picture from wikipedia
I teach Photoshop tutorials in a Post-Secondary setting. As part of my tutorials, I regularly show my students the excellent work of Greg Apodaca (see his digital portfolio). Any woman who has compared herself unfavorably to a model in a magazine can feel much better knowing how heavily edited such images are (see blonde and bikini). Greg’s Digital Portfolio showcases his amazing skill as a digital retoucher but it also brings up an ethical question: how much of what we see in the media is real? Court cases, scientific experiments, articles in the news and young girls self-esteems often depend upon visual evidence. Digital art technology (Photoshop, Poser, etc.) makes it possible to alter visual evidence in significant yet convincing ways. I have seen incredible work by 3D artists that could be passed off as legitimate photos (see these artist created wine glasses). Not to sound paranoid but digital art has now become so realistic, can we completely trust everything we see? Just a thought.
