Tag / week 10

by amandathai

Week 10 Photo: Lonely

How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?

This photo was taken on and edited on the Instagram app on my iPhone 6S using its rear facing camera.

This door is just beyond the grand archway of the Old Melbourne Gaol, right near Building 13. In comparison to the archway, it looked so plain, but refreshingly simple

In today’s tutorial, Nash asked us to decide on a theme for our Instagrams. For mine, I have chosen not quite a theme, more of an aesthetic. My photos on my Instagram page will be of closed doors, placed on the right of the frame. I will use rather heavy handed colour editing and a linear blur to highlight the door. (See my video post for this week for my theme/aesthetic for the videos on my blog.)

The lighting was a little off for this photo, resulting in the very bright front step of the door. However, this allowed me to incorporate a lot of greenish-yellow into the photo using the ‘Colour’ feature and picking yellow for the highlights. Other edits I made included: choosing red for the shadows, straightening up the photo using the ‘Adjust’ feature, adding a vignette and that linear blur to emphasise the door.

I don’t think this photo is as visually appealing as last week’s, but I’ve already deleted a few photos in an attempt to adhere to my theme; I don’t feel like deleting another.

Manovich (2016) writes that ‘visual characteristics…are not carefully controlled, so from the point of view of proper good photography these are often (but not always) bad photos.‘ (Manovich 2016, p.52)

My mother picked up photography when she picked up scrapbooking (they kind of went hand in hand) and she always told me, don’t put your subject right in the middle, put them a little bit off to the side. Something about the rule of thirds. So maybe I am following some rules of ‘good photography’, but there is something certainly off about that lemon-lime coloured highlight on the step.

But, eh, I like colours. I need something to contrast my black and white silent videos.

In the reading, Manovich (2016) writes, ‘the content of casual photos is more important to their users than following the rules of good photography’ (Manovich 2016, p.52).

I totally agree.

I felt a little restricted by the instruction to decide upon a theme, but I understand that it’s required to carve out a niche and find an audience on Instagram. It’s a part of learning to use the platform and one day I might find a topic where theme, aesthetic and content all align beautifully.

But with content like doors and no metaphors allowed?

…I’m doing my best. (#amithematicyet)

How did you publish the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Originally, I took photos of the large archway nearby to this door, then decided it was too extravagant for my quaint little Instagram page. So instead I stumbled upon this door. I took several photos of it, some with it centred, some with it pushed over to the right so I could see the edge of the window next to it. Seeing that photo, with the bright window peeking in from the left, echoing the orange clouds on the projector from last week, it helped me decide on the theme/aesthetic for my photos.

An interesting quote from Part 1 of this week’s reading: ‘The documentation function was integral to photography from its beginning in the 1830s, but Instagram intensifies it. Instagram interface shows the date and time for each photo and exact location’ (Manovich 2016, p.52)

I tagged this photo at the Old Melbourne Gaol because I think it’s rather cool I go to uni right next to such a historical site, despite the fact that I never go there to appreciate it. Maybe I should’ve geotagged my exact location, so that my small handful of viewers can find this ‘lonely’ door.

In terms of captions, I want my photos to all have one word title/captions. Last week’s was ‘Exit’, this week’s is ‘Lonely’. I like how they leave much unsaid and allow the viewer to draw their own interpretations.

Along with my usual slew of hashtags (one for the class, one for the uni, one for the content, and one for my thoughts), I added one for the Old Melbourne Gaol, to further emphasise the location.

How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?

Having linked up my Facebook and Twitter accounts last week, it was easy to simply swipe the switches and cross-post to those platforms. However, I somehow managed to share this photo to Twitter and not to Facebook (something I didn’t realise until I sat down to write this post). It was easy to go back in to the Instagram app, find the photo and hit Share though. It took me back to the screen with the switches and it was like the mistake never happened.

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References

Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego.

by amandathai

Week 10 Video: The door that makes me late for class

How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?

This video was taken on and edited on the Instagram app on my iPhone 6S using the rear facing camera.

I felt a bit awkward taking this photo as I had to hang around this door as people walked through, lifting my phone in a not-at-all-subtle way. Originally I wanted to film the door itself, maybe me walking through and around the door, but because people were always near the door, I instead decided to film the button with the door revolving in the background, just so I could be done with it and get out of the way.

In Part 1 of the reading, Manovich (2016) discusses how digital cameras from the 2000s have settings like sport, macro, landscape, and even go as specific as fireworks and food. ‘The conventions are literally hard wired in camera designs’ (Manovich 2016, p.54).

In Instagram, the convention that has been hardwired is the vintage square format that hearkens back to Polaroids and other lo-fi photography. However, I don’t find this constraint all that constraining. The symmetry is satisfying and also, the small size helps cut out excess background mess and other unnecessary elements that might make their way into a rectangular photo.

Following my trend from last week, I decided to make this video black and white using I think the ‘Inkwell’ filter, mostly because I didn’t like how bright and blue the button was, as it drew attention away from the door itself (the real star of the show here).

One constraint of Instagram video is the fact that there are significantly less editing tools for video than there are for photo. I can’t do all my coloured shadows and highlights with a video. This contributed to my decision to make the theme for my Instagram videos all black and white. Additionally, I decided to officially adopt the accidental lack of sound from last week as when I accidentally posted this video with sound, I hated it so much, I deleted and reposted it as a silent video. Therefore, my theme for my Instagram videos is ‘silent black and white videos of automated doors.’

How did you publish the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Like last week’s video, all my ideas went out the window when it came time to actually taking it, and hence I simply took a video and posted it, without taking any alternatives.

One interesting thing I took from the reading was how the rules of originality are inverted when it comes to Instagram. Instead of trying to capture what has never been captured before, Manovich writes, ‘If you [sic] image looks like many images you have seen before, capture it’ (Manovich 2016, p.52).

This is evident through Instagrams hashtags. People want to see multiples of one sometimes very specific thing. People want to see differing perspectives and opinions on something they already know exists. It stems, I believe, from the realisation that photography isn’t objective, that there is more to gain from viewing photos as individuals POVs instead of omniscient all-seeing eyes. I like it. I think it opens more avenues for people’s individual opinions to be heard.

In class today, we spoke of how people don’t always automatically go to Google when they need to search for something. People are pre-filtering their searches. They go to Instagram for photos, Twitter for debates and opinions, YouTube for videos. I personally go to Reddit whenever I want real-life authentic opinions from people, because I find they are (or at least feel) more honest than what I find through a Google search, which is often inundated with companies and brands, whose ulterior motives appear to skew the candour of their content.

Phew, what a tangent. Back to hashtags: I have been spending a lot of time at Monash Uni in Clayton recently, playing board games and DnD with my friend who goes there. Hence, my quirky rambly hashtag is #monashunihasbetterrevolvingdoorsyepisaidit. I enjoy the lack of spaces. It makes it sound as if I said it all in a rush, like a confession.

How did you distribute the video you published on Instagram to other social media services?

Having linked up my Facebook and Twitter accounts last week, I just swiped the switches on the same screen where I added caption and location, and off it went. I didn’t even know how the cross-platform posts worked until I went to the respective platforms.

They look nice on Facebook, but on Twitter, it’s just my caption followed by a link. Without the visual, it’s remarkably less interesting.

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References

Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego.