Harry Arnold , Jan 13, 1999; 10:01 a.m.
In reading the mass of words generated by a question on ethics, it seems obvious that the photographer must be honest about the origins of a specific picture or group of pictures. This will allow the purists to concentrate on “unaltered” images and the changelings to seek out more “perfect” images. A famous nature photographer spends years living among wild animals until they become tame around him/her. A production company photographs wild animals almonst entirely in simulated or replicated habitat studio settings. Someone else takes a single image and makes 101 dogs out of it. Then there are the electronically generated dinosaurs and giant apes that never existed at all.
Artisticly, it doesn’t matter how the image is created. Sociologically, it matters whether we are able to know what is real and what is imagined. Ethically, it matters if someone deliberately tries to mislead or lies about the origins of a picture.
via Image manipulation, ethics and all. – Photo.net Nature Forum.