Intro
photo magazine from 1941 with photo manipulation tips
The other day I came across some examples of “Photo manipulation” prior to Photoshop. Image manipulation in the dark room is nothing new but it took a whole lot more patients, skill and time. NO undo or save button. Much has been made over Photoshops ability to distort reality, and perhaps lower the standards for image capture as young photographers assume they can “fix it in post.” However, almost all of these abilities have existed as long as there have been photographs to alter, albeit with a little more manual labour. As people were not as aware of the the possibilities photo manipulation was a powerful tool for both propergander and art alike
Examples
Benito Mussolini had the horse handler removed from the original photograph – Circa 1942
Composite of 3 photos, General Ulysses S. Grant in front of his troops at City Point, Virginia – Circa 1864
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov was removed from the original photograph after falling out of favour with Stalin – Circa 1930
Queen Elizabeth and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in Banff, Alberta. King George VI was removed from the original photograph and used as an election poster for the Prime Minister – Circa 1939
The “Gang of Four” were removed from this photograph of a memorial ceremony for Mao Tse-Tung held at Tiananmen Square – Circa 1976
General Sherman is posing with his several of his Generals. General Francis P. Blair (far right) was added to the original photograph and an item in the foreground is removed- Circa 1865
for some reason Adolf Hitler had Joseph Goebbels (second from the right) removed from the original photograph, ok I wouldn’t want to be in a photo with Goebbels but then I would edit Hitler out as well – Circa 1937
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln’s head and the Southern politician John Calhoun’s body by Mathew Brady John C. Calhoun portrait and retouch artist unknown Circa 1860
Mao Tse-tung (right) had Po Ku (left) removed from the original photograph, after Po Ku fell out of favor with Mao – Circa 1936
In the Darkroom
Non-digital method of altering photographs, darkroom manipulation involves dodging, burning, and masking – techniques that are similar to digital manipulations with the exception that everything is done by hand. One master of darkroom manipulation is American photographer Jerry N. Uelsmann, whose works have been featured in the television series The Outer Limits, Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (illustrated edition), and Train of Thought – Dream Theater’s seventh studio album.
In the pre-digital era, freehand airbrushing has been employed to alter photographs by concealing the signs that a photo has been “doctored” or retouched. During the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, “undesirable” officials have been removed from photographs during the Great Purge using airbrushes (see above in the examples) .
Joan Crawford, by Geoge Hurrell
To illustrate how sophisticated these albumen print composites could be, its amazing to observe Henry Peach Robinson’s 1858 piece “Fading Away.” This somewhat morbid image, depicting a young woman’s last moments, is actually a composite based on 5 separate negative images.
Fading Away by Henry Peach Robinson 1859
Robert Johnson, The Art of Retouching Photographic Negatives -1930
Man Juggling His Own Head – Circa 1880
Photoshop version 1.0 started shipping in February of 1990. It was originally designed by a college professor named Glenn Knoll who maintained a darkroom in his basement. Many of the early tools and icons were modelled after tools of the traditional darkroom, such as dodging and burning. Personally I dont use a lot of Photoshop as I do almost everything in “lightroom” (the digital Darkroom).
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