( CNN ) -- When photography first became a method to document events , both large and small , more than a century ago , there was a certain understanding that what one was seeing in a picture was more or less what happened . The ability to use photography to recount life in a visual way and replicate it in the mass media allowed people around the world to see and understand things they may only have imagined before . The `` truth '' of photography , embodied by the phrase `` the camera does n't lie , '' was something that came to be generally accepted . Yet the camera , like most tools used by people , is more than capable of lying if used in the wrong way . A picture is simply a moment , and although we might think we can divine what it is we are looking at , there are times when a visual representation of life is simply neither the whole truth , nor nothing but the truth . Increasingly , with the ubiquitous arrival of smartphones , what matters most is simply that someone , not necessarily a trained professional , was able to take a photograph by the simple fact that he or she was present . According to an old press photography saw , when a long-time pro was asked how he made a picture , he replied `` f/8 , and be there , '' capturing the essence of what news photography is really about . It is the ability to witness , and capture , a moment in time . Does it always tell the `` truth ? '' That is a good question , since what we define as truth can sometimes have many meanings . If a picture is meant to be the sole , definitive description of what happened , and no one else is around to see , then to a certain degree , we might have to accept its veracity . But the ever-increasing presence of cameras , both traditional and camera phones , has added a new dimension to what we see . And with the invention and perfection of Photoshop and other photo editing software , it has become much easier to add to , take away from , or alter an image to change its very nature . Can the camera lie ? Not sure . Can photographers or editors lie ? Most assuredly , if they are of a mind to . The photograph of President Obama taking a `` selfie '' with the British and Danish prime ministers is a case in point . Many news organizations and social media platforms jumped on the bandwagon to showcase the photographs where Michelle Obama is looking away , with what could be considered an angry expression . Yet those pictures may not necessarily tell the whole story . The AFP photographer who took the photos wrote a blog describing how surprised he was at the reaction to them . And though he released no photos showing the first lady looking more light-hearted , he says , the glum look in the published pictures was simply a moment `` captured by chance . '' A photojournalist covering an event will take dozens , sometimes hundreds , of pictures in the process . For large-scale events -- the Olympics , political conventions -- often the photographer does n't even get to edit his own pictures , that job being handed off to an editor . In the digital , WiFi , connected age , this becomes the efficient way of getting work processed and out into the real world . In the end , as viewers , we have to try to sift through not only what we are seeing , but try to understand what we are not seeing . The growth of social media and the concept of so-called `` citizen-journalists , '' has created a real quandary for the older forms of media and news delivery . Most professional journalists , both photographers and writers , try to adhere to a code of fairness and objectivity . In the United States , it 's only in the last generation that politically charged , partisan reporting has started to become the norm . It may seem old-fashioned to think that the light of truth is the most important force for good . But that is the place where most professional photographers stand . When you decide on your message first , and then try to make the reporting adjust to it , you have created a place where truth becomes the first casualty . And if you ask it to , the camera -- like the people who use it -- can certainly lie . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Burnett .
David Burnett : People used to believe that photojournalism depicted the truth . A picture is just a picture , he says , not the whole thing . Context is important . He says his shots of President Obama and the first lady were misinterpreted . Burnett : Pros try to make things truthful , but they can lie if they 're wrong .