Left brain/right brain and hemispheric specialization

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Professorgb, I think you need to take an aspirin and lie down for a few minutes.

+1

... As noted by my+1 a few comments up, I, and I believe several others, think you are absolutely correct...

-1

...But, the fact is, Michael sometimes gets up on the wrong side of the bed, as does everyone, from time to time, and even when he's cranky, he's almost always somewhat correct...

+1

... But, sometimes not, and this is one of those times in which he was inappropriately defensive...

-1

[michael]

If I over-reacted, I regret it.

Yes, I did get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. The reason was I was pissed at an online vendor who took $139 of my money for a tutorial on DaVinci Resolve over the weekend and then didn't send me the download for over 48 hours. I asked for a refund and was refused.

Screw-em. I told him to keep his tutorial and my money. Life is too short.

Then I read the stuff at the top of this thread. So, if it's a fight you want, then.....

Once again, apologies. Just pissed with an online publisher who ripped me off.

BTW, our policy here at LuLa is money back, no questions asked if a customer is dissatisfied for any reason with any of our products. Wish others did the same.

Michael

[Photo Op]

If I over-reacted, I regret it.

Yes, I did get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. The reason was I was pissed at an online vendor who took $139 of my money for a tutorial on DaVinci Resolve over the weekend and then didn't send me the download for over 48 hours. I asked for a refund and was refused.

Screw-em. I told him to keep his tutorial and my money. Life is too short.

Then I read the stuff at the top of this thread. So, if it's a fight you want, then.....

Once again, apologies. Just pissed with an online publisher who ripped me off.

BTW, our policy here at LuLa is money back, no questions asked if a customer is dissatisfied for any reason with any of our products. Wish others did the same.

Michael

TMI.......

[jjj]

I'm afraid that I'm with the scientists here too, as I'm a psycholinguist by training and the question of hemispheric specialisation and language has been much discussed in language pathology and first and second language acquisition. Too much cod science for me on a photography site, I'm afraid. There is, however, something that needs explaining in the preferential bias for the first photo. An eye-tracking study might prove interesting.

A dentist friend of mine once presented a paper at a conference where he and his colleagues showed that while western dentists scanned dental x-rays from left to right, Japanese dentists did so from top to bottom, right to left, reflecting the classic directions of western and Japanese writing systems, respectively.

Yup, I think also testing the images with people who read right to left could be illuminating.
Was the article written by Ken Rockwell?  
[ducks for cover!  ]

Glad to see you were man enough to apologise for an intemperate post Michael, I did think it was a bit out of character.

[paulbk]

Michael,
I've been with you for more than ten years. And have learned much (galactic understatement). Even learned a fair bit about photography. Mostly what I've learned is what an utterly decent human being you are. Your style of being you has shown me that life is not boot camp. That being a drill Sergeant is only useful for teaching very young men how to get up in the morning and report to work on time with shined shoes. Otherwise, no need for drill Sergeants in most of real life.

Yes, your first post was an overreaction. And, as is your way, you did the right thing. Acknowledged that some external matter had you in an altered state and your follow up post fixed it. Done.

The professor made some interesting points worth reading. And was kind enough to point us to references. We all win when people like that contribute to this forum. That's why I'm here.

Carry on.

[Tony Jay]

Having read the article in question and having more than a passing knowledge of neuroanatomy and neuroscience due to my background as a physician I do not believe that there is any reason to take at face value, especially to the nth degree, the information presented in the article.
I see this article as something on a food-for-thought sort of level not as a scientific dissertation based on cutting edge neuroscience.
I agree that the information presented is debatable.

On another point I see no merit in criticizing Michael Reichman for the wholly understandable "sin" of not having a consummate grasp of current neuroscience. Specialist knowledge is just that - limited to specialists in the field. (BTW this in no way stops non-specialists from learning and gaining knowledge in any field.) Michael's specialist knowledge is in other spheres.

