In our current society, photos have become a significant part of how we communicate. Almost all communication with friends or family begins with a picture from our phones, and these pictures are rapidly becoming the way we present ourselves to the world.

However, with the rapid rise of social media comes increased societal pressure to keep up appearances, which leads many people to enhance and manipulate their photos, which are two different actions separated by a thin line.

The following are some of the differences between photo enhancing and manipulation:

Improving Photo Appearance

Photo manipulation can improve your photos by accentuating certain areas or correcting mistakes. For instance, if the camera is out of focus or there are lighting problems in a picture, photo manipulation allows you to edit them, so they aren’t distracting.

Photo enhancement can also improve photos due to the ability to accentuate parts of the image through color correction and increased clarity. Photographers can use any number of photo editing tools to manipulate or enhance their photos.

It is easier than ever to master photo editing tools at increasingly cheaper costs. BeFunky photo enhancer is only one of them. If the only purpose of your photo is to make it more aesthetically pleasing, then you are probably enhancing your photographs.

However, there are many cases where people go beyond simple enhancements and start manipulating their photos to the point where they become fake.

Photo Manipulation with Props

There is a fine line between photo enhancements and photo manipulation. Photo enhancement is simply making your picture better with added color, filters, or elements from nature.

However, when you start adding people or props into an image that was not there originally, you are most likely manipulating your photos.

While you can do this with enhancement tools, taking actual pictures and adding people or objects from other images is becoming increasingly popular.

Photo Manipulation in Advertising

The line between photo manipulation and enhancement becomes thinner when talking about product advertisements. Often, companies will try to enhance photos, which is called photo manipulation.

It may seem difficult to tell the difference between enhancements and manipulations, but this is because there are so many ways that you can manipulate photos.

Advertising on social media is one of the most common perpetrators. People advertise their products by using only the most attractive, close-up pictures of them.

Of course, many people will take this as a cue to enhance their profile photos on social media to make themselves more attractive for others to see.

Difference from the Real Photo

Photo manipulation is a photo that has been altered from the original somehow. The difference between a manipulated and an authentic photo can be challenging to discern. Still, collectors of vintage items or historical figures need to verify the accuracy of their collectibles.

Additionally, it becomes more difficult to tell if a photo is authentic with creative photography techniques such as double exposure.

Photo manipulation involves editing the content of an image, which can be done by either adding or removing objects from the scene to change the way the viewer interprets the image. Manipulation also includes altering colors and tones to create an effect that natural conditions may not have been possible, involving combining different images to create a new one or altering elements such as shadows and highlights.

Photo enhancements add details to images that weren’t captured by the camera in the first place. Enhancements may involve coloring faded pictures, removing red-eye from photos, or making pictures brighter or darker depending on lighting conditions.

Sometimes, photo manipulation can be dangerous since the photo editing software will allow anyone to change history, so people need to tell the difference between real and fake pictures.

The difference between photo enhancement and manipulation has become very thin, so people must be aware of the consequences.