LESSON 2How We See

TOPICS COVERED

How we see, How visual communication is changing by the ehour!

OBJECTIVES

You will understand how visual communication is changing by the ehour! The future scenario will be onewhere darkroom printing will be out, computer will replace it. Technological improvements in visualcommunication, with networking and digitization and how they will help in mass media is going to becovered.

How We SeeVisual communication relies both on eyes that function and on a brain that makes sense of all thesensory information received. An active, curious mind remembers and uses visual messages inthoughtful and innovative ways. Knowing about the world and the images that it conveys willhelp you analyze pictures. And if you can examine pictures critically, you have a good chance ofproducing high-quality images that others will remember.General knowledge of the physics oflight,how the eyes focus light, how the retinas collect light, and how the brain processes,sorts,and stores light is important because camera and computer construction is based on some ofthe same principles. A knowledge of the physics and physiology of light will enhance your useof the technologies of thefuture and the ability to decipher innovative visual messages. It is lightthat gives visual messages their life.

WHEN IMAGES BECOME REAL

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we can imagine.—J.B.S. Haldane, biochemist

As an experimental technology available within the well-financed halls of military installations,a few large universities and corporate institutions, virtual reality is quickly becoming known bythe general public. It has recently been boosted by print and broadcast reports as the next majorbreakthrough in mass communications. It will allow architects to pre-plan their complicatedstructures by giving them the ability to “walk through” their buildings on the computer. It will beused as a tool for training future surgeons who will perform practice operations on virtual realitypatients without the need for smelly cadavers. It has recently been introduced at some shoppingmall arcades where for Rs. 50 a minute consumers can blast their computer-generatedcounterparts. Much has been promised from this new technology. Will virtual reality be therevolution in mass communications that some in the industry have forecast or will it disappointconsumers on the same scale as holography? The answers at this early stage in its developmentare far from readily available. What follows is a fictionalized account of the possible uses andproblems that one may have to confront once virtual reality technology becomes common as aphotographic teaching tool.

It’s thirty minutes before Dr. Mark Premack’s advanced photojournalism class. Premack, atenured professor at a California, liberal-arts commuter school with about 25,000 students, walksthrough the darkroom - or at least what was once the photographic darkroom.As he makes his daily inspection of the computer facilities, he thinks about the advances andchanges that have occurred in the darkroom since he started at the school about ten years ago.All but one of the enlargers are gone. Once in a while a student will be curious about workingwith traditional materials and uses an enlarger in a small darkroom in a separate area from thecomputer room, but those requests are rare. Occasionally Premack or the other instructor willprint some 4x5 negatives, but there is little time, it seems, for such indulgences today. Premacksmiles to himself - he still misses the smell of fixer. “If they could only come up with a spraythat could be piped into the computer room,” he thinks.

The dark is out of the darkroom now. The area is still called a darkroom perhaps out of respectfor the old technology. Where the safe lights, running water, chemical trays and enlargers used tobe is a brightly lit room with 50 desktop publishing computer workstations with fiber optic linksthroughout the world. Since all print and screen communication is now digital, the computers areshared with typography, graphic design, motion picture and television students. In addition,graduate students design educational lessons for commercial applications using the latestnetworked interactive multimedia technology.

As with traditional processing and printing, camera technology has alsochanged drastically in a little less than a decade. All but a handful of film-based cameras are gone. Digital video cameras have taken the place of allstill photography cameras. As with professionals, students shoot theirassignments with moving digital equipment andcome to one of the desktop workstations. Studentssimply view their footage on a computer monitor anduse the freeze frame feature to select a high

resolution frame for publication. With picture manipulation software, the user changes theexposure, color, focus, cropping and can get a high quality print-out. There is one color film andone flat-bed print scanner collecting dust in a corner. “It seems we had to have those expensiveitems a few years ago,” Premack thinks to himself, “but now that everyone uses digital camerasand students have access to digital image databases around the world, there is little use forscanner equipment.”

