Rich, You asked a couple of VERY good questions, my hat's off to you. >>>>As a photojournalist I have to disagree. The image was originally used in a magazine and, as far as I know, carried no disclaimer telling viewers it was staged. So, if I wanted to do a story on car fires, would it be ethically correct for me to set a vehicle ablaze in a busy intersection if the reactions that followed were the "truth?"<<<< Remember NBC's fiasco with the GM gas tanks? Tsk, tsk. >>>>If Paris was such a great city for lovers, why wasn't this great street shooter able to find a real situation to illustrate the theme with out resorting to setting something up? He certainly couldn't have sold countless reproductions of the image without a model release and compensation to the pictured couple.<<<< Staging allows one to add the elements that he or she (as photographer or editor) feel supports their interpretation of the facts. Nothing should to be in the image they do not like. Remember the photo editor that altered license plates on a photo of a gathering of the KKK? Tsk, tsk. I recently made a well known nature photographer mad at me. I made my disgust known about advice in one of his NON-FICTION, books about shooting nature images. He voiced his pleasure (no, not Art Wolfe, yet another shooter) at the ability of photoshop to remove an unwanted tree or Hiway from his images. I suggested he accept the loss rather than alter the truth. or at least try to shoot it over if possible instead of altering the truth. Anything but alter the truth. He will not respond to me anymore claiming I am closed minded. How many know Mr. Wolfe himself has altered images, the real shots just were not good enough. We are, as a general rule, apparently unable to accept some weakness in an image because of a natural cause and effect. We MUST manipulate life itself, we do not seem to be able to accept life as life, it just isn't good enough. What's the harm of moving one little tree or blemish or add a pretty person, because the one in the real photo or scene just wasn't pretty enough? Tsk, tsk. Take care, Gregory david Stempel FIREFRAMEi m a g i n g
