We tend to treat the ethics of taking photographs in a very much black and white fashion. We judge "He should never have shot that" or alternatively "She is on firm ground shooting that, it is OK" and then arguments revolve around that, never resolving anything.
Where to begin? Magnum Photos and LensCulture are running a photo competition. One of those where you give them lots of money and in return if you’re one of the lucky ones they give you "exposure".
Well-known photographer and photo industry figure Sal Cincotta is finding himself at the center of a heated online debate after a number of his photos were selected as winners of the ShutterFest photo conference's Image Competition. Cincotta is the owner of ShutterFest.
When shooting travel photos, it's very tempting to direct your subject and stage your composition. A lot of people are very happy to be photographed and even happier to be able to make a few bucks being your subject.
From time to time when I read about Street Photography, I hear the opinion that street photographers exploit people on the street by taking their picture without asking. This opinion raises some valid questions about the ethics of Street Photography, but also shows the double standards we follow in the media.
If you're into photography enough that your feed gets filled with a bit of camera porn from time to time, you're likely to have seen the $55 8x telephoto lens for cellphones being sold by The Outdoor Spirit.
An interesting story about ethics in photojournalism has emerged today: the New York Times has published a correction to a major story, saying that the original main photo had a picture frame removed from the scene because it was causing glare.
President-elect Donald Trump held an off-the-record meeting with about 25 media executives and anchors in Trump Tower on Monday. At the gathering, Trump shared some complaints about the outlets' coverage of him, including the use of unflattering double chin photos.
Eyebrows were raised in the photojournalism community yesterday when World Press Photo -- an industry stalwart -- announced the creation of a new contest that would “not have rules limiting how images are produced.” The contest would allow staged and manipulated images – dubbed “creative documentary photography” – in support of contemporary storytelling.
Photographers are increasingly being asked to seek “informed consent” from people they photograph in development and humanitarian situations. The stated intention is to protect their rights and dignity.
Street photography ethics are a touchy subject and I am not talking of street photography rules but rather more how photographers choose to behave. When shooting (candid) street photography in London or anywhere else, many street photographers seem to leave their values at home as soon as they head out to photograph strangers.
National Geographic's editor in chief has published an editorial in which she reaffirms the magazine's commitment to keeping "photography honest in the era of Photoshop."
Steve McCurry has responded to the recent hoopla surrounding his Photoshopped photos. The famed photographer explains that he's now a "visual storyteller" rather than a photojournalist, but says he will "rein in his use of Photoshop" going forward to remove any confusion.
A historic building in South Florida burned to the ground recently because in the dark of night, a trio of photographers set it ablaze while trying to “paint with light.”
Staging scenes is considered a big no-no in photojournalism, but that's what one award-winning photojournalist was apparently caught doing at a memorial after the Brussels terrorist attacks.
TIME's latest international issue features a portrait of a rape victim of the civil war in South Sudan. The magazine's choice of photo is sparking an outcry online, with people calling the cover "exploitative."
Imagine seeing a photograph of a baby zebra sleeping peacefully atop the head of an adult tiger. Sounds crazy, right? Now imagine that same crazy image winning grand prizes in prestigious photography competitions.
The prestigious World Press Photo photojournalism contest was rocked by scandal last year after 20% of finalists were disqualified and the grand prize winner was stripped of his award, leading to the establishment of a new Code of Ethics.
Did the negative publicity and new guidelines do anything? Well, you can be the judge: World Press Photo has revealed that 16% of finalists were thrown out this year.
An Australian real estate company is in hot water this week after it was discovered that one of its listing photographs isn't an accurate depiction of what the property is like. But even though the photo looks like it was manipulated with Photoshop, it may have been a clever composition that uses a wide angle lens and a tricky perspective.
As children, we often assume different roles while re-enacting grand fantasies. All hail to Cesar, riding atop a palanquin, or to the astronaut floating above the world looking down at it. The doctor saving lives, or the war photographer documenting the rawness of the human condition and the horrors of society as it fails. Then, we grow up. We settle into our role within our socio-cultural strata and send subtle ripples across the fabric of the society that surrounds us.
As tourists, we recapture some of that wonder. We gain the opportunity to stand in the midst of the coliseum, to stride casually down the halls of grand empires and to snap photos of exotic peoples, destinations, and in some instances candid moments. These rich experiences add to the substance of who we are and let us get back in touch with the beautiful sense of exploration which defined our youth. They are, for many, what make travel wondrous, expansive and oh-so addictive.
We’ve all seen those images over the past few years (popping up in our Facebook feeds or in the media) depicting spectacular displays of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights from Great Britain, Ireland or the lower 48 in the US. Regardless of the location, they’re pretty amazing images.
But beneath the wow-factor and thousands of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ lurks a nasty little integrity issue. These aurora images may be photographic eye-candy, but many of them are pure high fructose corn syrup.
As photographers in the United States, we hold the majority of power when it comes to our images. We automatically own the copyright to all photos we take, we are the ones who register our photos with the U.S. Copyright office, and we are the ones who license our images to clients, publications, and even the models in the photos.
That copyright, in addition to the model releases we obtain from our photographic subjects, allows us to have a substantial amount of control over what we can do with those photos. This can sometimes create a moral ambiguity as to how we decide to publish those photos, blurring the lines between what is right and what is ethical.
