The latest craze on social media – well on the old photos
bit of social media at least – is for animating old photographs.
‘My Heritage’ is a US Family History site that has become
popular because they offer a simple photo enhancement tool as part of their
subscription package. I posted some
photos that have been through this process, a few months ago.
The latest animation software is very clever. By using a series of algorithms it can turn a
still picture of a face into a short animation.
Of course the animation can bear no relation to the actual mannerisms of
the person depicted so the utility of this software is not significant. In fact It can be misleading. We don’t know what our long dead ancestors
were like when they smiled or blinked.
In most cases we don’t even know if they smiled at all! The algorithms seem to use the original perspective
of the photograph and this can distort the final image. See example one below which is an enhanced picture
of my Aunt Ruby. Note the eyes
especially.
The second photograph is an enhanced and coloured version of
a photograph of my Mother, Jean Duncan TRENDALL (previously TRENDALL,
previously PALMER, nee McGAVIN). This
works quite well but the computer generated movement is, in my opinion, just a
gimmick.
In short this technology is little more than a parlour
game. One commentator has described it
as ‘creepy’. The technology will improve
as they iron out the glitches.The movements will appear more natural. To me this will make it creepier still.
What do you think?
Photo One: https://myhr.tg/1530xZpN
Philip Trendall
Bramfield
7th March 2021
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment