Computer Manipulation of Photographs and Peoples Trust Essay

Computer Manipulation of Photographs and Peoples Trust - Essay Example Photographs are taken for identification of events, people, things and many other aspects (Goldberg 1991). Photographs are also thought to be a source of evidence for various purposes. With computer manipulation and editing of photographs for personal reasons, photography is not more considered as an evidence for reality. It is considered fake and somewhat containing lies (Brand, et.al 1985). With digital photography, the art of photo manipulation has become more easy and uncomplicated. The photographs that are captured digitally are stored in the computer in form of digital data (Brand, et.al 1985). This digital data can easily be edited and manipulated intentionally or unintentionally. In the market, there are various software programs available that offer the computerized manipulation of photographs. The computer manipulation of photographs is not considered illegal and people, media and other institutions employ the software programs for manipulating images according to their own requirements without any legal threat. We can take many examples of photographs as evidence. For a passport or identity card, photographs are required. Passports or identity cards are used for identifying a person with the help of his given photograph and concerning details. If the photograph is manipulated technologically with the help of the computer, it will give an edited version of the real person, which cannot be considered as wholly true. Passport or identity cards are sources of evidence of a person’s real identification but if the photographs attached with the identification cards are manipulated, no trust will be there. Before computer manipulation, trust in photographs as a form of evidence was there but after, technological development and launch of different software programs related to computer manipulation, people are being led towards distrusting the evidence of photographs (Goldberg 1991).