HUES AND SATURATIONS 1

The wonders of technology! By using the Adobe Photoshop software to manipulate the colours, saturations, contrast and balance, the effect of and response to the image is changed as shown in the four examples below…

  

Hues and saturations affect our emotional response. When the image no longer resembles the scene we expect to see in reality, with its natural colours and textures, we begin to interprete the image intuitively, associating colours with emotions and our experiences. The colour in the original image gives a warm glow to the painting. The whole atmosphere in the circus tent is bathed in warm yellow light. The feeling is warm, happy and pleasant. 

When the hue is changed, to red, for example, we no longer associate what we see to a realistic scene, but rather associate it with a particular mood. The ‘red’ image evokes a mood that danger is imminent, although at the present moment in the image, all seems well… The ‘blue’ image give off an air that something mysterious, strange and unnatural is happening.

The last two does not conjure up much excitement… In fact, it gives a feel of plainness and dullness (especially the ‘greenish-brown’ one).

Hue and saturation matters a lot to how a piece of work is read and interpreted!

Technologies determine form, meaning and effect

     

   

All visual representations are made in one way or another, and the circumstances of their production may contribute to the effects they may have (Rose, 2002, p 17). Some writers (Berger, 1972) argues very strongly that the technologies used in making an image determine its form, meaning and effect.  

Indeed, in choosing an accurate picture to look at for this study, I was stumped at the variety and differences I saw in the internet. This picture, The Circus by Georges Seurat, came in all sorts of shades and tints and I was not quite sure which was closest to the original. Each can be interpreted differently and evokes a variety of moods – from bright and cheerful, warm, dull etc… Of course, some of these moods evoke are not quite coherent with intent of the painting.

We commonly expect to search for information through the internet and ‘information’ often conjures up the idea of ‘truth’. In reality, information through the internet are often opinions rather than truth and in my case, while looking for an accurate picture of The Circus for this project, I realised that the images in the internet are all individually moderated by a series of technological equipment and processes – the type of light, the lighting condition, the camera, the software that manipulated the photograph in the computer, the computer screen etc. I guess one can never be too sure of the exact shade and tint, unless of course if we are looking at THE ORIGINAL painting itself. Even so, how we individually perceive hues and shades may also vary.