Bravo to World Press Photo for taking a leadership role in the debate of what levels of image enhancements, adjustments and manipulation are acceptable for photojournalism. As the winners of this years contest were announced the news that 20% of images that made the final round were rejected for “manipulation or careless post-processing” left many people with jaws agape.
You can engage in the debate with the links below (if you haven’t already), but I wanted to highlight what I think are very important changes in how image adjustments are viewed.
David Campbell, Secretary of the 2015 Photo Contest jury, tweeted out the following:
This means no significant material may be added or removed by either cloning or substantial toning.
— David Campbell (@davidc7) February 12, 2015
Jury based decision on outcome (whether significant material had been added or removed) irrespective of technique (cloning or toning) used.
— David Campbell (@davidc7) February 12, 2015
All images are processed. Levels of processing that do not add or remove content a matter for aesthetic judgement.
— David Campbell (@davidc7) February 12, 2015
Levels of processing that do not add or remove content a matter for aesthetic judgement, and do not break contest rule.
— David Campbell (@davidc7) February 12, 2015
This is a major departure from the old standard of “digital darkroom” which tried to allow old darkroom techniques used by many of the great photojournalists.
This departure is highlighted by Jury chairwoman, Michele McNally in a story on the lens blog titled “Debating the Rules and Ethics of Digital Photojournalism” where she states:
“digital is not film, it is data — and it requires a new and clear set of rules”
It’s also worth noting that World Press Photo called in all the RAW files for images in the penultimate round and then had independent experts perform forensics on the images and present their findings to the jury.
I think World Press Photo has taken some important steps this year in leading by example. The old darkroom technique of burning and dodging things out of your images are OUT but processes that adjust the aesthetics are IN.
https://storify.com/davidc7/what-are-world-press-photos-rules-and-standards-on
http://www.bjp-online.com/2015/02/image-manipulation-hits-world-press-photo/
http://time.com/3706626/world-press-photo-processing-manipulation-disqualified/
https://www.david-campbell.org/photography/manipulation-examples/