Students have access to the latest versions of color image manipulation software. All of thetraditional darkroom manipulations can be accomplished on the computer: exposure control,

color correction, dodging, burning and cropping. Because of thecomputer software, there is an added benefit of being able to focusall or part of an image. Out of a concern for ethical issues,journalism students, however, have strict prohibitions againstchanging an image’s content. The advertising and commercialphotography students, of course, do not have those kinds oflimitations as many of their images are highly manipulated worksof art.

Each workstation is linked with the school newspaper’s mainframe computer and printer so thatpre-press completed art and graphic designs can be transferred directly. In addition, reportingand graphic design students have their own computer workstation rooms throughout thecommunications building, but every communications student can work, when there is not a classbeing conducted, on any of the computers on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, theworkstations are linked to several word and image database services that provide, at a discountedrate for students, survey data, newspaper stories, library services, pictures, artwork andinformational graphics on an almost unlimited number of subjects. All of these technologicaladvances combined with the Supreme Court scandal that brought down the recent Administrationhave created a renewed interest in journalism with increased enrollment.

Premack walks into the area that was once the studio. Where light stands and props at one timecluttered the space, there is now only a single computer workstation in the center of the room.This computer set-up is more elaborate than the desktop publishing workstations in the otherroom because this one also contains a virtual reality workstation. Called a VR-2000 by themanufacturer, virtual reality technology has revolutionized the way students and professionalsproduce images for advertising and commercial purposes. Funding for this workstation, and the11 in the multi-purpose room shared by photography, film and television classes, came fromlottery money designated for education purposes and grants from the manufacturer and thesoftware producers. Each workstation costs about $10,000. But each software program cost onlyabout $100. The manufacturer saw tremendous success in the entertainment operation of itsvirtual reality machines at arcades and at homes and wanted to establish educational benefits forthe technology. Consequently, the manufacturer provided similarly equipped virtual realityworkstations at drastically reduced prices for five universities. Located at Premack’s school andin Missouri, Texas, New York, and New Jersey, the five colleges are linked through opticalfibers that keep all of the instructors up-to-date on successes and problems with the systems.Every year, the manufacturer sponsors a week-long conference that attracts internationalattendance where research papers about the new technology are read and the latest softwareprograms are demonstrated.

Premack watches as a beginning commercial photography student uses the VR-2000 machine.He thinks how far virtual reality technology has progressed in just a few short years. When thetechnology was first introduced, companies produced war-type games for computer arcades inshopping malls in which players thought they were shooting at a computer-generated foe.Although initially engaging - the helmet and gloves that a user wears gave the illusion of real-time movement within a simulated computer environment — most players were disappointedwith the crude, stick-figure cartoon characters and the brightly colored, chalk-like backgrounds.The novelty soon wore off as players grew tired of the low-resolution graphics. Some were upsetthat with a particularly fast action, there would be a delay between a hand movement and whatthe player saw in the helmet’s viewer.

A technological breakthrough in computer processing about five years ago caused renewedinterest in the technology. Because of advances in using “liquid” crystal microchips and fiberoptic technology, computers are able to process information at speeds approaching that of lightitself. Combined with zigabyte storage systems, the programs of today, packed in a cassetteabout the size of a VCR tape, are much more realistic. Users can use pre-existing films andvideotape combined with holographic effects for true, three-dimensional realism. There is life-like, real-time movement with no delays as in the earlier models. Interactions between theplayers and computer-generated characters and objects seem much more real because of thehighly detailed graphics. There are even sensory detectors built into the gloves and leg

wrappings so that a player has the sensation of actually holding an object — the user can feel theweight of the object. There are also complex morphing effects, common in computer animationfilms for years, that enhance fantasy games — the player can become and interact with anycharacter stored within the computer’s memory. The playing field itself is much improved as thebackgrounds and foregrounds are almost completely realistic and can be changed at the whim ofthe user. One of the first popular programs for this next generation of virtual reality technologywas bought by travel agents who could show their clients, like nothing imagined previously,what their vacation would be like. Another early use of virtual reality was from house buildersand real estate agents who could walk their clients through homes that were not yet built.Social scientists warned that players would think that these new and improved products would bemistaken for actual reality and become addicted. This technology, they argued, would furtheralienate society as members of a culture would prefer their computer-generated interactions toface-to-face contact. Because of the extreme cost of the technology, they warned, virtual realitywould also drive a further wedge between those in society who could afford such newtechnological toys and those with less money to spend and who would become disenfranchisedeven further from society. Critics called virtual reality the “hallucinogenic of the nextgeneration” because it would act like an addictive drug that altered a user’s sense of reality.Religious leaders saw a threat from pornographic programs that would influence culture innegative ways.

