“That’s Photoshopped!”

Manipulation vs Craft

A photoshopped image — we all know it when we see it. It’s too good to be true, too perfect, but does that apply to every professionally edited image? Of course not.

There is a strong distrust by the public to almost any professional picture they see. It is common knowledge that they should not believe what the image tells them. Everything is photoshopped; nothing is real. Worse yet, any photographer who uses tools like Photoshop or Lightroom is mostly likely nothing without his or her tricks.

Honestly, I don’t blame the average person for thinking this way. We haven’t given them reasons to believe otherwise or educated them on the differences. Also, a majority of the professional images they see every day perfectly fit their perceptions.

So, how do we make a distinct separation between different types of altered images people encounter? Let’s start by using different terms to define the pictures we’re looking at. Something other than “photoshopped”.

I’m going to use manipulated and crafted.

Famke Janssen: Nitro Cover (before & after)

Manipulated

Manipulate : to use or change in a skillful way or for a particular purpose.

Drastically altering an image to help further an ideal or agenda is how we can categorize manipulation. So what does that mean? There is almost always an element of adding or taking away from the original, and in order to be successful, it requires expertise and skill.

Whether it’s removing the wrinkles and blemishes or even changing the shapes of a models legs, arms and waist, it is all done to serve an ideal, like in the image above of Famke Janssen. They are contributing to the ideal of the unrealistically flawless woman.

Whether you knew it or not, these types of images are nothing new. Take this image of a street car in downtown Willmar Minnesota for example:

The city of Willmar, MN added a street car to an image of their downtown.

During an interview with MNPR, Aaron Isaacs talked about a time in Minnesota’s history when the only way your town had really made it was if you had a street car. It was not uncommon for street cars to be added to pictures of downtowns like Willmar’s.

This serves as a perfect example of photo manipulation. The city of Willmar had an agenda to serve, raise the legitimacy of their town. The simplest way of doing this was to add a street car to an existing image of their downtown. In the end they succeeded by altering an image by adding something to it and serving their agenda.

This type of work is what I would argue most people classify as a “photoshopped” image. The problem is, they carry that stigmatism and use that label to talk about any image in which some change has been made.

So what about the alternative to manipulation?

James Dean in Times Square by Dennis Stock, dark room print notes by Pablo Inirio.

Crafted

Craft : to make or produce with care, skill, or ingenuity.

The most important words here are care and ingenuity (skill is necessary in both manipulating and crafting in order to produce a successful image).

Care, when using it to describe crafting an image, can be defined as altering an image using a learned knowledge of photographic principles to achieve a desired aesthetic.

The above image of James Dean by Dennis Stock is a great example of an image that was crafted with great care by Pablo Inirio, a Magnum photo developer. His deep understanding of things like contrast, tone, texture and line helped to make informed decisions on how to alter the original exposure. You may ask why this was even necessary.

The intention of altering images like this are usually to create a more powerful picture. The original exposure on the left is still visually interesting and carries all the characteristics of a great image, but it doesn’t reach it’s full potential. With two simple methods of alteration, dodging (brightening) and burning (darkening), Pablo is able to take the existing elements of the original image and strengthen them.

Crafting an image like this is a skill every photographer should employ and hone.

The almost circus and invisible audience by Brooke Shaden

Ingenuity is described as being clever, original or inventive and all of those things are represented perfectly in a Brooke Shaden photo.

I’ve always felt Brooke’s work has tapped into the same creative pool as some of the world’s most prolific surrealists. That creativity and vision she has is brought to fruition using Photoshop. One of the most rewarding and exciting uses of Photoshop as a tool is to create the impossible, like we see in her image above.

As a tool it opens the doors to literally limitless possibilities for any photographer to explore. The artist is only limited by their own ingenuity.

Because images like Brooke’s involve adding and subtracting elements in a photo it is important that we distinguish between her image and what we see in magazine covers. The simplest way of doing this is by looking at their intentions.

Brook’s images aren't meant to be lies. They are not trying to deceive us, rather they are meant to intrigue, mystify and create a sense of wonder.

…she attempts to place herself within worlds she wishes we could live in, where secrets float out in the open, where the impossible becomes possible. — Brookeshaden.com

You won’t find an artist statement connected to a trimmed and polished celebrity photo.

There is a distinct difference in using Photoshop to realize artistic vision and using it to push a larger agenda.