[videosean]

Originally Posted by zganie

I do not think retouching is unethical,commercially that is your selling a Product,and the people of that product want it to look its best.That said:I think there are a lot of sloppy photographers out ther that do not learn there craft.Think its not so?Think about this wedding photographers shooting 3000 photos (or more) do you think when film was used they were doing that,think of the cost.

I think your argument is sound and valid. However I can say that yes, some wedding photographers shot 1000s of images on film before they had digital. I can cite at least one example from my own personal experience where week after week for years there was a lady that would bring in a minimum 30 rolls of 36 exposure 35mm film for every wedding she did - during her busiest times it was 3 - 4 weddings a week. Maybe she's not an example of the typical pre-digital wedding photographer but it was the norm in my experience. There were other wedding photographers I would see regularly (most shot less than her but they sucked as photographers compared to her IMO) but I would say she was the most successful one that came to the lab I worked at. The cost went way down with digital so more photogs could afford to shoot more pictures... and the profit margins for photolabs was impacted heavily as well... and those wedding photog's margins went way up while their free time probably went down as most of them did their own retouching and in essence took over the role that was once played by the photolab

Back on topic:
http://jezebel.com/386922/french-pho...-women-get-fat

[Dutch Rich]

I think it makes for an interesting topic. And am curious to see how the New York media will continue to roll with this. The question of ethics does seem to rise from skeptics and the general public, so were does that leave us. Are we illegal peddlers of the societal ills.
I fully agree with Benny in that what the world is made to believe is not pure photography. And that the term photographer is limited and misleading as well. Here's an interesting quote from the article that VideoSean linked to. Thanks Sean.
-Collins also seems almost resolutely disinterested in exploring Dangin's role in perpetuating unrealistic standards of beauty and when a photograph ceases to be a photograph and becomes, what Redbook editor Stacy Morrison once said, "an image"-