40 Examples of Incredible Photo Manipulation

Jun. 10, 2009 | Inspiration | 163 comments

Photo manipulation is an ever evolving collaboration between photography and graphic design.

Combining certain elements to create a unique image, that can convince even the most experienced set of eyes, requires a very creative set of skills.

Because the manipulation of a photo gives a realistic view of an unreal picture, you should have an open mind when gathering ideas on how to get creative with your images.

Photo manipulations are a great source for inspiration, generally because designers are able to express their creativity through various aspects of design.

Several of the following images contain illustrative elements, while others display a more realistic approach.

So here are 40 of the most incredible examples of photo manipulation.

Which ones are your favorites? Please feel free to post links to other examples in the comments’ area below…

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COMMENTS

http://blog.insicdesigns.com insic

ahaha foot face is amazing and the head for sale. :)
http://www.thisiswilson.com Michael Wilson

Most are pretty great – but some are sub par at best, most of the first few – it gets better down the way though. Big fan of the Perrier one, fantastic work.
- Mike Meyers
  
  Wow you must be cool.
- Eric
  
  Pretty funny! You critique the work, yet you can’t even get the brand name of the water correct!
http://ashishlohorung.com.np Ashish Lohorung Rai

I liked the road being pulled……great collection…
http://www.vmalni.com Buzzlair Voufincci

awesome! i like the girl with the umbrellas.
http://www.pubdomains.com Pubdomains

I would like to rate them in the following order –
#1 Panther – Big cat has come up really well in this picture manipulation
#2 Cig with ashed city also is an excellent snap and a very well conceived idea.
#3 Lost in the maze of roads !!! Just Amazing…

Regds,
Veena
http://www.orphicpixel.com orphicpixel

jeez! i want to have my own collection of these one, how many days will i do for a 5 images? i love this collections
Atef AlShehri

I like it ..

This is in Saudi Arabia ..

http://jjasso.deviantart.com/art/CIGAR-CITY-45079575
http://blog.fazai38.com Fazai38

Beautiful.. fantasy yet so real.
http://www.embed-design.com/ Oliver

Wow these looks just great. Awesome selection
http://www.crearedesign.co.uk Adam

I used to do a bit of photo-manipulation before getting a full time job, it’s amazing what effects you can achieve. I gotta say though none of mine were as good as those above, outstanding quality. That twisted road one is phenominal.
http://www.crystalvisions.nl Marc

I’d be curious to see the original pictures to see what they started out with. Very impressive indeed.
http://www.csswebsites.nl/ CSS Websites

Most of them are really great!
http://www.empfehlenswert-wien.at erk

very good work
http://renespics.funpic.de RenesPics

WoW! Just WoW..Amzing Photo Manipulations. Great Collection I like i =)
http://mesotheliomacancernewsinformation.blogspot.com/ Elena

Nice creativity. Really superb. I am very much excited :)
http://www.sicanstudios.com Alex C.

Some great manipulations there! Awesome work!
Thanks for sharing!

Regards!
matt

the pics didnt work for me??
- Danny Boy
  
  Matt are you serious, this stuff is way cool.
http://www.davidhellmann.com David Hellmann

really great stuff!
http://blog.karolzielinski.com Karol Zielinski

Incredible photos! I’m really impressed!
http://www.imajalah.com appleKrowak

soooooo amaziiiiiinnnnnggg… i loooovvveeeee themmmm
Marta

I`ve got three favourites: the woman in club (Perrier), the pulled road and the lost roads but I think, most are really great!
http://www.colormysky.com ColorMySky

Images are erroring for me on IE7.
http://freelancercrowd.com/tutorials/clients-to-be-aware-of.html Crowd

Great works
http://www.binnewies-partner.com Christian

I love the one with the streets, realy amazing…
http://www.distrasdesigns.com Mike Distras

Not many things genuinly make me impressed, but some of these are absolutly amazing.

