Wednesday 10 August 2011

It all depends ...

... on the angle you choose to use!
"The camera never lies" ... huh!  Don't you believe it!
The phrase was first used in 1895 as an attempt to convince photographic subjects that they really did look like the image that was presented to them.   Right from the beginning of its history the camera has been used and misused to show what the photographer, or the subject, wanted to portray.  Abraham Lincoln asked his portrait photographer to shorten his neck and make him look younger!
Increasingly with digital photography and editing programmes the picture you see is not necessarily what your eyes might observe.
 This first picture is what came straight from the camera. But it was too dark ... the background paper is white so I did a bit of adjusting ...
 ... and this is what you get ... more like the real colour of the newest turtle in the collection.  A gift yesterday from the US ... a most useful little torch keyring.
However, editing doesn't necessarily stop there.  What if I want to deceive you altogether ... ?
 It is the work of just a couple of minutes to make you believe that this is simply a torch ... forget the keyring!
And still there is nothing in the picture to give scale so you could imagine something huge ... maybe the size of a fist ... again the camera (or the photographer) has lied!
The truth can be seen when the whole context is shown.
 The piece of paper on which it sits is standard A4 size.
We don't and shouldn't believe everything we see!  Perhaps the artist, the portrait painter observes more clearly and records more accurately than any camera!
Meanwhile, almost before it was light today I was playing with the torch and this is the result!
Enjoy the day and take pictures ... there's great fun in capturing the moments as they pass ... even if the record is purely subjective!

Did I say that the turtle also makes a noise!  No?  Well ... prepare to hear the authentic turtle sound!!!!


1 comment:

ray said...

Wow, now I know what a turtle sounds like. :-)