Would Seeing Be Believing?
Suppose a colleague, a photographer, called asking you what you thought of the sunset last evening. You’re forced to admit that missed you it entirely. So the colleague emails you this huge photo.
What do you imagine your response would be?
-
a. Wow! I need to pay more attention to the world around me.
b. Hope the weather holds and we catch another sunset like this tonight.
c. Up in the corner looks like storm clouds could be rolling in.
d. They don’t make skies like that. Wonder how much she enhanced it?
e. other
My dad often said, “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”
What color is the sky in the world of digital media?
How do we know what’s real?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
My answer would be (A) as I try to always appreciate the beauty in nature all around me. In Florida walking out of my front door in the mornings to crystal clear blue skies lifts my spirits.
To answer your question on what to believe in digital media, I would say nothing. The technology has taken digital images to all new levels where even pro’s can’t decipher if an image has been doctored or not.
-doozieUp
http://doozieUp.com
Hi emdoozie!
I’ve seen some spectacular skies above me that, if I saw them as images I’d have trouble believing they ever occurred . . . much as I find the images lovely sometimes nature is more spectacular than digital. 🙂
Digital is making it hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. 🙂
Hi Liz
I think it’s any colour I like – at that moment. Like the sky it’s constantly changing and even a snap-shot will not show the true picture it will be 1 minute later.
As for knowing if it’s real – even nature looks different in the eye of someone else (tinted glasses, wearing a hat, standing in the shade etc). ‘Beauty’ is in the eye of the beholder comes to mind.
As long as I feel it’s authentic then I don’t really mind the colour 😉
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Did you ever see the movie Looker (1981) with Albert Finney? The bad guys have the tech to scan a person and then use that scan to re-create them on television. No more real actors or models needed, just their scans being manipulated with software. Kind of like an avatar, but indistinguishable from the real thing. If I recall, they are working to scan the president …
Funny thing is, you don’t much hear about this movie now that it is possible in PhotoShop to create this kind of seamless mimicry.
SpaceAgeSage, reminds me of the holodecks on Star Trek. Now there’s some fun to be had 😉
Karin H.
Hi, Karin H. —
Live long and prosper!
Hi Karin!
Add to what you said, the fact that each of us has a different number of rods and cones in our eyes . . . so we actually perceive color differently. Whoa!
Hi Sage,
I know. Now we don’t know who we’re talking to on the Internet . . . sometimes a bot leaves comments . . . what will it be 10 years from now?
Ah, my favourite quote 😉 Same to you SpaceAgeSage
Liz, lately I’ve read more blog-post on ‘how we should see’ all kinds of developments online. Sometimes I think: should we really see it this or that way?
This whole thing (www, social media) came to be by not laying down the rules. Still like my 1% patch of the “Outlaw of Culture”.
Karin H.
“…what will it be 10 years from now?” ~Liz
Look how far we’ve come, remember: “Is it live or is it Memorex?” Next will be “Is it real or is it Claytronics?(also known as Physical Dynamic Rendering or reconfigurable nanoscale robots).
Hi Karin!
It’s a scary time in which we live.
Hi Sage,
Yep, we’re far . . . from somewhere. 🙂
A couple of summers ago, a knit-blogger named Sandy started a knit-blogging sensation called “Saturday Sky,” where she encouraged bloggers to post pictures of the sky every Saturday, to encourage us all to look UP. And, I have to say, I take a lot more pictures of the sky than I ever used to–including this one yesterday, of a view that used to have the World Trade Center in it … just barely on the horizon, but you could clearly see those twin towers.
http://chappysmom.com/2008/09/11/do-i-need-to-remind-you/
I have seen sunsets like that one and many more like it and you’re right about rods and cones. Everyone see’s things a bit differently…eyesight I mean.
But getting back to your question, I would have to say; all of the above (a-d) and for e. I’m sure there would be someone who just had to complain about the size of the email. ;D
For me, enhanced or not, it’s the thought that counts. There’s something to be said about someone who wants you to know what they felt about about a past sunset. Kind of a round about way of saying; “Wish you were there”.
My answer would be e). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the person that took the photo probably thought it was an amazing sunset. I think its a nice sunset, but not worthy of emailing a photo to a friend.