Digital photography: influence of smartphone usage in relation to visual communication.
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Date
November 2015
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Abstract
This study describes the results of a phenomenological research aimed at enquiring on
the influence of smartphone photography activities on the mainstream digital
photography in relation to visual communication. New knowledge and new frontiers
have emerged from the results. Previous studies revealed that smartphone photography
being a newly emerged visual communication practice is reuniting families and
friends through the act of mobile photography. Fifteen participants were purposefully
selected and interviewed for their experiences in smartphone photography within three
major cities in Ghana namely: Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi. The responses were
integrated into a body of data out of which three themes were developed:
Technological Convergence, User- applications and Improvement in image resolution
to deal with the three research objectives respectively. The results show that
professionals and non-professionals alike will continue to experience the practice of
smartphone photography because the practice is seen as a new medium of social
interconnectivity. However, on the issue of whether the DSLRs could be replaced by
the emergence of the smartphone, results suggest the contrary. The study also revealed
increased human rights infringements like “voyeurism” and “secret filming” of
victims as part of the activities due to dramatic improvement in the image quality.
The study therefore elicits promulgation of governmental policy or some regulations
on the use of smartphone photography especially in public spaces to reduce the
incidence of human rights abuses
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Design in the Faculty of Art, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree Master of Philosophy (Communication Design),