Is It Real or Is It Photoshop – and Who Cares?

Summary: Why the Hell is Photoshop So Controversial? Photoshop: it's a tool that, for some incredibly stupid reason, seems to be controversial. Some people love it, others hate, but the smart people know that it is just that - a tool to achieve and end-result. But what got us going this week was a comment from someone on Facebook regarding a photograph they had seen, "…wow, is it real or PS?" C'mon, really? Just because a photograph has been through the Photoshop cycle, it ceases to be real? But that got us thinking - what does it really mean for a photograph to be "real"? Too many people confuse "real" with "realism". Are Picasso's works not "real" paintings because they don't depict realistic subjects? You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who would take such a position. So why do we say that about photography and Photoshop? If I create a shallow depth of field through a lens choice that's okay but if I add blur in Photoshop, then it's not a real photograph? If I make a bride's teeth whiter than they really are or, more to the point, than they appear because we're under incandescent lighting, that's not a real photograph but if the bride had her teeth whitened by a dentist, that's okay? This whole concept of post-production, regardless of the tool that's used, has to stop. As long as the photographer/artist is trying to achieve an image that they see in their mind's eye, why the hell should we care - or judge - how it was achieved? And we're not even touching on the differences between using Photoshop to manually alter an image versus allowing a camera to do it outside of our control! So, to all of you who believe that Photoshop renders a photograph "fake", it's time to allow your photography and creative vision to mature a bit.   Artists What about photography before there was Photoshop? Today's photographer is Kansuke Yamamoto (1914-1987), an early surrealist photographer from Japan. His work included several pieces on film that, today, we would accomplish with Photoshop or other digital imaging tools but, as a film photographer, Yamamoto did his post-production in the darkroom. Are these "real" photographs? What happens when you let Tony choose the artist? You get a musician! Today we have Captain Beefheart. As long as we're talking about art being real without requiring realism, the good captain is actually an excellent choice for an artist who inspires. Especially in the realm of surrealism. Let's let Captain Beefheart have the last laugh today: