Ch 7

This chapter is about the material production of visual messages. The same image can be produced in different forms, such as paintings, photos, films, and websites. When we buy a poster reproduction of a painting, the materiality of the poster and the original painting is very different, and they have different meanings and effects. With modern technology, it is easy to transform an image into different material reproductions. The authors identify this type of technology as “synthesizing technologies which allow the production of digitally synthesized representations” (p. 217). With recording technologies, images are supposed to be a “reference” of the reality. But with synthesizing technologies, the referentiality of images is replaced by representation and signification. I found one website, PhotoFunia ( http://www.photofunia.com/ ), where we can transform photos into different visual effects. I experimented with a photo of a famous Taiwanese baseball player.

This is the original image.


Here is how the photo can be transformed into different materials.
1. “Art painting”

2. “Stencil”

3. “Dorm lights”

Color can also be used as a semiotic mode to communicate different meanings and emotions. Here is the effect of different colors by using PhotoFunia again.
4. “Three colors”

5. “Warhol”



6. “Silhouettes”

In all three images, there is the color blue, but it is used very differently. I am confused about the different features of color, such as value, saturation, purity, modulation, differentiation, and hue. In “Three colors,” the colors are very pure and flat. For me, the blue here is not communicating a message. But in “Silhouettes,” the blue is modulated? differentiated? saturated? I’m not sure how to describe this blue, but the blue makes the image seem sad and serious. And in the “Warhol” image, there are many different shades of blue with different lighting. The individual parts in the image communicate different meanings through the color and lighting. Altogether, the combination of different parts and colors also creates a special effect.