Hyejee - Manipulation of Digital Photography

Title

Manipulation of Digital Photography – How the manipulation of digital photography has evolved and what affects has it caused to the industry and to the public.


Abstract

The report will investigate on how manipulation of photography is used in the industry and the public to study what affects has it caused. Nowadays the industry and the public will alter/manipulate photographs in an instant to achieve what they are aiming for in the image. The industry will retouch and airbrush to enhance the aesthetics of the photograph so that the image would be more appealing to the audience. The public will alter and play with a photograph to create a ‘funny’ image and to share with the others and also an individual will alter the photograph of them selves to make them self look more ‘beautiful’. The quick and easy methods of manipulating a photograph, such as Photoshop, have allowed changing the opinions on photography.

To understand how manipulation of photography evolved the report will study the transformation of analogue to digital photography and how photography was viewed when only professional photographer/studios could produce photographs. Then the report will compare the analogue and digital analysing how it has transformed and the affects it has caused to photography the subject itself.

‘With the arrival of new and increasingly seamless ways of editing and changing images, our traditional belief that the ‘camera never lies’ is brought into question. “Who”, they ask, “stands to lose when the ‘truth’ of the photographic image stopped being accepted?”… these new forms of electronic image-making are providing artists and photographers with new ways of representing this changing visual and cultural landscape’. (Robins 1991)

Further on the report will investigate on the examples of how industry/designers/artists are manipulating photography for their works and also it will look at how the people use manipulation of photograph for their fun and leisure. This will show the change of attitude towards digital photography in the industry and public and also how the role of designers and the public is now emerged when the designers are inspired from the ‘fun’ works of the public that is posted up the internet. The boundary of amateur and professional has now been blurred.


Chapters

1. Manipulation of Photography

- Introduction on how photographs are often altered and manipulated in the industry and in an individual use.
- Brief examples of how manipulated photography it is created and used.

2. Transformation of Analogue to Digital

- The history of photography transforming analogue to digital
- How a photograph was manipulated in analogue photography.
- Investigate on Photoshop and the Internet which allowed manipulation of digital photography to evolve.

3. Camera Never Lies

- The view of photography in the history and how and why the attitude towards photography has now changed.
- Why photographs were manipulated? – Political issues
- Debate about truth and lie in photography.
- Why do we alter photographs? - Reason in the industry and the public (aesthetics/beauty, fun, hobby, hide, enhance) etc.

4. Change in Role of the Industry and the Public

- Blurred boundary of amateur and professional.
- Public’s works in the internet have more liberation in sharing works/fun photographs and free from brief.
- Public’s hobby (fun photographs) feeding into the industry (e.g. Smooth FM).
- The role of industry now.

5. Conclusion

- Industry and the public are much involved with each other.
- Revitalising professional work.


Action Plan

I plan to search for examples of industry’s work involving manipulated photography and also for the public as well. The case studies can be found in magazines, books, advertising and there are websites which involves people to share their photographs which are altered so that it looks ‘funny’ so I will gather some websites and blogs as well. I will also read several books on the history of photography and find out how it has transformed and I will also search for books which have already dealt with the issue in manipulation of digital photography. I will have an interview with studios/photographers that uses manipulation in their digital photography and also find interviews on the subject of manipulation of digital photography and investigate on the pros and cons. I will also visit exhibitions on digital photography that could relate to the report.


Bibliography

The Image Factory – Consumer Culture, Photography and the Visual Content Industry. Paul Frosh 2003
Transforming Images – How photography complicates the picture. Barbara E.Savedoff 2000
Photography – A critical introduction. Liz Wells 1998
Creative Review – The Photography Annual
Photography & Culture – The Authentic Amateur and the Democracy of Collecting Photographs. Lynn Berger 2009
Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_manipulation
http://www.danheller.com/faq-manipulation.html
http://blog.bellsphotography.com/
http://manbabies.com/
http://fuckyeahsharks.tumblr.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFPGa0pKyTg – Dove Evolution