Friday, July 23, 2004

Dit Manip - Don't do it

The New York Times ran the correction below today. There is a story about it on News Designer. (Thanks to Nicole for spotting it).

Editors' Note

An article on Wednesday described the plight of single men facing a shortage of single women in Alaska. A photograph with the article, showing one woman and four men at a bar in Anchorage, was digitally altered to remove the photographer's reflection in a mirror.

That should not have occurred. The Times's policy prohibits alteration of news photographs except in the cases of collages, montages or fanciful contrived situations that are unmistakable to readers, and with explicit acknowledgment in a caption or credit.

Dude, if you don't want to shoot for newspapers, just tell them in some unflattering way. They won't call back. You don't need to drag all of us down with this kind of BS. The rule is simple: Don't move pixels. You can "spot" for dust, but your own reflection in a mirror isn't lint on the sensor. Someone somewhere eventually sees the original take and the show is over.

Alan S. Weiner was the photographer. The bio found by News Designer lists him as a wedding photographer. Hmmm... So maybe some brides really don't get married. Instead, they conspire with wedding photographers around the globe to bilk unsuspecting relatives out of new toasters and other household appliances. How absolutely diabolical...

Enough for now,

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