Composition Manipulation
Photoshop really is a powerful tool for manipulating images. It's fascinating to consider just how good a well-doctored photo can look. It's even more interesting to consider how good we are at noticing when a photo has a small discrepancy in it. We don't need to be actively searching for a discrepancy in the image, we can tell that something is off. Because of this, it can be very difficult to create a single realistic image from several images. Small discrepancies like the images having slightly different saturation levels, added images not casting a shadow, or the lighting on the added image differing from the background. All of these things can make it apparent that something is off with very little effort on the part of the viewer. It's amazing how easily we can interpret an image as unnatural. It raises the question of what sort of evolutionary advantages come from such an ability. Do you think it has any advantages?
Nice introspection here, Maia, and good to see you applying the language of image manipulation (tonality, saturation, etc) to our specific assignment, as we use Photoshop layers to make our composite images. In future posts, try to connect some of these thoughts and analyses to specific references within the presentation so that we are continuing to apply history and cultural phenomena to our own work. It does sound like you got a lot out of the discussion, however, and I hope your probing questions will help you flesh out your project idea!
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