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Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

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.