He had the most famous people of our time in front of his lens and even parts of the Royal Family. Pete Souza accompanied former US President Barack Obama on appointments for years and brought an illustrated book with his works onto the market. Hardly anyone can judge better when an image has been manipulated.
Souza has now taken a stand on the manipulation scandal, which is currently affecting more than just Royal fans. Last Sunday, Mother’s Day in England, Prince William and Princess Kate sent greetings to their Instagram followers. In a photo said to have been taken by William, Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis posed together at the couple’s Windsor estate. Just a few hours later, various large photo agencies warned against the distribution of the image. They suspected Kensington Palace of manipulation.
A day later, Kate herself made it known in a statement that she occasionally edits her pictures herself and apologized for any confusion the photo may have caused. Since then, a wild discussion has been raging online. While some come up with wild theories or criticize the palace, others don’t understand the problem. What’s so bad about a little Photoshop? After all, almost everyone edits their Instagram pictures. A few fewer wrinkles here, one less pimple there.
But it’s not that simple, as Souza explains. Photoshop is a program that “every professional photographer” uses, says Souza. “Every publication like The New York Times and every news organization like the Associated Press have strict guidelines for using Photoshop to process images. Basically, the accepted procedures allow a news photo to be made lighter by adjusting color balance, density (the raw file or darker) and shadows and highlights can be adjusted,” he explains.
“What is not acceptable: removing, adding or changing elements in the photo. That would change the content,” he continues.
To make it easier to understand, the Obama photographer also gives examples. It is not okay to mix several family photos into one. It is important to him to call fake images what they are: fakes.
Quelle: Instagram Pete Souza
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