Ritchin’s statement about the “fluidity of the digital” refers to the manipulation of digital images becoming easier and more flexible in the digital age (Ritchin 4). “The nearly automatic manipulation of digital imagery, its easy metamorphosis into other media such as video, virtual reality environments and the like, its ephemerality on the screen, are some of the profound differences from the paper and film-based photograph” (Ritchin 5). In other words, compared to traditional forms, digital photography allows for easy manipulation of images using software, making it more adaptable for the photographers.
An example of the “fluidity of the digital” can be seen in the manipulation of photographs for various purposes. For instance, there are many popular applications that provide functions to alter the appearance of individuals, objects, or scenes in a picture, such as Meitu(美图)， Xingtu (醒图), Foodie and so on. Except for adjusting hue, saturation, and contrast by adding a filter, they also allow users to remove imperfections such as passengers in the background, or even completely alter the content of an image. What’s more, Photoshop is another typical software tool that enables such alterations, which allows the creation of images that may not accurately represent reality.
As for the extent to which photography is capable of capturing reality, Ritchin states that photography has often been seen as a medium that can provide a reliable witness or representation of the physical world. However, he suggests that although photography can still capture real moments and scenes, the increasingly widespread availability of digital editing tools has raised doubts about the reliability of its documentation.
I would like to compare the photography with the text and books. Text can describe events, places, and people, but it lacks the visual immediacy of photography. It relies on language and interpretation, which can introduce subjectivity and bias. As for books, they are the medium that conveys information and stories through text. Although books are often used to document reality, the context and selection can be influenced by the narrator’s subject perspective.
In summary, photography, while traditionally considered a medium for capturing reality, has faced challenges to its authenticity in the digital age due to the increasing variability to manipulation. The “fluidity of the digital” has blurred the border lines between reality and edited documents in various media forms, raising inevitable challenges about authenticity in the digital age.