Photographer Fired for Altering Colors

I just read in the PDNewswire email from PDN magazine that photographer, Patrick Schneider, was fired for adjusting a photo in the Charlotte Observer. The photo in question was a silhouette of a fireman with a bright orange sky.

I've read a number of stories where photojournalists have done editting in post-production and have changed the subject of an image, but I think the Charlotte Observer may have gone to far on this judgement call. (In my opinion).

I'd like to hear David Hobby's opinion from Strobist.com since he is a photographer with the Baltimore Sun and I'm a stock photographer. So, it's a different market then my images, most likely different rules.

Where does the line get drawn on this?
Can you not use an external flash off the camera because that alters reality of the image by changing the lighting of the scene?! Can you not use a filter that changes the effect of an image? That isn't the way things were at that actual moment.

To be fair, this isn't Patrick's first offense. It seems that the Charlotte Observer did suspend the photographer for this in the past, but I think that boosting colors to make them match the feeling of the time of exposure is not basis for dismisal.

What do you think on this one? Am I out of line on this?

Additional Reading on the topic:
Zone Zero | PDN |

Comments

[David Hobby]

Wow, that's a tough one. I need to think about it, but even more I need to see the two versions of the photo. Much hinges on that.

If anyone can point to the image(s) via a URL, it'd be much appreciated.

DHstrobist.com

[Jeremey Barrett]

I'm not a photojournalist so this is just one human's opinion, but I would see color correction as in the same category as exposure correction, at least with digital cameras. By "color correction" I mean changes in color temp or tone to an entire image. Maybe there is a very specific line to be drawn about where color correction can be done so that it doesn't compromise the integrity of the image, for example, color correction in Camera RAW might be "ok" but color correction later in Photoshop might not.

I would think that editors would have the final say on whether a color correction is reasonable or not. I find it difficult to imagine firing someone over attempting a color correction, but we obviously don't have all the details.