Lesson 9: Visuals and Ethics

Manipulation of Images

Even though the manipulation of images is not new, there has been a large increase in the access to video and image editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop over the past years. In addition, over the past few decades there are also more opportunities for people to distribute images more widely over the internet.

Before discussing ethical issues surrounding the editing and manipulation of visuals, it is important to note that no visual truly represents objective reality or absolute truth. Even without doing any editing a video or image is always a construction of reality rather than a lens through which we view the world.

You learned about basic image settings and image composition in lesson 5 on photography. You learned that by altering the aperture (f-stop), you can make your background more or less blurry. You also learned that by altering the settings on the camera, you can make the image brighter or darker, more and less grainy. In addition, you learned in lesson 6 about the role of camera angles, shot sizes, and mise-en-scène. You learned that you can make people look more powerful by capturing them from a low angle and that they will look weaker when you show them from a higher angle. In addition, by choosing what you place in the frame and what you leave out, you alter the meaning that the image may have.

Source: http://galeri2.uludagsozluk.com/201/televizyon_266204.jpg

Some people would argue that a lot of visuals are therefore already “manipulated” by choosing specific camera settings and setting the scene. While ethical debates often relate to post-production editing and manipulation, it is important to also think about the implications that production choices can have in relationship to the meaning that is conveyed by the visual. Because of the power of production choices, some people therefore think more lightly about the uses of Photoshop and other editing tools. For example, if make-up can be used to cover up imperfections, why can Photoshop not be used for these same purposes? The extent to which image manipulation is an ethically sound practice is therefore a widely debated topic that does not always have clear answers.

However, the extent to which image manipulation could turn into an ethical issue depends for a large part on the purpose of the visual. For example, the purpose of a visual in a news broadcast is to inform people about events that happened in the world. As a result, the manipulation of visuals in news messages is therefore often a bigger issue compared to the manipulation of visuals for the purpose of creating arts. News agencies have therefore set up ethical standards for their journalists to follow. If interested, take a quick look at National Public Radio’s Ethics Handbook regarding visual journalism and the Associated Press Code of Ethics for Photojournalists. For these professions it is important to present data honestly and accurately and to avoid altering the content of the visual in any way that may mislead viewers. Similarly, when you create visuals for academic purposes, it is also important that you do not misrepresent your data in any way that it may mislead your audience. According to the American Psychological Association (2010, p. 166) “Ethical principles of publication forbid any intentional misrepresentation of images in exactly the same way that fraudulent data manipulation is forbidden. When an image that might reasonably be thought to be a photographic image (as opposed to an image that is clearly a constructed image – a table, chart, cartoon, etc.) has been altered in a manner beyond simple cropping, clearly indicate in a note that accompanies the image that it has been altered.”

Other popular media outlets such as fashion magazines, movie makers, advertisers, on the other hand, are usually not expected to comply by visual ethics handbooks and it is generally widely recognized that image doctoring, manipulation, and retouching is common practice in many industries. While some people may argue that image retouching is simply comparable to the application of make-up, others state that presenting manipulated visuals, such as unrealistic bodies, can actually be harmful. Unrealistic bodies are therefore often blamed for women’s unrealistic body images and the prevalence of eating disorders. A meta-analysis conducted by Grabe, Ward, Hyde (2008) does indeed suggest that exposure to media images depicting thin-ideal bodies correlate with body image concerns for women. While some people propose to invest in a labelling system to show people to what extent an image has been digitally manipulated, others argue that promoting media and visual literacy could help reduce the effects that these images may have on people. Researchers and educators who are involved with media and visual literacy claim that people could become less vulnerable to the effects of visual messages if they question, analyze, and deconstruct these messages.

Danielle Nicole DeVoss and Julie Platt (2011) wrote a web-text entitled Image Manipulation and Ethics in a Digital-Visual World. In this text, these authors discuss a variety of examples of ethical issues regarding image manipulation and popular media, news media, the internet, race and representation. They also offer a set of questions you can ask about these images. Please read their text by following this link.