Counter arguments were just as numerous. Psychologists argued that with every new technologythere is a danger that some users will become addicted and isolate themselves from society.While it may be true that some addictive individuals have trouble, most players have noproblems. These “alienated society” arguments, they explained, were the same charges leveledinitially with radio, television, computers and even rock and roll music. All new forms ofcommunication undergo an initial stage of social criticism until quality programs are introducedand the educational benefits of a new technology are clearly understood and disseminated among

the citizens of a culture. This phenomenon is why the manufacturer of the VR-2000 invested alarge amount of resources to permit educational institutions to experiment with the technology.Premack has mostly positive opinions about this new form of communication. But after seeing avideotape of a young user at a computer arcade who had a nervous breakdown because hethought the images were too real and killed some actual customers waiting in line for their turnon the machine, Premack believes that virtual reality must be closely monitored. He and three ofhis colleagues introduced a number of failsafe mechanisms for the machine three years ago thathave since been adopted. These failsafe devices include:

—Keyboard commands can be activated at all times during a session. Students can easily findthe stop key on the computer keyboard and end the lesson.—Monitors built into the helmet, gloves and leg wrappings chart brain activity, the pulse rateand the blood pressure of each student. The program automatically stops for the student if thosemeasures become too high.—There is an automatic time-out function that is set by the instructor. Premack sets the time at15 minutes and doesn’t think anyone should use the system any longer. After the time limit, allof the workstations end their programs.—In order to remind users that they are only watching a glorified movie, a pressure sensitivedevice is located on the right-hand glove of every participant. It is a small bar that continuouslyapplies intermittent pressure to the student’s arm. As a check on reality, it is an annoyingmechanism that all the students complain about, but reminds the user of the real reality outside ofthe program.

—There is a graphic display that is superimposed upon the picture that the student can readthroughout the program. The messages flash a student’s physiological condition, the time spentviewing the program, the actual time, and any message the instructor wants to add. Premackfinds however that rather than typing a message on the keyboard, he can simply talk loudlyduring a lesson and the students will respond to his words. That way he doesn’t have to take offhis helmet to type a message.

—Finally, there is the gray zone. The gray zone is the edge of the program - where the graphicsstop. It is that portion of the program that does not contain graphic illustrations. If a user looks atthe extreme left or right side of the program, a clearly defined gray-colored area can be seen. Atany time, a student can walk through the gray zone and end the program. In a group situation asduring a class, any time one person walks through the zone, the program stops for everyone.Consequently, a student should not walk through the gray zone unless it is a real emergency.The beginning advertising student in the studio with helmet, gloves and leg wrappings all hookedto her computer through wire connections, looks like a new-tech mime artist as she appears to bepicking up real, yet unseen objects, setting them on an imaginary table, and taking pictures withan imaginary camera all within a circular railing that surrounds the student. Premack walks overto the computer monitor where he can see the image that the student sees through the helmet. Sheis working on a basic advertising picture assignment. On the computer screen, Premack can seethat she is almost finished. Before she started the VR-2000 machine, she selected a number ofprops within the computer’s directory, similar to the procedure for selecting clip art materials fora publication. The difference here is that the objects have three-dimensional shape and depth.The student places each selected object in a holding box where they can be accessed once she ishooked up to the virtual reality equipment. The student can also pre-set tables, counters, orstands for her props to rest upon, select backgrounds and foregrounds, decide upon lighting andcolor combinations, and even use objects that appear to be real people that act as models. What

appeared to be a mime with wires attached, is actually the photographer taking objects out of thebox and placing them on the table she selected. The background is composed of various pastelcolors selected by the student. Advanced students use much more elaborate on-location scenariosthat involve complicated arrangements of computer-generated models and objects.

