Manipulating Photographs
Digital photography has changed the way photographers can manipulate photographs. Software programs such as Photoshop have made manipulation look so real that viewers are unable to tell what fact from fiction is.
The Dove campaign displayed in a video how advertisers manipulate the way woman look in advertisements. In the Dove campaign, a photograph of a woman was taken and then in fast motion they showed how the different features in Photoshop changed the woman’s appearance. They extended the woman’s neck and moved around other facial features, such as her eyes, so they could create “the” perfect woman.
The message advertisers give women when they manipulate their photographs is a negative body image because they will never be that perfect. Advertisers tell women how they should look and what they should wear, but when advertisers manipulate the photograph into the perfect facial features, how are women supposed to fell about themselves?
Dove is exposing these issues and telling women they don’t need to be perfect, and trying to be perfect shouldn’t matter.
But after seeing the Dove campaign, is it okay for regular photographers to manipulate and add to their images? If the photograph is for photojournalistic purposes, is manipulation okay?
In my opinion, photographers who manipulate photographs for their own personal art is okay, but on the other hand photojournalists should never manipulate their photographs because they are telling a story. Regular photographers do not have to tell the truth through their photographs but photojournalists do.
Art and Photography IUB 
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