Image Manipulation

Then Vs Now
 Image/Photo Manipulation is the altering or transforming of a picture to
achieve desired results. This has been practiced since the 19 th century.
Image manipulation has been used from simply improving the look of an
image to political propaganda and even pranks.
Depending on the intent, image manipulation can be seen as both a form
of art and expression or a form of deceit.
IMAGE
There are two types of photo manipulations used today.
MANIPULATI
Technical retouching: is done to restore or enhance photos, adjusts
ON colours, contrast, sharpness, and white balance. Technical retouching
focuses on the background of images and the overall look of an image.
Creative retouching: Creative retouching is considered an art form and it
is used in fashion and beauty advertisements. Creative retouching makes
changes to the objects and bodies in photographs.
 Photo manipulation has ben used since the 19 th century. It has many uses but historically
often been used for making powerful figures look either more impressive or to ruin their
influence, depending on their intent.

Publishers, graphic design and art directors used to spend long hours changing details in
their photos by hand. They would attempt to perfect skin or create illusions or deceitful
images for trickery. Tools like paint, erasers, airbrushes, and other art supplies were
necessary in any studio — as was a steady hand and a keen eye for colour and shadow.

One historical example of photo manipulation is this iconic picture of President Abraham
Photo Lincoln which has been altered. It actually has Abraham Lincoln’s head attached to the

Manipulation body of Southern Politician John Calhoun. This was done to make London look strong
and presidential.

Then
 In the modern day photo manipulation has advanced and is
practiced more and more by people who alter their pictures.

Around 30 years ago, Adobe introduced Photoshop. This software

Photo changed the way that photo manipulation is generally viewed.

The world began to see the value of digital photo manipulation.
Manipulation Magazines, especially ones that use models have used this

Now practice for many years. Often times they use editing techniques
to make the model look slimmer or to remove spots and
blemishes.
 Digital photo manipulation is used often to remove someone's
‘imperfections’ in a photograph. This is done with techniques.

Digital Blemish Dodging and burning are terms that come from analogy

photography, it is a technique used during the printing process to
Removal manipulate the exposure of a selected area(s) on a photographic
print, deviating from the rest of the image's exposure. Dodging –
Techniques lightening, burning - darkening.
 Colour grading is the process of improving the appearance of an
image by manipulating attributes such as colour contrast
saturation etc. Colour grading can be used denote mood, character
and time.

Digital colour Holiday or flight companies may use this to make their flyers
stand out. They would make the sky brighter and the see clearer.
correction The vegetation would be made to look greener and more healthy.
All these little changes collectively make the ad more appealing.
Digital photo A composite combines two (or more) photographs to create one

composition final image. This is easily used to create surreal and unique
images as well as create a scene that would possibly be too hard
to capture in real life.
Composition is a way of guiding the viewer’s eye towards the
most important elements of your work.
 Special effect filters create unique looks, and while they aren’t the
best for every photo, they add artistic flair with a simple filter
instead of an intensive Photoshop process.

Special effect filters aren’t there to perfect what we see, but to add
or alter what’s already there.

Digital visual Star filters, also called cross filters, take a point of light and turn it
into a star. One filter may turn the light source into a six point
effects and star, others a four or eight point star.

filters Soft or diffusion filters reduce the sharpness of a picture. The

softening, dreamlike effect they produce is good for artistic still
life images. This can be done in photoshop
Day for night filters take an image shot during the day and darken
it while also adding a blue tint, creating the appearance the shot
was taken at night.
 Using photo manipulation has created some legal and ethical problems

In the fashion industry photo manipulation has been used to alter the looks
of models. This is troublesome as it can create unrealistic ideas. That’s why
in an attempt to tackle misleading promotions, French advertisers will now
be fined for editing model's bodies without indicating that the image has
been digitally-altered. The government believes that image-doctoring is a
public health issue as seeing very thin-looking models in fashion campaigns,

Legal and promotes an unhealthy and fundamentally unrealistic body image.

Similarly, companies use digitally altered photos in advertising. They often

Ethical remove skin blemishes and wrinkles in order to promote anti-aging creams
(FASHION) or spot removal creams.

This anti wrinkle uses image manipulation. The left half of the image is likely a natural
image of a woman. The right half of the image has been altered to remove all the spots.
The wrinkles have been removed and the skin is glowing. Even her eyes look bluer
which is unrelated. The image was changed to give to give a false idea of what the
cream does as alone, it is not capable of having this overall effect on woman