Write-Up MP5

MP5

Action Word: Flood

For my object I decided to use something small, therefore making it easy to submerge. I decided to use my Buck-ID for this not only because there is an actual picture of myself on the ID, but also because it really is the key to my life here at OSU. This piece of plastic has made it into the majority of my micro-projects, and is the only thing I will not leave my room without.

The word that I have decided to base my piece on (out of the two given) is flood. The immediate definition I got when I typed “flood definition” into Google was “Cover or submerge (a place or area) with water.” It was clear from the start that one limitation I would face was that my project should incorporate water. However, in using water I realized that I would be working with a different optical medium. I quickly decided that for my project I wanted to “play around” with some basic laws of optics. In my picture I submerged a portion of my Buck-ID into a glass cup of water, and then used my phone to take a picture of it at an angle. Without getting too much into the science, due to the change in the index of refraction from air (1.00) to water (1.33), the ID was distorted when looking at it through the water, as opposed to the portion that remained “un-flooded.”  Furthermore, due to the angle at which the picture was taken, the image appears twice; once as a slightly distorted view from above, and then again as a magnified image due to the concaved shape of the glass.

The main portion of this project was just the picture in itself. I decided not to alter the picture too much in Photoshop because I think that it would ruin the whole concept behind this piece. The image has already changed itself, adding on any filters would just be redundant and unnatural. In order to show that I have learned something this semester I decided to put it into Photoshop anyway, and to cut off some of the edges that were irrelevant to the piece. I also added a background that was more fitting to the theme of the project than the desk in the dorm room. Lastly I typed my action word into the piece (in blue) so that anyone that stumbles on it might have some clue as to what’s going on.