It is the desire to believe in the image that is the subject of this post. I was curious to know how much I could distort an image without destroying belief in its integrity. In fact, I wanted to present the viewer with an obvious fallacy and have them puzzle over what was wrong. Instead, the distortions I created ended up looking too real to be mistrusted.
What mechanism allows our brains to accept as reality what is obviously fake?
Take a look at the images here, knowing full well that they are manipulated, and ask yourself why you can be duped so easily...
Doesn't this look like a normal photo of a church? In actuality it is a straight-on frontal view with a side view added:
Here are more examples:
Kind of in the same line of thought; that is, how the mind creates a believable image from insufficient data, take a look at this one:
Do you find these curious?
Doesn't this look like a normal photo of a church? In actuality it is a straight-on frontal view with a side view added:
Here are more examples:
Kind of in the same line of thought; that is, how the mind creates a believable image from insufficient data, take a look at this one:
Do you find these curious?
Posts
5 comments:
I THINK YOU HAVE SOMETHING HERE!
ANYHOW HASN'T PHOTOGRAPHY ALWAYS TRICKED THE MIND INTO BELEIVING IN THE REALITY OF PHOTOS?
When you think of it, you are correct. Imagine the credibility we give to small, flat, monochromatic tonal maps and how removed they are from reality. Yet when one view's a print by a master such as Ansel Adams, one is often dramatically transported to that location. Patrick Maynard in his excellent treatise on "how" photographs work* speaks about a participation on the part of the viewer that allows us to "imagine seeing" the original subject. (p. 221) What is curious to me is how far we are able to suspend our disbelief.
*"The Engine of Visualization: Thinking Through Photography" Cornell University Press, 1997
TAKE YOUR PORTRAIT FOR INSTANCE, WE ALL KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT BLACK WHITE AND GRAY(WELL, MAYBE A LITTLE GRAY),BUT WE BELIEVE THIS IS YOU! ADAMS IN HIS SILVER IMAGES WASN'T RECORDING THE TRUTH EITHER. AS FOR MR MAYNARD--WRITE ON BROTHER! WELL, ALL THIS IS JUST AS YOU HAVE SHOWN US.
Adams Smaddams. Who is Maynard? Wasn't he on the Dobie Gillis show? Anyway, I was nearly falling out of bed this morning and just before I righted myself, I looked up and your image on the shore was still on the screen, and you know what, I like it better upside down.
Were the "mind tricks" images done using Vanishing Point?
A former student who you gave a C in your class, (my only C as I pursue my degree in Digital Photography)
Post a Comment