Thursday, December 13, 2007

Think twice

In this day and age, one must be VERY careful about what to believe.
Not only are words and facts omitted, but images are skewed.

Before the advent of photoshop, images were already being altered. People don't realize that not only are images changed to enhance beauty but to portray political views.

Original:
Edited:
Ukrainian photographer, Yevgeny Khaldei, didn’t just stage this photo of Soviet troops raising the flag over the Reichstag in 1945 (the first flag had gone up after dusk). He also heightened the smoke and removed the two watches from the wrists of the soldier on the lower left. Good Soviet soldiers don’t loot.

Most of the time, images are altered for vanity reasons. The French president gets some digital lipo and he's less pink and more sun tanned.
And Oprah Winfrey might not have complained about this August 1989 cover of TV Guide either. It’s Oprah’s head all right but according to CNet.com the body belongs to actress Ann-Margret. Ann-Margret’s fashion designer recognized the dress and spotted the fakery.

Photo altering can be very evil however. Here, it is used to change Kerry's image.

Usually, it’s the photographer who does the editing, either because he thinks he’ll get a better picture or because he believes it will deliver a stronger message. This fake cutting that circulated during the 2004 Presidential primaries was the work of neither of the two photographers whose images it featured. The shot of John Kerry was taken by Ken Light at the Register for Peace Rally in June 1971. Jane Fonda was photographed by Owen Franken as at a political rally in Miami Beach, Florida, in August 1972.

The collage was a dirty trick designed to derail John Kerry’s campaign.


This last one is of a merge of two pictures to give a more politically explosive message. You get the point.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LEAVE AMERICAN POP CULTURE ALONE, YOU ARE JUST A RANTER!!! YOU HAVE NOT CONTENT, JUST ENDLESS BABBLING. AREN'T YOU EUROPEAN OR SOUTH ASIAN, YOU SAID ;D I READ