I think that the way France treats the issue on photo manipulation is a good concept. The user and audience should be aware if a photo is not the original image. It provides transparency and an honest connection between content creators and viewers. I do not think that retouching photos is bad, especially if it enhances the message or fixes flaws that get in the way of the original picture, like accidental lens spots, etc. However, providing the original image as well might make the viewer more knowledgeable on what they’re exactly looking at.

I think the United States might benefit from adopting this model, although almost all commercial photography is retouched or manipulated. This might cause every picture to be tagged with a “retouched” flair and might become very redundant or off-putting. An idea would maybe be to create some kind of scale that determines how retouched or manipulated a photo is and if it passes a certain threshold then it has to be stated.

The Getty images policy seems a bit extreme in my opinion. I understand they don’t want to strictly promote false ideas of models bodies but accepting none at all seems limiting as a business. One thing I thought seemed kind of confusing about this new policy is how do they know? Are the modeling agencies required to send the original files or Photoshop files to Getty Images? If that isn’t the case then some might still get away with it, unless Getty has an in house team that inspects every image with a fine comb. Most studio photos of models are at least slightly retouched so Getty might be able to just adopt a policy similar to France. Instead of completing banning manipulated images they could just clarify case by case which photos have been retouched and which ones haven’t.