Doctoring a photo...what should happen?

Definitely things which much be considered.

Again, a couple of thoughts:

1. Cropping is, in fact, a HUGE issue of integrity. Cropping disingenuously can be tantamount to excluding the word "not" in a potentially controversial quote. While cropping tends to be regarded as a less-serious issue, the material being excluded, and the message within the new frame MUST be considered carefully.

2. Selective blurring is not a global process. It must be done to individual parts of the frame. As I noted before, in straight news photography, the preference is to only use post-processing techniques which affect the entire frame.

 

It was a rhetorical question. Of course I think it's unethical. That's why I was using it as a parallel to what the photographer did and to make the point that just b/c what he did didn't harm anyone or change reality, that doesn't make it acceptable.

Lisa: Dad, do you even know what rhetorical means?
Homer: Boy, do I know what rhetorical means?