She moves over to one of the virtualreality light stands and changes theposition of a white umbrella. Now shetakes a number of pictures at slightlydifferent angles with her virtual realitycamera. When she is satisfied with herpicture taking, she’ll take off the VR-2000 equipment, look at the images shemade on the computer monitor, selectone, manipulate it, perhaps add images

from other photo sessions, and make a high-quality print-out. As Premack walks to theclassroom, he smiles at the thought of the technology that makes these wonders possible.He turns on the light for the classroom and sees the 11 VR-2000 players. Each studentworkstation contains a circular railing that the student stands within and a computer with a colormonitor resting on a table beside the railing. For every station there is a helmet, two gloves andtwo leg wrappings with wire connections linking them with the computer. The separate studentworkstations look like the individual booths used for language instruction when he was a student.(Of course, language instruction uses VR-2000 workstations as well. With the software lessons,students are placed in a foreign country and must find a place to live, find a job, go out fordinner, etc.) Each student’s workstation is linked with the instructor’s computer which isnetworked to the university’s mainframe system and ultimately linked to other computerinstallations around the world.

At the front of the room sits his workstation. It is almost exactly like the students’ stations exceptfor a bigger monitor and an expanded keyboard. He turns on his computer workstation. It takes afew minutes to boot up which gives him time to select a program for today’s viewing. From alocked cabinet he sees the titles of the VR-2000 educational programs available to him. Sincethis virtual reality classroom is used by all of the sequence instructors for their students, there is awide variety of software programs on the shelves.

It was about eight years ago that he first started to hear about virtual reality. When he asked otherfaculty members about it, most of them had never heard of the technology. Now as he reviewsthe lesson programs on the shelf, he realizes how valuable the technology is as a teaching tool.The television and film students can enter a sound stage and watch how a movie is made. Theycan also make their own films, record and edit them, and show their work on traditionalprojectors so everyone can view their work. The advertising students can sit in on an agency’smeetings with clients and its creative team concerning a new product’s campaign. They can evengive their own input to the group. The public relations students have a lesson where they workfor a large company that had a product that recently was responsible for a number of deaths. Thestudents speak to the media and try to overcome the damage to the company’s reputation that theproduct made. Journalism students have an elaborate role-playing lesson called, “Newspaper -2000.” In the simulation, students can take the role of a reporter, copy editor, graphic designer,section editor, managing editor, or publisher for a medium-sized newspaper. It’s a big news day

with many quick decisions needed from the students for this complicated virtual reality program.And finally, photocommunications students learn how to make their own virtual reality programsfor entertainment, communication and educational purposes. Since the advent of virtual realitytechnology, the field of presentation graphics, as might be expected, has seen a tremendousgrowth with much student interest.

Premack’s photojournalism students can work with journalism students on the newspapersimulation, work in the studio with the VR-2000 to create food, fashion or editorial illustrations,or take the role of a photographer in a number of different situations and assignments. Forexample, there is a lesson that teaches sports photography based on Super Bowl XXXI, where adramatic come-from-behind win gave the Dallas Cowboys football team their third Super Bowlwin in a row. The recent Cuban War is represented in a lesson so that students can experience thedifficulties involved with taking pictures during war conditions. There is a lesson on shooting arock concert which most students like because they enjoy the loud music, a lesson that takesstudents to a remote area of Alaska to complete a picture story on Native American fishermen,and the lesson Premack selects for today’s class, the Budd Dwyer press conference and suicide.Although the event happened several years ago, Premack thinks it is an excellent example of ageneral news assignment, a press conference, that suddenly turned into a horrifying spot newsassignment. It tells students that they must be prepared for any type of eventuality. And since thisweek the students are learning about spot news coverage, this is an excellent program choice. Hetakes it off the shelf, locks the cabinet, and slips the cassette into his VR-2000 player.At the top of the hour, Premack’s students come filing into the classroom and sit at theworkstations. Out of the 10 in the class, eight of the students have worked on newspapers asinterning staff photographers. This class is filled with serious photojournalism students. This isPremack’s favorite class because the students are professional in their command of the

