Castle-of-Manips

A community of photomanipulators

Founded

Years Ago285 Members313 watchers

We are a community of photomanipulators and stock providers!

We host monthly contests and challenges to inspire creativity and collaboration:

Contest: a specific theme is provided, and artists are invited to create original photomanipulations based on it. Contests run for 4 weeks.
Challenge: a set of stock images is given, but the theme is open-ended. Let your imagination run wild! Challenges run for 3 weeks.

Join us and showcase your skills, explore new ideas, and connect with fellow creatives!

To find out what is the current contest/challenge, look at the Posts tab.

Group cover image by @jasminira

Be respectful and kind
We accept only photomanipulations, mixed media (i.e. photomaniplations including 3D stock) and resources (stock photo, tutorials, brushes etc.)
No Spam
No pornography, no gore, no offensive content
No politcs
Naked art must have the "Mature Filter" on
We do NOT accept membership requests from blank accounts, nor from users who do not have photomanipulations/stock among their works. In this case, if you like the group, consider watching us instead

For any question, feel free to contact the admins

Critque - 1st Edition by ImaginaryRosseArt, journal

Critque - 1st Edition

Jul 7, 2019

CRITIQUE PROJECT 1st Edition. First of all, I'd like to thank the people who submitted their works and wanted to be part of this project. I appreciate all of you, and hopefully, my bits of advice will help you with improving your works. And I want all of you to understand and see what "constructive criticism" is. I'm here to help you. I'm here to help you improve. And only through practice and knowledge, we can master our craft. FIRST, ATTENTION PLEASE: I do not claim I'm perfect nor the best at Photomanipulation. Everything comes from my personal knowledge and experience. You can take my advice and blend it in your own style of work. ...

The Big Question: Digital Darkroom or Photomanip? by isthisthingstillon, journal

The Big Question: Digital Darkroom or Photomanip?

Sep 17, 2015

Darkroom Week Introduction One of the most common questions I get about the darkroom gallery is "Is this piece darkroom or a photomanipulation?" And it's a good question - the line gets a bit blurry in places, and sometimes how we define it for ease of submitting and browsing isn't completely in line with what most people would assume. Today in a very special episode of Project Educate we've cancelled our morning appointments to bring a collaborative article wherein myself and @Aeirmid discussed (in realtime, albeit earlier so we could make it pretty) the lines between photography and manipulation and what pieces belong where.Excep...

HOW TO ADD A REALISTIC SHADOW ON A GROUND by annewipf, literature

Literature

HOW TO ADD A REALISTIC SHADOW ON A GROUND

TO My picture was lighted by an early morning sun, I had to think to the way to add some shadows from the balustrade to the ground on the foreground. Here is the way I used and I hope it will be useful for you. 1. COPY AND PASTE on a new layer the balustrade (or any object you want to project the shadow). Then place the copy just under the original layer, using the Free Transform tool. 2. CHANGE IT INTO A BLACK SILHOUETTE Using the Image > Adjustments > Brightness Contrast setting, as shown below (Brightness minimum, Contrast maximum). 3. TRACE SOME DIRECTIONAL LINES FROM THE LIGHT SOURCE Choose the light so...

The main faults of a beginner (Me in 2012) by annewipf, literature

Literature

The main faults of a beginner (Me in 2012)

... and how to correct them. Credits and links to the stocks used on the new picture I Ching 05 - Xu (Waiting) I was a bit ashamed about this picture done in 2012 and chose to redo it entirely (with another house, due to the removal from dA of the first one). But what were the main mistakes and how can we correct them?Here are the faults which immediately grabbed my eyes: 1. BLENDING In 2012, I didn't master the adjustment layers and I tried to blend the pictures together using a full of colored layers (colors picked on every source layer) on a soft light mode: it may be a solution sometimes, but it often gives a bad result as we can s...

How to compose with Light and Shadows by annewipf, literature

Literature

How to compose with Light and Shadows

My friend, Laxmi Bharani, :iconblubirdss: , did this picture and asked me for some advices:I love the vivid colors and the blue light of the background, with its reflections on the girl's hair. Nevertheless, something hearts me in the compositions: the main subject of this picture should be the 2 faces and, mostly, the girl's face, but the violent red of the roses catch the viewer's eye on the flowers. This needs to keep the flowers in the shadow, except for the few parts of them which touch te faces of the models (and we will not forget to add some shadows on the rose in the girl's hair). Like this:In this prupose, I'll use the technics...

Group Info

We're all about Photo Manipulations here. If you're an artist of another kind and work in traditional or mixed media besides digital then check out our group @CastleofCards

Founded Mar 18, 2015

282 Members

3 Admins

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Olgola

Yesterday

Voting Contest Totem

0 min read

The Totem contest has come to an end and it is time to vote for the winners! Entries How to vote We will have 3 winners, so please choose your top 3 favorite entries from above. Your 1st choice will receive 3 points Your 2nd choice will receive 2 points Your 3rd choice will receive 1 point All votes will be counted, and the entries with the highest total scores will win 1st and 2nd place. Important Votes indicating less than 3 preferences will not be counted Participants are not allowed to vote for their own work Participants must vote (otherwise a penalty of 3 points applies) You are welcome to share this journal to get more people to vote, but you cannot ask them to vote for you Voting ends on the 31st of January 2026 at midnight

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Olgola

Dec 22, 2025

Castle of Manips Contest #3: Totem - CLOSED

0 min read

Welcome to the third photomanipulation contest at Theme A totem is a symbolic guardian that reflects the inner strength, identity, and instinct of a person. For this contest, create a photomanipulation in which you explore the bond between a person and their spirit animal. Deadline 22nd January 2026 at midnight (CET = Rome time zone) Rules You must be a member of @Castle-of-Manips (just click on the Join button on the homepage ) only photomanipulation and mixed media (i.e. a mixture of photos and 3D models) are allowed no AI (not even stock images made with AI). No generative fill in photoshop Stock must be credited with a direct link to the stock image in the description of your work All stock used must be legitimate. Google images are not stocks. No nude, no porn, no gore, no offensive content, no politics Your entry must be new and created specifically for this contest (works created before the publishing date of this journal will not be accepted) In the description

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