Expert: LizaL - 5/1/2005

Question
You said you've used Photoshop for 13 years, since one of the first editions came out. What was available to graphic designers before Photoshop was created? How was the same work done?

Answer
Hi Christina,

That's a good question! The "same work" that we do today was done primarily in the traditional film darkroom before Photoshop came out. In a film (or "wet") darkroom, as opposed to the digital darkroom we have with Photoshop, it's not possible to do *all* the things Photoshop does. But with film negatives, images can be combined, parts of images removed, items can be added to images, colors can be changed, lightened and darkened -- all in the darkroom, using film negatives.

Granted, darkroom work isn't as extensive as what we have with Photoshop -- but a lot of special effects can be done using film negatives.

Many photographers still maintain wet darkrooms, and for good reason: They still shoot film, and do primarily black and white processing on their own.

Generally speaking, color processing is done differently -- using processes such as C-41 and E6. If you take a roll of color film to be processed, for instance, they might process it using E6. Not all photographers want to hassle with having and maintaining the chemicals and equipment required for color processing, so color film is often sent to a lab, even by photographers.

BTW, the forerunner of Photoshop was a program called "Display" and was written on a Mac Plus back in 1987.

Hope this helps!

Lisa