LEICA Barnack Berek Blog: PICTURES WITHOUT A CAMERA

Saturday, August 1, 2020

PICTURES WITHOUT A CAMERA - NOT EVEN A LEICA

By Heinz Richter

One aspect of my professional photography business was model photography. That automatically required that I use post production techniques to improve the photographs, to make the model as attractive as possible. PhotoShop is definitely a great help for this purpose.

A Little while ago I got the idea to use PhotoShop to delve into the past, to see if pictures painted long before photography existed could be improved in the same manner.

The first painting I modified was that of the Mona Lisa. Initially I took a photo copy of the original painting and altered it to what she might look like with modern makeup. I also included some subtle changes to the lighting. All else remained untouched. The resulting changes were quite apparent. If they are an improvement is something everyone else has to judge for him or herself.

Then I was curious what the picture might look like when changed to look like a photograph I took of a model a while back. I was careful not to make any further changes to the face, but I did change the hair and, of course, the rest of the picture. The result is quite interesting in my opinion.