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Question: Riddle me this batman!? Manipulation!.!.!.!.!?
In this age of manipulation, do you not agree that once you've retouched the photo, for what ever reason, in photo shop or what ever, it is no longer photography in it's purest state but a facsimile and considered some other art form!? Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Holy dodge and burn Batman! From the earliest days of photography, manipulation has always been part of the craft!. It's about conveying the image, and therefore the message you had in your minds eye when you captured the image in the first place!. I do agree that any photographer worth his f stop should strive to capture in camera the best image possible before doing any manipulation, and if the images intent is to defraud or mislead that should be frowned upon too!. But manipulation has been there from the beginning, and it'll be there as long as cameras and photography exist!. One of Ansel Adams biggest successes in his photography was his absolute mastery of dark room magic!. Who's going to call HIM anything but a master photographer!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Have you ever developed your own prints!? There is certainly manipulation going on in that process, and it has always been considered part of the art of photography!.

In the digital age, you just use different tools to fine tune your work!. If you are shooting in RAW, then you haven't finished processing your image until you get to a computer!.

The art of photography may be evolving, but retouching is still part of the photographic process!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Photography once had to fight to become respected as art!.

One way photographers did this was through manipulation, Pictorialism!. This was to create an image like paintings similar to those found in Romanticism!.

Photography eventually evolved into "straight" photography and getting a perfect shot without the tricks and such!. Think Ansel Adams for straight photography (but even he sandwhiched negatives, burned, and dodged)!.

(then if you want to continue, straight photography went on to "the snapshot")

Hope this helps!.!.!.

Www@QuestionHome@Com

Nope!.

Photographs have been manipulated since the beginning!.

Double exposure, sandwiched negatives, IR, cross processing, hand tinting, cropping, toning and on and on!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It is still a photo, but in a sense it becomes more a piece of art than a photo as you have imprinted your own expression into the image!.

But yes, I think it is still a photo!.

:)Www@QuestionHome@Com