Thesis (M. Tech.) - Dept. of Visual Arts and Design, Faculty of Human Sciences - Vaal University of Technology. / The digital manipulation of images that are presented as photographs in the media raises issues of interpretation and the possible deception of viewers. The central research question of this study was whether training in the visual arts improves awareness of digital image manipulation of photographs. Secondary aims of the research were to investigate correlations between visual production literacy training and awareness of digital image manipulation of photographs as opposed to general visual literacy training. Secondary aims also include the !investigation of attitudes to the manipulation of photographs in relation to different viewing contexts and various levels of manipulation. The literature review provides background information and theoretical frameworks on the nature of the photographic message and how it is read primarily from a semiotic perspective. A further investigation was done into literature regarding the use of attitudes towards and ethical issues surrounding digital manipulation of photographs. In addition, a review of literature on visual literacy supports the argument that awareness of digital manipulation of photographs should and can be improved. For the empirical component of the study, a total of 145 students at the Vaal University of Technology with low, medium and high visual literacy training participated on a voluntary basis. Both qualitative and quantitative data was gathered through a digitally administered questionnaire on six visual images, each manipulated to a different degree. The results show that production literacy, especially specific training in digital image manipulation software, emerged as the main variable to be significantly (beta coefficient = 0.051; Pearson's r value = 0.436) associated with awareness of manipulation techniques as opposed to general visual literacy (standardised regression coefficieFlt = 0.436; Pearson's r = 0.051 ). Findings regarding attitudes to manipulation and the impact of viewing context show no difference between groups. Emanating from these results possibilities for further research were formulated.

Orientador: Percival Tirapeli. / Banca: Pelópidas Cypriano de Oliveira / Banca: Maria Eliza Cezaretti / Resumo: Esta pesquisa trata do trabalho do fotógrafo Germano Graeser, que juntamente com Mário de Andrade e Luiz Saia iniciaram as atividades do Serviço do Patrimô- nio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - SPHAN em São Paulo. Foram levantados, identificados e registrados com documentação fotográfica os patrimônios arquitetônicos do Estado de São Paulo pesquisados pelo Serviço, entre os anos de 1937 - 1966. A pesquisa também propõe uma atualização documental dos registros criados durante aqueles anos, com a utilização da tecnologia da fotografia digital e da técnica da fotografia panorâmica 360 graus, com as quais criaram-se tour virtuais pelos lugares fotografados. / Abstract: This research is about the work of photographer Germano Graeser who along with Mario de Andrade and Luiz Saia started the activities of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service - SPHAN in Sao Paulo. It was collected, identified and recorded with photographic documentation the architectural heritage of the State of Sao Paulo surveyed by SPHAN between the years 1937 - 1966. The research also proposes a documentary update of records created during those years, with the use of photography digital technology and technique of photography panoramic 360 degrees, used to create a virtual tour of the places photographed. / Mestre

The emergence of digital capture and editing technologies make providing a more detailed and coherent description of the experiences depicted in photos possible. Through the combination of photos, music and voice, people can compose digital stories of their life experiences. However, communicating an experience using photos to people who do not share the experience, and are not co-located is a difficult endeavor, even with effective digital editing tools. In this dissertation, I studied the online photo communication challenges that have arisen as a result of the transition from film to digital photography. I detail my studies of consumer desires and barriers related to online photo communication. Also, I present the design and user evaluation of the Storytellr system, which addresses those desires and barriers. The Storytellr system integrates storytelling activities with traditional photo activities to reduce the challenges of online photo communication. Through this work I contribute to the understanding of the challenges encountered by consumers who desire to engage in sharing life stories through photos over distance. I also contribute a method - integrating storytelling activities into photo activities - for enabling people to overcome those challenges using a process they find satisfying, and that produces an outcome that satisfies authors and viewers alike.

