It could be said that from the very birth of photography, the concern of the artists and creators of the moment was quickly reflected in the first photographs. And it is that the first official photographic retouching dates no less than the year 1860, and how could it be otherwise, was carried out on a politician.
This retouching was carried out by the Eastman Company (Kodak) with the intention of improving the image of the then President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. In this photograph, the body of the president was completely changed, placing another one more in line with what they thought was more appropriate for the image that the president himself should give. The most curious of all is that the body used was that of John Calhoun, an anti-Lincoln politician who advocated maintaining slavery, and with ideas very contrary to those of the President himself.
However, this type of photography and the way of editing images, would not go unnoticed and the retouching of images would end up becoming, in a very short time, an art that was penetrating the public and artists.
Aside from political propaganda, humor became very important in this type of image retouching and we could observe double exposure tricks to create rudimentary "special effects" with these images. The most remembered are those of William Mulmer who took advantage of this double exposure to add his ghostly apparitions that were long believed to be true.
As the photographic retouching became more known and perfected, more complex compositions were created where the artist used his ingenuity and skill, not only with the camera but also with its negatives. Since the way to edit a photo was completely handmade since everything was edited, painted, and manipulated directly from the image negative. However, although it may seem very distant and distant in time, graphic and digital design has not changed much, since the most modern tools use old techniques such as brushing, cropping, gradient, and more, yes, in a digital way.
It should also be noted that those images did not have color, so the editing was relatively easier as there was no color consistency. At that time it was common to use liquid watercolors or other types of pigments to touch up the image and color some parts, but this was the only section that was done directly in photography. The rest of the actions such as imperfections and other arrangements were carried out in a negative direction.
Later would come the narrative image editing in which the image editing was used to create compositions that told a story . Especially used and designed for political and propaganda purposes.
The ingenuity of those early photo editors, such as the well-known Swedish photographer Oscar Gustav Rejlander, would lead him to create this work entitled “ The two paths of life ” in which he shows a composition created from multiple images that, finally united, they would be one in which a father dismisses his children before the paths that open before him. It is impressive to see how with props and manipulation of the negative he achieves a composition in which the assembly can hardly be seen.
In this way, a period would begin in which the editing of images among people who had never been together, especially political leaders, would take great force. As an example, we have the one known as “The Sovereigns of the world 1889” in which they are shown from Alfonso XII to Yohannes IV of Ethiopia.
Another type of photo design would be duplicity, in which the author of the photo (or the model of the photo) appeared in various situations within the image itself. One of the best known was Valerio Silva, who not only was cloned once or twice but even reproduced his image up to 30 times in the photograph " Los 30 Valerio's ".
Currently, with the evolution of the digital age and all the technological advances, all these manual tricks to make photographic editions are done through the computer, through the different editing programs. The best known is Adobe Photoshop, which allows you to make a large number of changes and delve into photo retouching in great depth.
Applied to the graphic design the photo retouching we can adapt the colors of the products, prospects, make still lifes, apply an environment to products with white background, and a lot of combinations to present the products and services our customers the best way.
Photographic retouching in history
Aside from political propaganda, humor became very important in this type of image retouching and we could observe double exposure tricks to create rudimentary "special effects" with these images. The most remembered are those of William Mulmer who took advantage of this double exposure to add his ghostly apparitions that were long believed to be true.
As the photographic retouching became more known and perfected, more complex compositions were created where the artist used his ingenuity and skill, not only with the camera but also with its negatives. Since the way to edit a photo was completely handmade since everything was edited, painted, and manipulated directly from the image negative. However, although it may seem very distant and distant in time, graphic and digital design has not changed much, since the most modern tools use old techniques such as brushing, cropping, gradient, and more, yes, in a digital way.
It should also be noted that those images did not have color, so the editing was relatively easier as there was no color consistency. At that time it was common to use liquid watercolors or other types of pigments to touch up the image and color some parts, but this was the only section that was done directly in photography. The rest of the actions such as imperfections and other arrangements were carried out in a negative direction.
Later would come the narrative image editing in which the image editing was used to create compositions that told a story . Especially used and designed for political and propaganda purposes.
The ingenuity of those early photo editors, such as the well-known Swedish photographer Oscar Gustav Rejlander, would lead him to create this work entitled “ The two paths of life ” in which he shows a composition created from multiple images that, finally united, they would be one in which a father dismisses his children before the paths that open before him. It is impressive to see how with props and manipulation of the negative he achieves a composition in which the assembly can hardly be seen.
In this way, a period would begin in which the editing of images among people who had never been together, especially political leaders, would take great force. As an example, we have the one known as “The Sovereigns of the world 1889” in which they are shown from Alfonso XII to Yohannes IV of Ethiopia.
Another type of photo design would be duplicity, in which the author of the photo (or the model of the photo) appeared in various situations within the image itself. One of the best known was Valerio Silva, who not only was cloned once or twice but even reproduced his image up to 30 times in the photograph " Los 30 Valerio's ".
Currently, with the evolution of the digital age and all the technological advances, all these manual tricks to make photographic editions are done through the computer, through the different editing programs. The best known is Adobe Photoshop, which allows you to make a large number of changes and delve into photo retouching in great depth.
Applied to the graphic design the photo retouching we can adapt the colors of the products, prospects, make still lifes, apply an environment to products with white background, and a lot of combinations to present the products and services our customers the best way.
you may read also clipping paths in photoshop
