Photos on the Web: A Consumer’s Guide
Making Sense of Web-based Imagery
A Consumer Reports WebWatch research report
prepared by: Fred Ritchin, consultant and adviser.
Consumer Reports WebWatch
101 Truman Ave.
Yonkers, N.Y., USA 10703-1057
Download Report (PDF) | Download PDF Reader
Abstract
At no previous time in history have people been confronted with so many images on a daily basis.
The billions of photographs and videos now available on the Web—some by professionals and an enormous number by amateurs—are increasingly difficult to interpret.
Were the subjects staged? Was the image manipulated? Was the subject’s privacy respected? Who owns the rights?
Consumer Reports WebWatch commissioned a report by Fred Ritchin, NYU professor, former photo editor of the New York Times and a longtime WebWatch adviser, to explore these issues and provide consumers with a useful primer on Web imagery.
The report examines the following types of images:
• Conventional photographs: A visual recording of that which was in front of the lens for a fractional second, or what one might think of as a “recording” from appearances.
• Manipulated photographs: One that has been modified after the image was made as a way of enhancing the impact of the image or explicitly deceiving the viewer.
• Photo opportunities: An event that has been staged in such a way as to be visually appealing to the press.
• Photo illustrations: Can be a photograph that is made of a scene that has been staged to illustrate a pre-existing concept, or the term can refer to a photograph that is itself later modified so as to illustrate a concept.
• Composited images: The combining of two or more photographs to create the illusion of a single one (putting the image of someone’s head on the image of someone else’s body, for example).
• Retouched photographs: One that has been partially modified, such as by erasing or adding certain details, darkening or lightening segments, or changing specific colors.
• Computer-generated images: Are synthesized mathematically using software and may sometimes look photographic even though nothing has been photographed.
The report also explores intellectual property issues by discussing topics such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, photo- and video-sharing sites such as Flickr and YouTube, the Creative Commons copyright model, and concepts including moral rights, fair use and public domain. The report also examines privacy issues that can arise from posting photographs on Facebook or MySpace, as well as the protections afforded by the Video Voyeurism Act.
|
