According to a critical article in Spiegel Online: "Light conditions were not the best on Tahrir Square in Cairo during the celebration of autocrat Hosni Mubarak's resignation in 2011. Such shortcomings, however, can easily be compensated for using Photoshop. 'There is much more competition among photos today,' says Klaus Honnef, a professor of the theory of photography. '(Agencies) have to outdo each other.'"

Such digital enhancement is at the center of a growing debate over how much is too much when reporting the news. Is one version less "authentic" than the other?

Read the full story, and see many other "before-and-after" examples in Spiegel Online.

This is just a hand-held view from my seat in the audience. Look for a professional video of the event (including the all-important images being projected) — that will be released by World Press Photo in the coming weeks.

This is the final day for submitting photographs to win one of 21 prizes in 7 categories in the Lens Culture Student Photography Awards 2013. We've received lots of great entries from many countries around the world — but it's not too late for you to enter and win. Do it now, and you may soon be known all over the globe! There's a nice cash prize, too, for the grand prize winner.

Photography students and recent graduates (since 2008) —

You still have a chance to submit your work to win one of 21 awards in 7 categories in the Lens Culture Student Photography Awards 2013.

The deadline for entries has been extended to midnight (Pacific time) on April 22, 2013.

Enter today!

All winners will gain exposure to a vast worldwide audience of photography lovers — and that's one of the best ways to give your career a huge boost.

Good luck!

About this Japanese scroll format for her new photobooks (which are objects of art, themselves), photographer Rinko Kawauchi says:

"One of the ways in which I work is to focus in on one subject and take many exposures, moving in closer. I was interested to see what it would look like to line up those images in one sequence. Ordinarily I don’t show the before and after of a final cut. But when looking at the scrolls with the images in one sequence, I can see how my eyes were moving and how my body moves. That is interesting to see, seeing the flow of my interest, unconsciously."

"The Eastern Subcontinent, which comprises Bangladesh and parts of India, is an area of exceedingly rich cultural traditions and immense diversity, and its festivals testify to this considerable wealth. They bear witness to the long histories of the many ethnic, religious, and linguistic communities who make up this unique region, and to the ways in which these various groups have influenced each other and borrowed from one another for centuries. Their largely harmonious co-presence and occasional convergence are evidence of a beautiful and intricately woven cultural fabric.

"I have attempted to consider both old and new, mainstream and eccentric, central and local in the belief that each element is equally significant to understanding the many cultures of this area. I have aspired not so much to a factual or objective totality, in and of itself impossible, but to a different sense of accuracy, a spirit of truthfulness in beauty."

— Claudio Cambon

See and read more in the latest issue of Lens Culture online now.

I've just discovered what I'm certain will be one of my all-time favorite photography books. These are color photos — amazing in their clarity and subject matter and almost psychedelic in the brilliant intensity and vibrancy of their color — of people, architecture, landscapes and rituals throughout the Russian empire from 1905 through 1915. They are important as detail-rich sociological documents as well as representing an amazing sampling of some of the earliest color photography.

A collection of 280 laboriously restored composite color images — originally made by the color photography pioneer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii on glass plate negatives — are presented in their true original eye-popping colors in a new book, Nostalgia.

Lens Culture is pleased to present 18 images in a high-resolution slideshow. See and read more here.

'Only in Burundi'

Amsterdam-based photographer Anaïs López collaborated with writer Eva Smallegange and designer Linda Braber to create this really wonderful new photobook (not yet published).

This is a video preview of the photobook dummy. It will be published as a paperbound book in June 2013. You can order your copy now, in advance, and help publish the book. Specifications: 148 x 192 mm / 248 pages / color / English and French 12 beautiful stories by Eva Smallegange & 80 photos by Anaïs López.

Here is the story from the photographer:

The past two years my colleague Eva Smallegange (writer) and I worked on this book. We travelled to Burundi (Central Africa) and got to know this country, its inhabitants and its culture. Through photography and writing we show contemporary Burundian life in different strata of society. Tying all these colourful stories and images together was a long process, but the results are amazing.

We succeeded in making a book with a positive outlook, containing personal stories of our guide and main narrator Koky. He tells about his childhood and introduces ten of his friends from different strata of society such as: the manioc miller from whom he buys his flour, the princess who was once engaged to his brother, the president and his cousin the cow herder. They share their view on what you need to survive in this intriguing country, five years after the ending of the civil war that raged for years: to get things done you need the right connections.

Anaïs López participated in Lens Culture FotoFest Paris 2012.

"A story of a break-up and of unaccepted loneliness," in pictures and words: Swell by Mateusz Sarello, in the new issue of Lens Culture.

The jury stated:

"Our shortlist consisted of a select group representing a variety of approaches, from contemporary docu-graphic to conceptual and fine-art practices. In the work of artistic collaborators Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs we see a playfulness and depth that touches upon the very DNA of photography. We happily confer this prize on them unanimously."

Darius Himes, chairman of the jury noted:

"As illusionists intent on pushing against the boundaries of the medium, Onorato and Krebs skillfully engage their audiences and convey some of the magic that lies at the core of photographic image-making."

Discover more of the winners' work at their website: www.tonk.ch.

But that's not all the good news.

We're thrilled to announce a Call For Entries for Student Photography Awards, which are open to all current photography students, as well as recent graduates since 2008. Twenty-one winners will be featured in Lens Culture (including links to their own websites), and one grand prize winner will be awarded $1,000 cash. Deadline for entries is April 15, so enter today!

Plus two very worthwhile photography workshops in Paris:

Practical Practices for Photographers: 2 days of fine-tuning your business and career strategies, including branding, editing, planning projects, marketing, PR, social networking and more. All designed specifically for photographers. Organized by Marc Prüst and Jim Casper. March 23-24 in Paris.

Fine Art Photography Masterclass with Jeff Cowen and Jim Casper. 5 days of intense creative work for serious photographers who are ready to make a vertical leap in their work. May 23-27 in Paris.

And finally, a very big thank you to everyone who has donated so far to keep Lens Culture humming along. It's never too late to make a contribution, large or small, and we really appreciate your support.

Cheers!