Before there was Photoshop…..

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