#31 in a series of background briefs
Q: Why doesn’t TTG allow
my favorite manipulation?
A: For at least one of these reasons:
(Many popular manipulations miss on all four)
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1. Because there’s no way to set limits on the manipulation
Phrased another way, “Because other photographers aren’t as reasonable as you are.”
When you think about your favorite non-TTG manipulations, you probably think about the sensible ways that you apply those manipulations to make seemingly trustworthy photographs.
But if those non-TTG manipulations were allowed by TTG, they would quickly be taken to crazy extremes, because “Why not go wild if the result still qualifies as TTG?”
The TTG label on the resulting photos would be a joke.
But why can’t TTG’s Allowable Changes result in manipulations carried to extremes?
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2. Because the manipulation keeps the photo from having all 9 characteristics of trusted photographs
TTG is built on a solid foundation: the 9 characteristics shared by the most-widely trusted photographs in the world.
Many popular manipulations stumble in the face of one or more of those 9 characteristics as they are spelled out in the Trust Test.
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3. Because the manipulation results in the photo not depicting “what the camera lens saw”
It is made clear throughout this website that depicting “what the camera lens saw” is one of the most important elements of trusted photographs.
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4. Because the manipulation misrepresents the appearance of the scene depicted (P7)
In P7, TTG relies on rinairs to determine what visual effects do and do not misrepresent the appearance of the scene depicted in a photograph.
The effects of numerous popular manipulations are considered misrepresentative by rinairs.
Rinairs also is the judge for all of TTG’s Allowable Changes, and rinairs additionally decides which things inherent in photographic depictions are problematic and which are not; see #1704 and #1705.
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FURTHER READING
A partial list of TTG-ineligible photographs
Why it doesn’t matter if “the manipulation makes the photo look identical to an undoctored photo”
Why it doesn’t matter if “the manipulation makes the scene look like it looked just before the photo was recorded”
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