Manipulated Photography before Photoshop About three decades ago, Adobe revolutionized photo editing with the release of Photoshop, a software initially expected to sell just 500 copies. At that time, digital editing was gaining interest, but most photos were still edited manually. Professional retoucher Pratik Naik described the painstaking process in a 2013 blog post: zooming required a magnifying glass, edits lacked history states and layers, and tools like the healing brush were nonexistent. Art directors and designers spent hours perfecting images using traditional tools like paint brushes and airbrushes. Photo manipulation, however, has a long history predating Photoshop, including early techniques like the wet collodion process for combining images on a negative. Manipulation wasn't always for artistic purposes; "spirit photography" in the 19th century claimed to capture spirits, exemplified by William H. Mumler's controversial images of Abe Lincoln's supposed ghost. Even before Photoshop, photography saw hoaxes like the Cottingley Fairies and staged scenes like "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" from the Crimean War, illustrating the early use of photography to tell stories or fabricate realities. According to Mia Fineman, photo manipulation predates digital tools, with photographers historically using available means to achieve their desired images. 🖼️ Man on rooftop with 11 men in formation on his shoulders. 1930.