Sample Lesson Plan: Ethics in Digital Photography

Before getting heavily into projects dealing with image/photographic manipulation using Adobe Photoshop, I teach a small unit on Ethics in Contemporary Photography.  The overall goal of the lesson is to make students aware of the power of manipulation in contemporary photography and the role of the manipulated image in journalism verses fine art.  During this lesson, students are presented with a variety of images from popular magazines or famous photojournalism.  They think critically about the imagery and learn how the images have been ethically or unethically altered to meet the interests of the consumer.  This usually leads to debates over the ethics of the image modifications. 

I use a variety of instructional delivery tools like a PowerPoint, discussion questions, an article off the PBS website, a worksheet, and a YouTube video to get the students interested in the topic.  The background knowledge that they get from all these different sources helps us to move smoothly and knowledgeably into the digital manipulation creative projects that I teach.  Please check out the lesson plan, and PowerPoint that are attached.  Some of the images you see are examples of the students' creative attempts with recreating reality.