technology and also are caring individuals who are concerned about the people they photograph.It is also the class where he’s known the students the longest because for most, this is their lastphotography class before graduation. Although they receive a healthy dose of ethics throughoutthe curriculum, in this class they are challenged more than at any time in their coursework.As he watches the students find their seats, he thinks, “I wonder if I’ll have trouble with Hancocktoday?” Hancock is the exception. “If I were a secret service agent protecting the President on acampaign stop at the college,” Premack thinks to himself, “I would focus most of my attentionon this nervous, sloppily dressed student in the back of the room.” Premack wonders if Hancockwill make it as a photojournalist. One of the hardest things about teaching photojournalism is totell a student that he or she might need to think about another profession. Yet Premack admiresHancock’s creativity. Although he is not good around other people, as is necessary for ajournalism career, he may do well in commercial or even art imaging. He could also become acomputer systems operator for a newspaper or a college. He just needs to gain a bit moreconfidence.

After a few general announcements and the students have settled down, Premack explains whatthey are about to experience. A detailed description is necessary because of the problems in thetechnology when it was first introduced - some students became upset as it was too real for them.Besides, the Dwyer episode is an intense viewing experience that may easily upset theunprepared. Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Budd Dwyer had just been convicted of bribery.Journalists from several newspapers, news services and television stations gathered around asmall podium that sat on a table expecting to hear Dwyer announce his resignation from stategovernment. What they heard were the long, rambling last words of a seriously troubled man.

Dwyer pulled out a .357 magnum, long barrel pistol, waved back reporters, stuck the revolver inhis mouth, pulled the trigger and ended his torment before a stunned audience.Even though his students have heard all of the instructions before, Premack finds it is toeveryone’s interest to go through the safety devices built into the system. Users should neverforget that they are essentially watching a movie. He explains that if it gets a little too real, theycan stop the lesson at any time or look the other way. They can try to prevent what is happeningor use their cameras to record images of what they are witnessing. Each student’s computer willrecord their images. After the lesson ends, the students can review the images on their computermonitor, pick their favorite, manipulate it, crop it, use it in a layout, print it out and turn it in.Finally, Premack reminds them not to go through the gray zone unless there is an emergencybecause that ends the program for everyone. After they all seem to understand what is comingup, he tells them to start their computers and put on the equipment. He helps a couple of studentsadjust the straps on their helmets. After everyone is ready, Premack asks them to breathe deeplyand calmly so that the computer can register their bodily signs. This procedure takes twominutes. Premack checks his computer’s monitor to make sure he can see the output from everystudent. When all of his students are registered, he slips on his gear and starts the lesson.Entering the virtual reality world is always a bit disorienting at first. It takes a few moments toget used to the view inside the helmet’s monitor. The visual perspective is a bit wider thannormal vision. Although the user is initially astounded at how real the scene appears, after a fewmoments, the newness wears off and the player can see inconsistencies. As with colorized blackand white movies, sometimes the edges of objects bleed into adjoining objects contributing to aslightly unrealistic effect. Since none of the objects and people are real, a player can walkthrough any of them, although if a user goes through a person, the program automatically makesthe computer character respond with an unflattering comment. Finally, there is the gray zonenoticeable on either side of the scene that reminds the student that the vivid scene is a product ofcomputer generated magic.

All of his students walk onto the press conference scene as if it were a set in a stage play. Dwyeris in the middle of his long, rambling speech at the front of the room behind a podium with manymicrophones attached to it. The room is crowded with reporters and photographers so hisstudents, to get any good pictures, must weave their way between the computer-generatedfigures. All of the students have digital cameras around their necks and shoulder bags thatcontain an assortment of lenses supplied by the computer program.

