EDITOR'S PAGE

EDITOR'S

EVERY SO OFTEN one of our readers raises a question about the fidelity of a photographic reproduction in Arizona Highways. If the individual has never lived in or visited our state, he or she may find the startling colors of a Southwestern sunset suspect, or the blue of an Arizona sky quite unbelievable. Or, knowing that commercial photographs and studio portraits are often retouched, one may wonder if we have resorted to air-brush techniques to amend an image. I can state our policy quite simply. We do not believe in altering photographs or enhancing their color tones. Our photographers go to great pains to record a scene or activity authentically. In turn, the editorial and production staff, the technicians who prepare our color separations, and our printers all focus their efforts on reproducing the original transparency as exactly as their skills and the state of the art will permit. Recently a subscriber wrote, “I have been disturbed by what I call an excessive use of an air brush on photographs that contain water.” He will be relieved to know that we do not even possess an air brush. The blurred or sweeping appearance of water in certain images—what he interprets as air-brush alteration—results from the movement of the water and the length of the exposure of the film. Air brushes and color “hyping” aside, modern computer technology has made it possible to alter photography in quite remarkable ways. At Arizona Highways we have accepted such a technological assist only twice in my memory: once to extend a fence railing a few inches to solve a cropping problem, and once to lighten a slightly underexposed photograph that captured exactly the moment and composition we wanted. Beyond such rare technical refinements, we anticipate no other use of the new technology. As journalists, we want Arizona Highways to be a reliable publication of record, equally accurate in text and pictures. -Merrill Windsor