In this image, the tones are inverted… i.e. the light colours in the original image is now dark in this image and vice versa. It feels as if we are looking at a negative, but not quite because of its limited range of colours and tints.
Looking on at this image evokes a very cold, unreal and surrealistic feel.
Indeed, the technology we use to create the final image affects how we view and value an image. The top image is scanned directly in grey tones and the bottom is created by photostating. There is a marked difference in the two images. All else being equal, if these two images are printed out on the same kind of paper, the ‘scanned’ one would look like it is of a better quality than the ‘photocopied’ one because the scanner is better able to discern tones than a photocopier.
Hence, the better quality print would be better valued than the photocopied print.
Another special effect using the Adobe Photoshop filters… This time, the original image is ‘pinched’. In so doing, it creates a curious effect where the two acrobats remain the most proportional, and everything else around them are distorted and pulled towards the centre. Somehow, the distorted figures (especially the clown with the elongated neck) seems to attract as much, if not more attention than the acrobats. It feels like we are looking at the image reflected from a distorted mirror.
This image was created through a distortion (by applying the ‘change polar coordinate’s filter). It gives a somewhat similar impression of looking at the The Circus through a reflective spherical ball.
Through the distortion, it is still possible to make out certain main characters in the original image, if you know what you are looking for… but by and large, a viewer viewing this directly may have trouble figuring out the image that is being reflected in the ball… Hence, a viewer looking at this image, may be fascinated by the effect of this reflection on a concave surface rather than the masterpiece itself!
This form of distortion creates an optical illusion which is known scientifically as ‘Stereoscopic Vision’. Nigel Rodgers in ‘Incredible Optical Illusions’ explains, “Each eye gives us a slightly different view: the nearer the subject, the greater the difference. The brain combines the different views to give us ‘stereoscopic vision’ which enable us to judge shape, distance, depth, and dimension with ease.
REF:
Rodgers, N. (1997). Incredible Optical Illusions. Holland: Cordon Art.
This image is 2 dimensional… but imagine if it is really embossed…
I am really not sure how another person would be affected by this image but personally, I as a viewer, will definitely keep and treasure this embossed image because I understand and appreciate this masterpiece by Seurat. And also because embossing is expensive and not quite commonly available as compared to printing, this embossed image would be pretty unique and rare!
The image of the clown, which was in the foreground of the original reproduction, was ‘cut out’ and brought out of the picture frame. In so doing, another frame was created, and now, instead of the viewer, viewing the reproduction of The Circus, the viewer is now looking at the clown, who is viewing the reproduction of The Circus. In this sense, the focus has changed from the acrobats to the clown who is looking at the picture!
ESTHER'S studio 