Anatomy of photographic collage - Cover Story

PSA Journal, Oct, 1996 by Russell A. Rohde

Manipulation of conventional silver-based images (S-BI) or digital images (DI) may yield near-identical results. Digital manipulation (DM) is usually faster, especially for photo composites which are better termed collages (using (copy-paste), whilst most SBI composites are generally montages (sandwiches, multiple exposure, etc.), and technically ought to be superior to rephotographing assembled fragments.

Many, but not all composites are recognized as manipulations either through titles, captions, self-evident gimmickry, or contradiction(s) to known external frames of reference, crude methodology, or may be deceitfully presented as fraud or hoax for any number of reasons and can remain undetected by even seasoned viewers.

In PSA, and most camera clubs, composites are entered in open color or pictorial divisions. Although some argue that all electronic images (EI) with DM are "obviously contemporary," the images frequently do not correspond to the conveyed PSA definition of "contemporary" as expressed in salon rules for exhibitions, a term that perhaps ought to be replaced by "creative." This area needs clarification, especially when slides must be marked with a "C" to vie for "contemporary medals." It is a problem for both the makers and the judges to ponder.

Success of a collage or montage depends upon a maker's skill to present interesting subject matter in an artful manner, engender impact, and provocatively incite further inspection. Uniqueness, rather than resemblance to something else, often yields greater merit, as the commingling of some unexpected elements rather than merely depicting the anticipated.

I chose "Desert Sanctuary," a DM transmogrification to help illustrate some of these points. One hot day while sorting my slide files I decided to combine several images to depict heat. My transparencies were taken with Mamiya RB Pro 67 on Fujichrome. I combined (1) a 1993 vertical shot Death Valley with (2) a 1985 horizontal shot of my sphinx statue wearing my sun glasses, (3) a 1992 shot of pronghorns in San Diego Wild Animal Park, and (4) a 1991 telephoto shot of the San Diego shoreline as ingredients. My collage depicted a sphinx with its eyes shielded from the sun as a refuge for the wild animals seeking protection from the city and sun. I added a few bells and whistles such as the cityscape reflections in the water. Also, a mirrored symmetry of sand and clouds held attention to the sphinx and sheep.

Transparencies were scanned with La Cie II Silverscanner and acquired in Photoshop 3.0.1 on Quadra 950 with 72 MB Ram. A sequence was established to DM the desert and sky background elements. Mirroring was done by aligning a horizontal flip of a selected left side of the image. Background mountains were then replaced with cloned buildings, and 35 percent reflections were added to the El-created lake. The sphinx was resized and made to appear partially buried in sand. Pronghorns were sized and carefully cradled by the sphinx. Most difficult was proper sizing and temperature correction of colors throughout the image. File size was 35 MB, placed on Syquest-88 R-HD, then output as an Ektachrome slide using an 8K film recorder by RB Images Inc., Louisiana.

The success of the picture, to my mind, was utilizing sun glasses to provide an unexpected element or mystique and to provide a frame of reference to establish transmogrification or fantasy as the basis for the image, rather than an attempt at fraud.

As we become more entwined in the digital era of photography we shall witness images having minor tune-up, major overhaul, fractals, and composites which will challenge our acceptance of truth in the post-digital era. "Truth is never pure, and rarely simple" - Oscar Wilde.

Dr. Russell A. Rohde presented his digital manipulation program, "An Odyssey of Digital Imaging and Transmogrification," at the 1996 PSA International Conference of Photography in Tucson last month. He is a regular contributor to the PSA Journal through his column "Pixel Corner" and other articles.