All in the mind - or - Is this a valid point of view?

[Bruce Williams]

On May 26th I posted the following image in the Gallery. It shows a pair of Snipe fly, Rhagio scolopaceus mating.



The thing about the image is that (as you can see) they are hanging upside-down under a wooden fence rail. Now a couple of friends of mine (one a pro photographer) said that they found it quite hard to fully understand/appreciate the image and felt a strong urge to tip their heads upside-down so as to view it in a more conventional head-up orientation.

As an experiment I rotated the image 180 degrees on screen. There was immediate exclamations of "Ah that's better" and "ah yes that makes more sense". They prefered the rotated version and said they actually thought it was a better (more interesting) photograph. Actually I think I liked it better too.

Here's the rotated version:



The question is:

"Is it valid to rotate an image to make it easier (more pleasing) to view even if the posture (grip, stretch, effects of gravity etc) are misrepresented by the artificial orientation of the image?".

If you have a tabbed viewer could I suggest you load each image into different tabs and flip between them.



Bruce

[Gill Catton]

I think its is valid though I think the eye tells you something is wrong with the image, its still easier to look at than the true upside down nature.

I think 'upside-downess' is easier to look at when the subject is smaller in the frame and you can see more of its surroundings for your brain to orientate by if you know what I mean?....

[ron1863]

I prefer the rotated image too Bruce. I think it's only human nature to look at things "the right way up". Our brains expect feet to be at the bottom of a photograph with heads at the top, anything upside down confuses it..........well it does mine

[Bruce Williams]

That's an interesting point Gill. It is definitely easier making sense of the upside-down thumbnail than it is of the full size image.

We have the same problem seeing the human head upside-down. When someone smiles it looks really odd!

Bruce

[charlieb]

Originally Posted by Bruce Williams

they found it quite hard to fully understand/appreciate the image

They obviously don't spend a lot of time photographing insects

What you should have done was post the images and ask people which one they though was the right way up

The upside down image seems to strain my brain (not that it's difficult to do ) as it tries to flip the image the "right way up" - I find myself wanting to turn my head as well. I suspect because I wasn't there I'm not appreciating the true image and just assuming it's wrong.

[Bruce Williams]

Yes you're right Ron it is more natural. I suppose my main concern about rotating an image like this one is that the grip of both the male and female might be very different if they were actually mating on top of the fence post. For example in the case of the female her legs might be more compressed and perhaps more widely spaced (perhaps?).

Bruce

[ron1863]

It would be interesting if you had a shot of them mating the "right way up" just to compare. I suspect there wouldn't be a great deal of difference as pound for pound they are far stronger than humans and built differently.

[Bruce Williams]

Charlie you're spot-on there - neither of them photograph insects. However they regularly get their feet nailed to the floor while I show them all my latest insect photos . The pro photographer does mainly weddings, family groups and company brochures. The other guy is a keen amateur who does general photography including birds and flowers.

Yes I think me having taken the shot (in fact several shots) I can perhaps more easily relate the upside-down image to the actual subjects/event.

Bruce

[Maccattack1]

Nice thread.. have seen several upside down shots in the insect Gallery , and my first thoughts were that these were a bit different and probably not something we could imediately relate to...
I hope they weren't originally the right way up !
Pictorially they are much easier in the expected presentation , much more interesting the way they were originally seen.
Hope the wedding photographer doesn't have directly comparable shots.

Malcolm

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Malcolm . Hmmm....well my friend is not averse to trying something creative but upside-down wedding pics.......the bride might take some convincing .

Bruce