Xref: utzoo misc.headlines:25815 rec.photo:20868 sci.electronics:19804 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!brunix!doorknob!kph From: kph@cs.brown.edu (Kenneth Paul Herndon) Newsgroups: misc.headlines,rec.photo,sci.electronics Subject: Re: News photo contains "smart glitch?" Message-ID: Date: 2 May 91 03:09:20 GMT References: <5110@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <5130@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <10034@plains.NoDak.edu> Sender: news@brunix.UUCP Organization: Department of Computer Science, Brown University Lines: 79 In-reply-to: tonyb@titania.juliet.ll.mit.edu's message of 30 Apr 91 17:21:58 GMT In article tonyb@titania.juliet.ll.mit.edu ( Tony Berke) writes: Path: brunix!uunet!wuarchive!mit-eddie!xn.ll.mit.edu!xn!tonyb From: tonyb@titania.juliet.ll.mit.edu ( Tony Berke) Newsgroups: misc.headlines,rec.photo,sci.electronics Date: 30 Apr 91 17:21:58 GMT References: <5110@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <5130@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <10034@plains.NoDak.edu> Sender: usenet@xn.ll.mit.edu Organization: M.I.T. Lincoln Lab - Group 43 Lines: 77 Xref: brunix misc.headlines:26759 rec.photo:19751 sci.electronics:18652 In article <10034@plains.NoDak.edu> stinnett@plains.NoDak.edu (M.G. Stinnett) writes: In article <5130@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov writes: >read out of a computer memory twice. The implication: the age of >computer-processed news photographs has definitely arrived. So why not mention the cover photo of last week's Time? The one where they used a computer to put bar codes on the nose of the fighter planes? Actually, Time processes lots of their covers. My favorite one (I witnessed this in person, was several years back, right after the Chernobyl accident. Let me make a short story long... (If you're in a hurry, skip to the bottom paragraphs). [...] Perhaps I'm being a weenie, but I think photojournalists are making a serious mistake by allowing their images to be manipulated in this way. They may sell better in the short run, but I think it will damage the field irreparably. The manipulated Time cover was much better looking and had more impact post-airbrushing than before, but it was an artist's conception, not a photograph! I think anything that blurs the distinction between true photojournalism and the National Enquirer's "Saddam Hussein Wears Women's Clothing!"-type pasteups is a crime, and a disservice to straight photographers. I don't think you're being a weenie, but I do wonder why you think that photography (even photojournalism) is anything but an artist's conception? I know this idea is verging on the theoretical and can get as messy as arguments over religion, but it is an important point to me. I'm not a pro photographer, nor am I a photojournalist. But I do feel that any photograph is in some way, however subtle, chosen for a reason, and in this way, it is a subjective act on the part of the photographer to represent something. There is no "true" photograph that accurately represents the essence of some object or situation. We are very close to having commercially available scanning and film-output technology that operates at better-than-film-grain resolution. At that point, photojournalism will be dead if the public isn't convinced that responsible publications will make no use of the technology in any way that could affect the journalistic content of an image. I don't think that photojournalism will die - we'll always be in need of pictures to show us tidbits of the world around us. It's rediculous to predict that non-film media will kill the photojournalist. His or her job may change somewhat in a technical way, but the essence of it will remain the same. This world loves pictures, especially those parts of the world that publish huge amounts of journalism. Done Fuming For Now, Tony Berke (tonyb@juliet.ll.mit.edu) -Ken -- ----------------------------------------------------------- -ken herndon- kph@cs.brown.edu uunet!brunix!kph st601698@brownvm.bitnet kph@browncs.bitnet address: po box 5636 brown university providence ri 02912 -----------------------------------------------------------