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RE: (erielack) Phoney Photos

Mike D. wrote:

> But in a case like FD&S for ARHS, we purists may have to 
> change our thinking a bit.  Now, I haven't yet seen the 
> magazine and can't speak for the context or presentation.   
> From descriptions we're talking about a DL&W train on the 
> West Shore during the '55 detours.  That actually did happen 
> as I recall seeing in the 1980s a Bob Krone color picture of 
> Lackawanna freight Fs pulling a Buffalo train up the West 
> Shore in Bergen County.  I don't recall the unit numbers.


That's exactly what the photoshopped FD&S photo was trying to show (Rich
J. claims they couldn't find a photo of the operation, but it *DID*
happen - this was just a representation of what that would have looked
like, and said as much in the caption)


 
> Now if an artist painted on canvas a scene with those same 
> known Fs on the West Shore under the Bear Mountain Bridge at 
> about the same time and day that the known train had been 
> there, we'd be in admiration.  In this case an "artist" 
> working in PhotoShop created that scene in pixels.  There's 
> apparently no attempt at fraud, and maybe the fact that it's 
> an illustration could have been more clearly pointed out.


Unless you put a big "THIS IS ONLY AN ILLUSTRATION!" superimposed over
the image, I'm not sure if the caption could have been any clearer.



> But digital imaging is here to stay, and it does give an 
> artist the ability to create ANYTHING in his mind's eye, and 
> we can't stop this progress.  We're all going to have to get 
> used to it.
> 
> Times, they are a changin'  Our integrity as objective 
> historians is becoming more important than ever.  Do it, 
> preach it, live it, and be critical of those who don't. 
> Historians are going to have to consider the chance of 
> manipulation in print and on line.


Mike makes many valid points. Thanks to computer technology, I could
fake entire documents up and no one would be any the wiser. Integrity?
None whatsoever, but the technology is there to do it.

I still think that "representations" of an actual historical occurence
(not a "what-if", such as ATSF F-units rolling over Moodna Viaduct) are
valid uses of Photoshop, AS LONG AS THEY'RE CLEARLY STATED AS SUCH.  I
would love to see a color photo of as-delivered DL&W FTs rolling through
Boonton, but doubt I'll ever find one. The fact is, they did run through
town in the early 1940s, so it's a nice 'time machine' to see what once
was, but no one was in a position to capture it.

Just my $0.02.

	- Paul

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