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See How Photographers Would Photoshop Before Photoshop Existed

Feb 27, 2015 by Liron Samuels 14 Comments

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Don’t you just love the creative freedom and post-processing power that digital photography and Photoshop allow?

A couple of weeks ago a 12-year-old budding photographer asked me how Photoshop was used when shooting film was common practice.

This video, created by Lynda in tribute to 25 years of Photoshop, answers that exact question.

If you like to think of yourself as a “purist” and you don’t believe in post-processing because you “only do what was once done in the darkroom”, this video is for you as well.

Chances are that if you were born in the 1990’s, or even in the mid-late 1980’s, you have never worked in a dark room. You probably haven’t even seen one outside your TV screen.

“Before there was Photoshop” shows how things were done back in the day when you had to wait until your roll of film was used before you could see how your photos came out.

Veterans with a sense of nostalgia will enjoy the trip down memory lane, and I bet it will bring back a bunch of smells and memories as well.

Believe it or not but Konrad Eek, a commercial photographer and darkroom expert, will show you how people used to dodge, burn, mask, add gradients, feather the edge of your selected area, enlarge photos and more without ever touching a mouse, keyboard or tablet.

You’ll also get a quick glimpse of Bridge’s ancestor – the contact sheet.

It is obvious that the heyday of film photography is long gone, but I recommend you take ten minutes to learn about (or remember) the roots of the tools that you use in Photoshop.

It is a nice (recent) history lesson and will certainly make you appreciate the advantages of digital photography and Photoshop even more.

While digital photography is not at risk of being replaced anytime soon, a new challenger, Affinity, has recently arisen to try and take over the post-processing market.

Only for Mac users at the moment, you can get a free Beta version and have a look at our first impressions of this impressive new software.

[via Reframe]

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Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Adobe Photoshop, Darkroom

Liron Samuels: from diyphotography.net

About Liron Samuels

Liron Samuels is a wildlife and commercial photographer based in Israel.

When he isn't waking up at 4am to take photos of nature, he stays awake until 4am taking photos of the night skies or time lapses.

You can see more of his work on his website or follow him on Facebook.

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