This study explores the differences in attitude held by newspaper photographers and designers concerning the acceptability of digitally altering front-page photographs. It takes its findings from a summer 2006 survey that asked these two newsroom groups to rate their acceptance of certain common techniques used to change photographs from their original forms. Their answers revealed that designers are generally more accepting of altered photographs than their photographer colleagues. Also, photographers are more likely to find acceptable those photographs altered for technical reasons than for aesthetic ones. Least acceptable to photographers, this study finds, are alterations that affect a photograph's content. / Department of Journalism

This thesis explores the contemporary genre of popular digital photography, with a specific look at photographs taken in/of Iran. It focuses on the contemporary practice of 'photoblogging' or photography-based weblogging. Photoblogs are the result of the daily posting of digital photographs concerning everyday life in Iran on personal blogs specifically dedicated to photography. The title of the thesis, Camera Iranica, refers to the subject and scope of the study, as well as to its digital-ethnographic field site. I demarcate this as a conceptual and transnational cultural field, encompassing the multitude of places and spaces, on- and offline in which Iranians across the world engage in the practice of producing and viewing popular digital photography. Iranian photoblogs are shown to operate in a manner contingent upon a particular 'visual legacy' of contested cultural identity politics since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, propagated inside Iran and in 'the West'. The thesis traces the social, economic and political implications of developments in photography and digital technologies in Iran in light of this backdrop, and explores how and why Iranians in Iran and abroad are taking up popular digital photography for visual storytelling projects, with 'Iran' as their visual subject. Based on the study's empirical findings, I extrapolate theoretical arguments concerning historical and cultural understandings of digital photographs shown and seen in online environments, and propose innovative methodological strategies for digital-visual anthropologists to continue work in these fields.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-13T13:27:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-06-29. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2016-01-13T13:32:35Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000856099.pdf: 23903176 bytes, checksum: 270cac79e67507891207467cad1d754a (MD5) / Esta pesquisa trata do trabalho do fotógrafo Germano Graeser, que juntamente com Mário de Andrade e Luiz Saia iniciaram as atividades do Serviço do Patrimô- nio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - SPHAN em São Paulo. Foram levantados, identificados e registrados com documentação fotográfica os patrimônios arquitetônicos do Estado de São Paulo pesquisados pelo Serviço, entre os anos de 1937 - 1966. A pesquisa também propõe uma atualização documental dos registros criados durante aqueles anos, com a utilização da tecnologia da fotografia digital e da técnica da fotografia panorâmica 360 graus, com as quais criaram-se tour virtuais pelos lugares fotografados. / This research is about the work of photographer Germano Graeser who along with Mario de Andrade and Luiz Saia started the activities of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service - SPHAN in Sao Paulo. It was collected, identified and recorded with photographic documentation the architectural heritage of the State of Sao Paulo surveyed by SPHAN between the years 1937 - 1966. The research also proposes a documentary update of records created during those years, with the use of photography digital technology and technique of photography panoramic 360 degrees, used to create a virtual tour of the places photographed.

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF INFORMATICS AND DESIGN OF THE CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE PHOTOGRAPHY CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2013 / This study deals with the pitfalls and standards associated with the digitisation of photographic artefacts in formal collections. The popularity of the digital medium caused a rapid increase in the demand for converting images into digital files. The need for equipment capable of executing the task successfully, the pressure on collection managers to display their collections to the world and the demand for knowledge needed by managers and operators created pressure to perform optimally and often in great haste. As a result of the rush to create digital image files to be displayed and to be preserved, the decisions that are being made may be questionable. The best choice of file formats for longevity, setting and maintaining standards to guarantee quality digital files and consultation with experts in the field of digitisation as well as attention to best practices are important aspects which must be considered. In order to determine the state of affairs in countries with an advanced knowledge and experience in the field of digitisation, a comprehensive literature study was done. It was found that enough information exists to enable collection managers in South Africa to make well informed decisions to ensure a high quality of digital collection. By means of questionnaires, a survey was undertaken amongst selected Western Cape image preservation institutions to determine the level of knowledge of the managers who are required to make informed decisions. The questionnaire was designed to give insight into choices being made regarding the technical quality, workflow and best practice aspects of digitisation. Comparing the outcome of the questionnaires with best practices and recommended standards in countries with an advanced level of experience it was found that not enough of this experience and knowledge is used by local collection managers although readily available. In some cases standards are disregarded completely. The study also investigated by means of questionnaires the perception of the digital preservation of image files by fulltime photographic students and volunteer members of the Photographic Society of South Africa. It was found that uncertainty exist within both groups with regard to file longevity and access to files in five to ten year's time. Digitisation standards are set and maintained by the use of specially designed targets which enable digitising managers to maintain control over the quality of the digital content as well as monitoring of equipment performance. The use of these targets to set standards were investigated and found to be an accurate and easy method of maintaining control over the standard and quality of digital files. Suppliers of digitising equipment very often market their equipment as being of a high quality and being able to fulfil the required digitisation tasks. Testing selected digitising equipment by means of specially designed targets proved however that potential buyers of equipment in the high cost range should be very cautious about suppliers' claims without proof of performance. Using targets to verify performance should be a routine check before any purchase. The study concludes with recommendations of implementing standards and it points to potential future research.

