Photo manipulation didn’t begin with the invention of photo editing software.
Photo manipulation didn’t begin with the invention of photo editing software. Photographers, editors, and retouchers have been cutting up, combining, and creating new work out of existing assets for over a century. Photo manipulation can be used for everything from surrealistic photomontages to the creation of alien worlds on the covers of sci-fi novels. “I’d call it a medium by itself,” says photographer Eduardo Valdes-Hevia. “It sits somewhere between photography, painting, and more traditional arts.”