The Uses of Imagery Manipulation in the Media
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Transcript of The Uses of Imagery Manipulation in the Media
Imagery Manipulation 1
The Uses of Imagery Manipulation in the Media
Deborah Mauldin
Art Institute Online
Carla Stout
CC114 Fundamentals of Media Communication
November 3, 2006
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Abstract
Images are used in the media in order to convey
messages and to evoke responses. Image manipulation has
always been a part of the photographic process, but in the
last decade the ability to manipulate moving images (video)
has achieved great advances in technological development.
Digital imaging technology has brought about a wealth of
new possibilities for artists and media producers in
creating images. It has also brought forth new efforts to
define acceptable practices in regards to representing the
truth in media produced for public view. Understanding the
methods and reasons for image manipulation might contribute
to a more balanced media experience for consumers.
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At no point in the history of mankind have there been
more images created and recorded than now (M. Goldstein,
personal communication, October 29, 2006). Images can be
found almost anywhere in modern society. They are used to
educate, advertise and to entertain, sometimes
accomplishing more than one of these activities at the same
time.
In the last several decades there have been advances
in technology that have enhanced the production of video
and still images. The widespread use of the personal
computer, the development of image processing software, and
the ability to create, process and transmit digital
information at very high rates of speed have all combined
to form the current environment that images are produced in.
These elements have also made it simpler to manipulate
images after they have been captured by the photographer or
videographer.
Manipulating Digital Video
Jim Mendrala reports in his History of Digital Cinema
(2002) that the 1980s saw the rapid development of
computers for personal use in both power and speed and the
subsequent infiltration into the film business. The early
1990s saw the introduction of computer-based non-linear
editing systems that within a few short years dominated
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post-production. At the same time digital media for sound
recording and processing became the norm. The groundwork
for digital video media production had been laid.
Now that post-production processes have moved over to
the computer, new concepts of editing and manipulating of
digital video images have come about along with the ability
to effect manipulations in what is considered real-time
within the broadcast industries. The beginning of this
phenomenon was seen with the "virtual-insertions" in
professional sports broadcasts (Amato, 2000). These first
digital insertions were of orange first-down stripes laid
down across the gridiron in televised football games.
The company behind this innovation is Princeton Video
Imaging (PVI). PVI created that orange line, stored it in a
computer, and inserted the line into the live feed of the
broadcast of the football game (Amato, 2000). From those
first orange lines, the technology of virtual insertion has
evolved.
This technology has also been adopted by the
advertising industry. Virtual insertion has become a very
effective means of product placement. Jerry Cobb of MSNBC
reports that this process is called digital brand
integration and it is the newest form of product placement
(2006).
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Marathon Ventures is the company that has developed this form of product placement (Cobb, 2006). David Brenner, president of Marathon Ventures, is quoted by Cobb as saying:
We can place a product, virtually any size, in almost any location. It really depends on what the program and the video in each individual episode provides in terms of a logical or contextual background (2006).
The practice of digital insertion is not limited to
product placement and live broadcasts of sports games. Now,
it is possible to digitally alter video as it is being
recorded to add or remove elements within the video without
the viewer knowing that it has occurred. In other words,
what the viewer is seeing on the television screen is not
what is actually being recorded. And, this can be used in
practically any situation.
On New Year's Eve in 1999, Dan Rather reported from
the CBS Studios at Times Square in New York City, providing
live and on-going coverage of the festivities. Behind him
it was possible to see Times Square. On that New Year's Eve
there was a very large NBC banner spread across Times
Square that was visible from the CBS studios and by the
cameras recording Mr. Rather. However, the viewers at home
didn't see that NBC logo. Instead, they saw the CBS logo in
its place. That CBS logo was digitally created by Princeton
Video Imaging and inserted into the live broadcast
(Handelman, 2000).
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Handelman reports that Dan Rather had concerns about
the use of digitally enhanced images on a news broadcast.
Conversely, the chairman and co-founder of PVI, Brown
Williams, stated that "Illusion is part of television" when
referring to Dan Rathers concerns (2000). Examples of PVI's
services and capabilities can be viewed on their website
(http://www.pvi.tv).
Manipulating Digital Photographs
Manipulation has been part of the photographic process
since the birth of photography as we know it today. In fact,
the photographic process cannot happen without the
necessary manipulation of chemicals in order to develop
films and papers for the pictures (Leggat, 2000). There is
much room for flexibility and creativity within the
chemical process and it is necessary for a photographer to
take advantage of this in order to make the photographs
perfectly.
But, as Dr. Hany Farid of Dartmouth University
reports in his website Digital Tampering in the Media,
Politics and Law, Stalin had his enemies "air-brushed" out
of photographs in the 1920's which happened not long after
the camera became commercially available (2006). The
manipulation within the photographic process does not
always only serve to develop the image taken by the camera.
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Today, film cameras, chemicals and darkrooms are being
replaced by high-resolution digital cameras, computers and
image-making software. With this, the manipulation of
digital images is becoming more common (Farid, 2006).
Digital Images and the News
The practice of digital image manipulation has been
addressed by the National Press Photographers Association
with a Statement of Principle adopted by the NPPA Board of
Directors in 1991:
As journalists we believe the guiding principle of our profession is accuracy; therefore, we believe it is wrong to alter the content of a photograph in any way that deceives the public. As photojournalists, we have the responsibility to document society and to preserve its images as a matter of historical record. It is clear that the emerging electronic technologies provide new challenges to the integrity of photographic images ... in light of this, we the National Press Photographers Association, reaffirm the basis of our ethics: Accurate representation is the benchmark of our profession. We believe photojournalistic guidelines for fair and accurate reporting should be the criteria for judging what may be done electronically to a photograph. Altering the editorial content ... is a breach of the ethical standards recognized by the NPPA. The extent to which this standard is taken seriously
Within the journalism industry can be illustrated by several stories of press photographers who have lost their jobs due to having altered images that they sent in to their news organizations. One such example is that of
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Brian Walski, former staff photographer for the L.A. Times.
