Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

Most of us probably use Photoshop on a regular basis. We've almost taken it for granted and it has made life a bit easier for us when it comes to correcting images. It's hard to imagine a world without Photoshop where people still modified and manipulated photos. These images exemplify that and will be a part of a showcase put on by The Metropolitan Museum Of Art. 

Starting on October 11th of this year, it will go on all the way to January 27, 2013.

About:

“While digital photography and image-editing software have brought about an increased awareness of the degree to which camera images can be manipulated, the practice of doctoring photographs has existed since the medium was invented. Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the first major exhibition devoted to the history of manipulated photography before the digital age. Featuring some 200 visually captivating photographs created between the 1840s and 1990s in the service of art, politics, news, entertainment, and commerce, the exhibition offers a provocative new perspective on the history of photography as it traces the medium’s complex and changing relationship to visual truth.”

You can find more about the gallery here.

If you liked these images, be sure to check out our previous feature here on other pre-Photoshop images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Via Huffington Post]

 

Log in or register to post comments
6 Comments

These are all fantastic.

These always make me think twice when I'm complaining about a difficult touch up

Funny thing, that's what the top of empire state building was actually designed for.

Excellent photos, any idea of how were they made? Something like cutting negatives?

Most of them seem to be composite images exposed in an enlarger. You can see the sky around the blimp came from another negative and was burned into the original image. The eye in the room you can still see the corner penetrate through the eyelash. If you cut a negative it will give you a harsh line around the edge. Some people also used slide duplicators to position and expose a new negative. Its worth fooling around with if you are looking for a process that will inspire new ideas.

Angus McBean was fantastic at this sort of work, truly incredible.