Agree with one of the other coments though, some are below par, but still good!
http://lenss.nl Lana

tutorial of flaming lady is hier

http://www.photoshoplady.com/tutorial/how-to-create-a-flaming-photo-manipulation/959
http://lenss.nl Lana

water people tutorial is here :)

http://www.photoshoplady.com/tutorial/create-amazing-photomontages/426
http://www.asponesgroup.com Nelson Campos

Perfeitos!
http://AskKristi.com Kristi Sayles

I liked the headless guy-now, how could he see to choose? lol
http://route66today.blogspot.com Russ

Very impressive photos. I’d like to learn more about the techniques and software used. A tutorial would be nice, as would some comments on the techniques/inspirations for various photos.
gilles

page does not load on my ms ie 7.0.5730.11 FR on xp sp1
(none of the 40 images are shown)

load ok on firefox
load ok on opera
http://www.koda-creative.co.uk Jaso

Panther head is amazing. I wonder how people think of the ideas for some of those in the first place. Surreal.
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter

@gilles, @ColorMySky, @Matt: all problems with the images should be corrected by now. Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience.
http://pasaro.110mb.com/granada/granada.html Paul

Heads for sale is the best one.
Jason Miller

I love the one with the mashed up road and also the one with the sheet road being pulled but all these images are really amazing and makes me want to attempt my own photo manipluations.
http://www.searchantigua.com Ken Shipley

the 5th photo is amazing i might use that on my site if anyone is interested in following me @searchantigua
Nina

awesome! the supermarket/head one isn’t that diffucult though… but the road mash one is fantastic! :)
http://www.terryreeves.com Terry Reeves

Some people are talented beyond belief.
http://www.brushthis.com Liora

That leopard is especially interesting. I see it was made with a photo, paintshop pro and plugin filters. It has very intricate 3D effects, a very powerful image.
Marika

Nice ones too!

http://fotoshoot.nl/portret.php
Andra

My fav is the one showing the African child, with the dehydrated skin. For me, it is very suggestive in showing the drought and its effects in Africa.
Congrats to the artists!
http://www.psprint.com/stickers-labels Ashely Adams : Sticker Printing

It’s a very enjoyable list. Warped imagination, inspired madness, pure genius – no matter how you try to describe these creations, one thing is certain. They are fantastic! Just makes us aware how much we love conformity. Anything out of the ordinary strikes us with a magnitude that’s really surprising.
http://www.b3ckstage.com B3ckstage

Awesome blog !
http://www.psdvault.com James Qu

Absolutely amazing works!!! Great collection, thank you Walter! Now I have some new inspiration for my next project!
http://www.aledesign.it aledesign.it

Incredible! Amazing! I don’t have words… Fantastic, fabulous!!!!!!! ;)
http://www.madeiraholidays.net madeira

hard to see how some use photography at all – seems GFX only – but they still look stunning
http://www.deerawan.com deerawan

awesome and beautiful…the road is my favourite…gr8
http://javacikiz.blogspot.com/ javacikiz

Perfect!!
http://www.e11world.com e11world

I wonder what types of plugins/filters they used to get these effects. I don’t think it’s just standard photoshop/corel or whatever they used. Really nice work!
Billiam

Here is one that should be there.

http://mayhem-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/070519/21/464f9edd5e8c9.jpg
http://review-center.net/ bodyweightloss

what a wonderful collection of plugins………
http://metalonic.com Silas

Wow stunning
http://www.myspace.com/khanyisilemayekiso KHANYI

damn amazing stuffs…the man on the stick and the road lost nice stuufffsssss…what SPECIAL PLUGINS ARE THESE????
http://www.coolershaker.com Cool pictures

Wow, these blew me away…awesome collection. Thanks for sharing :)
http://www.bombchell.com Bombchell in Atlanta

so much great work.
Carlos MV

just wow
MacDX1

It’s just Perfect!!!~~~
Donnellbastard

Too bad digital manipulation isn’t real photography and shouldn’t even be called as such. Real talent comes from shooting real scenarios, real people, real objects. These people have a great imagination, and a great talent, but it just shouldn’t be called photography. Ansel Adams is a real photographer, not these artists…
- joel
  
  it is still an art form.this requires talent not in the way you cherish but still talent..dont be so biased..
http://www.jmorcoinc.com/projects.html Jdanceproject

