This article is about a picture that surfaced a bit ago showing four missiles supposedly being fired from Iran. It was in many newspapers, but there was still some debate as to its legitimacy. Photo manipulation software such as Photoshop has gotten advanced enough so that a professional would definitely be able to render such an image from other existing images. It is suggested that the photo could have been a form of terrorism, because it is indeed scary to see four nuclear weapons fired into the air in defiance of the UN. I found this whole thing particularly interesting because a hobby of mine is photoshop and I frequently participate contests for money and for one of the contests the objective was to render that picture into something comical. With powerful software, incredible changes can be made and it is scary to think about it, but someone may have just created this image to frighten the public. Photography has made leaps and bounds over the years and now in the digital age, it is being used as a weapon.
Morris, Errol. "Photography as a Weapon." The New York Times. 11 Aug. 2008.The New York Times.24 Oct. 2008
2 comments:
This is an interesting look at photography and it is unfortunate that something as pure and simple as photography can be turned into a deadly weapon. Photography was designed to attract emotions from individuals by allowing them to see with their own eyes a powerful image. Using photoshop or a tool of this nature to damage the simplicity and purity of photography is almost cruel. In a way, it is. It has made people think that Iran did have nuclear weaponry and was planning to use it. This is not a laughing matter and it is sad that someone would come up with this idea. (That is assuming that it is a fake. However, if it isn't a fake, then we have a real crisis on our hands.)
You make many good points. With photoshop so advanced photographs might lose their credibility. You can use photoshop to make pictures of a lot of things. It's hard to decide whether photos are real or something somebody made in photoshop.
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