Renowned photographer Steve McCurry vows to rein in use of Photoshop

SINGAPORE — Renowned photographer Steve McCurry has a career spanning more than four decades. His books are bestsellers and his photographs, which have been exhibited in Singapore, can fetch tens of thousands of dollars at auctions.

Some of his images are even considered iconic, such as the stunning portrait of a young Afghan girl that was featured on National Geographic's magazine cover in 1985.

But in recent weeks, McCurry's reputation and work have taken a severe beating after he was accused of excessively manipulating his photographs with imaging software like Photoshop. The controversy erupted earlier this month when one of the manipulated photographs - showing a street sign in Cuba cloned onto a man's lower leg - was spotted at an exhibition in Italy.

Photographer Paolo Viglione, who spotted the botched photo, posted the image on his blog. Soon, photo enthusiasts began uncovering more McCurry photographs that had been excessively manipulated, according to the Peta Pixel website. The alterations ranged from extensive colour processing to cloning (the process of removing or replacing elements of an image), and the removal of certain subjects from the photographs.

via GIPHY

Addressing the growing online criticisms in an interview with Time magazine on Monday, McCurry said he would rein in his use of Photoshop. And in comments that dismayed some of his fans, McCurry added that he was a "visual storyteller" and had never been a photojournalist, except for a short spell with a local newspaper in Pennsylvania.

"The years of covering conflict zones are in the distant past. Except for a brief time at a local newspaper in Pennsylvania, I have never been an employee of a newspaper, news magazine, or other news outlet. I have always freelanced," he told Time.

McCurry added: "Reflecting on the situation… even though I felt that I could do what I wanted to my own pictures in an aesthetic and compositional sense, I now understand how confusing it must be for people who think I'm still a photojournalist."

via GIPHY

In his interview with Time, McCurry also defended his own use of Photoshop, citing a December 1984 issue of the National Geographic which featured a photograph he took of an Indian man wading through a flooded street with his sewing machine.

"I recall when my horizontal picture of the tailor in India's monsoon was published on a National Geographic magazine cover, the water was extended down to fit the vertical format," he said. "That use of Photoshop ensured that a powerful image wouldn't be rejected because it was a horizontal orientation. Some would say that was wrong, but I thought it was appropriate because the truth and integrity of the picture were maintained."

But Sarah Leen, National Geographic's director of photography, told Time that while this sort of alteration was allowed 32 years ago, it was no long considered acceptable.

Several local photographers contacted by TODAY said that manipulating images meant for editorial use was only done sparingly — if at all — and mostly for colour correction. And while the use of Photoshop is more common in commercial or wedding photography, there are lines that they won't cross.

Photographer Aloysius Lim, who shoots for 39 East Photography, said he might, on occasion, remove dustbins or exit signs that look awkward in enlarged wedding photographs. "But I don't make the couple look skinnier or add more hair … anything to do with the human body, we don't touch," he stressed.

Source: Renowned photographer Steve McCurry vows to rein in use of Photoshop