Orientador: Ernesto Giovanni Boccara / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T06:14:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Polignano_Sergio_M.pdf: 19138121 bytes, checksum: a2a1fa7467459819c2d2f07679e2acbd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Este trabalho propõe uma abordagem conceitual, dos diversos conteúdos da imagem fotográfica, a sua leitura e decodificação, que vai da sensibilidade aos significados. Apresenta uma proposta de análise que busca justificar e demonstrar a condição da poética (Arte) da fotografia. Nesse sentido, mostra o que de incomum pode deter o olhar que eterniza e o olhar que ressuscita, dando um real valor às imagens fotográficas, sejam elas quais forem e mostrem o que de mais importante possam mostrar, mantendo as informações ao longo do tempo. Desse modo, busca contribuir para uma melhor compreensão da época em que as fotografias foram feitas, dos cenários que as mesmas registram, de seus contextos, assim como das implicações e relações que tenham com as formas de expressão diferenciadas, que chamamos: Arte / Abstract: This work proposes an conceptual approach to the various contents of photographic image, its interpretation, and decoding, which goes from sensibility to signification; it brings a proposal for an analysis that can effectively justify and demonstrate the condition of poetry (art) of photography, showing which of its uncommon aspects can capture the point of view that makes it eternal and the point of view that resuscitates it, bringing the real value to photographic images, being them whatever they are, showing whatever most important subject they can hold, maintaining their image content throughout time, and serving for a better understanding of the time in which photographs were taken, their scenarios, contexts, implications, and relationships that they have with the different forms of expression that we cal!: Art / Mestrado / Mestre em Artes

Digital technology has now become pervasive at most publications in South Africa and in America. Pictures are routinely digitised by publications for ease of handling in the layout process, and this makes it relatively easy to alter or manipulate the pictures using computer software programmes. This thesis attempts to gauge the views of South African photojournalists about the digital manipulation of news photographs, and compare these to the views of American photojournalists. It is based on the hypothesis that South African and American photojournalists have different views of what is acceptable manipulation of news photographs, and that their reasons for this will also be different. This thesis also suggests that the manipulation of news photographs is ethically problematic and can damage the credibility of both the photojournalist and the publication in which the photographs appear. The study involves a comparison of the results from a questionnaire given to South African photojournalists and a similar questionnaire given to American photojournalists. The questionnaires were then supplemented by interviews with six South African photojournalists. The thesis then draws conclusions from the responses to the questionnaires and interviews. These conclusions partially support the initial hypothesis, in that there are some differences between the views of South African and American photojournalists, but, on the whole, these are remarkably similar. Photojournalists do seem to find the manipulation of news photographs to be ethically problematic, but they may find the manipulation of other kinds of images (eg fashion or soft news) to be acceptable. South African photographers also find the manipulation of images by other means (eg different lenses or darkroom techniques) to be more acceptable than Americans do. Although the underlying reasons for these views may differ, maintaining the credibility of the photographer and the publication does seem to be the major issue for avoiding digital manipulation. South African photographers seemed to think that if the photographer had done his or her job well, there would be no need for manipulation, and both groups (but especially the Americans) felt that manipulation could often be equated to lying to the reader, and that this might damage their reputation, and that of their publications.

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