Photo Manipulation and Ethics

1A.  Many different photographers attempt to alter their photos to how they would like them to be, instead of what was really happening as they were taking the picture.  One photographer took out all of the female members of a council and photoshopped them to be men; another added a missile to a picture when the real one misfired and didn't launch.  Photoshopping pictures can get (and often does get) people fired from their jobs with their newspapers or magazines.

1B.  In my opinion, this type of photoshop is extremely unethical.  One of them stands out in particular:  the one where the women are photoshopped out of a council and replaced by men.  It's very insulting.  Journalistic photos should represent the facts of what happened on the event, not your own opinions.

2A.

I find this photo to be the most unethical photoshop.  It's insulting to Oprah, and the many other women that have seen it.  It also says something about the opinions of the person that photoshopped it:  they seem to think that Oprah's body isn't thin enough to be on the front of a magazine, or that a woman cannot be beautiful without an Ann Margaret body.

3A.   

In this photo, the pyramids were photoshopped closer together in order to fit the vertical frame of the National Geographic cover.  I still find it unethical, but it's not as bad as the others.  It doesn't represent the photographer's separate opinion, and it's not particularly offensive (to me).