Hi everyone!
Since I started on photomanipulation I've been feeling some people undervalue the work it's behind the photomanipulations. No one say it openly, but you can smell it, you know. People usually think it's all about copy & paste. Far from reality, it's not only copy & paste and I want to say something about it so everybody can know the hard work it's behind a photomanipulation.

1.| Limits vs. creativity.
First of all, photomanipulatios have limits that is above the creativity of oneself. We work with photos, usually stock images or photos taken by oneself. That means we have to spend a lot of time (usually hours) to find something that can fit what we were  looking for. I think it's a very important part on the photomanipulation, because it's the pillars of the work; if you cand find the photos you was looking for, there will be a work as you have thought.

2. | Fit differents images.
The second point of a Photomanip is that all have to fit on one image. That's sometimes really complicated. The several images you picked up for your work have a lot of differences: colour and lighting essencially. It's hard because if you have a background with the main lighting on the top right and a model with the lighting on the middle, and try to just copy & paste, they won't fit!

About the colors, you can think "well, that is easy, you just have to put a layer with a main colour and that's all". That is not. It's true that sometimes one can resort to add a layer with a colour, but it will look very artificial. When you photomanipulate, you have to  study the colours and lights at the same time. And sometimes you have to change or add all the colours and lightings from scratch.

For example, if you have a sun between a forest, you have to add some warm colours that spread out from the sun and you have to add the shadows of the trees. And if you have a model before the trees, you have to illuminate with the sun rays between the trees but add a shadows of the trees and the shadows of the model itself.

3. | Merges.
Essentially, on the photomanipulation process, you have to know how to put several images on the same one. It's not just copy & paste, because if you do that, you can see perfectly the edges of the differents images, so the final work looks like just a copy & paste. This is something very important on the process to create a photomanipulation. Sometimes it's really hard when the images you are working on, have difuse edges. Speaking of my experience, I usually have to remove very carrefully the background of all the images, with a + zoom of 400%, and sometimes redraw the edges or add light or shadows to the image for they finally fit with the rest of the image.

That's the main process to get finally something. In a photomanipulation, depending of the complexity, you can have about 5, 6, 7 images on the same one. So you have to make all they fit perfectly. You have consider the lighting of the main image against the indiviual images and the same with the colours.

4. | Considering the Creativity.
To finish I have to say that the most part of time, you finally get something completely different that you was waiting. This is because the complexity of find the stock images for the work you was on mind. To me, this is something great because at the same time you're working, the scene are requesting you how the work will continue. If you can see the main image with the point of view of an incomplete work, the image will say where have to be the lights, the colours you have to do, the position of the images, etc. So all you have to do is listen the work.

In conclusion, Photomanipulations are more than just copy & paste. The work it's behind the photomanipulation is hard. I won't tell it's more or less hard than other kind of art. It's art and I hate when people undervalue the work it's behind on an artwork.

Proyecto Oniric.