#240-ethics

As I was doing my nightly Pinterest scrolling, I came across this photo that was clearly edited in photo shop and made to seem worse than it originally was.

Relating to ethics of meaning, this picture was manipulated to make the little boy appear dirty and to be living in poverty. As you look at the image, photo manipulation was definitely used, which is sad because the little boy should not be manipulated to look like something he isn’t.

Relating to ethics of process, the picture was taken, uploaded into Photoshop or another app like it and darkened and edited. Whoever did it, used many different tools to make the photo look more extreme and “dirty” looking so people who viewed the image would feel sorry for the little boy.

Where we left class today: the ethics of process and the ethics of meaning in selecting a photo to use for the news report. Who decides which image to use? What permissions are (ethically) required... or not necessary because of the idea of public information / publicly accessible image? What meanings can be implicitly derived (aka - what are the connotations) from using one photo rather than another photo?

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2014/08/_iftheygunnedmedown_shows_how_black_people_are_portrayed_in_mainstream_media.html

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/08/11/339592009/people-wonder-if-they-gunned-me-down-what-photo-would-media-use

http://iftheygunnedmedown.tumblr.com/

post an image, a video, or a link that has to do some aspect of visual ethics (ethical perspectives, ethics of process / meaning, power, manipulation, design, etc.) . Please do not duplicate an example from the readings … and please try not to do a google search for ‘visual communication ethics” or similar searches.

The challenge is to find your own unique example and apply your understanding of visual ethics.  Write about 3 - 5 sentences about your example and consider either (or both!) the ethics of process and the ethics of meaning.