ethical

Sony is one of 135 global organizations that has been recognized as one of the planet's most ethical companies. It is the only camera manufacturer to appear on the list this year.

A Detroit-area skating rink is under fire for barring entry to a Black teenager after its facial recognition cameras misidentified her as a woman who was banned from the property. It has further ignited debate on the ethics of using facial recognition technology in the United States.

Ethics in photography is a topic that just keeps popping up. Whether it’s the latest dish on Magnum, or an argument about photographing the homeless, some days it seems you can’t turn around without stumbling across another disagreement.

Editor’s note: Veteran photojournalist Yunghi Kim (@yunghi) sent me the following thoughts after the publication of my article about the ethics of showing protestors’ faces.

The past few years have made it abundantly clear that platforms hold disproportionate power in the online sphere – from Uber to Grubhub to Amazon. Online success is predicated on building both utility as well as a critical mass of users, and for that, platforms should be congratulated.

It frustrates me to see so many fake wildlife photographs of amphibians and reptiles on social media. That's because those staged photos of captive animals in unnatural positions and situations go viral on a regular basis, and this “success” can inspire other people to follow them in their footsteps.

A group of boys in Baraboo, WI assembled for a junior prom photo and posed with a Nazi salute. One of the boys posted the image to Twitter with the caption “We even got the black kid to throw it up.” In the midst of public outrage, it was revealed that a professional photographer not only took the image but directed them to “wave goodbye.”

One of my images has been subjected to criticism and scrutiny in a way that none of my other work ever has. The photograph in question is of a scene in London, Chinatown; a man reaches into a sewer while shouting about how someone threw his needles down there.

I’ve wondered for a long time what it means to be an ethical landscape photographer. Sure, this field isn’t known for its wide-reaching moral dilemmas or particularly sticky situations, but the question still deserves attention.

The myth goes that Crazy Horse refused to be photographed, believing the image would steal his soul. In truth, the apocryphal tale has no historical evidence. But taking photos is intrusive, and most people would agree upon some near universal norms regarding photography (e.g. taking photos of children in public).

Photos of a frog riding a beetle have been flooding the Internet over the past month. Think it looks cute and adorable? Reactions to the series of photos have been split between blind praise and outrage over the authenticity of the photo-story and welfare of the subjects. So, did this scene really occur naturally as claimed? We don't think so, and here's why.

In the above video, Karl Taylor walks you through a four-step process that shows the before-and-after results of three variables when it comes to portraiture: studio lighting, make-up, and Photoshop.

As a photojournalist, there are many moments where you have to answer a simple ethical question: do you take the photo, or do you try to help? This happens a lot in more tragic events, and conflict photographers are often accused of making the wrong choice.

Which is the right and wrong choice is up for debate in any given situation -- a photo might spark change on an international level after all -- but one thing is for sure: we don't often hear about photojournalists putting down the camera and choosing to help right then and there. That, however, is exactly what happened in the case of Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz in February of this year.

This striking photo, taken by Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin, has been making the award rounds recently, sweeping up first and second place trophies for the photog's mantle. According to the description, the photo portrays a "former Marine Corps sniper," and is part of a series of photos taken in a rough part of Rochester, NY called "The Crescent."

Pellegrin's ethics, however, are now being called into question by a BagNewsNotes article, which points out that the man in the photo, Shane Keller, was neither a sniper nor does he live in The Crescent -- he was headed to a shooting range at Pellegrin's request, as part of a portrait shoot.

Shaofeng Xu’s photo of a protestor climbing a high-voltage electricity tower won Honorable Mention in the Contemporary Issues category of the World Press Photo 2012 contest.

The Sacramento Bee has suspended award-winning staff photographer Bryan Patrick after it was …

The Washington Post raised some eyebrows last Friday after running an uber-saturated front …