PHOTOs THAT LIE

In todays life, people are constantly surrounded by image manipulation. This could be in the form of a funny picture of a squirrel being a jedi knight in the park or a controversial picture of troops in Lebanon or even a picture of a celebrity being airbrushed to enhance the "idea" of beauty. Today, "Photoshop abuse is out of control at magazines, partly because celebrities demand protection from exposure to reality and partly because editors live and die by newsstand sales. An actually ugly Betty just wouldn't be good for anyone's business, even if it might represent something relatable" (Ives). As stated in this quote, a lot of image manipulation is done just to make a profit. This is obvious because a lot of times Before reading any article or magazine, the prescence of an eye catching photo,true or false, will grab the readers attention first. If the photo can catch the attention of people then it is more likely to bring a profit to the article or magazine. With this incentive, many people are more likely to alter photos in a false manner. Irregardless of profit though, people don't like being lied too. I think that as long as a photo isnt altered in a way that creates a harmful result or harmful impact on the viewer, then its ok. Here's my photo that lies:

 

I chose to make an avatar squirrel incountering woodsprites (the little jellyfish-like spirits in the movie). My first idea was to make jedi squirrels but that idea was done before so I did this one. This photo was originally two squirrles in a park jerring at each other. I made this photo for fun and I took the image of the squirrel and altered his eyes, hair and ears to resemble an avatar. I made him blue and added blue lines for his body art, then put him in his appropriate setting on Pandora. This image manipulation was not harmful because it is obviously not real. My photo serves as an extreme opposite example of what people do in magazines when they alter body images.

Ives, Nat. "Despite talk of ethics codes, airbrushing is here to stay." Advertising Age 79.16 (2008): 24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.