Lab 1 Post

1. Compare your photo with the one from Unsplash. What are the differences? Why is one”better quality” than the other?

The differences are that the photo from Unsplash has a higher resolution, especially with the waves. When I zoomed in on mine, the waves were blurrier than the one from Unsplash. The lighting was better and much brighter than mine. There was more complexity and detail displayed in the one from Unsplash, particularly in the birds, sun, and clouds. Mine has one bird, but the detail is very subtle and hardly recognizable. As a result, I would say that the one from Unsplash is better quality than mine.

2. Compare your photos with the scans. What are the differences? Why is one “better quality” than the other?

The photo of the two pennies (3D objects) that I took ended up looking better than the scan. The detail was not lost when I zoomed in on the photo, however, the scan proved to be more blurry and I was unable to see the images and text that was on each penny. I would say that the photo was significantly better than the scan because the photo maintained the integrity of the pennies. As for the drawing of my flower, it seemed that the photo was also better than the scan. Admittedly, both were blurry to some extent, but the scan was obviously much worse than the photo. I was able to zoom in much more on the photo without it becoming very pixelated. On the other hand, the scan became pixelated much faster as I zoomed in. Even though the scan has a brighter background because it is white whereas the background in the photo is tan, I would say that the photo is better quality mainly because the precision of the ink was demonstrated more clearly and kept intact. Lastly, I found that the quality of the Häagen-Dazs pint of ice cream was displayed much more accurately in the photo than the scan. When I zoomed in on the words on the scan, it was blurry and somewhat difficult to read. The photo was much better because the details remained intact and did not compromise the overall composition of the product for the advertisement, even though the background of the scan was more consistent throughout.

3. What could you do to improve the quality of the images acquired by each method?

If I am using a professional camera, I could increase the shutter speed to capture the details of a scene more accurately so that they would not become as blurry. If I am using a phone, I could consider using flash to provide more light on the object that I am photographing. As for the scan, I could make sure that the object is completely pressed down against the surface of the scanner so that the details do not come out lighter than desired.

I found it interesting that in class the scan appeared to be better than the photo whereas in my lab the photo appeared to be better than the scan. It seemed as though the scan was a more appropriate approach and yielded a higher quality image than the photo method. However, I think that the photo method is better for the type of imagery that I am going to be using for my projects since it provides much less blurry content than the scan does.