# SDMB Photo Manipulation Thread -- Show us what you can do

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** photo\
**Created:** [October 27, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310 "2021-10-27T12:45:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/21 "2021-11-11T19:46:50Z")

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Niche market pricing.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/22 "2021-11-11T21:57:53Z")

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> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Especially your credits list at the bottom.

If you don’t put obvious fakery in there somewhere, people can potentially believe it’s a real thing.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/23 "2021-11-11T22:01:01Z")

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> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> I tried making fake foreign film posters using images found on the web.

Check this out:

> **[We Wish These Fake Movie Posters Were For Real Movies](https://gizmodo.com/we-wish-these-fake-movie-posters-were-for-real-movies-1761756395)**
>
> Redditor Your\_Post\_As\_A\_Movie has been taking user posts and has been turning them into movie-style posters. There’s more than a couple that we wish were actually hitting theaters this year.

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/24 "2021-11-11T22:01:38Z")

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Movie poster:

[![](https://i.imgur.com/1D2OKmj.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/1D2OKmj.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/25 "2021-11-12T05:17:24Z")

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Very nice work, @Tibby. Heck, everybody’s posting some terrific stuff–love @Pardel-Lux’s “Kim Jong Don and Donald J. Un.”

I once pitched Cracked on redesigning album covers. Some just never struck me as relating to the music they contained, or the designer didn’t put a lot of effort into the design. One that has always bothered me was _Wednesday Morning, 3 AM_, by Simon and Garfunkel. This one, IMHO, falls into the “not a lot of effort” camp, and could have been much better. Just as a reminder, here’s what the officially-released version looks like:

[https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51674368360\_dc5cae5252\_o.jpg](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51674368360_dc5cae5252_o.jpg)

It’s almost as if the designer didn’t know or care about the music on the album. Sure, the guys are New Yorkers (I assume they’re in a New York subway station), and Simon is playing his guitar, but the military-style stencilled lettering is a little jarring compared to the gentle sounds within. Plus, and I speak from experience, passing subway trains can be quite noisy and loud, unlike S&G’s music.

So, I tried to rework it. Here’s what I came up with:

[![](https://live.staticflickr.com/2786/32712473521_c4023e270a_o.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/2786/32712473521_c4023e270a_o.jpg)

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**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/26 "2021-11-12T05:53:46Z")

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I did this to accompany a post that I ended up not making. Still, a good character study. 😉

The idea was to explore the visual hypothetical: what if that thing on top of Trump’s head grew larger, and the rest of him mutated to match?

[![](https://i.imgur.com/RKZqFVv.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/RKZqFVv.jpg)

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/27 "2021-11-12T15:17:06Z")

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Might as well post my ~~golden~~ orange oldie. Trump at his most functional.

[![](https://i.imgur.com/vQ7gDr4.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/vQ7gDr4.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/28 "2021-11-12T21:22:39Z")

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I once used that same image with a lot manipulation and a copyright agency managed to fine me a couple of hundred Euros for some infringement. No respect for art anymore… I deleted the image.  
As we were talking about newspaper covers I made this, just to learn a bit about Affinity Designer:  
[![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/kJiHADH.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/kJiHADH)

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/29 "2021-11-12T23:01:54Z")

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Here’s one I did 10 or 12 years ago upon request of a coworker

[![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/z8tnDEL.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/z8tnDEL)

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/30 "2021-11-12T23:35:40Z")

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Enjoying all the posts. Y’all got talent.  
Here’s a movie poster that may not be suitable for all audiences, so I’ll blur it (click to view):

[https://i.imgur.com/s0kMua5.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/s0kMua5.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/31 "2021-11-13T21:33:54Z")

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@Spoons, your Simon & Garfunkel album cover is _much_ better than the original. Evokes a folksier, yet haunting feeling.

I was just playing some S&G music the other day (it still holds up well). My daughter and her boyfriend implored me to _turn it down!_ Of course, later they played their screaming metal music at maximum volume. 🤬 (kinda sorry I have a 750w sub-woofer, they’re going to crack my house one day).

I fear appreciation of classical music may go the way of the dodo with the younger generations unless concert musicians do some serious re-branding:

[![](https://i.imgur.com/XIXTxtw.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/XIXTxtw.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/32 "2021-11-15T04:17:21Z")

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> [@Tibby](#):
>
> @Spoons, your Simon & Garfunkel album cover is _much_ better than the original. Evokes a folksier, yet haunting feeling.

Thanks, @Tibby . “Folksier and haunting” was what I was going for, so it’s nice to know I achieved that goal.

