Greg,
Please feel free to remove this post/thread if you feel that would be best. Perhaps by initially posting a link to an article that appears at first to be only tangentially linked to color correction, this thread seems off-topic for the forum; allow me to explain why I think that it is something that we need to consider...
The ethics of digital manipulation have been discussed at length in the field of beauty retouching; plenty of evidence points to the negative effect that retouched images have on self-esteem - particularly the self-esteem of young girls (who do not always realize that the shot they are looking at has been manipulated); there are links between retouched fashion imagery and anorexia for example. In the UK there has been discussion about including some kind of logo next to retouched images to make explicitly clear that the image does not conform to reality (although there is still no agreement as to the form that this scheme should take).
It is clear that in the case of beauty retouching, self-esteem is effected (negatively) without most viewers being aware that their perceptions of 'beauty' are being manipulated. The article that I linked to indicated to me that color correction can be similarly ethically troubling.
I have felt in the past that color correction lay outside of the realm of beauty retouching ethics - but I have come to realize that it doesn't; we therefore need to be aware of the potential damage that certain color correction decisions may have on society. The images that we tend to discuss on this forum don't usually feature people, so - other than an occasional mention of where the hue clock should point for skin tones - this issue doesn't really come up.
Because skin tones don't often come up in discussion on this forum, discussion tends to focus on whether colors are 'correct' (in terms of hue - e.g., skies shouldn't be green), or 'appealing' (e.g., saturated colors tend to be more appealing than pastel colors). It is easy to subconsciously surmise based upon this focus that these are the only factors (in terms of color) that we need to concern ourselves with; what strikes me about the article I linked to, is that we have been ignoring color semiotics (i.e., the cultural meaning that certain colors impart).
In a positive sense, color semiotics are heavily used by colorists (people color correcting films/tv shows) as an aid to storytelling (there are perhaps things that we can apply to our corrections of still images from this field). However - particularly in the case of skin tones - color semiotics can have a negative impact upon people.
Certainly it's an uncomfortable question to ask - and perhaps it's
too uncomfortable a discussion to have on a public forum such as this - so if you feel it is better to close this thread down, that's fine -
but whether or not we feel we can openly discuss the semiotic meaning of skin tone corrections,
we cannot pretend that this isn't an issue. Skin tone corrections obviously have - at least a subconscious - effect upon viewers, and that effect can often be negative; therefore, these correction decisions that we have to make are ethical decisions, so we need to know where we stand on them.
As with the ethics of beauty retouching, our opinions regarding the ethics of color semiology (as seen through the lens of color correction) are likely to vary. However, in deciding where we each stand on this issue, we need to be cognizant of the impact that our corrections have on viewers of our images.
A documentary about these issues is forthcoming. A trailer for the film is available on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXG38QxXY-sThe trailer makes for extremely uncomfortable viewing,
but I think that it is important that we see this, hear the message, and come to informed ethical decisions.
Again, I don't wish to cause anyone any harm through this thread; I merely think that by recognizing these issues - and correcting images accordingly - we can act for the public good (as I said, most people are passive consumers of imagery - and whilst there is increasing public awareness of beauty retouching techniques [the 'Liquify' tool, for example], I think that there is very little public awareness about color correction).
Respectfully - and prayerfully,
Lee.