Of Tools and Art Forms

Thursday, September 18th, 2008 | Filed under Articles

The term “photomanipulation” often has a negative ring to it, as people connect it with deception. People like to think that photographs are snapshots of reality and even to this day photographs and videos are sometimes treated as the ultimate proof that something did in fact happen.
The truth though is that images have always been subjected to alterations – there are examples dating back as early as 1860 which can be viewed on this site.

Several motivations for retouching a photo

Click for Flash Animation
that shows just how
much has been altered.

People are vain and even after the invention of photography, they still want others to see more than a mere representation of themselves, but something idealized, just like painters that were paid to portrait someone of rank used to idealize their subjects throughout history. Today, it’s not only the people in the pictures that are interested in showing “their best side”, but also a question of marketing. This can be prominently seen on magazin covers of all kinds as well as on movie posters, as this example of Keira Knightley shows nicely. Another great website showing just what can be done digitally is Greg Aegapodaca’s site.

Click to enlarge

People have agendas and retouched photos can help discredit adversaries. This goes for political campaings just as it goes for actual wars. We all know of the rather obvious copy & paste jobs that will pop up on the net during any political campaign, the current presidential candiates in the USA are a perfect example. Just google for the runners’ names and the picture search will give you tons of hits. Some look cheap and are obvious fakes while others may need you to look closely. What goes for political figures goes for new coverage out of war zones and other “unstable regions” just as well: photos have been tampered with to show more smoke, more blood, more bodies – you name it.

Retouching can also be a tool to make great photographs even better. Darkroom techniques are nothing new – artists have always tried to find ways to enhance their pictures and transport their vision beyond capturing mere snapshots of reality. For example, if you’ve ever looked at your holiday pictures, you may have found yourselves thinking: “damn those power lines – they’re ruining the whole pic!” or something to that effect. If someone would give you a tool to remove those nasty power lines, wouldn’t you consider using it to make your picture fit to be hung in your living room in XXL format? Wouldn’t you try to adjust the light if your photo turned out too dark?

Digital Darkroom & Photomanipulation

Example of Digital Darkroom
techniques used to enhance a photo.

With digital imaging, this is now possible for just about anyone. You no longer need to be an ace in the Darkroom to be able to retouch something. And if you feel like it, you can even create something that is beyond what any photographer could capture. This is where photomanipulation as an art form starts in my eyes.

• Anything that is just done to enhance a photograph without altering its basic meaning belongs to photo retouching, also known as using (Digital) Darkroom techniques.
• Anything that goes beyond that, that changes a picture’s meaning, that creates something new, is photomanipulation.

Conceptual Manip of “Gluttony”,
one of the 7 deadly sins

I use photomanipulation as an art form, as a way to express myself. I refuse to limit myself to what is actually real: I want to explore concepts and surrealism just as well as creating worlds that could be real, but do not exist the way that I create them in my images. If you do not like my art, or my take on manips as being art (because art is not defined by the tools but by the artist’s imagination and their use of said tools), then you better click elsewhere. That’s the beauty of art: you do not have to like it ;P

I would like for people to be more aware of the fact that photos are not “the truth”, probably never have been either. Photomanipulation is a powerful tool, but I feel it’s reputation is way too negative. After all, as long as I’m not trying to use photomanipulation to promote someone’s agenda, it should be rather uninteresting if what is shown could be considered “true” to begin with.

Tags: art, awareness, digital darkroom, photomanipulation, retouching

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