This link provides a great lesson in the civilian world of a fairly common discussion in the military photo production community.

When I started in this job we still did wet processing of film. It was the cusp of the digital revolution and the military had yet to transition to the latest in technology. Back in those quaint and innocent days it wasn’t hard to alter photos; It was just time consuming and most of us didn’t have the time or inclination to mess with the photos much. Still, even in those days it was pounded into us that altering photos to the point of changing the meaning or circumstances was unethical. As Public Affairs professionals we were supposed to provide a service to the military and people by keeping them informed and documenting the world as it existed around us. Photographers that could capture photos with great composition and lighting were highly praised.

Somewhere around the late 90’s we joined the digital revolution and suddenly everything changed. Sure, it made media management easier but it also allowed us to “fix” mistakes in post production. If your white balance was off you could correct it. If your composition sucked you could crop and adjust on the fly back at the office. All these things were deemed acceptable because they were easily replicated in the darkroom. Then as more complex editing software come along at an ever cheaper price the lines begin to blur. 

We still teach only limited photo “touch-ups” are allowed and anything beyond some simple minor adjustments must be listed as a “photo illustration.” We remind our younger troops and senior commanders that our credibility is key when communicating with the public and altered photos run afoul of accepted ethical guidelines. As a generation of people more and more accustomed to reality they can alter at will and distribute across the world with little seeming repercussions has entered our military we’ve been forced to be even more vigilant in enforcing the strict ethical standards governing our products. So I’ve shared this link in hopes of helping people understand that it isn’t some dictatorial military rule created out of thin-air we’re enforcing…it is a long standing ethical standard that is universally accepted. 

So the next time you mouse over an editing button in photoshop stop for a second and remind yourself that there are reasons for why we do what we do and in some cases the answer is it is simply unethical.