Dali Atomicus by Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali

If you thought Li Wei's unphotoshopped photographs of levitating men looks impressive, you probably haven't seen the most epic of all jump shots: Dali Atomicus by Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali.

This image is just one of 28 attempts by the artist and photographer duo at creating a true instance of suspended animation. This was made around the time that Halsman was working on his Jumpology project where subjects where asked to pose for him in one of the most unorthodox ways: the jump shot. Here, the pair took it a step further by involving flying cats, cascading waters, and a jumping Dali.

There's more information about Dali Atomicus on its Wikipedia page. Iconic Photos also has a nice write-up on the collaboration between Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali, including outtakes on their several attempts at this one epic shot. If you're looking for more jump shots, be sure to check out the previous entry on Philippe Halsman's Jumpology project as well.

Li Wei: Unphotoshopped Photoshops of Flying Men

In this age of awesome Photoshop manipulations, it can be easy to look at unrealistic photo images and chalk them up to simple photo editing. The majority of photographers have no qualms using photo editing software to enhance their photographs, but a few others do it the old way and resort to more back-breaking methods to achieve their vision. Artist and photographer Li Wei has become famous for his seemingly unphotoshopped Photoshops showing men flying and cars floating through the air.

As a boy growing up in rural China, Li Wei always wanted to become an artist. He studied at a private arts school, but had to work at odd jobs to support himself later on. While he was then able to work securely as an artist using paint, Li realized that performance art was the only way that he could truly express himself. Thus began his foray into his "action shots".

When Li began his performance art series around 2000, they were simply that: performance art. The photographs only came in when Li wanted pictures to document his performances. When Li began his "Falls Into..." series, (depicting the artist literally falling into walls, cars, roads, etc.), photography became an integral part of his works.

After his "Falls Into.." series, Li went the other direction and made images of himself flying, floating or jumping on top of tall buildings, trees, or other people. These images slowly made him famous over the Internet, popularizing him as that crazy Asian man jumping out of skyscraper windows or being kicked off hi-rise rooftops.

In order to pull off these amazing shots, Li uses anything from mirrors to heavy-duty rope to rented-out cranes. These elements are then edited out to give a sense of impossibility to his pictures. While the editing process might fall under the Photoshop category, it's important to note that 99% of his images are done on the scene and the final 1% is just retouching. This video shows just how dangerous his guerrilla-style photo shoots can be.

In order to create just one of these images, Li spends months and sometimes years preparing for the shoot. He first creates a sketch of his idea before the scene actually takes place. Those months of visioning and hammering out the details pay off with the final image. Whether it's Photoshop or untouched, Li doesn't care much about the process compared to the reactions that he gets from viewers; most often his audience find themselves in awe or disbelief, other times they laugh out loud from the comical undertones of the scene.

In all of these images, Li hopes to emulate the legend of Sun Wukong (also known as the Monkey King). In the ancient Chinese fable, Sun Wukong is able to transform himself in 72 ways, each one more powerful than his human form. In the same way, Li hopes to show a sense of freedom and defiance over the mundane activities of normal life.

More flying men and levitating stuff over at Li Wei's website here. His more recent photo works can be found here. Although not that common, there are a few publications with his unphotoshopped photoshops. They include: Li Wei, another one also entitled Li Wei and Out Of The Red.

Stephen Wilkes: Night and Day Photoshop Magic

Sometimes, the simplest Photoshop ideas can turn out to be the hardest to execute. Erik Johansson's epic Photoshop images are testament to his creativity and his technical prowess at making seamless pictures. In Stephen Wilkes case, the transitions are just as consistent, but the different elements of time are immediately perceivable, allowing for the perfect combination of Night and Day with some Photoshop magic.

Stephen Wilkes is a professional photographer known for his fine art images, exhibited in dozens of galleries in the past decade. His first groundbreaking work was his 1999 series on the decaying health and mental facilities of Ellis Island. This project helped secure funding for the restoration of the south side buildings.

One of his latest projects is Day to Night which gives viewers are a taste of the New York city landscape with a time twist; morning and evening are shown in the same image, melded together to give an overview of what the NYC neighborhoods look like 12 hours apart.

The Day and Night images allow Wilkes to combine two of his favorite photography subjects, "...people on the street melded with epic cityscapes, and the fleeting moments throughout the day and night". Creating one of these amazing collages wasn't easy however; the photographer had to keep his camera fixed at the same spot for at least 10 hours, at times adjusting the exposure settings to make sure the light stayed consistent.

He then selects some 30 to 50 individual images to create one of his masterpieces, resulting in the hustle and bustle of the city in the day transitioning slowly to the street lights in the night.

Even with the large scale of his images, Wilkes still loves to capture little moments, which, when combined together, give viewers a "visceral experience" of the city. Thus, readers can see the Coney Island beach-goers and sunbathers on one side with the vibrant carnival on the other. Tourists walking around Times Square in broad daylight are suddenly engulfed in the advertising lights.

If you've never gone to New York City, then Wilkes images give you a cross-section of the vibrant city in one image.

This is Stephen Wilkes' website, with the Day to Night series over here. If you want to see some more epic Photoshop, you might want to check out Erik Johansson's images over here. His previous project, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom is available for purchase here.

Erik Johansson: Awesome Photoshop Manipulations

While some forms of photography have been comparable to art, one thing that has always set it apart is that everything caught on film (or sensor) is real, with many photojournalists and newspapers shunning excessive image editing. But sometimes some works of photo manipulation are just so amazing that its hard not to give praise to the artist. For instance, Erik Johansson's digital artworks are probably at the top the Internet's most awesome Photoshop manipulations.

You might have already seen some of Erik Johansson's photo manipulations as some of them have been quite popular fodder for e-mails, blogs and even Facebook posts. Johannson is a professional photographer and retoucher, but amazingly, most of his more famous manipulations are those he created in his spare time.

As a child, Johansson was more interested in drawing and sketching, and later on photography when he got his first camera as a teenager. He felt that it was a strange to begin with one art form where everything created is original and then move to another where everything created is real. When he took an interest in computers, he combined his three passions and the result is what you see here.

In order to create his impressive artworks, Johansson first takes several photographs of a scene that he likes. Some of his artworks may take several weeks to create, not because of the digital manipulation involved (which might take a few days), but because he selects different scenes to be included in only one work.

He doesn't use any stock photos, choosing to take his own photographs as he has more control of the lighting and angles. These two components are key as they help create the illusion of oneness in his images. He then finds the right areas where the individual photographs can intersect to form a seamless image.

Johansson always starts with a sketch of his first idea, but admits that the final product is always different from his initial thought, but in a good way.

With his digital manipulations, Johansson seeks to both create both the most realistic and unrealistic scene in one image. Unlike pure documentary photography where the objective is to capture moments (in the style of Henri Cartier-Bresson), Johnsson seeks to create ideas, and his Photoshop edits allow him to do just that.

More awesome Photoshop manipulations over at Erik Johansson's website. His TED Talk gives a good overview of how he creates his artworks. Be sure to check out his perspective illusions as well.