Photoshopping Culture

By Leanne NivenPhotoshopping Culture

The term photoshopping has been appropriated from Adobes image editing software Photoshop, and has come to mean any digital altering of a photograph or imageDefinition

When most people think of photoshopping they think of images being retouched to make people in magazines look better like these pictures of Minnie Driver.History

Circa 1860

It all started way before digital cameras around 1860 with a portrait of US President Abraham Lincoln. In a lithograph his head was combined with the body of John Calhoun, a Southern politician.

Circa 1930Stalin often air-brushed his enemies out of photographs. In this photo a commissar had fallen out of favour and been removed.

1942Mussolini thought he looked more heroic without the horse handler in the photograph

21st Century Hoaxes

Then the internet came along and things started to get interesting. This photo was sent out as an email hoax purporting to be National Geographics Photo of the Year. It was a combination of a photo of a helicopter taken in front of the Golden Gate bridge and a photo of a shark taken in South Africa.

Photoshopping has morphed into a culture of the absurd, with the goal of entertainment. Photoshopping is an extremely effective way of making an astute observation, or just making people laugh for the sheer hell of it.(Manic, 2009)In this culture, photo manipulation is widely seen as an art form. People who cant paint or draw can create by remixing.A meme is an infectious and contagious idea that tickles the funny bone and takes off.Most, but not all, photoshopping images employ humour.Photoshopping Culture

Photoshopping as an art form

Bert is Evil is a photoshopping meme that involves superimposing the Sesame Street character Bert into photos in an attempt to prove him evil.Bert is Evil originally began as a website founded by Dino Ignacio in 1998As it gained in popularity he could no longer maintain it and offered it to anyone who could.Lots of sites jumped on the bandwagon, further boosting the memes popularity.Following are some examples of the Bert is Evil meme.Bert is Evil

Bert with Hitler

Bert with Saddam Hussein

Bert with Osama bin Laden

The Bert is Evil phenomenon reached its height in 2001 when a news photograph of a Bangladeshi protester holding a poster of Bert and Osama bin Laden began appearing on the Internet

2001

This photo started off as a hoax. The hoax was seen to be in such poor taste that it started a subversive form of humour.

And the fun began

The Tourist of Death began to be seen at the scene of many and varied disasters

The Hindenburg

The Titanic

In various movies

Speed

The Matrix

and Independence Day

The destruction of the White House by aliens

Disaster Girl

Disaster girl started in October 2004 when Dave Roth took a photo of a fire training session with his daughter smiling devilishly in the foreground. It took off in 2007 when it was published in a magazine competition.

She was soon popping up everywhere

She was seen at the scene of the Titanic.

The US Air disaster

And with the Tourist of Death

The following slides show some memes from 2011. The original photo is shown and then an example of a popular take on the original.Examples of popular memes

This little flower girl was so obviously NOT impressed with being on the balcony at William and Kate's wedding

An adaptation

After getting briefed on the raid that killed Bin Laden in May, the upper crust of the American government then got the royal treatment from Internet photoshoppers. The Situation Room

Just add popcorn

This popular photo gave some inspirationVancouver Riots Kissing Couple

Added to the Tank guy photo

Photoshopping competitions are regularly held on sites such as Worth1000.com and Fark.com like this Celebrity CaricaturesCompetitions

Rupert Murdoch isn't a politician. He just owns most of them. Saddam Hussein is was a politician: He is was our friend.

Photoshopping as social commentary

BP logo Turtle

To conclude, photoshopping allows people to create art forms, enter competitions, become part of an online meme, and comment on social and political phenomena.

Whenever the world is getting too grim or serious, or an organisation tries to get away with something, a photoshopper will take the micky out of the situation.

Conclusion

http://www.worth1000.com/contests/28532/pinocchio-20http://www.chilloutpoint.com/art_and_design/16-famous-photoshopped-images-throughout-history.htmlhttp://www.greaterthings.com/News/911/Tourist/http://www.touristofdeath.com/http://www.mamapop.com/2011/12/kristines-best-of-2011-photoshop-memeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_manipulationhttp://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bert-is-evilhttp://www.fark.com/http://www.fourandsix.com/photo-tampering-historyhttp://www.bloggerheads.com/photoshopping/photoshopping_politicians.htm

References