Don’t apologize for using filters
We were surprised to find that filters have appeared on the slimmest jimmest of apps, Whatsapp. The world in venn investigates.
First Instagram, followed by motley crew bandwagon Snapchat, Facebook and now Whatsapp, filters have become so pervasive that we feel compelled to defend an exceptionally beautiful photo with #nofilter. Like a Korean saying that she has not had plastic surgery. Because true beauty is rarer — where the rarer is better and more victorious.
Yet what does it mean to #havefilter?
To filter is to pass (a liquid, gas, light, or sound) through a device to remove unwanted material.
Every model of camera whether analog or digital is built to take in and capture light differently. That is why we have camera and phone shops showcasing a range of apparatus each trying to outdo each other.
In this era of Instagram and digital phone cameras, how do photos taken vary from phone to phone? Lenses and resolution are certainly important factors. But more interesting to us are the invisible algorithms that phones use to decide what to do with the raw data received.
Firmware in the camera, or a software in a raw converter program interprets the raw data from the sensor to obtain a full color image, because the RGB color model requires three intensity values for each pixel: one each for the red, green, and blue. — Wikipedia
Besides the RGB interplay described above, how does a camera’s algorithm find its balance between a dull grey filled with rich imperceptible details versus a high contrast arresting image which loses details in its highlights and shadows? The balance isn’t even a simple straight line but a curve of spatial possibilities.
If the #nofilter bare-it-all photo is not what it claims to be, where then can we find the original reality?
How about in the analog world where we see through polarized sunglasses? Still it seems the act of seeing the world through shaded lenses is to filter, which could be deemed as unnatural. The enhancement of sceneries by cutting out UV glare and so unveiling the richness of colours could be playing cheat.
Would we then be more honest to ourselves by seeing directly with our eyes? If a singular truth #nofilter kind of visual reality is what we are after, we might end up disappointed. It is well tested through a myriad of creative experiments that different people see the same thing differently. The blue gold dress hit pop icon status for its seamless ability to demonstrate this.
Even the same person can see the same thing differently depending on the context. Here the illusion is shown over time.
As organic input devices, everyone's eyes operates differently. And just like every computer processor has its quirks so do our brains in how we process visual inputs based on our hardware makeup and software programming conditioned by our interactions with the world. Even the way we frame a photo or turn our head to position our eyes is a filter of everything that we are.
The way each of us does this is to apply our own unique filters to the way we see the world. It seems our very being is to filter. There is so much to see in this world that it only makes sense to let loose an organic swarm of eyes to see the world in every possible way. There is in fact no need to apologize for the use of filters.