Wow! freaky cool!!
http://fiddler.over-blog.de Daniel

I totally love the first one! Very nice collection again – there’s nothing like a cool WDD-list at the end of a hard day ;)
http://www.agemcja-mojito.pl mojitopl

a great place to get inspirations and understand how much I suck! ;)
http://designstudentdiary.wordpress.com Ioanis

The first one is fantastic. All round great list!
sokutchi

very cool i enjoy it >>
http://www.dell.com ChrisBatDell

Absolutely beautiful work… truly inspiring =)

Chris Byrd
Dell Digital Life Evangelist
Follow me on Twitter @ChrisBatDell
Marcus

Wow!
http://www.consumedconsumer.org Consumed Consumer

two are with cigarettes, and more than two with “mineral” water.. you can tell where the big marketing budgets are :)
GW

I especially like one of the fellow pulling the road behind him. I don’t know that I’d call these photo manipulations; some look like they were painted using an illustration program.
craig

I was wondering if you could purchase a print of one of these. I would definitely pay some money to get a poster version of 2 or 3 if it cost $20-$30 per copy.
http://www.svruhestestvenoto.com val mykov

Don Quixote; walking “tree-man”; foot face… especially – The Choice of a Head (creativetempest/3210475627/) – are amazing…
And many, many others also…
http://www.happybruno.com Bruno

Wow. Every one of these manipulated pictures look fantastic. Very inspirational.
http://www.eburhan.com eburhan

amazing !!!
wesh

Here’s the original of the exploding girl (Hayden Panettiere)
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/gotmilk/29461/images/29461-hi-Hayden.jpg
Glyn

All fantastic shots. Love the tangled road.
ami

i really like the one with the guy dragging the road! very cool
FRANK ACOSTA

EXCELLENT….EXCELLENT…..
Marty

Love the one of the man and the dead tree!
gaby

I like the disco ball melting!!
http://album.eddiemak.com eddie

you are just brilliant!!!
http://jatmikajati.blogspot.com/ jatmika

nice job
Aykut

Great!
david

GEESHHH… Im so sick of going to comments and see people screaming about the pics being photoshopped… like you guys know. These are real pics and all you posers screaming about pixels… get a life… I have seen some of these in real life.

heheheheheee… sorry. I just had to.
http://whoseowncountry.blogspot.com/ scorpiogenius

Some of them are freaky…eerie..loved the umbrellas and the girl…
http://www.tazman.ro/ TazMan

cool :)
etaichil

Cool….. its so amazing!
http://usefuldocs.atponweb.com/2009/03/effective-gooooogling.html Jagadish

Pictures are awesome…. I couldn’t stop showering praises on the one who designed these.
http://sacredspace.atponweb.com/2009/06/gayatri-mantra.html Priya

Simply Superb …
Alter Ego

So great!
http://internet-creatives.com Andrea

Absolutely incredible work. Who has that type of imagination to even conceive of some of those ideas?

The picture of the girls in a nightclub, melting, is amazing. Really conjures up the concept of a really ‘hot’ night!
Sandesh Shinde

ohh….wowwwwwwwwwww….. awesome work really unbelivable…… excellent keep it up
Efe

Amazing stuff. …..aaaaaaaaargh…when am I gonna get this good?
http://modernvacuum.com Scott

Awesome pictures. It takes some real time and dedication to come up with these amazing manipulations!
http://animatrick.com Animatrick

some of them are really breathtaking .
http://www.businessabcpages.com Online Directory

Wow! amazing stuff. Very inspirational.
Ashutosh (India)

well well well mind blowing work! What an Idea sir G !
http://robinferianto.com robb

rainbow smoke is gotta be the best.
great pics all of them.
Nahia

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG VERY NICEE, I love it!
Sheila

Wow! all are amazing! I like the one searching for the head. :)
Rakesh

Hi!

