I was reading an article the other day about the ethics of digital manipulation of images for juried entries and publications. Where is the ethical line and how much is too much?
Some writers suggest that digital manipulation of images is a slippery slope and that any manipulation is too much. Others try to define an acceptable percentage or provide a list of acceptable edits. Is it OK to crop the image to eliminate a distracting background? What about straightening the image? Are you allowed to correct the color if the white balance on the camera was set incorrectly?
But this debate misses the point. Like most questions of ethics, the answer is not found in percentages or lists of acceptable actions. It is always about the perception ... in this case, does the image match the artwork? If it does, then no ethical line has been crosssed. Viewed from this perspective, the amount of manipulation simply becomes a function of the skill of the photographer in capturing an image that accurately reproduces the artwork.
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