Landscape, Nature And Travel Photography

Lately I even turn a skeptical eye to work I know is coming from professional photojournalists. When I see stuff like HDR photos from staff photographers illustrating "hard" news stories in my local, big market newspaper it's pretty obvious the standards are different these days.

I trust everything I see, Jim.

But don't trust everything you read... ;-)

Dan

@Bo Nash really! HDR for photojournalism? I haven't seen that yet.

@Dan Mitchell Funny! I do have to wonder if Photojournalists will be able to keep their hands clean to avoid any erosion of trust in their work. Not sure it's possible as more people look to online sources for news.

I don't believe what I see when it's by a PROFESSIONAL photo-journalist, so I'm definitely not going to believe it when a non-professional is involved.

I try to put it into perspective though... Most of the time, a professional will not risk their reputation by doctoring a photo of the local festival. But if the same guy published a photo of George kissing Obama, then I would be more skeptical. And I would be even MORE skeptical if a non-professional posted it.

I don't see anything wrong with using HDR, or other image adjustments. Making a photo look its best is part of the game today. But altering the content of the photo is where the line should be drawn for journalism.

I suppose I struggle with any type of manipulation when it comes to photojournalism. Even then - some are 'setup' in the field as well...

my answer is that like most things, it depends. . .
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am i the photo editor looking at submissions or a reader flipping thru a magazine?. . . if i'm just a reader are we talking about a somewhat reputable magazine like national geographic or the latest issue of cosmopolitan?. . .
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and what do you mean by "trust"?
do you mean absolutely nothing done to the photo at all?. . . or maybe some minor color correction to fix a blue cast?. . . or maybe some major color correction to make OJ look more ominous?. . . or maybe some minor cropping to make the photo fit the layout better?. . . or maybe some major cropping to remove a key element?. . . or some minor photoshopping to remove redeye?. . . or some major photoshopping to add, say, a missile?. . .
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and do you mean "trust" purely in relation to photoshop?. . . 'cuz mark is right, you can tweak with reality in the field as well. . . composing, filters, context, gels, shutter speed. . .
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there are different levels of trust and the scenario itself is a bit too vague. . . or at least it's too vague for me 'cuz apparently it didn't bother any of the previous commenters. . .
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in the end, if you're asking me, as a reader, whether or not i'd trust a non-professional photojournalist's photo in a magazine or newspaper i'm perusing, i'd say that in general if i trust the periodical, i'll probably trust the photos, no matter who took 'em. . . having said that, i'd also assume there was *some* color correction and cropping done to the photo. . . hell, i even assume the shots that *you* post *here* have been tweaked slightly and aren't straight from your camera. . .

btw, those hyphens were my clumsy attempt at forcing a line to exist between my paragraphs. . . i saw that my comment was gonna be kind of long and didn't want it to end up looking like one long-ass paragraph. . .