In today's world, we consume media of all sorts on a daily basis. Multimedia surrounds us, and often influences our thinking, decision making, and actions. However, the digital nature of these artifacts makes it possible for them to be easily manipulated, edited, "Photoshopped," remixed, remashed, etc., so it can be difficult to decipher between what is "real" and what is "fake."
Take this challenge to see how well you can discern between the "real" and the "fake". You will be shown a photo chosen from a set of manipulated photo pairs (in other words, one original and one modified version exist for each photo), and you must decide whether the photo has been digitally manipulated.
After you're done, your teacher will present each pair of original and manipulated photos, and you will discuss possible motivations for manipulating each of the photos. Note that each of these photos comes from actual instances in the news media.
Take this challenge to see how well you can discern between the "real" and the "fake". You will be shown a photo chosen from a set of manipulated photo pairs (in other words, one original and one modified version exist for each photo), and you must decide whether the photo has been digitally manipulated.
After you're done, your teacher will present each pair of original and manipulated photos, and you will discuss possible motivations for manipulating each of the photos. Note that each of these photos comes from actual instances in the news media.
Now that the Internet is media rich (with digital images, audio, and video on almost every page), concerns about ownership of these digital properties increase.
For example:
For example:
- "If I post a video to YouTube, do I still own it?"
- "If I download an image from the internet, can I use it in an advertisement for my Ebay store?"
- "If I manipulate an image with multiple layers, is the new image all mine?"
A pair of photos taken in 2003 near Basra, Iraq, were combined to make a single, more dramatic image. The two photos were from a series of images shot within moments of each other by photographer Brian Walski that depicted scenes of British soldiers and Iraqi civilians in the war-ravaged region. Before transmitting the day's photos back to his newspaper in Los Angeles, Walski chose two of the photos — neither of which was exceptional on its own — and composited the best parts of each photo into a single image. In one photo, an armed soldier was caught in a striking pose with his arm outstretched while an Iraqi man holding a child was somewhat visible in the background, looking away. In the second photo, the man with the child was more prominent and looking at the soldier, but the soldier's posture was less dramatic. By compositing the two photos from the same actual event, Walski manufactured a moment in time that never actually existed. Upon the discovery of his selective altering of events, the LA Times fired Walski, stating that, "What Brian did is totally unacceptable and he violated our trust with our readers.”