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Photoshop my life
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by JACK ATKINSON
Iran launched four missiles in July. One was a dud but the Revolutionary Guards photoshopped this missile, correcting its failure to launch. This created added fear for the Middle East and Europe that Iran could potentially send nuclear missiles into any of these countries they wished to destroy. Adobe Photoshop is the standard program used to change reality by changing photographs.
Earlier, the term airbrushing was coined to indicate that photographs had been enhanced. A half century ago senior pictures were airbrushed to take off pimples or other skin imperfections. Now photographs can be greatly altered.
Large families have frequently been unable to get all siblings present for important family portraits. An old friend gave me two sets of pictures of her family. One was taken of the six stair-step children; the other was taken decades later. One member could not be present in the next photo so a space was left for him. Later a photo of him was simply glued into place.
Looking over old photos of my life I see that Photoshop can be used extensively. Some pictures have red eye that can now be corrected. The big ears can be minimized with a paintbrush technique just covering the large ears with the surrounding background. Is it the look that I want changed or my life?
Last week I found photographs of my parents, each with their own parents and siblings. I found one of the family I created: the four of us looking young, well dressed and successful. What I could not find was a picture of my parents and me and my siblings. That is when I decided I could Photoshop one. This meant I needed to find similar age pictures of each of us. So when my parents were 40, then the children needed to be a certain age. This became very complicated. I decided to enhance an old Polaroid of my family and my Uncle Frank Atkinson’s family taken in the 1950’s standing in front of the Betsey Ross House in Philadelphia. I decided to enlarge the old Polaroid rather than Photoshop a new picture made from individual shots put together. This real photography represented by the faded Polaroid means more than the complicated fake one I was trying to create.
Looking over old photos left me with a great-grandfather whose photograph had blemishes across a large charcoal portrait of him. This can easily be cleaned up. My Hill great grandparents were not as lucky. Their portrait has two large rips across their faces and my great-grandmother Hill has a large chunk out of her face. Photoshop allows me to fill this in and remove the tares. In these cases I am simply bringing the photo back to the condition it was in when it was first made.
Photoshopping for me means change. It means the creation of an illusion rather than the recording of reality. Not only would I like to leave out big ears and poor posture, I would like to leave out other imperfections in my life. Adobe has been working on how to clean up photos, but I have to work on cleaning up my life. What a task. It may be that we all want to Photoshop our past leaving out inconvenient truth.
There is a new occupation called photo detective. I listened to one being interviewed. She could look at a photo and tell you a lot about it, when it was made, what kind of people they were based on clothing and jewelry and even what the occasion for the photo was. That is not what I need. I need a private eye to vet me and give me a perfect bio. I can Photoshop the image.
Jack Atkinson can be contacted at jpatkinson@pinland.net.
Earlier, the term airbrushing was coined to indicate that photographs had been enhanced. A half century ago senior pictures were airbrushed to take off pimples or other skin imperfections. Now photographs can be greatly altered.
Large families have frequently been unable to get all siblings present for important family portraits. An old friend gave me two sets of pictures of her family. One was taken of the six stair-step children; the other was taken decades later. One member could not be present in the next photo so a space was left for him. Later a photo of him was simply glued into place.
Looking over old photos of my life I see that Photoshop can be used extensively. Some pictures have red eye that can now be corrected. The big ears can be minimized with a paintbrush technique just covering the large ears with the surrounding background. Is it the look that I want changed or my life?
Last week I found photographs of my parents, each with their own parents and siblings. I found one of the family I created: the four of us looking young, well dressed and successful. What I could not find was a picture of my parents and me and my siblings. That is when I decided I could Photoshop one. This meant I needed to find similar age pictures of each of us. So when my parents were 40, then the children needed to be a certain age. This became very complicated. I decided to enhance an old Polaroid of my family and my Uncle Frank Atkinson’s family taken in the 1950’s standing in front of the Betsey Ross House in Philadelphia. I decided to enlarge the old Polaroid rather than Photoshop a new picture made from individual shots put together. This real photography represented by the faded Polaroid means more than the complicated fake one I was trying to create.
Looking over old photos left me with a great-grandfather whose photograph had blemishes across a large charcoal portrait of him. This can easily be cleaned up. My Hill great grandparents were not as lucky. Their portrait has two large rips across their faces and my great-grandmother Hill has a large chunk out of her face. Photoshop allows me to fill this in and remove the tares. In these cases I am simply bringing the photo back to the condition it was in when it was first made.
Photoshopping for me means change. It means the creation of an illusion rather than the recording of reality. Not only would I like to leave out big ears and poor posture, I would like to leave out other imperfections in my life. Adobe has been working on how to clean up photos, but I have to work on cleaning up my life. What a task. It may be that we all want to Photoshop our past leaving out inconvenient truth.
There is a new occupation called photo detective. I listened to one being interviewed. She could look at a photo and tell you a lot about it, when it was made, what kind of people they were based on clothing and jewelry and even what the occasion for the photo was. That is not what I need. I need a private eye to vet me and give me a perfect bio. I can Photoshop the image.
Jack Atkinson can be contacted at jpatkinson@pinland.net.
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