A while back photo editing was a hard nut to crack
. It needed a lot of time and skill to do anything. Doing even the basic things as darkening or lightening a picture was not an easy job those days.
You needed to have a separate copy of the same picture if you wanted to paint away. This new picture had to be sliced into tiny bits and pasted on the new picture file. Changing a group picture's characteristics was hard.
Today there have been computer programs that help us do this process faster and easier. These include Photoshop. They have many functions that simplify the whole editing.
Now, you can have a completely new picture that looks different from the original. However, this may mean that many things can happen. You can do almost anything with a photo, including removing objects from the original
When you bring journalism principals into this issue, it becomes complicated. There is little means of proving the validity of some pictures apart from keen eyes. The only obvious differences are to do with natural lighting. It is hard to duplicate some outdoor scenarios.
Some other noticeable changes will also help you discover an edited picture. A good example is by looking at additional features like fires and smoke. It is hard to recreate these in fiction. You may end up doing the opposite.
You have to mark a difference between editing a photo just to enhance it and editing a photo to deceive people. Be careful when adding or removing some details from the original photos. You should not let it imply something different from what it would have if it were not edited. Avoid any unnecessary omissions or additions that will distort the message of the picture.
Have this in mind before you edit. If the picture is for journalism or official purpose, to convey the truth about a certain situation, you should not edit too much until the meaning of the picture is manipulated. If it is just for leisure purposes, you can loosen up a bit and make any creative changes.