Erik Johansson an excellent photographer and a great photo manipulator.
His manipulated photo looks so real that its hard to think that its not. Erik did his computer engineering from Sweden, and had passion for photography since his childhood.
His manipulated photo looks so real that its hard to think that its not. Erik did his computer engineering from Sweden, and had passion for photography since his childhood.
He started creating amazing photos and is now one of the best photo manipulator I’ve seen. We also got the opportunity to have an interview, keep reading to know how it all started.
Hi Erik, thanks for this interview. Please tell us more about your art and design background and how it all started?
Ever since I was a kid I have been drawing, maybe it has something to do with my grandmother who was making paintings in water color. I got my first digital camera in the year 2000 on my 15th birthday. I found it fun to modify the photos in different ways but it was quite basic modifications and I didn’t put much time to it. A few years later in 2006 a good friend bought a DSLR-camera and I followed him out on photo walks in the Swedish country side. He got me to re-discover my photo interest and he was the reason that I bought a DSLR-camera about a year later. Today I have changed and upgraded my equipment several times and today I am using a Canon EOS 5d mark II mostly with the Canon 24-70 lens. Today I work as a freelance photographer.
Your work is inspirational, where do you get your inspiration from?
I get the inspiration from everywhere, from daily acclivities to magazines and books. Inspiration has never been a problem for me and I have a book where I write down the ideas that I get. Of course it’s harder to get inspiration under preasure but I usually figure something out.
Could you please describe the steps when working on a design?
When I know what I want to do I usually begin looking for places where I can take the photos that I need, this takes a lot of time and the scene is very important for the final result. When I have find the places and taken the photos I put them together in the computer.
I try to make it look as real as possible and the light is everything to make it look good together. My goal when I create my photos is to make them look as real as possible. Light and perspective is everything when it comes to merging photos together.
That is why I always photograph everything myself and don’t use stock photos. I use different techniques to blend the photos together, usually I just put the different photos on top of each other and work with layer masks to make the parts that I want visible.
I then work with saturation, contrast and brightness to make the transitions between the different photos smoother.
I try to make it look as real as possible and the light is everything to make it look good together. My goal when I create my photos is to make them look as real as possible. Light and perspective is everything when it comes to merging photos together.
That is why I always photograph everything myself and don’t use stock photos. I use different techniques to blend the photos together, usually I just put the different photos on top of each other and work with layer masks to make the parts that I want visible.
I then work with saturation, contrast and brightness to make the transitions between the different photos smoother.
Designers you love?
There are lots of great designers and photographers out there, some old artists that I like are Salvador Dali and M.C. Escher. I also like the Belgian photographer Koen Demuynck.
