For me personally there is a line where editing a photo becomes a lie. That moment for me is when you fully replace an element in the photo with something else. Sky replacement is the one that jumps right out at me.
It’s OK to take an imperfect photo.
Let’s get that out of the way up front. I take imperfect photos all the time. Whether it’s shooting a product for a web site, or trying to shoot a suspension component on the latest build they don’t always turn out perfectly. It’s OK. Take another one, or use an editor to try and make it good enough. Adjust lighting, contrast, whatever you need to do to show the part. There are plenty of under chassis shots on here that needed to be brighter or edited in some way so you can see the subject.
It’s not OK to fake a photo.
I truly believe that photos with the full sky replaced, or large elements altered are no longer photographs. They are graphic design and not the original subject. I also don’t believe that adding effects that were not present is OK, unless your whole purpose is to provide that service to a customer. Once again, it isn’t a photograph anymore it’s graphic design in my opinion. A photo stands on it’s own as a visual recreation of that moment in time. Sometimes that moment is ugly.
Where is the line?
Have you ever heard someone say I can’t define it but I know it when I see it? This is like that. For example cropping a photos is OK nearly 100% of the time. The caveat is when it’s a crime photo and the cropped portion is evidence. Adjusting exposure and tweaking color is OK in small amounts. If you adjust every slider on an image you’re a graphic designer. Subject matter is also factor. Wedding photos have a need to look a certain way and the customer wants you to edit them for that purpose.
With digital devices and the ease of using LUT files on some systems the line is even further blurred. If the camera adjusts the photo as it takes it with a custom file output what is that called?
Did we answer the question?
I don’t know if there is a definitive answer. If you grind your welds are you a grinder or a welder? What if you grind them and they never break but the pretty welds always fail? At the end of the day you make the call. Is editing photos lying?
