Pictures that Lie

Semiotic Review of Books Volume 6 Book 2
SRB Archives
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/epc/srb/srb/pictures.html
"Pictures have for a long time served as scapegoats to the apocalyptists in the domain of media studies. The apocalyptic scenario of the power which pictures exert in manipulating and deceiving the masses appears as early as 1895..." (Noth, Winfred)

Depicting lies isn't something new, and it has been used to trick the masses for decades. These ideals were likely sparked by elitists such as Gustave LeBon, who wrote the Psychology of the Masses and stated that ,"To them, the unreal is almost as important as the real." It's thoughts like these that have caused our worlds numerous fibs.
Even early paintings have referred to "mere imaginary objects" to stimulate the minds of average citizens. The big question presented in this document, however, is whether these lying pictures can actually TELL a lie, and the truth is "Pictures can tell a thousand words" but it's only been recently that people have caught on to the deception pictures create. With all sorts of information floating around due to the internet, it would seem impossible for the public to be unaware, and it is. Now, more than ever, pictures are being re-created to portray the desired effects the producer wishes, not for truth. These lies are made easy with software like photoshop, but also we can thank electronics for better informing us of some sort of truth so that we may weed out the imaginary.

I chose a picture of the alamo because I have lived in San Antonio since I was 3 and the Alamo symbolizes San Antonio's history and the beginning of the city. I used google images to find a picture of the alamo and I added meteors to the picture to represent the "end of the world" as many believe our time period to be, and to show how it might end here. The Alamo is symbolic in displaying the end of San Antonio because it was the city's beginning. This, too, is the way I believe my picture relates to the website I researched in the sense that my picture speaks for itself, as anyone who views the picture will realize that it represents the end of San Antonio and does "tell a thousand words". The picture is not harmful in any way because it's merely a possibility and many wouldn't be gullable enough to believe it. Unless someone thought it disembodied the Alamo and they had strong tides with the Alamo, then that would be an exception. I manipulated the picture by first using the magic wand tool to isolate the meteor, I then increased both Hue and Saturation and decreased the lightness to add to the devistating effects the meteor would have on our city. I zoomed in and erased squared parts to make the meteor more realistic looking, then made two copies of it to bring emphasis on the damage being created. I made the meteor on the sunier side of the alamo brighter to make it seem more realistic. I then added burns on the building using the burn tool and the shadow option to make it seem as if the picture was taken just before the meteors hit.

Noth, Winfred. "Pictures Lying..." SRB Archives. SRB, 2009. Web. 12 Apr 2010.