Lev Manovich - The paradoxes of digital photography

PUBLISHED IN:
Photography After Photography.Exhibition catalog.
Germany, 1995.
Available http://www.manovich.net/TEXT/digital_photo.html
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Lev Manovich
THE PARADOXES OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

In this text, written in 1994, Manovich discusses the differences between digital and analogue photography. He asks whether digital photography and film making are more or less 'real' than their analogue predecessors, as new methods enable easier manipulation and editing of image.
Much of the essay is about the then emerging technology of digital photography; most of his references (Jurassic Park is the height of CGI at the time of writing) and some points have been made obsolete by developments in both photographic software and hardware since 1994, but the theories are mostly still relevant, and the questions unanswered.

There are some sections of the essay that I found more interesting and relevant than others. Manovich's views on realism, and the ideas of 'photorealism' and 'hyperrealism' are still in play even today. Photorealism is the idea that 3D or digital imagery is aiming not to replicate real objects, but photos of those objects. Hyperrealism is when imagery is too clear, clean or even realistic to look like something the eyes are used to. Techniques to combat hyperrealism have been put in place, include 'faking' depth of field by adding pseudo focus, and adding motion blur to 3D animation and CGI to simulate film footage.

The idea of digital imagery's aspiration of realism or photorealism is, however, untrue in more recent entirely 3D animations such as Finding Nemo. As the 3D images are not on screen with film footage, the aim is no longer realism or photorealism, and the imagery becomes cartoon-like. That being said, conventions of film such as camera movement are unnecessarily in place, perhaps to justify the medium to film traditionalists.

The points made by Manovich seem very accurate of today considering it was written 14 years ago. I can perhaps use some of his theories to help predict what will happen next. Instead of thinking of gaps in the market, think of how technology has developed, and why society accept some advances and discard others. This could for practical reasons or the principles behind the new concepts. Maybe, rather than making things smaller, faster or combining technologies, look at aspects such as broader appeal, widespread availability, or the social factors within media.