Re: Historical Ramifications of photo manipulation

Andrew wrote:
"The thing about photomanipulation is simply that its nothing new. I've seen countless photographs published in books that have been altered by either historians or even the photographer to spice something up, a quick example off the top of my head would be an early shot in the Pacific Coast Railway book by Gerald Best, if one looks at the tender you can tell that the image was played with."
Yes, people have been doing touch ups and the like to photographs for some time.
In the Jerry Best book about the Pacific Coast Railway, author Best desired a photo of the little tank engine of the predecessor company. But there were none to be found; but there was a builder’s photo of a similar locomotive. Well, the story is that Best had his friend and animator Ward Kimball to add lettering to this photo. Thus we have a builder’s photo of the little tank engine
An interesting book that came out a few years ago was about the photographs used by the communist regime in Russia. These were variously air brushed, cropped, etc. to make people disappear from the record. The title was something like “The Commissar Vanishes.”
Brian Norden