Art vs. Press Photography

Two major types of photography are press photography and art photography. Press photographs are meant to capture the moment of an event as it occurs. Art photography is set up to be artistic and is almost never "real".

Occupy Wall Street Credit: Henry Ray, AP October 8, 2011

Iran Protests, Credit: Olivier Laban-Mattei, June 13, 2009

The photographs about are press photographs that show peaceful and violent protests in two very different parts of the world. The first picture shows the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York, New York currently going on. This photo is an example of a press photographer who is not trying to get into the shot and allow people to know they're being photographed. This photographer shot much in the way that Eugene Smith and Sebastiao Salgado. They shot images without interfering the with procession of events.

The second photo shows a protester in the 2009 Iran Political Protests in Tehran, Iran. This man was severely beating and shows his wounds. It looks as though the protester knows the photographer is right in front of him and is trying to embellish his injuries. I do believe this type of image is alright as it would otherwise be difficult to show the viewers of these images to see just how brutal the protesters were.

Press photographs should never be manipulated as it breaks the code of photojournalists. Photos should be presented as they were taken or not used at all as it can dramatically affect the perception the viewer sees the photo in.

Credit: Ben Heine

Credit: QT Luong

The two photographs above show art photography, these photos are heavily manipulating to present them as art to the viewer. The photo of the lady lying on the street was shot normally and edited using High-Dynamic Range and photoshopped to include the sketch of the hawk and the key. The photo of the clouds wasn't modified as much but clearly this photo was not shot exactly as the picture is presented. It is perfectly ethical to manipulate photographs for the sole purpose of displaying them as artistic photographs. Just as with paintings or drawings, your imagination should be the only limiting factor for creativity and manipulation.

Shooting the Truth: Photojournalism

What is photojournalism?
Photojournalism is a branch of journalism that uses photographs to tell a news story. Contrary to journalism which has many words and possibly a photo, photojournalism has one photo and at most a caption explaining the photo.


What's the role of photojournalism?
Photojournalism as a very important branch of journalism. It gives readers (viewers) a much richer, more detailed idea of what the story is about. Words are powerful, but nothing gets the emotion and action of a news story better than a series of photographs.

Are there rules that photojournalists must follow?
As with most forms of journalism there are a few "rules" that a photojournalist should follow. Photojournalism adheres to four principles:

• Timeliness
• Accuracy
• Fair representation of the context of events and facts reported
• Accountability to the public

Here are some ethical codes a journalist should abide by:

1.  Have an accurate and comprehensive representation of the subject(s)
2. Avoid manipulating photographs to enhance the scene
3. Avoid using staged photographs as they are not genuine events
4. Provide complete and accurate context when photographing subjects

Are ethics of taking journalistic photos different than the ethics of writing a news story?

There are subtle differences in regards to the ethics of photojournalism and journalism. Journalists must be very careful with how their words are interpreted by having their work edited thoroughly. Omission or modification of facts or statements can have a profound effect on the readers view of the story. Photojournalists must be very careful how they photograph a scene as to not convey a different story than is unfolding. It is very difficult for a photographer to do this as camera postion and angle can affect the tone of the image. Low-angle (looking up at the subject) can lead the viewer to assume the subject is evil or powerful. On the other hand, high-angle shots (looking down on the subject) can lead the viewer to assume the subject is docile and powerless. In the end, journalists and photojournalists must commit to ethical behaviour and representation of the facts as their livelihood and credibility rely on it.

Low-Angle Shot. Credit: Unknown



High-Angle Shot. Credit: Unknown


What is the impact of altering press photographs?
Altering press photographs distorts the viewers feel for what happened at the scene. This could be to improve negative feelings about the scene or subject, or to increase negative perceptions of a scene or subject. Altering press photos is a highly unethical proposition.

As a photographer, I know it is often difficult for a photo to turn out the way it looks to my eye. For this reason the only manipulation of the photo that would be acceptable to me are those alterations which help the colours become more vivid. Photoshop is definitely a frowned-upon practice in photojournalism.



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