Les Jones: Define Photo Enhancement

September 19, 2005

News > Define Photo Enhancement

On Friday Drudge had this headline: "REUTERS has acknowledged Bush 'Potty Note' photo was enhanced via Photoshop... " and a link to this story. The linked story says:

Once he saw what it said, Hershorn decided the note was interesting and worth publishing. The white parts of the picture were overexposed, so a Reuters processor used Photoshop to burn down the note. This is a standard practice for news photos, Hershorn says, and the picture was not manipulated in any other way.

That's not much of an enhancement. Practically every picture I've ever run has at a minimum had its sharpness and contrast adjusted. I don't see where Reuters did anything wrong here. Drudge is just showing his lack of computer savvy.

Posted by lesjones | TrackBack

Comments

I worked in pre-press and made many half-tones using 15 foot long brown horizontal cameras. They were for newspapers and magazines and the manipulation of the pictures was not just standard, but needed. So this is a non-issue.

Posted by: gunner at September 19, 2005

Yeh, I mean unless he's going to make the case that the photo was substantively altered, the enh@ncement claim just doesn't hold water. If the photo of the president's note hadn't been legit, the White House has had more than enough time to dispute it.

Posted by: Les Jones at September 20, 2005