During the last couple of weeks you have learned how to use tools in Photoshop to retouch and repair photographs. In Photoshop a skilled artist can fix flaws, blemishes, scars, yellowing of teeth and eyes, even change the color of a person's eyes, hair and skin. Please read the following questions and answer them thoughtfully on your blog. Title the post of your blog Ethics of Retouching. This is due by the start of class on Thursday.
1. What ethical considerations must be made by someone using Photoshop to retouch a portrait photograph? Many considerations must be made by someone using Photoshop to retouch a portrait photograph. One consideration is not to change the entire look of the photograph. The purpose of putting a photo in Photoshop is to retouch it and improve it. We are trying to clean up the picture so it stands out more as it previously did before it might have been damaged. Another consideration is we must respect all of the requests of the owner of the photograph. The person who owns the photograph has the right to tell the retoucher what needs to be and what not to fix. Even if someone thinks there is a change needed to be made in the photo the owner of the photograph did not point out, this person does not have the right to fix it. He or she must talk to the owner first. Lastly, make new layers to fix a photo. Do not ever fix a photo on the original version because if the owner of the photo is not pleased with a retouch and wants it fixed, then the retoucher has nothing to go back to fix.
2. Give an example of a positive use of photo retouching and a negative use of photo retouching? Some examples of positive uses of photo retouching is whitening teeth, taking away blemishes, fixing missing patches from photos and making it seem like the photo had never been ripped, and making the white of the eyes brighter. Some example of negative uses of photo retouching is taking away a birth mark that is special to someone, distorting the image, and making a color of an object different from the original
3. Has learning retouching processes caused you to look at advertisements, magazine images and other published photos of celebrities and models differently? In what ways? It has made me change the way I look at celebrities and models because before pictures of them are released they can be touched up a little bit to make them look like they have no flaws. If everyone knew about photoshop, then everybody could change the way they look in a photo. Since celebrities photos can be fixed, it makes people feel that they have to look that perfect to be like a celebrity even though they don't realize that the celebrity doesn't look that perfect.