All works are awesome. I really like those effects and m also keen to create effects like that. So, pls help me to create thease type of effects or guide me how can i able to create that kind of effects.

once again. Great work.

Waiting for your quick reply.

Thanks and Regards
Rakesh
http://www.bendayan.se Pierre

Cool post!
This is my contribution to the list:
http://www.bendayan.se/2009/08/21/en-riktig-usb-thumbdrive/

cheers!
shahenda

amazing………)
http://www.ediedson.com Mônica

Very creative artist!
Erin

Great technical mastery, it takes an awful lot of skill to pull most of these images off, and for that I can say bravo. On the other hand I thought a lot of these images were trite and lacked conceptual originality. How many times have I seen flame girl, or water girl? The image world is saturated by these, and I for one would like to see something else. A few were good and showed some interesting and unique ideas like the night club image and the road pulling, but overall they lacked ingenuity.
http://vijayjoshi.org Vijay Joshi

simply awesome. I liked the guy pulling the road and man searching for head.
http://www.acunaphotography.com David Acuna

The Leopard in color is AMAZING!!!
pesho

amazing collection thanks
Jacob Radja

i thought these were all very well put together the way u combined some of this stuff was completely seamless i loved every one of them in fact if u dont mind id like to use sum as wall papers
http://blog.roo13.de individualisa

Wow, amazing pictures… I wish I would be as good in Photoshop as these people are…
efemeris

how about this one? http://eligodesign.deviantart.com/art/REQUIEM-115717579
http://www.alejandroperazzo.com/ Alvaro Hernandorena

OMG incredible, the road one is great.
http://www.fotostudio-kowalski.de Martin

Just GREAT!
http://www.triond.com/users/missy1549 Melissa

wow, those were awesome!!! i loved the cat pic the most tho!

how about this pic~ http://kimixmiyako-chan.deviantart.com/art/Final-Strike-142452259
my friend made…XD
http://www.aydesign.net web tasarım

would like to rate them in the following order –
#1 Panther – Big cat has come up really well in this picture manipulation
#2 Cig with ashed city also is an excellent snap and a very well conceived idea.
#3 Lost in the maze of roads !!! Just Amazing…
http://azizuanaziz.blogspot.com Azizuan Aziz

that colorful smoke is totally amazing
http://www.moinid.com Web Ideas

Beautifl compilation of photos
http://www.computerandgadgets.com Gadgets

Wow these are some impressive artistic interpretations. Some of these are off the charts. I wish my photoshop skills were up to this level.
duarte andrade

loved it! i liked particularly of the one where the roads get into a knot (sorry about my english: i`m portuguese). the work shown is quite inspirational and beautiful. i can`t acess the technical merits, but the visual feeling and the ideas portrayed in these pictures make me feel to privileged to see them. Thank you for sharing your work and allowing me to live a moment of beauty!
http://www.ivyblue.net Ivy Blue

See Jeffery Scott’s Work.

Mindbending Manipulations: http://factory1019.com/
an_unquiet_mind

gorgeous, what a great collection…
if you enjoyed them too then you might like these….

http://www.chrismcfall.com/albumart.html
http://tayomismo.com Sikat ang Pinoy

wow.. it’s really amazing. where can i find tutorials for this?
http://diggtheweb.blogspot.com/2009/12/find-fastest-dnsdomain-name-server-near.html kxhitiz

Great , love it.
http://www.lucygrafham.com Lucy Grafham

Talent! How can you pick a favourite? Each one makes me green with envy. Would have loved to be on the creative team of any of these.

Stumbled Upon. Added to Favourites. Fabulous x
Stuart

How did you go about creating the Panther one? it is amazing!
http://www.myspace.com/_rachaelpage_ Rachael

Love the ladie in the woods, very classic fairytale id love a pic like that in my portfolio, also the melting, comic and road

great work
Pieter

All brilliant!!

