Brad Pitt and Iranian Missiles
Ever since photographers were forced to move from the darkroom to the computer a whole new plethora of image manipulation has become commonplace. Sure, there is a whole new skill set that has evolved over the past couple of decades and there is a lot of extremely well done retouching done. As a society we have to realize that we are now more than ever being visually subjected to certain ideals that don't exist in the real world.
The camera is a machine without feeling or opinion and we believe it is a tool to portray the truth. Society as a whole has learned that this is no longer the case. Practically every image you see has been altered in some form. We need to ask ourselves where to draw the line in digital retouching. *My philosophy? Light retouching, yes. In a news context, no* When you change the original intent of the photo, retouching has gone too far. Altering images in photojournalism is an example of where the magic of Photoshop crosses an ethical line and heats up the retouching debate. Photojournalism has long been regarded as being truthful. The images we see in the papers, television, and online that are considered journalistic we tend not to question their integrity. These days we are seeing more and more cases where these newsworthy images are being doctored. This in turn changes how the public trusts this profession and makes the professionals question the business they got into. Below are images that came out in the Daily Mail UK about how Iran had altered this photo to conceal that a missile had failed during a test. You can see in the second image they added the failed missile, according to the Daily Mail it was to make sure not to show weakness.
To read the full article click [here](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1033966/Pictured-How-Iran-doctored-photographs-hide-missile-failed-work.html) We all know by now there is tons and tons of retouching happening in magazines especially in the fashion world, I will write a whole other post on this and what is happening in France with their effort to change this. Today I want to talk about Brad Pitt’s cover of W magazine where the amazingly talented Chuck Close shot several close ups photos for the feature. NO retouching was done, on the insistence of Brad Pitt. Now he is a handsome man, and I have to say this would be easier for men than women. But I do have to point out that it was a rare and brave move for an actor in Hollywood.