The Camera Doesn't Lie

You may have heard the expression, "The camera doesn't lie." Meaning, if you're looking at a photo of something, well, that's how it is.

Maybe that's how it was back in the day.

But these days, there's Photoshop. And every single person with a phone and a social media account has a range of filters and other on-board options that can augment reality to such an extent that your half-eaten hamburger looks mouth-watering, and your bleary-eyed, hungover appearance can be transformed into whimsical cuteness with a pair of cat ears and whiskers.

Photographs these days have a place in our lives they never had before. However, despite our wholesale pictorial assault on each other via Instagram and Facebook, among the millions of photos taken and posted every day for free, there are still photographers who make a living taking and selling photos.

Darryl Glade's company, IMOTO Photo, takes photos specifically for real estate listings.

Maybe you're thinking, if there’s one thing you could probably take a pretty good photo of yourself, with your iPhone, it would be a house. It’s big. It doesn’t move. There’s plenty of light. And you can take a bunch of photos till you get a good one.

But, apparently, real estate ads that use professional photos sell faster and significantly closer to the asking price than listings that have amateur photos. Doesn't that seem curious? It’s not like people are buying houses online from photos. Almost everybody goes to see a house before they make the biggest purchase of their life. So, what exactly is the link between a professional photo and a house sale? Daryl explains all to Peter Ricchiuti.

And, whether you buy or rent a house, you can decorate it with photographs of iconic images of New Orleans and Louisiana by photographer Joshua Lee.

You probably have a decent camera on your phone. And some free image editing software. So, you might reasonably ask yourself, why would you pay someone to take a photo of a water meter cover, fans at a Saints's game, or people at a second line? The reason you shouldn't attempt this at home is explained in Joshua Lee's inimitable colorful conversation.

Photos in the courtyard at Commander s Palace by Alison Moon.

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