Some people have such wonderful imaginations and obviously a lot of skill and patience. Most inspiring. My congratulations to all the artists.
a person

holy crap, this is freaking amazing!
michelle

Looking for a photo manipulation artist to edit wedding photos.
- http://www.presetsheaven.com Pierre
  
  Hi Michelle.
  I’m the founder of presetsheaven.com
  Contact me on my site if you’re still interested.
  
  Best regards,
  Pierre
http://justsearchmynameonfacebook John Greg Amores

Hi i’m John Amores from Australia

I like the photo were the hammer was turn like into pieces when it hit the glass. lol :)
http://www.bloggs74.com/ Cathy

oh….thats really fantastic
http://www.hybridlava.com/ Ferguson

very nice photo manipulation…genius stuff
apple

OMg these are amazing :P
http://www.litmusonline.com/logo-design.aspx logo design portfolio

Really, it’s called creativity. If someone wants to know the mean of creativity, show this page. He definitely get the real mean of creativity.
Thanks for sharing it here.
http://g33kpr0n2.com chris

Wow… some clearly more interesting than others, but each one still balls-tastic in it’s own right! =o
http://webbyarts.com Mohanraj

This is really good. Adding to this have a look @

http://www.webbyarts.com/photography/48-ultimate-photo-editing-manipulation-for-graphics-inspiration.html
http://www.wearingrainbows.com/mens-waistcoats-ties-c-2659.html Billy

these are fantastic, great work!
http://ram1990ece@gmail.com Ramavtar

really awesome pics
you’ve done very fantastic manipulation
http://www.kivancakdeniz.com Kıvanç Akdeniz

tree-man is really awesome!
http://www.clippingimages.com Shamima Sultana

excellent work…
really great to see these work
Ganiesh Hegde

Just Outstanding…………….
http://www.grafikrim.com/katalog_brosur_tasarimi.html katalog tasarim

I think not break the glass of the most beautiful .. very realistic .. I love .. Thanks ..
http://www.psyched.be/wordpress Darkened Soul

All of it, nice work, liked the post alot. better than most of the stuff we see next to the road on them giant billboards… crap everywhere ;)
http://reflexivethougths.wordpress.com/ katchja

I love the Dali inspired photo manipulation! when art meets cool designers…
ega

realy good ilove picture….May I know how to make???pleaseee
Dan

Alex Mercer in the 2 pic?
anahita

i love photo manipulation and please help me for work in style
http://photos.jmleclercq.com jmleclercq

Amazing collection !
rohith

too good.all r excellent.great creativity
http://www.hanzray.com Hanz Ray

Amazing Inspirations!
http://www.fightstance.com/ reyven

Epic manipulations! WoW! Thanks for sharing.
http://www.claucebrianphotography.com/ fine art photography in Miami

Maximum time my fillings, it is horrible … impossible …. and so on
Cher

I am inspired by the beautiful images you have posted! They’re truly amazing! I would like to add this one if I may! ; ) http://www.flickr.com/photos/intocreating/3777018994/#/photos/intocreating/3777018994/lightbox/
http://www.asmussenfoto.dk fotograf asmussen

I really love the one from mariano villalba. The one with the wooden horse. But all of the pictures are FANTASTIC!
EmeraldJazz

These are amazing. What softwares are you using? I have been wanting to create my character and scenes from my stories with photo manipulation, but so far, I have not found a good tool, or am too uneducated to use the ones I have found. Wish I was as good as you. Great work, and awesome imagination.
http://www.burhanbasaran.com burhan

Great photos
http://www.better-digital-photo-tips.com/ Bruce

Fascinating collection. There is a lot of great imagination and talent being displayed here.

Keep them coming
http://www.photomalaya.com Neezhom Photomalaya

Thanks for the inspiration! great colllection :)
http://klingpost.com Anila Arshad

Wow its so beautiful and amazing images of manipulation…….Nice work
Elvie

wow! amazing mind… i love to learn how…
dean

beautiful and amazing images of manipulation…….Nice work

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