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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
ok so what type of editing is acceptable?
John Germ, Photographer
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Wadsworth | Oh | USA | Posted: 2:57 PM on 07.19.10 |
| ->> I looked at the recent thread that had the caddie cloned out. I certainly get that as being unethical. MOst of my work is for print sales and small local paper. For the paper - it's not worth a lot of work on the photos. But this post got me thinking - where is the line for SPORTS images? Cropping is obviouly OK. What about dodging or burning? What about curves adjustments or levels adjustments? Is anything other than cropping considered unethical or are their acceptable levels of editing for SPORTS journalism. Not talking print sales - talking journalism. So what is allowed, if anything? |
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Craig Mitchelldyer, Photographer, Assistant
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 3:27 PM on 07.19.10 |
| ->> Cropping, minor levels adjustments, a little sharpening and that's about it. Basically, don't touch it. how it is is how it is. Shoot it right in camera. get the light right. get the angle right. get the background right. get the white balance right. |
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Matthew Ginn, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 3:43 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> John,
What Craig said.
Refer to http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html and http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/digitalethi....
As far as I'm concerned, sports photojournalism follows the same rules as other photojournalism.
The way I think of it is, what you can see in the published picture should match what was there in real life. Cropping is ok, as long as you're not cropping out something that changes the story of the picture.
In my opinion, a moderate amount of burning on a part of the photo is appropriate if you need to show an important detail that would be hidden in shadow, e.g. the murder weapon lying on the floor. That's ok. If you have to burn more than a little, though, it warrants a separate photo, or at least a "blow up" with an explanation.
I almost never dodge a news/sports image. If you're dodging in order to focus the viewer's attention on the story you want to show or diminish distracting elements, that's over the line. Who knows ... maybe that guy in the background needs an alibi. Maybe one day in the future it will be important to some historian that the guy was drinking a coke instead of pepsi, or that there was a power line along that road.
The fact is that he/it was there. The difference between cropping and excessive dodging (or outright removal) is that cropping simply doesn't report on the matter outside the frame, where dodging or cloning something out states that the thing wasn't there at all.
Curves or levels ... again, ok in moderation.
Basically, if you are doing it to make the photo reproduce accurately that's fine. If you are doing it because it makes the picture more impressive, then you have a problem. |
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Hal Smith, Photographer
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Sedalia | MO | USA | Posted: 3:44 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> Don't separate sports photographs from photojournalism and you'll have your answer.
You as the photographer are telling the visual story of the event as you see it through the camera. By adding or deleting details from any one image changes the moment which you recorded.
Other than simple tonal and color correction any real image manipulation is just plain wrong. Photographers in the past have been fired from jobs for over manipulation of an image.
Your skill as an editorial photographer comes from your ability to make as good an image as possible through the camera not on the computer.
Now if you selling your commercial photography skills to an advertising client anything goes, but journalism and advertising never meet in the middle. |
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Tim Snow, Photographer
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Montreal | Qc | Canada | Posted: 3:47 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> I have my own set of guidelines I use for every assignment, be is news, sports, wedding or music work, whatever I shoot gets the same treatment.
I only crop, adjust white balance, make MINOR adjustments to highlight/shadow detail (rescue blown out highlights/blocked up shadow detail) and sharpen.
The only exception is when I am doing a purely product/table-top type job where the client wants clipping paths and such, but that's a whole other kind of beast...
My best advice is to discuss with your client THEIR expectations and regulations concerning editing/retouching/manipulation, and stick to it. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 5:59 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> Do not mislead.
--Mark |
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G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
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Dallas | TX | US | Posted: 6:12 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> Well said, Mark and Craig. Nice and concise. I'll add one more caveat ...
If you have to ask yourself if it's OK, it's probably not OK. That's the nice thing about this whole photojournalism deal -- the guidelines aren't too different than the ones you should be following for life in general.
And don't eat the yellow snow. Never ever ever. |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 8:08 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> Even cropping can be unethical in certain situations. Just look at the hype over the cropped photos of the Palestinian flotilla raid by Israel:
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=164073
Just as Mark said, "Do not mislead." |
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Hal Smith, Photographer
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Sedalia | MO | USA | Posted: 8:16 PM on 07.19.10 |
->> G.J.
When's the last time you saw a clump of yellow snow in Texas.
Hal, |
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