Kenny Irby of PoynterOnline reported that on Monday, March 31, 2003 the Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune used prominently an image Walski had produced (2003). A Courant employee noticed what appeared to be duplication in the image. After an initial examination under high magnification using Adobe Photoshop, an investigation was undertaken. When Walski was asked about this by his editor, Colin Crawford, at the L.A. Times he acknowledged that he had used his computer to combine elements of two images to make a third image in an effort to improve the composition (Irby, 2003).
Figure 1: Image taken by Brian Walski
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Figure 2: Image taken by Brian Walski
Figure 3: Image created by Brian Walski from images in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 which was run by the Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune before being discovered as a fake image.
Brian Walski was fired from his position at the L.A. Times on Tuesday, April 1, 2003, one day after this image was run in national newspapers, before the manipulation had been detected (Irby, 2003). There was much reaction within the professional journalism and photojournalism circles. The majority of the reaction centered on remembering Brian Walski's high level of professionalism during his twenty year career as a photojournalist, yet also acknowledging that the high standards of professional journalism cannot be compromised for the sake of maintaining the trust of the public:
"What Brian did is totally unacceptable and he violated our trust with our readers," Crawford says. "We do not for a moment underestimate what he has witnessed and experienced. We don't feel good about doing this, but the integrity of our organization is
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essential. If our readers can't count on honesty from us, I don't know that we have left" (Irby, 2003).
Digital Image Manipulation In Advertising And Entertainment
Images are used by the advertising and entertainment
industries in order to promote products and services and
to provide entertainment to the culture. These images are
in an immediate juxtaposition with images used for
journalism in that they are not used in an effort to report
the truth of events to the public. Instead they
are used to give a representation of ideas. Because of
this, photographers and editors have more room for
maneuvering in their creation of images.
In professional photography, the digital darkroom has
virtually replaced the traditional darkroom. The
photographic equipment, powerful personal computers and
intuitive software available for use by photographers
allows for images to be manipulated in order to achieve the
photographer’s creative intent. Very rarely is an image
taken from a camera and used without having been retouched
in some manner. To do so would be the equivalent of
painting with colors straight out of the tube (M. Goldstein,
personal communication, October 29, 2006).
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In the context of manipulating digital images, it must be
said that a manipulation has occurred the moment anything
is done to an image after it has been removed from the
camera. Retouching is done to photographs in order to
optimize them for their intended purpose (M. Goldstein,
personal communication, October 29, 2006).
Recently a video entitled Evolution was released by
Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. This video shows the
viewer how an image is created for an advertising campaign
using images taken of a model that are then processed on a
computer with Adobe Photoshop. The intent of this video is
to educate viewers about how images are created, but it
also works to imply that the image could not have been had
without the use of the computer and software.
Marc Goldstein of West Hollywood, California is a
professional photographer who has worked in the advertising
and entertainment industry for more than fifteen years. In
regards to the Dove video he made the following
observations:
You have to consider what truth is and you have to consider what entertainment is. Does the truth sell the products? Probably not. Would you buy a product if it could show you that you look exactly the way you look in real life? Is it false advertisement? No. If they had looked long enough they could have found a woman that looked like that end product. The process of the [Dove] commercial in showing the modifications tells the truth about the photograph, so there the
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alteration [of the image] serves the purpose of the truth. (M. Goldstein, personal communication, October 29, 2006).
With regards to the best interest of the public, there
are clearly specific instances when digital images should
not be altered. Imagery used for journalistic purposes is
one very strong example of such an instance. Manipulation
of images that are transmitted through the media in order
to inform is a practice that is severely frowned upon, both
within the news industry and by the consuming public. It is
evident that a photojournalist should not take artistic
license with the images produced for the purpose of
informing the public. But in the cases of entertainment and
advertisement, digital image manipulation is a standard
practice within these industries because of the necessity
to produce perfect photographs. Marc Goldstein had this to
say about it:
At no point in the history of mankind have there been more images created and recorded than now. And, isn't it fair for an image creator to take advantage of whatever means exist to allow it to compete against millions of other images? (M. Goldstein, personal communication, October 29, 2006).
Knowing what the intended use of an image is along with an
understanding of the process used to create it may help one
to view images in the media objectively.
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References
Amato, I. (2000). Lying With Pixels. Technology Review,
103(4), 60-66.
Cobb, J. (2006, March 8). Product placement goes
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Retrieved October 31, 2006, from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ Web site:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11728512/
Farid, H. (2006, October). Digital Tampering in the Media,
Politics and Law. Retrieved November 4, 2006, from
Hany Farid, Assoc. Prof., Computer Science, Dartmouth
Web site:
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltamp
ering/
Handelman, L. (2000, Jan 31). Princeton Packet OnLine
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creates new realities. Retrieved October 31, 2006,
from The Princeton Packet Web site:
http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/business/1-31-
00/videoimage.html
Irby, K. (2003, April 2). Poynter Online - L.A. Times
Photographer Fired Over Altered Image. Retrieved
October 31, 2006, from Poynter Online Web site:
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http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=280
82
Leggat, R. (2000). A History of Photography. Retrieved
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Mendrala, J. (2002, July 1). A Brief History of Film and
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NPPA, (1990, November 12). NPPA: Digital Ethics. Retrieved
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Van Riper, F. (2003). Manipulating Truth, Losing
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