Re: Cheating

Assuming that you're not working on pieces for your evening news hour or an "all news" channel, then there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. (OT- Why do they call them news channels, when all they offer is commentary?)

If you're a journalist, even some slight alterations can be a no-no, but if you're working on entertainment, infotainment, industrials, weddings or any other non-news type of projects, then you should do what is best to convey the story.

BTW, the standards for journalism used to be much softer than they are now (and they were quite tougher in the 80's & 90's). At least through the 1950's it was not necessarily considered wrong to pose or alter pictures. Life photographer W. Eugene Smith often sandwiched negatives in his darkroom to create composite photos that he said told the "truth" of the story, even if they were fabricated. That would get a photographer fired today. The photo of Albert Schweitzer on the top of Smith's wikipedia page is an example of this compositing, btw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Eugene_Smith

Arnie

Post production is not an afterthought!
http://www.arniepix.com/