In Our Own Image Blog
Author: Fred Ritchin
- What does Ritchin mean with the “fluidity of the digital”?
- To me when Ritchin mentions the fluidity of the digital, I believe he meant that digital photos are always getting better and we as users of digital cameras and receivers of digital photos can always alter it in a way that we would want it to look. These photos are not set in stone and always changeable and I believe this is what he meant by fluidity, changes.
- For example, nowadays digital photos can be taken on our phone and we can also edit it on our phone. Editing these picture digitally is very easy compared to if we had a polaroid camera. For polaroid pictures to turn out nice, we have to make sure the setting and lighting and everything else about the real world is in perfection. This does not offer flexibility like we are able to get with a digital media. However if we compared the digital cameras of today to those of back then, we can also see that digital cameras are improving just as much as physical cameras are. Yet we would still prefer digital camera as it is just much more convenient to use and doesn’t need as much knowledge as one would need with a professional film camera.
- To me when Ritchin mentions the fluidity of the digital, I believe he meant that digital photos are always getting better and we as users of digital cameras and receivers of digital photos can always alter it in a way that we would want it to look. These photos are not set in stone and always changeable and I believe this is what he meant by fluidity, changes.
- In my own opinion, although photograph are able to capture reality pretty well in the moment, it still isn’t as good as that of just going and seeing it in person. Photos are able to capture actions, but when compared to videos, it isn’t enough. We aren’t able to be sure what happens after the photo was taken, but at least for videos, we are able to see how the action plays out. So yes, photographs can let our imagination roam, but it’s not as concrete as a video would be. There’s also cases where photos are the reason why one would go visit a place only to realize that the place isn’t as pretty because the photographs they have seen of the place is actually edited to look more fantasy-like or to just attract more tourist to visit. But, everything is capable of providing a false information to its viewers. As good as photographs are, it doesn’t have as much action or movement compared to a video, nor does it allow for as much imagination compared to a book.