You Horowitz cover is great. I especially love the Elton John glasses and the “shreds Chopin and Liszt.” And nothing to do with your art, but I do wish Deutsche Grammophon had modernized their logo. Still, it’s easy to use, and you made good use of it.

Here’s one that I know I could improve, but it did win me an honorable mention, so I guess it wasn’t too terrible. The prompt was “Improved Movie Posters,” and as we were told, it was prompted (heh) by all the superhero movies whose posters featured the heroes atop a pile of rubble with a ruined cityscape in the background (any Batman, X-Men, Avengers, etc.). The movie that you designed the poster for didn’t have to be a superhero movie, you just had to make it unlike those, and the simpler yet more eye-catching, the better.

So here’s what I came up with for 2007’s _Hairspray_:

[![](https://live.staticflickr.com/3946/33827565985_8ca5937027_o.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/3946/33827565985_8ca5937027_o.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/33 "2021-11-16T02:02:50Z")

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@Spoons , the studio posters used for Hairspray were too cluttered and not very enticing. I like your retro 60’s design elements and simple, clear presentation. Good job!

And, I agree, Deutsche Grammophon should update their logo banner.

Here’s a quickie, for a laugh:

[![](https://i.imgur.com/88PmjAG.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/88PmjAG.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/34 "2021-11-17T06:57:15Z")

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Looks good, @Tibby ! Reminded me of one I’ve got in my portfolio:

[![](https://live.staticflickr.com/7484/16055851958_452476115f_o.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/7484/16055851958_452476115f_o.jpg)

The prompt was “Things You Missed in Famous Music Videos.” The video was Katrina and the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine,” and I captured the still off YouTube, which explains its lack of focus.

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**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/35 "2023-05-31T16:17:09Z")

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Not my work but good golly miss molly! Photoshop’s new generative tool is ridiculous…

> <https://twitter.com/_Borriss_/status/1663568770408013831>

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**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/36 "2023-05-31T20:15:55Z")

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Indeed, Photoshop’s new generative AI (Firefly) is pretty cool. I’ve been playing with it a couple days now (even posted a semi-generated photo on a clients social media). It’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting there.

Here are a couple of fun rough drafts I just made. They took only a couple minutes each. With a couple hours to refine them, they’d look more realistic, but the first generations are not bad.

Here’s a nice couple (original photo)

[![](https://i.imgur.com/qFgLubB.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/qFgLubB.jpg)

Here’s the lady with a new generated friend.

[![](https://i.imgur.com/f8yBVIN.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/f8yBVIN.jpg)

Here’s the guy with a new generated friend.  
[![](https://i.imgur.com/rpmAggn.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/rpmAggn.jpg)

Here’s the guy on vacation with the friend he chose.

[![](https://i.imgur.com/7gHjoV2.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/7gHjoV2.jpg)

Here’s my cat, Benny (original photo).

[![](https://i.imgur.com/9pXjkgM.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/9pXjkgM.jpg)

Here’s Benny with his generated friends.

[[Album] Imgur: The magic of the Internet ![](https://i.imgur.com/4yLBoAB.jpeg?fb "Imgur: The magic of the Internet") ](https://imgur.com/a/v1LPorC)

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/37 "2023-06-01T06:59:03Z")

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Some great work there, @Tibby . Love the cats and the hyena–could belong in the Caption Contest game in Thread Games.

I’m going to demonstrate my ignorance here—what is “generative fill” or “generative AI” in terms of Photoshop?

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/38 "2023-06-01T07:56:47Z")

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I guess you have to buy a subscription to be able to do this, am I right? I have been avoiding Adobe for years now, prefering the Affinity suite and Clip Studio Paint for my scribblings, I really object their subscription model. I think it is aberrant that an author would not own his own work. Has anything changed in this regard? What cost are we talking about (including Pantone colours, I hope)?

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/39 "2023-06-01T08:52:28Z")

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> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> I guess you have to buy a subscription to be able to do this, am I right?

Not necessarily. There is a version of Photoshop that (IIRC) is in the public domain, due to errors in registering the intellectual property. It’s either v. 2.0 or 3.0; I’m not sure which. Anyway, I used it for years, and it did everything I wanted it to.

Long-ago versions, but they worked well. I guess they still will.

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-photo-manipulation-thread-show-us-what-you-can-do/953310/40 "2023-06-01T09:03:57Z")

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Yes, there are old versions which are yours when you install them in your own hard disk, but they will not get any updates (except, perhaps, from the public doman community). Those versions will not be able to use generative AI, I guess. **Tibby** shoud know better, let’s wait for his experience. He gives his location as Florida, it is still early there.

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