Salon - - Tent on Malolotja revisited

BigAl · #1 04-08-2002, 05:42 AM

I recently asked my students, as part of an Internet awareness assignment, "What is the significance of the 'Tent on Malolotja'?". As this image was discussed in an earlier thread, I thought I'd share what the students found.

What I was actually after was:

what had been done?
you can't always believe what you see in a photograph.

A staggering 45% of the students did not see anything out of the ordinary in the final image and gave me a story about camping or taking group photos.

What this means to me is that our clients are probably a lot less critical about the end product than we are.

(The tent for those that haven't seen it.)

Ed_L · #2 04-08-2002, 08:19 AM

Big Al,

I remember seeing that one before. You did an excellent job on it, and you shouldn't be surprised if people don't find anything wrong with it. I think you're right in that others will not typically be as critical of our work as we are. The problem with that is when some people realize that, they might have a tendency to do lesser quality work, and that would be a huge mistake. While it's important to please the client, the first one to please is ourselves.

Ed

CJ Swartz · #3 04-08-2002, 01:31 PM

Al,

Did your students see the whole webpage, and still not see the whole made up of the other parts, or did they only see your final creation? If all they ever saw was the final image, I'm not really surprised that they didn't figure it out because it is very well done.

If they saw the other photos and didn't start wondering about how that final image was photographed, hmmm... Maybe those students would like to buy an Arizona jackalope -- part jack rabbit with the antlers of an antelope (in case you've never seen them in your biology textbooks).

"Seeing is believing" has never been always true, and in this age, it's good that your students are being taught that lesson.

As for clients, there are still many people who have avoided computers and the wonders they can produce -- when an uninitiated person sees any improvement in an image that didn't require a trip to a photo lab, they are astonished. I love to see that look of wonder

..., but then have to admit that the computer program did some of the work.

BigAl · #4 04-10-2002, 01:39 AM

CJ, my students actually had to find tent on malolotja through Google, so they saw all the component pictures. What I'm trying to achieve is to make them critical observers, but that didn't work if one young lady's comment is anything to go by: "why do we have to look at somebody's camping pictures?" (Not sure which is the appropriate smiley here

or

)

DannyRaphael · #5 04-10-2002, 02:08 AM

Not sure if you get (or have ever seen) the esteemed (ha-ha) U.S. publication, "The National Enquirer"

, but it's known for its ridiculous, improbable and obviously manipulated cover photos of things like, "Elizabeth Taylor and her Alien Baby!"

Maybe the "other peoples' camping pics" were too realistic?

Perhaps the assignment next time should be a two-parter:
* An obviously doctored image (to engage the senses)
* An image that's been skillfully manipulated

Good idea getting them plugged into google.com, one of my favorite tools!

BigAl · #6 04-10-2002, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Perhaps the assignment next time should be a two-parter:
* An obviously doctored image (to engage the senses)
* An image that's been skillfully manipulated

sounds like a really worthwhile idea, Danny. I'll try that next year.