Artist Photoshops Scenes From WWII Into Present Day

Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov has taken old World War II photos and photoshopped them over the locations in present day. The scenes from places like Prague, Vienna, and Moscow are incredibly well done and a neat way to appreciate history.

Comments

Very thought-provoking.

[jbarr]

It's a great way to remember past events by envisioning them through today's eye. Very cool.

Re:Very thought-provoking.

[CharlyFoxtrot]

With the way technology is going I imagine we're not far from an augmented reality app that would be able to overlay/blend pictures like this into live footage and display it. How eerie would that be ?

Very interesting

[MBGMorden]

This is probably the most interesting use of photoshoping I've seen yet. By seeing the conditions of the streets and buildings merged straight into modern times, you really get a sense of how war-torn the world was at the time.

Re:Very interesting

[Charliemopps]

I agree, great idea, but he's not very good at photoshop. Most slashdotters probably have the skills to do better. Although we usually use ours to edit walrus's into various hilarious positions.

Re:Very interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because it's easy, doesn't mean the value as art is any less potent.

Re:Very interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. The modern version should be black and white like the old version.

The coloration demarcates the past from the present. On some of them he could have transitioned a little more smoothly between the black and white and the color areas but they are nevertheless interesting.

Re:Very interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

MBGMorden said "This is probably the most interesting use of photoshoping I've seen yet".

So I don't know where you get off saying "Not really." on someone's opinion, as it's not stated as fact.

I agree with MBGMorden in the fact that the images, although maybe in your opinion, are not the most technically advanced computer manipulated images, do instill within me a feeling of realism of WW2 for myself. It's hard for me to look at a BnW image of a photograph in the 1940's and feel some sort of realism to it. Imposing them into modern images instills within me a sense of realism, of which I am appreciative.

Re:Very interesting

[NeutronCowboy]

The difference between a master and an amateur is not the technical skill, but the emotional content of the works. People can study Vermeer's brushstrokes or Ansel Adams' exposure techniques all they want, but it won't make them into their role models.

Same here. What makes this awesome isn't the user's technical competency of an image editing software. It's the fact that the images created are a powerful reminder of how recent WW2 was, and how little separates us now from them then.

Re:Very interesting

[ElectricTurtle]

I don't know who's dumber, the AC or the people modding him up. In the first place, changing the base photos from color to monochrome would completely violate and nullify the artistic integrity of the images. The whole aesthetic point is that the past images are ghosts, and the monochromatic color palette is the indicator of that status. If you reduced everything to that level, the past portions would cease to be 'special' and would exude less, if any, otherworldly incongruence which is contrasted to the structural congruence of the image as setting/composition. Go back to art class.

Secondly, denigrating the technical simplicity of the task is really uncalled for. It doesn't matter that it is technically rather simple to perform, many great works of art are not necessarily difficult in technique, but their value comes from the unique and meaningful perspective of the artist. In this particular case, I have to say that these are some of the most inspired, evocative, and meaningful photo manipulations I have ever seen or am ever likely to see. I care not for how relatively difficult they may or may not have been to produce.

Re:Very interesting

[HTH NE1]

I wouldn't even call this photoshopping. All he did was take a photo at the same angle and then use a mask to show various parts.

Either with lenses with the exact same distortion or correcting for the distortion in the old photo, new photo, or both. And making sure the scale is exactly right for both images.

Even just finding the exact positioning for the camera to produce the proper alignment is a challenge, especially if it has to be taken with the camera in the middle of modern traffic, or if the terrain has changed enough that you can't stand there anymore.

In practice, you'll have to make lots of adjustments in post just to get the images aligned properly even if you do get the modern photo taken from the right position with the right angle.

Re:Very interesting

[hexmem]

I completely agree with you. I absolutely love the concept this artist has done. But I would not buy and hang one of these pictures in my home because it looks like he spent a whole 2 minutes blending the images together.

Re:Very well done? REALLY?

[geekoid]

The point was to look at place years after they had been destroyed and to contrast the iece of history with now. NOT to make it seem like it's happening right now.

Seriously, get with it.

Try in b&w

[sznupi]

Gets really quite eerie when the pictures are displayed in a software capable of switching to greyscale. Not "better" of course, the contrast was surely also the point...but interesting, more blended.

Though it does make the photos more distant, I guess - doesn't help with how, while being a small kid, I thought for some time that the world had to be so sad place in the past, without colors ;) (I apparently missed the existence of color paintings/etc.; and, in retrospect, wasn't very wrong; in some twisted way...)

Good start

[dazedNconfuzed]

Interesting start, but methinks has a ways to go. As others note, it's mostly just rough masking one photo onto another.

Methinks the effect would be more striking if the foreground characters were crisply masked onto the background photo, with a broader blending of striking background distinctions (rubble). Don't just have a soldier fade into the modern setting.

Re:Very well done? REALLY?

[Sir_Lewk]

Spoken like someone who has never created a work of art. There is more value there than the technical expertise require to create it, just like there is more value to a painting than the technical expertise of the paint strokes.

Content is everything.

Re:Brillant!

[GooberToo]

I wouldn't think any American under maybe 75 could relate to WWII

Those over the age of thirty have a much better chance of relating to the technology base. As someone else pointed out, it was a lot easier to talk with someone who was actually in those wars. Likewise, many more civilians were also private pilots. Many of the instructors were war pilots - or at least someone you stand a chance of bumping into at the airport.

These days, the number of WWII vets who are still alive are quickly dwindling. Which is why there are active projects to record their stories. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact, that in an era of endless plentiful, most American's can not begin to appreciate the sacrifices even the civilians made to further the war effort.

My statement was not made to be snide and no, I didn't arbitrarily adjust the age; though low 30-ish is likely more accurate now. That's the age most studies indicates a rapid falloff takes place in awareness of those wars and the associated technology base.

Retouching

[wayward_bruce]

It should be worth noting that the "photoshopping" means using Adobe Photoshop. Retouching is the word for a general process of photo modification regardless of the software used. In short, every time someone says "photoshopped", they are advertising Adobe Photoshop for no compensation. :)

Re:Good idea, poor execution.

[Anonymous Coward]

>It's a great idea, but the execution is absolutely awful.

And yet he's on the front page of slashdot while you're relagated to whining from the peanut gallery.

Actually... No.

[denzacar]

Despite the lack of technical skill, the artist achieved the goal of having me feel that I was standing in another's shoes.

I am guessing here, but I am quite certain that you were actually moved by the original art and authenticity of the old photos he picked for their "power".

Kinda like how an old song sung by an "American Idol" star doesn't get better - it was good to begin with. At best, it will be "OK". At worst... well...
And it works the same way for "professionals" too.

And no amount of hardware can make an artist out of a hack. Particularly not a tablet in this case.
To fix those, one would need to use some actual elbow grease PLUS something the "artist" clearly lacks - the eye of a photographer.
Cause those photos he used are not photographs. Those are snapshots.

Not a single impressive point in any of them. They are completely expressionless and "dead".
Why? Cause he was taking photos of dead things - buildings. Whoever was taking those old photos was taking photos of living people.
Living people doing "important things". Meaningful things. Things worth being preserved for posterity.

In the new photos people are there simply by accident. Utterly meaningless and completely unmotivated.
Those photos don't contrast - they clash.