Technology
Making Photo Manipulations Possible
A brief history of digital photo manipulations (from Pixelphoto.com )
The history of digital photography started with the advent of drum
scanners, a system in which "the original image was taped to a transparent
cylinder which was spun in the path of an extremely narrow beam of light. The signal from
the light sensitive Photo Multiplier Tube that received the light beam was electronically
processed and used to expose the separation film which was
attached to another cylinder spinning on the other end of the same drive shaft inside the
scanner."
This process of using a drum scanner was taken one step further by the
"Scitex company [who] took the signal from the photo multiplier tube and stored it in
a computer where the image could be manipulated before being output onto separation film.
These machines were tremendously expensive and hideously complex." This technique was
developed in the mid 1970's.
"Around this time Apple arranged the marriage of the desktop
computer, the laser printer, and the Postscript language. This was the birth of desktop
publishing. Initially this only really effected typesetting, but soon grew to
encompass page layout and composition.
As desktop computers became much more powerful and much less expensive it began to be
possible to use them for imaging applications.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....Skywalker Ranch that is; George Lucas sold a software
application hed had developed for the production of Star Wars. This specialized
program was redeveloped and repackaged for the commercial market and was called... Photoshop.
As the price of all this technology has collapsed from a high of several
hundreds of thousands of dollars down to a few tens of thousands of dollars these
amazingly powerful tools have become available to designers, illustrators, and
photographers. This has resulted in a substantial blurring of roles and shifting of
responsibilities."
The modern
technologies used for manipulating photos include scanners, digital cameras and
storage devices that can hold a vast amount of these photos in their digital form. These
technologies are explained more in-depth.
Widespread Availability of Photo Manipulation Services
While professionals have the equipment and skills to manipulate photos
using a computer, this technique is accessible to virtually everyone. There exist
commercial services that specialize in digitally changing photos by cutting out certain
"unwanted" people or by taking a person and placing them in a new environment. Go to this service-bureau.
Apple
Computers has an excellent page that explains the possibilities of digital photography
for the average computer user.
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