Conclusions

Authenticity is tied to value, and most of the time you don't need to worry about how valuable an image is except for as it relates to what you are searching for. Is it a picture of a kitty? Right, I'm good to go. Is it a picture of my ex-boyfriend? Yes. A little too high-contrast, but that's okay. Is this one going to get way too many strangers to talk to me if I put it on my MySpace? Absolutely.

But sometimes issues of authenticity, especially as they relate to artwork or “Quality,” become part of what you need to look at to use an image, or to analyze it, or just to know the image. Find out what issues matter to you, and which are irrelevant, and conduct your investigation based on that.