Image Manipulation

This site has been put together by myself Nicholas Paul Endean as part of my 2005 Semester One Future Visions Web Assignment.

I have researched and made a collection of the following websites, articles and resourses and compiled the following on my chosen theme:

Image Manipulation.

My supported writen work which accompanies the annotated links page below is available here Assignment Report

http://www.danheller.com/faq-manipulation.html

Dan Heller is a professional photographer and author. This link is to a specific chapter from his book What is pure photography.

The chapter is an interesting look on his definition of how he feels that photography is moving and looks at manipulation in detail. Several images accompany the webpage which allow the reader to see what Heller is discussing. Other question which are set out in an almost report type format, are faking photographs, a discussion regarding the O.J.Simpson twin photos that were used in 1994 by two different publication using different enhancements as well as the authors own photo study from his own works whereby he asks the reader question relating to enhancments he has made to several photos. The site is a good read all round and very interesting owing to Dan Heller professional cridencials.

http://www.americanphotojournalist.com/news.php?post_id=31

This is an article by one Kenny F. Irby who wrote it in 2003 for the Poynter.org website. He argues the case as to when an altered image is either photojournalism or just an illustration. The writer is obviously a sports fan which is apparent from reading the opening paragraphs, but this soon proves a plus and that he is quite knowledgable on the subject he is writing about.An interesting piece he writes about involves the Sports Illustrated USA publication in which he investigates and looks into one particular edition. The release has on the font page an edited photo that has been manipulated. Kenny actually finds out why this was done and asks several other questions that link to the subject of ethics.

An Essay on Digital Image Manipulation by Chuck Doswell

http://webserv.chatsystems.com/~doswell/Outdoor_Images/image_manipulation.html

This is a detailed report/essay on Image Manipulation and goes very much in depth to many of the aspects involved in this field.One of the most interesting quotes that I noted from reading his work was his explaining the limitation a photographer has in paralel to a painter. By this he goes onto say how a painter can construct more or less whatever his imagination wishes and sees, by comparison though, a photographer can only use items and visions from a real world view.

The Faked Apollo Landing

http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html

This site link was sent to me from a friend in the United States after a long telephone conversation regarding the Apollo landing in 1969. Myself and my friend were at odds as to whether or not the landing had actually taken place. The site has both video and text evidence to support the claim that the whole episode was one rather elaborate let alone expensive hoax. Having looked at the site myself, read the supporting text and seen the video footage after being made aware of what to look out for, I am now convinced too that the Apollo landing was indeed a government concocted setup for use in the Russian and American space race of the day.

Pictures don't lie. Or do they?

http://www.the-n.com/checkit/article.php?ipv_sectionID=42&ipv_articleID=182

This is an article by Evany Thomas who asks the question "whats wrong with this picture"

Evany looks into how images are manipulated in general for magazines and how touching up is becoming the norm for celebrity photo shoots. Its an interesting article as Evany explains many details that go into the post photoshoot and the initial setup prior to any manipulation. From her report she explains the need for a good photograph prior to any computer software involvement. It's an article that does give a rather good insight into how the touch up process works in conjunction to the world of magazine images, and is both clear and precise.

The Haunted Museum

http://www.prairieghosts.com/grphotos.html

Prairieghosts website is a good all round investigative insight into both unexplained,outright fraud and suspected photographs on the subject of the sprit world.

The site hosts many such photographs and gives a enlightening insight into both the history of techniques and explains a great deal of the people involved were found out to have created the images and how through history things have gradually changed.

The Museum of Hoaxes

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/photos/photos.html

This is one of the best sites I found whilst researching into the history of Image Manipulation. Its a site with a large amount of image files of very different subjects which have been and are known to be unreal images.

The details to each photograph is not available direclty but it is still interesting and is worst visiting on the grounds alone of taking a look at previous forged and enhanced photographs.

There is also a puzzle whereby the reader is taken on a journey of images to test whether they can work out if the pictures are either real or not.

Spirits Caught on camera

http://www.psychicworld.net/jgscam.htm

John G. Sutton writes a column for this website called Psychicworld.ent. The particular page I have linked to here is specific in its content and very interesting. The main point I read that I felt should be added is down to a photograph used in a 1963 Country Life Magainze edition and is a black and white photo of what still to this day remains a mystery. It is reported to be a ghost like figure from the spirit world and was taken by two professional photographers. I have added this to my links page because it is one of the only photos of this nature that made me think twice about how if at all a photo of this nature and realism can be faked. Because of its date of exposure, it would have had to have been created using over exposure or double exposure. Whereby a second photo would have been added at some point and the two then exposed as one. It is a very interesting read as because Mr.Sutton lists in high detail and in easy to understand language the different ways in which the photo could have indeed have been created.

How to make a fake spirit photograph

http://brightbytes.com/collection/spirit_fake.html

This is rather an amusing site and the link itself is part of a series in which the writers called simply Jack and Beverly go inito explaining in rather good detail how one can go about putting together a fake photograph of a ghost or similar. Its quite in depth but at the same time slightly tougue in cheek. Although the writers themselves don't seem to be heading in the direction of humourous information, one can infact look at it in this way. However, on a more serious note, the site does have some interesting techniques which could help in manipulating and constructing the said photographic type that is talked about. There is also some background on historical usage of faking photography via some details and images from an 1858 book by the author Brewster which gives an insight into stereography.

Fake Monster Pictures Exposed

http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/nessie1.html

Having a copy of the famous Lock Ness Monster photograph that fooled a generation back in the early nineteen thirties, gave this site its worthiness to be included in my site listings. It was the first site I found whilst researching photographic evidence on the so called Scotish monster.

This site has links to other exposed monster photos as well as Alien images and information on ways to use Image Manipulation to create a hox photograph.