As photographers
we all see the artistic advantage of using such a tool such as Photoshop; however,
where do we draw the line and when does such a tool become misleading?
Manipulation of
images is nothing new, it’s been going on since the invention of photography. One of the oldest cases in point are the
images that became known as the,
“Cottingley Fairies.”
Around 1917 a set
of five images were taken by 16 year old Elsie Wright and her 10 year old
cousin, Frances Griffith in order to prove the existence of fairies at Cottingley
Beck where they had been banned from playing.
The photographs caused much debate and Elsie eventually admitted that they
had been faked using cardboard cutouts from a book. Frances, however, insisted that the final of
the five images was genuine.
Personally, I
think a photograph becomes misleading when the intention of the photographer is
to make you think something fake is real, therefore, I would say the Cottingley
Fairies images were misleading. At that
time photography was fairly new and many believed if there was a photograph,
then it must be genuine, and I’m sure the girls were clever enough to exploit
this. However, having read a bit more about the
young photographers, I learnt that Elsie was quite an artist, and once implied
that she had photographed her thoughts.
Perhaps, in her mind, she was creating a piece of art and if it also got
her out of trouble at the same time, then so be it.
So how about
photo manipulation in today’s digital world?
I recently read an article about a manipulated image of Lady Gaga on the
front cover of Vogue, which immediately reminded me of the cartoon character, “Jessica Rabbit” from the film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Let’s put the three
photos together, the front cover, the actual Lady Gaga and Jessica Rabbit.
The similarities
are striking. Of course, nowadays, we
are more sceptical of photographs, and it could have been an artistic decision
by Vogue to manipulate the image, but my worry is how many self-critical teenagers
believe this body shape is real? How many of them go on to have low self-esteem,
eating disorders and/or an obsession with cosmetic surgery. I’m not the only one to be concerned about
this. An All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image was established in 2011 and on the point of digital manipulation the Royal
College of Physicians said it was, “damaging “ and that, “retouching is part of the unrealistic nature
of images which has become a malignant process”.
To me, changing
someone’s body shape seems wrong and I think the magazines should have a duty
of care to its’ readers. Why not be more creative with the camera instead? If the manipulation makes the person
unrecognisable, it may just as well be a cartoon character, which would be more
obvious to the viewer.
To end on a
humorous note, the photo below was manipulated, not by me though!