Is Seeing Believing?
Resources for teaching about
the manipulation of
photographic images
Written by Frank Baker  ©2006

Civil War

Stalin

Magazines

 
 KEY QUOTE
 "Any media that employ digitally doctored photographs will have a stronger  effect than merely influencing our opinion -- by tampering with our malleable memory, they may ultimately change the way we recall history,"  University of Padua researcher Dario Sacchi-- upon release of a study on how people's recollection of historical events is affected by digitally altered news images.

 Note to educators: "Is Seeing Believing" is the title of a curriculum I
 discovered at the Newseum, a museum of news in Washington DC.

 It deals with the manipulation of photographic images in news, history, 
 and culture. I became fascinated by this topic, so I devoted this web site to it. 

 Throughout history the photograph has been manipulated for various purposes.
 It is important for students to understand those purposes and to learn how to 
 question images they find in media and on the Internet.

 Here you will find a number of contemporary examples of the "digital 
 manipulation of images" as well as links to articles about the ethics and the
 issue.

 A good starting point for students might be the handout "Key Questions," which
 helps them use critical thinking skills as they analyze the images.

 Let me know what you think of this resource.   fbaker1346@aol.com 

 NOTE: Special thanks to Theresa Redmond, Visual Arts educator, at Peoples Academy Middle Level in Morrisville Vermont for sending me her Webquest and Powerpoint on this topic.

  Current recommended articles/resources:

 Picture Perfect: Has Airbrushing Gone Too Far? (Newsweek)

 Lesson Plan: Digital Image Manipulation in the Mass Media
 
 Questions Raised About Darkening of Obama in Hillary Ad  

 Researchers look to spot photo hoaxes