The Power of Photoshop

This image is scanned from a very old negative, one which was never well exposed in the first place. Taken in the early 70s in southern France, the image is of a “menhir,” one of the many great standing stones left cross Europe by Celtic and pre-Celtic culture. Many of course have been lost to war, farming and road construction. Notice how this one has been turned into a Christian symbol – probably hundreds of years ago. Early Christians were afraid of these pagan monuments and attempted to ward off their “evil” spells by carving a crucifix or other Christian symbol into the sacred stone.

The negative is heavily photoshoped, both in terms of contrast, lightness and color. The screen dumps below show how I isolated the stone for specific contrast and light manipulation; and I did the same to the meadow in the background.

I even changed the color balance in the meadow behind the stone.

Below is the original version.