enhancement

Definition: (1) Change in one or more qualities of an image in to order improve the visual or other property of the image: e.g. increase in colour saturation, sharpness etc. (2) Effect produced by a device or software designed to increase the apparent resolution of a TV monitor screen.
Querying the pitch
When is an enhancement an alteration? This may seem an academic question but it exercises the minds of everyone concerned with publishing photographs in newspapers, magazines and on television. Maybe it's okay to increase the overall contrast of a picture (enhancement) - we do that all the time in photography where it goes unquestioned, but is it okay to change the colour of the sky (alteration)? Removing unsightly lens flare from an image is okay (as it was not really part of the picture) but is it acceptable to remove a pesky telegraph pole coming out of someone's head? Some people think that any changes in a photo makes it suspect when used in certain situations like depicting news or documentary features. The big problem is that the transition from an inocuous enhancement to a significant change in the the content of the picture is seamless - there is no clear dividing line. Worse, that dividing line drifts about depending how the final image is used and the expectations that we have of it.

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