A_P_I133_2015_

EVERYONEKNOWSTHEPOWEROFPHOTOSHOP

NOW,BUTTRUSTINTHEPHOTOGRAPHICIMAGE

HASN’T BROKEN DOWN. A NEW GENERATION

OF PHOTOMANIPULATORS ARE PROVING

THAT SEEING IS BELIEVING

P

hotomanipulation is like an

illusionist’s trick,” says Jarek Kubicki.

“Although we are aware that we’re

witnessing an illusion, it works only as

long as we don’t see how it is achieved. Similarly,

photomanipulation is a success only when you

can’t see any flaws in the technique. It has to be

as perfectly done as possible, so that no technical

shortcomings interfere with the work’s reception

and the viewer can believe our vision, even if it’s

extremely surreal.” While some manipulations

are functional, designed to fix either what’s wrong

with an image, what distracts from the focus or

to add information that a client wants to be

advertised. That sort of work is subtle and

unobtrusive. At the other end of the scale there’s

photomanipulation as style, compositing together

EFFECTS

images and elements for dramatic effect. And then

there’s photomanipulation as an art, no different

from photography except that, suddenly, anything

and everything is possible.

Brandon Cawood notes that, “The key to a good

photomanipulation is obviously manipulating it to the

point where it looks like it could all be one image. The

manipulations that impress me are the ones that

leave me puzzled on how the creator pulled it off.”

But if great work is hard to achieve, poor work is

a dime a dozen. “The main problem is realism,” says

Erik Johansson, discussing the common mistakes

he sees. “I don’t say my work is perfect but I think

that it’s very important to take a step back and try to

ask yourself ‘what would this look like if it would

have been photographed?’” For Martin De Pasquale,

“The idea makes it stand... I see many jobs that have

many technical errors, that the ideas are very

forced, and do not occur naturally. Light is very,

very important in photography and

manipulation, and is what manages to convey a

feeling. When shadows and lights do not match,

the tones and colours are not homogeneous,

the crop-frame is not the best, it is when the

scene is not real, and breaks the illusion.”

Dave Cox says simply, that in this industry,

“Detail is paramount. It’s the first thing I look

for in an artist’s work. Head straight for the

most detailed parts and look to see how

everything works together. Obvious mistakes

are easy to spot, unfinished asset masks with

hard edges, poorly done shadows, and

incorrect lighting all jump out to the trained

eye as entry-level mistakes.”