Author : Pam Morris March 15 2015
We can start by examining what we mean by capturing the truth and is there any such thing as indisputable universal visual truth even before it is portrayed in an image. We believe that if a photographic image looks like what we see then it has accurately portrayed the truth. However what we see ourselves may be vastly different to how others see the world. Our own eyes see light through a lens and our retina with its rods and cones are our sensor, which transmits signals to the visual cortex in the brain where the signal is interpreted as an image. However our DNA contains the coding instructions for how our cones interpret light to create coloured pigments, therefore depending on the genetic code we inherit, people see colour differently (Morris 1986,pp.1-77)[i]. Our brains also interpret and add information to an image often filling in expected information or interpreting the same information differently. This may be based on experience, present knowledge, future expectation or again our physiology. The classic image of the dancing girl (Figure 2) demonstrates how our different individual brains interpret signals so we see differently. Where some people see the girl in the image below as dancing clockwise, others see it rotating counter clockwise, depending on which side left or right is our brains dominant hemisphere (McGuinness)[ii].
Figure 2 Dancing Girl (origins unknown)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CEr2GfGilw
The brain will also compensate for the colour of an object to give colour constancy by automatically adjusting for colour shift of the ambient light temperature as its wavelength changes (De Alfaro)[iii]. This automatic calibration within our brain, called colour constancy, (Bayne 2009,p.150)[iv] ensures that we are not consciously aware of the colour change of an object when viewed under the green tinge in fluorescent light, the yellow hue of halogen or the changing light from the sun over time. An example of the different ways people’s eyes adjust for white balance is very aptly illustrated in the photograph of a dress (Figure 3). This image has recently caused uproar in social media as 65% of people see the dress very clearly as white and gold, whilst conversely 26% of people see it as being coloured blue and black (its actual colour).
Figure 3 Caitlin McNeill The Dress February 2015
Our human view of the world is just one view of reality animals see a much different world to us, many them can see more colours and some invertebrates can see wavelengths of light outside our visible spectrum. Whilst humans can perceive 1 million different colours, some insects and pigeons can perceive up to 10 billion.
Animals such as cats, sharks, owls and geckos can see between 100 times to 350 times more than humans in dim light.[v] Scientific advancement has enabled us to see the finite world via, electron beams, x-rays, infrared and ultraviolet rays making the invisible, visible and the unreal, real. So this causes us to ask what is real since something viewed with the naked eye takes on another level of reality when viewed through additional technology.
Figure 4 Comparison of the detail Seen by Sharks vs Humans in Low Light[vi]
So, in summary there is no absolute ‘truth’ in our view of reality , since due to each individuals unique genetic make-up and physiological limitations, we all see the world differently just as each instance of a photograph capturing the reality ,will capture it differently, with different levels of detail, different colours and different tonality. As a consequence of the laws of nature, physics and the universe the same object viewed by two people are always destined to be seen differently and captured by the camera differently again.
[i] Morris B 1986, Images Illusion and Reality, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, Australia.
[ii] McGuinness Mark , http://lateralaction.com/articles/left-brain-or-right/ Feb 26th 2015
[iii] De Alfaro L, http://luca.dealfaro.org/photography/color-casts-in-digital-photography Retrieved Feb 26th 2015
[iv] Bayne, T., Cleeremans, A., Wilken P., (Eds.) (2009) The Oxford Companion to Consciousness , Oxford University Press,
[v] Frater J, http://listverse.com/2009/01/03/10-weird-and-wonderful-oddities-of-nature/ Retrieved Feb 26th 2015
[vi]Image http://i.imgur.com/biH3ny0.jpg 2nd Mar 2015
