Photoshop Allows Us To Alter Our Memories 358
Anti-Globalism writes "In an age of digital manipulation, many people believe that snapshots and family photos need no longer stand as a definitive record of what was, but instead, of what they wish it was. It used to be that photographs provided documentary evidence, and there was something sacrosanct about that, said Chris Johnson, a photography professor at California College of the Arts in the Bay Area. If you wanted to remove an ex from an old snapshot, you had to use a Bic pen or pinking shears. But in the digital age, people treat photos like mash-ups in music, combining various elements to form a more pleasing whole. What were doing, Mr. Johnson said, is fulfilling the wish that all of us have to make reality to our liking. And he is no exception. When he photographed a wedding for his girlfriends family in upstate New York a few years ago, he left a space at the end of a big group shot for one member who was unable to attend. They caught up with him months later, snapped a head shot, and Mr. Johnson used Photoshop to paste him into the wedding photo. Now, he said, everyone knows it is phony, but this faked photograph actually created the assumption people kind of remember him as there."
Ow! My Brain! (Score:1, Funny)
Now, he said, everyone knows it is phony, but this faked photograph actually created the assumption people kind of remember him as there.
How fascinating I kind of think that this photoshop technique has been around for a long time but I now kind of know more about it thanks to newspaper people over in New York!
huh??? (Score:5, Funny)
Flamewar! (Score:3, Funny)
Photoshop vs. GIMP here --->
EMACS vs. Vi there ---->
Re:Unperson (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't George Orwell warn us about trying to change our history? I'll keep my photographs as they are, thanks.
World War III? Well, we know very little about it as records from that era are hazy [pbfcomics.com] and photoshopped.
Re:Flamewar! (Score:5, Funny)
Holy crap... you want me to try and do image editing with EMACS?
Clearly Vi would do a much better job of it ;)
Speaking of fake (Score:5, Funny)
.
That sentence kind of creates the assumption of making sense.
Reality is boring anyway... (Score:4, Funny)
They promised us moonbases and flying cars, and instead we've got Lolbush's "Mars Tomorrow" scheme and $4.00 a gallon gas. People are living online and in VR, already, because that's the only place you can get a reliable jetpack... and some of the coolest stories on the net are about things like steampunk laptops... so who cares about something as mundane as a reverse-dorian-gray fetish?
Re:Unperson (Score:1, Funny)
I thought it was Arnold Schwarzenegger [imdb.com]:
Douglas Quaid: Ever heard of Rekall? They sell those fake memories.
Harry: Oh, "Rekall, Rekall, Rekall". You thinking of going there?
Douglas Quaid: I don't know, maybe.
Harry: Well don't. A friend of mine tried one their "special offers", nearly got himself lobotomised.
Douglas Quaid: No shit?
Harry: Don't fuck with your brain, pal. It ain't worth it.
Douglas Quaid: I guess not.
Re:Flamewar! (Score:5, Funny)
"Our longstanding animosity is longer-standing than your longstanding animosity!"
Re:meh... (Score:5, Funny)
"I highly doubt only digital manipulation is capable of also altering our memories."
As I will be able to recall many years hence, MemoryShop 2.1 CS Xtreme will have been doing this for a long time now... or so my wife, Morgan Fairchild, assures me.
Re:There is real psychological truth to this (Score:3, Funny)
This, to me, shows why the 'golden age' phenomenon is so prevalent.
I don't care what you say. Music was objectively better in the 70's... even taking disco into account.
Re:Digital vs. analoge photo's (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Photoshop is not a verb (Score:3, Funny)
>> By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.
I woke up just this morning wondering how I could do this. Thanks!
Re:Photoshop is not a verb (Score:5, Funny)
Photoshop is not a verb
I know! Thats why I've been gimping stuff for the past few years.
Re:Ow! My Brain! (Score:1, Funny)
I saw a pic of a T-Rex using photoshop on a mac. I think it must have been around along time.
Re:creepy... (Score:4, Funny)
REALLY creepy is when you pull up the shots in photoshop and he's already in them, even before you start editing.
Re:meh... (Score:5, Funny)
Gimp? Naaah, Gimp does not allow anyone (other than the developers) to alter photographs. Or do anything useful. :D
It allows you to explode your head by trying to use it, sure. And if you survive, you still have to force it to let you alter photographs.
But that's about it.