Photoshop in the Media

There is an incredible amount of photo distortions in the media. I decided to concentrate on the Lebanese (Hezbollah) - Israeli conflict that occurred last year. Apparently, on multiple occasions, Hezbollah staged 'scenes' in order to release compelling pictures to the rest of the world.

This link explains, in detail, various types of photos captured. This ranges from using the clone tool on photoshop, to having reoccurring 'actors', to having staged photoshoots.

http://www.zombietime.com/reuters_photo_fraud/ <--- good link.

A very brief article about the attempts by Hamas to stage shots is here. There is a much better article out there that goes into detail about Hamas, but I can't seem to find it...
http://alangrey.blogspot.com/2008/03/israel-in-gaza-does-this-look-familiar.html

These two are quick links that I found now; there are many more out there about these specific occurrences. Nevertheless, before the media is able to grasp that the pictures are 'fakes', the world gains a -sometimes- unfair bias.

Pixel Perfect Thoughts

The article made me realize just how much a photo can and is retouched these days. Everyone knows that models are retouched in magazines but I don't think most know just how much retouching can be done. Pascal Dangin is amazing at what he does. It truly takes a person who is able to pay attention to every single detail in order to do what he does so well.

On the other had I personally feel that retouching a photo in order improve its quality is fine but that retouching a photo in order to alter its appearance begins to call into question how ethical it is to do so. Even though I applaud those who are able to make alterations to a photo in such a way that it is almost impossible to tell where the alteration was made, I feel that doing so does leads to a distortion of reality.