Internet Ethics: Image Manipulation

I chose the image revealing the condition of Lebanese capital Beirut after an Israeli air raid. I selected this picture because of its surprisingly deceptive abilities. The manipulation present is practically unnoticeable. I think if I were to view this picture in a magazine or newspaper, I would never detect its illusory alterations. This image was actually manipulated to display an excessive amount of dark smoke, which seems to be consuming the entire city. The Reuters news agency put this false picture on its website, but eventually took it down after discovering that the original version had been manipulated. Personally, I believe this image was manipulated because the photographer might have felt that modifying this picture would lead to prominent magazine companies advertising it. Thus, I would assume this is primarily a matter of personal greed on the photographer’s part. This type of manipulation can be quite harmful, especially because it is so subtle. For instance, citizens of Lebanon could have seen this image and become overly worried about the situation. It is obvious that the air raid must have resulted in numerous injuries and some deaths; however, depicting an image of the air raid to communicate worse consequences can have an overall negative impact on people’s psyches. It is interesting how even scenes of a catastrophic event can be altered to obtain specific reactions from people.      

This video, although brief, shows the transformation of a real looking woman into an artificial version of what we usually see in magazines. There is a small portion at the beginning of the video displaying what occurs prior to a photograph being taken, including heavy makeup and hair treatment. However, the actual manipulation is the portion detailing the use of Photoshop to enhance the woman’s natural features and correct any flaws. In this case, the woman's transformed image is mounted onto a billboard for even more people to view. I support the message this video is conveying, which is that society’s view of beauty is entirely misconstrued. This type of misrepresentation can lead to normal girls feeling as if they must look this way, which is actually impossible. Ultimately, image manipulation of this sort can lead to body image and self of steam issues in girls.