photostream

A lot of the examples that you see of retouched photos on the web are of the blooper variety (did the hero really need that third hand?) or are of images where the intent was to create a dreamworld, not merely to alter the real world a bit. That is, the retouching, good or bad, is heavy.

Following my Pascal Dangin post, a friend sent me a link to Brian Dilg’s site. On the face of it this seems to be a site belonging to a working photographer with an interest and skill in the retouching side of the business of photography.

What makes it interesting is that in amongst the dreamworld shots and the photos created from sets of originals which bring together people who were not, in fact, in the same place, is that there are shots that just look like photos. Until, that is, you mouseover the image to see the original.

There aren’t permalinks so there is a risk that the specific images will change, but, for example the Polo Ralph Lauren shot which is currently at the front of the imaging page is a great example. So much of that image isn’t reality that to list the changes between before and after would be too much like hard work. Yet the final image just looks like the routine everyday picture that must float before our eyes hundreds of times each day.

I’m not making any point about truth or reality here (lest anybody has a dig at me for that once more). This is, after all, an advertising photograph. But still, the scale of the change and the humdrumness of the changing is interesting. In the end I’m left thinking ‘why bother starting with a photo?’. As the location is effectively made up, and the model wasn’t actually wearing the shirt that we are being shown (maybe even the shirt never existed), why not just make the whole thing up?

Other examples on the site (e.g. the two ‘Bravo’ shots) cover the rest of the ground of fiction, like making people younger, or more attractive, or both. Nothing out of the ordinary. Interesting stuff.

Some related posts chosen by the software:

• What the traveller saw – Eric Newby
• What a load of old moosters
• Thought for the day