My Picture that Lies

I chose to use a picture I took on my trip to London last summer. I chose it because when I went to London, there was was scaffolding on Big Ben and on many of my pictures of it, it was easy to see. I wanted to have a picture without the construction work and decided to use that as a beginning for my picture that lies. I decided to use my picture of one of the most well-known symbols of London and create an advertisement for tourism in London. I chose to do so because advertising is almost always photoshopped and manipulated and I wanted to demonstrate how just a few tools and adjustments could make on a regular picture. I wanted to make the scene more attractive by brightening it up and getting rid of the construction obstructing some of the view of Big Ben. I used the clone stamp tool to get rid of the scaffolding and replace it with clouds and sky. I also decided to increase the saturation of the picture and make it a bit brighter to make the picture less dark and more happy. I also decided to add another symbol of England, the British Guard. I used the magic wand to remove the guard from another picture and moved him to mine. I added text as well. I don't believe the manipulation was too harmful. The scaffolding would be taken down at some point and people would not be too upset to not see a British guard where I had put one. I chose to read an article about digital imagery and photography. The focus was not on altered images, but it did speak a bit about it. I agree with the article that it is very hard to determine whether an article or advertisement contains an altered image, and nowadays we can not completely trust the pictures we see. I agree with him and that's why I chose to manipulate something for advertisement. I really enjoyed creating this image and am looking forward to experimenting more with Photoshop on my own.

Citation for my article
Savedoff, Barbara E. "Escaping Reality: Digital Imagery and the Resources of Photography." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 55.2 (1997): 210-14.