I have found so many cool Photoshop tutorials on youtube. I find it really cool that besides the usual photo editing you can also ”create” an image in Photoshop. You can make art in it.
Or can you?
If you ask me, yes.
The Swedish photo artist Erik Johansson is an example of how you can use photography and Photoshop in a creative way I think. Some of the comments suggest that this is not photography, it’s not art. I don’t care what you call it – I just find it cool and creative. I find that he is an artist, creating images. His images tell a story, that’s all I care about.
If I shall summarise my view on it, I think he is being creative with both photography and Photoshop. He knows how to make the most of his tools – his camera and Photoshop – to create art. For this type of editing to work you need to have an idea even before you take out the camera – then you need to know exactly what photo you need to take to be able to make the end product in Photoshop.
What do you think? Is this real art? Is this photography? Or merely ”computer genius” as one comment states? Another one says, ”it’s not photography, and it’s not painting so I hit the like button reluctantly”. Do you agree? Is this ”cheating art”?
(The only thing I cringe about is his awful Swedish accent. Ouch… it’s like scratching a blackboard. But that is beside the point! 😉 )
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc0vhSseGk4]
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what is art? Indeed this is a question that was put to me as an art student by one of my tutors at the time. Define art, she said. Ask anyone that question and you will find it leads to some fascinating discussions. The problem with trying to define such a big subject matter is that art is a very subjective thing. You could show the same thing to 10 people and each of them will offer you a slightly, or quite different opinion… So the way I have found peace with the ”what is art” debate is to look at a piece of art- be it fine art/photography/digital/3D etc… Does it provoke a reaction in me? Does it make me feel something? Does it get me thinking…wonder how it was done? If I can answer yes to those questions then I will consider it art.
In the video above, Erik’s work is what I would call multi-media art. He cleverly mixes photography and photoshop to create (in my humble opinion) some very clever pieces of art… but someone else might see it differently. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure!
Thank you so much for your thoughts on this! 🙂 You are right of course that the definition of art is subjective. And that is why I find it disturbing and kind of ”snobbish” to dismiss his work as not being ”photography” and merely ”computer wizard” etc and someone reluctantly hitting ”like” because it is neither photography or painting. Do the tools matter -simply because he uses Photoshop to create an image breaking the boundaries of realism it is not ”PHOTOGRAPHY” and therefore not art? He is creating something – he has an idea and something to say with his creation. Whether you like it or not. So it’s ok not to like what he does, I have no problem with that, but to dismiss it because it is not ”fine art”-enough annoys me. 🙂