The idea behind this concept is to create an image of someone getting evidence that aliens exist. The idea that aliens are real have been around for many years, however, there isn't much evidence that proves that they are real. Within the image, there is a couple that is taking a picture of an alien on their roof, which is something that people would do within modern day.
The background is my original photograph. I then added the white house, which I took from unsplash (the image is free to use under the unsplash license). The bushes are created from photoshop generated AI, helping me blend the house to the background. The Alien is from pixabay, which is free to use under the Pixabay License. The Alien ship and shooting star come from Pexels, which are free to use with Pexels License.
This work was done by Ximena Alvarado. It shows a house at night with a UFO above it, an alien on the house, and two people taking a photo of the alien. The tone is spooky due to the dark, nighttime setting, but also a bit humorous due to the fact the people are just standing there and taking a photo of the alien. The aspect ratio seems to be a standard 3:4 ratio in a portrait orientation. The licenses for the photos were given, but the precise links to the images weren’t provided in the post.
ReplyDeleteI think the meaning can be derived from looking at both the alien elements and the two humans. When the viewer sees the UFO and alien on the house they immediately can make the connection that the photo is depicting some kind of alien invasion or attack, which is the basis of the image's meaning. Then moving on to the humans we can see that they are standing there taking a photo rather than being scared of what is happening. When you add this element to the alien and UFO it becomes a commentary on people being more focused on digitally documenting things than being cautious, or living in the present.
I think the concept of this piece makes sense. UFOs and aliens have been added to photographs for a long time and have almost become a motif for fake images. The social commentary aspect of photographing things instead of being cautious/having an obsession with posting things online is also an interesting added layer. Posting online is also related to disinformation so the two topics go together well. The composition is overall fairly good, but there are a few details that take away from the realism of the piece. Since the alien's shadow goes forward it kind of blends into the roof of the building a bit, especially since it is so small. Adding more shadow beneath it might have helped this. The people also have a bit too much of an outline, I think this is due to trying to make them look lit up from the front. I would say maybe reduce the light on the legs to make it look more realistic. The people are also blurrier than the background which makes them not blend in as well.
I would say that this image is supposed to be from the perspective of another person taking a photo similarly to the people in front of them, for the purpose of posting to social media. Someone could easily take a photo like this and edit in something like the UFO, then post it and become the catalyst for a discussion about if aliens or the picture were real. I don’t think this concept in particular would be that harmful, unless you look at very extreme conspiracy theorists who focus on aliens, but the trend of posting photos of fake UFOs or cryptids shows how easy it is for people to post fake content online for more nefarious reasons, like trying to make a celebrity or political figure look like they committed a crime, etc. I actually saw this recently on a twitter (x) post that was then posted on TikTok and debunked. It was a supposed photo of Kamala Harris and Sean Combs (Diddy), in light of the recent court proceedings, but the original photo was someone else and Kamala’s head had been edited on the other woman's body.
Overall I think this piece speaks to conspiracy, fake posts on social media, and the obsession with the online world in general. While there are a few things that could be improved on, the compositing is overall well done.