To maximize viewer trust, should a photo depict “what the photographer saw” or “what the camera recorded”?

The answer is rather simple:

To maximize trust, TTG photographs depict “what the camera lens saw,” which is a combination of the two things in question.

• With regard to non-“light”-related aspects (forms and shapes), depicting “what the camera lens saw” is easy to do.

For non-“light”-related aspects, “what the camera lens saw” and “what the camera recorded” are usually the same thing. The photographer need not make any changes to forms and shapes.

• But with “light”-related aspects (tones and colors), “what the camera recorded” is often NOT “what the camera lens saw.”

In order to meet P7, the photographer may have to change some tones and colors from “what the camera recorded” in order to avoid misrepresenting “what the camera lens saw.”

For more on this, see the page on light.