Photojournalism (Wk 12)

What is Photojournalism?

Photojournalism is the taking of photographs based on real life or true events. Basically those who do photojournalism has to take not just any photos but photos of real things that are happening in the world. If it is not photos which are not of real life, then that is not considered as photojournalism. Moreover, photojournalists not only just take photos but they also have to make the story based on the photos they have taken.
However there are certain ethics that must be met when taking photos for photojournalism. Since the photos are based on real life events, it is required that these photos are to remain to its originality meaning they should not be edited or change whatsoever. This is the same as trying to make a report or story for a newspaper. Should there be any edits or changes which alter the information of the story, it will cause a serious matter and the newspaper agency could be sued for misinformation. This is also the same as photojournalism thus the photos being taken should not be altered. However there have been many cases where some photojournalists are against the ethics of photojournalism. The most famous photojournalist who were famous for his photos of wars had been found manipulating and stealing photos which left him dead penniless at the later end.

 Mathew Brady

Mathew Brady was one of the most celebrated 19th century American photographers. He was famous for his portraits of celebrities and the documentation of the American Civil War. He has been known as the 'Father of Photography' . However researchers have found out that some of Brady's photos were actually being editted.

'Other unethical picture manipulations during the Civil War have been discovered by researchers. William Frassanito (1978) located two stereocard views attributed to Brady taken after the first battle of Bull Run in July 186 1. One view shows a group of standing, kneeling, and firing soldiers. The second picture titled, "Confederate Dead on Matthews Hill," shows the same group of soldiers lying on the ground, presumably killed. Frassanito disputed the authenticity of these scenes because Brady fled with the Union Army shortly after the battle and one man in the picture is dressed in a heavy overcoat, a strange wardrobe choice for July. "Someone apparently told the soldiers to pretend they were fighting in the one view," wrote Frassanito, "and then instructed them to pretend they were dead in the other" (pp. 31-32)'

So this shows that photo-editing and photo manipulations is considered as against photojournalism.

These are some of the pictures which are editted or manipulated.

As you can see that the pictures are manipulated and if you have never seen the original, you might not realize that they were being edited. Thus that is why photojournalism are against photo manipulation and photo editing because it might change the real meaning of the photo.

Before

After

These three photos are personally edited by me. The 'before' pictures I got them from random google search and the 'After' pictures are the ones I have edited. This is what I understand from photo manipulation and photo editing. However not everyone can edit and manipulate pictures, you have to have an artistic skills for excellent photo editing and manipulation that readers and audiences could not be able to detect its changes.

 References:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism
http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html
http://web.mit.edu/drb/Public/PhotoThesis/