Premack notices Hancock in the back of the room off to himself looking a bit bored. He goesover to him and says, “Shouldn’t you start taking some pictures?”“To tell you the truth,” Hancock replies, “I got a copy of this tape from my bulletin board acouple of months ago. It’s really gross. Can’t I do something else?”Always a trouble maker, Premack thinks. “Just hang out here in the back and watch the others.Why don’t you take pictures of the others taking pictures?”“Okay, that’s an original idea,” Hancock replies sarcastically. He makes an attempt at takingpictures, but he would clearly rather be anywhere else. He is standing next to the gray zone at theright-side of the room.Premack cautions, “Don’t get too close to the edge. I don’t want you stopping the program, gotit?”“Yea, yea.”The lesson continues with Dwyer talking about his career as a public servant. Most of thestudents are now close to the podium along with the computer-generated still photographers and

videographers. Suddenly Dwyer pulls out his gun. Even though Premack has seen this lessonseveral times, it is still a bit of a shock. There is some yelling and chaos among the spectators.One of his students tries to rush Dwyer and take the gun from him. Dwyer points the gun in hisdirection and waves him back. Premack makes a mental note to caution the student about tryingthat action in the real world. Suddenly there is a huge explosion as Dwyer shoots himself.Premack happened to be watching Hancock when the shot fired. The sound of the blast sosurprised him that he jumped back instinctively and fell into the gray zone. Expecting theprogram to end, Premack started working on his speech to chew out Hancock when it occurred tohim that the program did not stop. Premack’s curiosity is piqued when he realizes that somethingmust be wrong with the software. He tells the other students to get out of the program and startediting their images. He’s going into the gray zone and see what happened to Hancock.Premack slowly walks through the gray zone. He is suddenly transformed into a light being ashis body is immediately sucked into a tube of light. His body is no longer recognizable. He is aband of light traveling extremely fast through a kind of light highway. He realizes that he ismoving along a fiber optic link between the school’s computer and the network. He remembersthat the school’s network is linked with the supercomputer at Rutgers University. “Oh God. Ihope I’m not going to New Jersey,” he thinks to himself.

He is able to look around and see other bands of light with other light beings like himself flyingthrough the network wires. He is aware that Hancock is in front of him on the same light-bandhighway. He likes this sensation of flying.He calls out, “Hancock. Can you hear me?”

“Yea,” Hancock quickly responds. “Isn’t this cool? I think it’s a bug in the program that lets youinto the network. We’re headed for the source.”Premack worries a bit about the students back in the classroom, but he’s enjoying this newsensation too much to stop now.Suddenly there’s another, somewhat muffled voice, “Daddy. Daddy. Dinner’s ready.”He knows the voice is not from Hancock or any of his students.“Daddy. Dinner’s ready.”It’s his 15-year-old daughter, Allison.“Okay, honey. I’ll be right there,” Premack answers.He looks at Hancock and wonders if he should try to stop him. But then he thinks, “ScrewHancock. I’m hungry.”Premack touches the quit button on his keyboard and stops the program. The light highwaypauses in mid-flight. A graphics display superimposes the words, “You have elected to quit. Doyou want to save up to this point?” Premack presses the OK button on the keyboard. “Programsaved under the previously named file: Premack3.” Then the last words from the program areprojected that always make Premack smile, “Thank you for playing the VR-2000:Photojournalism Adventure Game. Have a real day.”

The screen goes blank. Premack slowly takes off his helmet, gloves and leg wrappings and stepsout of the circular railing. He sets the equipment on his desk and turns on the lamp in his office.He sits down at his chair and rubs his eyes for a few moments, turns off the computer and walksdownstairs.His daughter is already sitting at the dinner table.“More trouble with Hancock,” she asks with a smile.“Yea,” Premack answers with a laugh. “This time he really screwed up. He disappeared into thegray zone and I had to go in and find him. It was great. I was a flying beam of light.”

Allison gives him a glass of milk and says, “You know, Dad, if your school could afford VRworkstations for students, they would really learn a lot from the programs.”“I know. I know. Some day during my lifetime,” Premack sighs. “Pass the please, please.”