Ethics in Photography Survey for Scout-It-Out Photographer Workshop

Ethics are principles reflecting the values of a society- guidelines for its members to treat each other fairly according to accepted ideals. Within a group, ethics may be broadly accepted, but issues arise that require thought and discussion. The following scenarios pose some of these issues.

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* 1. - You are a photo-journalist and take a picture of a large crowd from a distance at a concert to put out in a media news story. You did not get permission from the people in the crowd to take their picture and share it. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 2. - You are a photo-journalist and take a picture of a celebrity as they are out shopping and sell it to a gossip magazine. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 3. - You are a photo-journalist and hide on private property to capture a picture of a celebrity swimming in their pool. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 4. - You are a photo-journalist that takes a picture of 3 cute children you see playing at a playground. You did not get permission to take this photo and then sell it to a parenting magazine for one of their articles. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 5. - You get your school picture taken and you choose the option to get your pimples removed from the final photo. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 6. - You know it’s illegal to climb a national monument, but do so anyway to get the perfect shot. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 7. - You use a drone to fly over a very remote area of a park or beach that is nearly impossible to hike to by foot. You take a picture of a fantastic waterfall to put in your personal photo album. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 8. - You fly your drone illegally over the White House or over an airport to capture some cool shots that you otherwise couldn’t get or see. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 9. - There are fires being set in the downtown of a U.S. city. A news source uses a photo of a burning city in Venezuela to represent fires that were burning in a U.S. city because the pictures weren’t as good. Is this ethically wrong?

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* 10. - A picture of a political candidate looking irritated while looking at a child is used in a negative ad campaign. What is cropped out of the picture is a huge bee that was just to the right of the candidate’s ear at that exact moment. Is this ethically wrong?

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