- What does Ritchin mean with the “fluidity of the digital”? Give an example of digital imaging/digital photography that exemplifies this.
Ritchin states “the fluidity of digital” has replaced the “fidelity of the mechanical age”. “Fluidity” means changeability, which is a great representation of modern photography. In the past, photography is only accessible for those who can afford an actual camera whereas everyone can take pictures with their smartphones nowadays. In addition to the camera app on your phone, there’s a variety of other apps that one can easily download to enhance their pictures to their likings. Below are some examples of how people can change their images:
Expand Pictures (to elongate one’s legs)/Compress Pictures (to make one look slimmer) >>> could be done on apps like Spring and Pro Retouch
Remove background elements >> could be done on Photoshop and websites
Adjust Brightness >>> could be done with the Photos App, Adobe Lightroom, and Photoshop
2. Reflect on the extent to which photography is capable of capturing reality; and compare it to other media (technology) (e.g. text, video, virtual reality, books).
Photography is only capable of capturing one moment visually. Compared to text descriptions and books, photography is can be more easily interpreted since one has to have a good imagination to see what a writer is describing. Videography on the other hand, and capture the 360 surroundings along with audio. However, it is also limited as the videographer has to do a good job capturing the moments and the editor has to communicate their ideas effectively. The best technology when it comes to capturing reality is VR because with VR glasses, one can directly experience reality.