i recently had a conversation with a fellow photographer who is a film photographer. he mentioned he loves shooting film because it requires little processing and is more “true” to the scene that he sees as he photographed.
as we spoke, the conversational turned towards to those who use photoshop to swap out skies, add sun rays, etc. this, he said, can’t be done with film. while i agree with him about not wanting to use photoshop to change out skies or add things that weren’t in the initial composition, he was completely wrong when saying these “photoshop-only” tasks couldn’t be done with film.
there is an artist by the name of Jerry Uelsmann who was “doing photoshop” with film negatives and prints before many of the photoshop developers were born. he uses multiple enlargers when combining two or more negatives to create his prints. his work stands out as largely ethereal, incredibly beautiful and thought-provoking - even when one may think that photoshop was used to combine the images. when one considers his application of the art of printmaking from film negatives to incorporate his composite images, the respect level goes through the roof.
as is always the case, i prefer to respect copyright laws by not posting the artist’s work on my site. i also believe that the best way to learn is to do the research oneself. his website is here, but i highly encourage you to do some searches on both he as an artist and his work. you can also find an excellent book of his work here. not only is Jerry an expert print maker, but an artist of expression in his composite prints. i hope you enjoy exploring his work.