Photo editing has been started long time ago, in the service of art, politics, news, commerce, and entertaining, before we have photoshop today.
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau
I started to look through the manipulated photography before photoshop has been invented and collect the photograph that can deceive people or can use to tell opposite meaning.
Even before photoshop made its debut in 1980s, there are many historical examples of fake photographic, removing and adding people in.
A famous photograph showing General Ulysses S. Grant astride his horse at City Point, Virginia during the Civil War.
Picture of Lincoln features his head grafted to the body of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.
Family picture: bringing family members together into one picture when they were not together.
Stalin was well known for air-brushed his enemies out of photographs, after falling out of favour.
He wan’t the only dictator who loved to doctor photos. Adolf Hitler removed his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, from the photo with director Leni Riefenstahl. However, we still don’t know the reason.
Benito Mussolini removed the horse handler from this original photographic in order to create a more heroic portrait of himself.
There was an exhibition showing the collection of historical manipulated images.
I try to list out the reason behind manipulated images:
- Used for political propaganda and ethical issues
- Use to create a more heroic portrait of themselves.
- Use to remove enemies or person that fell out of favour with them out.
- Use in fashion (embodying the ‘ideal figure’)
- Use in advertisement
- Use in journalism
- Government, corporate, celebrities opposition
- For fun, aesthetic reasons
- To improve the appearance of a subject
- Used to deceive or persuade viewers or improve storytelling and self-expression.
- To make a product or person look better
- For entertainment purposes
