After reading the articles and watching the videos, I learned how hard it truly was to produce work like Jerry Uelsmann and how talented he was at creating images and montages prior to the creation of photoshop.  Before photoshop the art of graphic design was entirely different.  It would take days to produce work that we now can produce in a matter of minuets.  Photos had to be developed in the dark room, then cut to be able to combine with another photos then those two photos had to be turned into one picture.  I have gotten a chance to experience this process or at least one way we use to produce edited images before photoshop.

Befoe Photoshop…
I found these articles to be interesting to see how photographers like Jerry Uelsmann and others like him, used there creativity and there understanding of exposer within the dark room to make collaged like images by using multiple negatives. Giving the world the first look at mixed negatives that gives the worlds its first look at surrealism thought photography, manipulating peoples visually appearance through the medium. This created a medium that was what Jerry said was for him sub concusses yet visually produced a deeper meaning from within. It was show in the Met exhibition called Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop. which it shows image created in that way that comments entertainment, political, fantasy…, etc. Technology has made it so easy to make the images, it’s interesting to see how this was made before the technology I believe seeing them in person would truly make them outstanding.

Prior to these videos and articles, I was one of the many people today who had no idea what kind of stuff goes on behind the scenes in a dark room. Sure, I have gotten a disposable camera and had someone at the local pharmacy develop them for me but I never knew what they were actually doing. After viewing the video about Jerry Uelsmann, it made me have a much higher appreciation for all of the work that we do on the computer. Now a days if you want something to be photoshopped you can download one of the thousands of simplistic photoshop apps the world has to offer. In this video he takes us through the process of what it takes to “edit” or produce a photo in a dark room. This process is lengthy and can be time consuming, but if we wanted to do this same process today, we could simply use a computer program. In the articles that we were given, they went over how people made photos look edited without actually using a computer. I think that these other articles were very eye-opening because prior to seeing these I just thought that people did not edit photos in the old days. Seeing that it was possible back then with what they have made me realize that anything I set my mind can be achieved, especially given the resources we have today.

Before reading these articles and watching the videos I had almost no perception of how photos used to be made or the impressive art of making a photomontage. Our generation has grown up with technology everywhere. Even babies these days can be seen using iPods or iPads. I myself have no experience with black rooms or creating images from negatives which is why I found the articles and videos so fascinating! It is incredible to watch Jerry Uelsmann go step by step through the process of making a photomontage. One mistake and the whole project had to be done over again. I did not even know that graphic design existed in the 18th and 19th centuries. It makes me appreciate the technology of today and the ease of photoshop to a greater extent. Today we can create montages in a matter of minutes all by just moving a finger. While I can appreciate the art of the old fashioned black room way of photography, I prefer the computer.

Manipulating Photos by Hand

I kind of wish I got to experience photo manipulation in the dark room. It is super interesting to me and I would love to make a montage by hand to fully understand the process that goes into it. I think that by manipulating a photo yourself like how they did before photoshop will give you a greater appreciation for the craft. I honestly didn’t think that photo manipulation was possible back in the 1800’s, it’s astonishing to see the products that were made without the help from any digital technology. I learned in high school about film making and the process they went through back then and I had never thought about how similar it was to photo manipulation in photography. Placing images on top of one another to create a compiled negative which is then developed to one awesome photo manipulated image. It’s so fascinating!

Jerry Uelsmann

I find Jerry Uelsmann to be a very talented photographer, he has an amazing eye for montages and creating images with a message. Watching his videos of the process in which he makes his photos really opened my eyes to the efforts that go into photo manipulation. You really have to know what you’re doing to get the best product. Below I have created a gallery of some of Jerry’s work that I find fascinating.

