Good art versus Photoshop. Why People are stupid.

Ok, so I am a fan of cosplayer Jessica Nigri. I find her costumes clever, especially the ones where she translates male characters into a female version, like this one. She recently did a Magneto photoshoot and all over her page people keep saying "Oh it's just Photoshop!" because there are floating chairs. Some of which even say "No chair shadows!" Bullshit. I'll show you.

Before I start breaking this down, I want it to be clear that I have a BFA, I work with Photoshop regularly, and while I am not a master, it doesn't take much to identify a shopped image. So here we go. The image:

So let me start with the "no shadows" thing, because people are obviously blind. Two of the three chairs' shadows were in fact caught in the image, see below.

So there ya go, shadows!!!!! OMG! And as for how the items were suspended, sure it could be done with Photoshop, but most professional photographers like to be a little more clever than that. There's this thing that was invented forever ago, and it's used by film, tv, and stage performers (as well as photographers) everywhere. It's called: lightweight high tensile string. It's lightweight and thin enough that it all but disappears on camera, and if it is even slightly noticeable, it can then be removed in about 1/2 a second in Photoshop. 

At least that's my theory, I mean hey, I'm a photographer, I see a room with those awesome support bars in the sunroof, and I think "Hey! I can create the illusion of chairs floating with string!" But, maybe that's just me, me and the guy/gal who took this pic. 

So please, enjoy the fucking photo, admire the talent of both the model and the photographer, and stop assuming everything is Photoshop.

The image used in this post belongs to Larry Alan Photography and Jessica Nigri.

/rant 

Edit: In hindsight, I felt that if I am going to sit here and rant on about Photoshopping, claiming to use it; I ought to back it up. Here's an example of my work. I restored a Polaroid taken when I was 19, which was a very long time ago. 

That is a Polaroid of myself with The Road Warrior Hawk, taken in the early 2000's. It's old, and time is taking its toll. So I scanned it into my then super awesome Macbook Pro. I ran it through Photoshop to restore it to it's original state. Here was the end result. 

Photoshop: It's not just for memes.