Sedona, Arizona's Red Rock Balloon Ride-Photoshop Edited Image
The first two images are unedited and are real. The third image is edited. The third image is the combination of the selection of me from the selfie image in the middle photograph with the first image, which was taken earlier on that same balloon ride when the sun was first rising. Notice my husband has been edited out. You decide - is the third image truth or fiction?
Since Photoshop's 1987 beginning, much controversy has surrounded the integrity of photographic images edited with this software. The impact Photoshop has had these past 30+ years has also brought up many societal and ethical questions. Some of these questions are:
- Have the users of Photoshop went too far in overriding what is real versus false content?
- Has the media, the entertainment world, publishing companies, advertisers falsified what they are trying to sell with the use of Photoshop? And should this be illegal? Should some disclaimer be published along with the edited image?
- Does the editorial content of images edited in Photoshop contradict the truth that News media claim is their mission - to report only the truth?
- Does Photoshop edited images of celebrities and others in the mainstream affect people's attitudes toward their own self body expectations of how they should look? If yes, are these false images responsible for many of the eating disorders and other health emotional issues?
- Should the beauty industry be held accountable for portraying false images they claim are a result of using their products? Should they be liable for personal injuries some attribute to Photoshop edited images? (Much like the advertising of cigarettes, vaping to youth, etc.)
These are grey areas that are just hard to answer. Personally, I do not think it is Adobe's legal responsibility for some of these issues. It is the companies', who use Photoshop, responsibility to establish rules and guidelines regarding the usage of Photoshop that should reflect the integrity and ethics of their company's mission statement. I do think Photoshop has brought artistic creativity that, heretofore, was nonexistent. With the diverse use of multi-featured digital cameras, the ever-growing cell phone camera capabilities, photographic digital printers and powerful editing Photoshop software, the digital artist has much to offer and should not be restricted beyond what is legal in their creative art and what they are commissioned to do.
In the words of Thomas Knoll, the creator of Photoshop, "The original purpose of Photoshop and what it was created for, is to bring a subject more into focus, not creating works of fiction." Dido!!!
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