Picture that Lies

 I searched four pictures using Google Image. They originate in the religious websites. I replaced Buddha's head with Jesus's and adds Buddha on the cross.The manipulation conveys the message that each of the world's religious traditions share a single, universal truth on which foundation all religious knowledge and doctrine has grown. In this picture, I particularly try to manifest their shared unconditional love and the wisdom. While my motivation  is benign, the manipulation could be offensive to some viewers if they misinterpret my motivation as the intentional blasphemy or are not interested in the perennial philosophy.

The essay I found is titled The Truth Of A Single Instant" Focusing On The Issue Of Photo Manipulation."
In this essay, it offers an example of the ethic standard of the photo manipulation.
Once, the author took a photo for a company publication, but afterwards she noticed a small but clearly visible identifying mark for a certain organization on the clothes of someone in the photos. While the organization was not objectionable, the author's group realized that featuring it in a company photo might imply that their company endorsed that particular organization — an endorsement they felt would be misleading and inappropriate. But instead of removing the mark with photoshop, the author's group decided to conduct a new shot. The reason of their act was that they thought they didn't have the right to modify the photo since the logo represented a genuine affiliation the photo subject had intended to convey.

Even though it's commonly accepted that "violating the photographer's or subject's intent" is the unethical photo manipulation, the example above shows how rigorous the ethical standard could be applied.

Even though the essay focuses on the photo manipulation, the ethical standards offered in the essay are also applicable in other image manipulation. According to its strict unethical standard, the ethic issue of my altered picture can be very ambiguous. On the one hand, the original pictures are created for the sake of their respective religious faith, but I manipulated them to create a new meaning. But on the other hand, the chosen images have no identifiable creator and, in a sense, contain no actual meaning.


Walton, Susan Balcom. "The Truth Of A Single Instant" Focusing On The Issue Of Photo Manipulation." Public Relations Tactics 14.11 (2007): 25. Business Source Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 201