Photoshop: Then and Now

I really enjoy looking at the older photoshopped pictures because it is easier to have an appreciation for the focus and hard work that went into it. The process people had to go through to get a single picture is immense and very dangerous. Jerry Uelsmann is just one of the greats and has been doing this for so long that his work has become well-known for his dark room photos. Photoshop techniques have changed dramatically over the many years going back to the 1800’s. Now we are making a couple of clicks on a computer system instead of using techniques that normally would take 30 minutes in the dark room. His drive for the old fashioned ways is inspiring because there are always fewer and fewer people passing on the talents of how things used to be. I appreciate that technology is creating faster and less stress worthy programs for photoshop. Back then if someone were to mess up their picture, the picture would be ruined and they would have to start over till it’s right. Dark rooms are what shaped the world of photoshop and what bore the new age of photoshop programs.

Dark Room Deception

These readings were quite interesting because it opened my eyes a little more about how today we have it so easy, just by the click of a button we can change reality (in a way). Back in the early 1900’s there was no such thing as cell phones and apps that could change the way a person looks, it was all done in a dark room which I think interests me the most. I have learned about this type of manipulation in film classes that I have taken where in the film like Trip to the Moon and The Great Train Robbery where these types of manipulations were used to create something incredible back then. In learning about these films and photographs its quite interesting to compare them because everyone believed what they were looking at was completely real. Obviously today we can notice when things are fake or real because of photoshop editing. I still don’t exactly understand how some of these photographs were made back in the early 1900’s due to their preciseness and how one could physically put that together only in a dark room, it’s quite amazing. Now that we have technology to do much more with this manipulation it just goes to show how we have transformed as a world full of art and how the use of expressive imagination can be used.

Before Photoshop…

I was surprised to learn that photo editing has been around as long as photos themselves had. It was interesting to see the humor and creativity from so long ago and how similar it is to ours today despite such limited technology. What we can do in a second now, back then took them lots of practice and time to master. They would have to manually cut out and paste images to others, or take a picture using the same film to get similar editing effects to today. The simple fact that we have an undo button makes what we have today ten times easier than what they had before. If they messed up, one or both of their images could be rendered completely useless. It’s wonderful and poetic that Jerry Uelsmann continues to use old techniques for photo editing instead of today’s technology. In general, I thought it was cool to understand the origins of photo editing and to be able to appreciate how technology has made this process easier.

Photography Before Photoshop

All of these articles were extremely interesting to me, because they explained how artists were able to create these surreal pictures by just using darkroom techniques. Watching the videos of Jerry Uelsmann creating some of his works really showed how complex the process of creating these images used to be, and its truly inspiring to watch someone like him go through the process. Nowadays, creating montages like these is as simple as the click of a few buttons so being able to see it done by someone who’d worked with these types of photography before photoshop was around is amazing.

Overall Response

Both the articles and videos show a whole new side of graphic design that many people didn’t believe was possible before computer programs like photoshop were created. It’s amazing to see designers and artists creating these pieces with so much emotion and story behind them simply by using photographs and dark rooms. The process is truly inspiring to watch and it sheds a light on how long graphic design has actually been around.

Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop

I found the articles interesting because I never realized how much photo manipulation photographers could do without photoshop. I found that all of the photos in the article conveyed significant themes and were very entertaining to look at. It was astonishing to find out how much work altering a photo took during the 18th and 19th century. Although learning Photoshop may be difficult, using Photoshop allows us to alter photos much quicker than when it was done in a dark room.

Jerry Uelsmann

Watching and learning about Jerry Uelsmann was very inspiring and astonishing. The process of creating a photomontage in the dark room appears to be much more work than using Photoshop. The fact Uelsmann creates such beautiful montages without using Photoshop makes his images more powerful and interesting to look at. I like that Uelsmann wants people to have an emotional response to his work rattan have people wonder how he created it. When you show someone a photomontage today, most people would know it was done with Photoshop. The fact that Uelsmann does not use Photoshop makes his photos much more interesting and powerful. When looking at Uelsmann’s work I found myself having a powerful response to all of his montages. I hope one day I can generate a powerful emotional response through my work like Jerry Uelsmann.

Overall Response

I hope that soon I will be able to make powerful and interesting photomontages like the montages created in the 18th and 19th century. Although Photoshop is fairy easy to use, I would enjoy making montages in a dark room because it is more hands on. I am very inspired to make great photomontages using photoshop after reading the articles and watching the videos.