When I arrived home Thursday after class my mother asked me to upload some pictures from a recent family birthday party. Since my computer did not have any of the pictures from my camera yet I decided I would upload everything. After I did, i discovered the "edit" option of iphoto. It pretty much had standard features, such as contrast, exposure, black and white, negative, etc; things that almost all computers come with these days. Nonetheless I thought it was pretty interesting and started manipulating different pictures. 

One picture really made me think. The picture was one I took during my spring break in the Bahamas. It was a picture of the beach. The original was very flashed out and didn't look very special at all. You couldnt really see the sand or the water clearly. Instead it was more divided by color: sand, water, sky, and a little speck of orange from what I assumed was a boat. However, as I changed different aspects of the picture the entire tone of it would change as well.

First I increased the exposure a little. This lightened the picture up, Then I put the automatic enhancement, which made the colors more vivid. I played around with it some more until I ended up putting the contrast, definition, and highlights to 100, shadow and noise to 0 and finally, shifting the color balance a little. I was so amazed when I was done at how the picture went from an average snap shot to a bright, sunny happy bahamian day. (I dont think it was even sunny that day!)

Just for fun I played with the temperature and tint and was amazed at how I could turn the bright, happy beach shot into a sunset nastalgic photo or a depressing night. 

Now, I dont know much about photography, so I cannot tell you exactly what the different qualities I manipulated are, but I do understand how changing certain things completely changes the message of the photo.

Lets say I changed the picture to resemble a sunset. Someone viewing this photo would perhaps take it as the end of something, perhaps a lost opportunity or missing a loved one.

Or lets say the definition was not as clear and you could not clearly see the mounds of sand on the ocean floor, perhaps that would put out a feeling of haziness, rushed, unclear, or confusion. 

When we look at a work of art we dont really know why we get the messages we do or analyze it as we do. (Unless that is we are masters of that type of art ourselves). However, artist, such as photographers, purposely manipulate their pieces to convey what they mean. We must only turn to Wood, whom we just learned about, to know art is much more than a snap shot or a stroke of a brush. It's thought and its manipulation. As I touched upon with Professor Bergman after seeing the Napolean exhibit, we no longer need art to simply depict exactly what is in front of us. There are photo journalist for that. Now art is free to manipulate to be whatever the artist wants it to be and whatever the viewer makes of it.