context

The Need for Context

Here is the same aerial photo of a forest in spring — cropped two different ways. On the left it's pure trees, but has nothing in it to indicate scale. Many people think it is a closeup of broccoli. On the right it is cropped so you can see the houses and you have context that tells you it is an aerial, so those must be trees.

I much prefer the pure abstract image and have this hanging on MY wall. But I also know it won't work for a general audience, either as an art abstract or as a representational image of a forest.