be throwing stones! But it is so hard to ferret out the truth, and I agree with Kathy – now with photoshop and all, it is even harder. But then what Adams says seems true too – photos, especially out of context, can lie even without manipulation. Very thought-provoking post today Serena!

    • With all the politics I see down here in DC, I can tell you that there is a lot of that going around…people critiquing others for actions that are similar to their own. Hypocrisy abounds in this city…LOL I think in terms of photography, most photographers think of it as an art form, so they often frame photos…even without Photoshop.

  10. I’d never read the background on that photo before. It does change things somewhat. I am more skeptical these days with Photoshop, etc.

    • I have seen this photo before, but had never seen that caption…I think this is so true in the digital age…what’s truth and what’s fiction…?!

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