Over the Top Edits

Oh Photoshop. How your name is heavenly to one person, and toxic to another! The edits that are made in your name are certainly cause for some very passionate debates. And this week's assignment shows just how easily a person can cross the line ethically when performing edits on a portrait.

As I finish my Portraiture I class, we touch on the ethical discussion of "How far is too far" when it comes to postproduction edits on our photographs. Consider this video that shows the many edits that can occur in postproduction. In the end, I'm an artist, and my artistic vision is mine alone. However, there are ethical considerations that I have to respect when it comes to my edits.

For instance, if I were in the photojournalism field I wouldn't be able to do edits on my images beyond the very basic (exposure, cropping, etc.) and even those should be minimal. In portraiture, if my images are for personal use (the family wants to frame a family portrait to put over the fireplace mantle) then the edits I perform should be minimal. But if my photographs are going to be used in a way that reality isn't necessarily important, heavily editing my images isn't ethically wrong.

So how far is too far? Last night's homework assignment explored this question. Even though my "over the top" image has only a few edits, I would still consider this to be heavily edited because I changed the physical features of the two girls altogether.

This image has not been retouched. I shot this image and uploaded it here.

This image has minimal, standard edits for a print of a portrait that the family may be interested in purchasing. I evened out the girls' skin tones, removed a few blemishes, and slightly whitened their teeth.

This image has what I would consider to be edits that would be unethical to perform if the image were to be used as a way to show physical likeness (portrait). In this image, I enlarged the girls' eyes, completely changed the shape of the jawline for the girl on the left, and removed the chin for the girl on the right. I did a second layer of skin edits on each girl as well. This completely removed almost all of the natural texture in their faces.

What are your thoughts on Photoshop? How would you feel if your photographer changed the physical features on your face or body? Do you think your opinion would change pertaining to that image twenty years from now?