This photograph was taken at my sorority’s spring formal last semester. I took several simple steps to alter this photo, but the result is remarkably obvious. First, I cropped the edges of the photo. In the original image there are many distracting features in the background, the mammoth skeleton and a table off to the side holding extra picture frames for photo ops. After altering the photo it is zoomed in and focused very specifically on me. Next I removed the red-eye (or tried to) and increased the color contrast. The increased contrast separated me from the more shadowed background, and brought out colors with greater vibrancy, further increasing the viewers focus. Finally, I brightened the image and added a “glow” that radiates softly out from the center. The result is a brighter, more attractive image that draws the viewer’s eye to a specific feature within the photograph.
In order to consider why I changed these aspects of my photo it is first important to consider the way images are expected to look. First, the altered image was created as a Facebook profile picture. Images used as profile pictures are expected to represent the person to the rest of the Facebook community, and therefore generally depict the person as they wish to be viewed. I made the changes to this photograph in order to make my image stand out, as profile pictures are generally intended to do, and to represent myself as I wish to be seen; that is, someone who stands out, is colorful, and is maybe a little creative.
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