World Press Photo today announced major changes to its prestigious photo contest for 2016. There's now a new code of ethics, the first time the 60-year-old contest has published such a thing, as well as revised rules and detailed guidance for entries.
Reuters has implemented a new worldwide policy for freelance photographers that bans photos that were processed from RAW files. Photographers must now only send photos that were originally saved to their cameras as JPEGs.
Donald Trump is lashing out at an Associated Press photographer over photos of empty chairs at a Trump speech in South Carolina. The presidential candidate is accusing the photojournalist of portraying a dishonest story through his photos.
I firmly believe that photography is a powerful force for good in this world.
As reportage, it opens our eyes to tragedies we might otherwise ignore; as landscape or wildlife photography, it reveals a beauty we too often take for granted, and encourages us to treat the planet with the respect it demands; as portraiture, it reminds us that each person has uncharted and unfathomable depths to their humanity that we may never truly understand.
I used to believe that photojournalism represented a platonic ideal of veracity, but this naïve notion has eroded. The cause of this loss of innocence isn’t limited to the high profile manipulation that has dogged the industry, but also the realization that the camera is nothing more than a point of view. Aim it in one direction or another. Take a photo now or later. Select one image over another to display to an audience. There is a fundamental “truthiness” to photojournalism that is inescapable.
Michael Kamber is a photojournalist who has been working around the world since 1986; he has traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, the Sudan, Haiti, Israel, and many other countries to capture conflict. Kamber has been published in most major newspapers in both the United States and Europe.
Recently, he took the initiative to create an exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center titled Altered Images, which focuses on exposing documentary photography that has been staged, manipulated, or faked. We spoke to him to learn more about the current state of ethics in photojournalism and where things are headed.
The tumult surrounding the World Press Photo awards for the last couple of weeks has been quite earth-shaking. An Italian photographer, who had been awarded for “Contemporary Issues” was, finally, disqualified for having mis-labelled where a picture was shot (not in the town of Charleroi which was listed on the entry but 30 miles away in Bruxelles.)
The style editor-at-large of Vogue is receiving criticism for being insensitive and "out of touch" after sharing (and subsequently deleting) a photograph of a homeless woman in Paris reading a copy of Vogue magazine.
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 a surprising turn of events, the World Press Photo organization has announced that it will be withdrawing the 1st prize award it had given photographer Giovanni Troilo for his Contemporary Issues series "The Dark Heart of Europe." This comes one day after a new claim surfaced that accused Troilo of misrepresenting where a photo was shot.
“World Press Photo is committed to supporting and advancing high standards in photojournalism and documentary photography worldwide.”
That's what the "About The Foundation" page on the World Press Photo says. Now follow this timeline of recent events.
We shared last week that the Belgian town of Charleroi was protesting after a series of photos casting it in a bad light was awarded 1st prize at the prestigious World Press Photo contest. According to the town's mayor, Italian photographer Giovanni Troilo had gone out of his way to stage shots for the purpose of painting the city as "The Dark Heart of Europe."
Today, after investigating the claims against the photographer, World Press Photo announced that it will be sticking by its decision on the controversial award.
Charleroi is a town of about 200,000 people in Belgium that has fallen upon some tough times in recent years due to increases in unemployment, poverty, and crime. Italian photojournalist Giovanni Troilo pointed his lens at the city last year, capturing a gloomy photo essay titled "The Dark Heart of Europe." The images were recently awarded 1st prize at the prestigious World Press Photo contest in the Contemporary Issues category.
The contest, which already got a black eye after 20% of the finalists were disqualified for unethical photo editing, has another messy problem on its hands: the town is accusing Troilo of staging his winning photos.
The world of photojournalism took a hit earlier this month when it was revealed that 20% of the finalists in the prestigious World Press Photo competition had been disqualified due to unethical edits. The National Press Photographers Association released a statement this past weekend calling for the disqualified photographers to share the edits that eliminated them from competition.
Millions of people -- including many world leaders -- took to the streets of France this past weekend to show solidarity in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. The gathering in Paris, the largest in the history of France, made the front pages of major newspapers around the world.
One ultra-orthodox Jewish newspaper decided to cover the story a little differently, though: it's front page photo was a manipulated one that left out female world leaders.
Last Spring, Lorde Tweeted the photo above and wrote, "i find this curious - two photos from today, one edited so my skin is perfect and one real. remember flaws are ok :-)"
It is admirable, and perhaps even courageous, that Lorde broadcasted this to the masses. There is a lot of debate on the ethics of Photoshopping models and celebrities. A lot of people feel that it pushes unrealistic expectations of beauty in society and sets people up to feel insecure about having imperfections that even the rich and famous share with them.
I totally sympathize with this point of view, but there is another side to the argument that is easily lost on people who aren't in creative and media fields. There are commercial and artistic forces at work that will never relent and, unless there is a major aesthetic shift in the industry, Photoshopping blemishes is here to stay.
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.
Photojournalistic ethics are serious business. While there are many styles of photography where heavy post-production is not just acceptable, but commonplace, the world of news demands accuracy and truth, and it is accuracy and truth that some are claiming were given a backseat to shock and sensationalism when The Daily Mirror decided to use a stock photograph to illustrate a front page story.