Also, I see no issue with presenting concepts that might well need to be challenged. In fact this site is no stranger to this. Michael allows a broad range of opinion - some of it borders on the absurd (especially in the forums) but a careful reading of the subsequent debate in the forums soon illuminates whether the concept has merit or not.
The Luminous Landscape brand succes is partly due to the fact that broad views and debate are acceptable.

As with all information presented on the internet a buyer-beware approach is wise.
NOnetheless, nearly all the information presented by Michael himself that I have had the opportunity to verify checks out.
This might be highly technical detail pertaining to some photographic equipment or alternatively a, professed, subjective view of how well he thinks a camera or lens actually performs.
So, in fact, I would like to confirm that Michael is an insightful and careful reviewer and writer.
He is also very quick to acknowledge verifiable mistakes.

I do not think that professorgb should be "shy" going forward - believe me this site is big enough to accomodate you.
Michael is full of common-sense and you do not appear to be a flake so please do not hide on the basis of one exchange.

Tony Jay

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Excellent summary, Tony!

[professorgb]

It's awfully hard not to let life's crap spill over and one cranky post makes no difference in anybody's life.  However, a good dark stout goes a long way toward attitude reform.

Skoal!

If I over-reacted, I regret it.

Yes, I did get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. The reason was I was pissed at an online vendor who took $139 of my money for a tutorial on DaVinci Resolve over the weekend and then didn't send me the download for over 48 hours. I asked for a refund and was refused.

Screw-em. I told him to keep his tutorial and my money. Life is too short.

Then I read the stuff at the top of this thread. So, if it's a fight you want, then.....

Once again, apologies. Just pissed with an online publisher who ripped me off.

BTW, our policy here at LuLa is money back, no questions asked if a customer is dissatisfied for any reason with any of our products. Wish others did the same.

Michael

[uaiomex]

Michael: I enjoyed the article for its sheer simplicity. I just shared it minutes ago to my personal Facebook account using Google Translate to spanish. (linked).

professorgb: I would hate to see you leave. I'm sure many others too.

Eduardo

[Eric Kellerman]

Yup, I think also testing the images with people who read right to left could be illuminating.

Well, using a sample size of 1 (my wife, who is Japanese), I found that 100% of those questioned preferred the first photo. However, my sample has lived in the West for most of her life ....

[SunnyUK]

I read the article and thought to myself "yes, I remember reading about left/right brain parts before", and then got to the end of the article thinking "is that it? Where does the insight come?".

It was nice to learn that the left/right is actually a myth, but apart from that, the article left me a bit underwhelmed. The photograph of the bridge was outstanding though, and I loved it. Very strong picture.

[laughingbear]

Results in the psychology of music perception give us many examples of how empirical research helps advance our understanding of how we engage aesthetically with artworks.

Due to the nature of aesthetic perception, this specific understanding will always be a field of multidisciplinary studies. Focussing on a single discpline does not suffice the complexity. Collaboration of the various scientific and humanistic studies is required to gain more insights into the open questions.

I am open to challenging ideas and views, regardless how deep or simplistic they may appear at a glance.

The article made me smile as it triggered a memory of Michael casually making a statement about taking "Neurochromics" when we were driving through Algonquin Park. He referred to shooting without a camera, but taking pictures with his eyes/brain, making "mental notes".

This has stuck with me ever since.  

@Michael

http://www.colorgradingcentral.com/davinci-resolve-tutorials

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

... The reason was I was pissed at an online vendor who took $139 of my money for a tutorial on DaVinci Resolve over the weekend and then didn't send me the download for over 48 hours. I asked for a refund and was refused.
...
Michael

Resolve is divided into three parts:

• Understanding the workflow opportunities - read my crash course: http://wolfcrow.com/blog/davinci-resolve-crash-course-for-beginners-part-one-setting-up/
• Color correction - you already know this via Lightroom and other RAW processors.
• Power Windows - something tells me you won't enjoy using this feature very much. It's a chore, and it takes skill to use it well.

If there's anything specific you'd like to know, some of the members in the Motion & Video forum are pretty knowledgable.

Finally, the Resolve manual is one of the best written (and I've read them all).

[michael]

I have no problem with basic use of Resolve. It wasn't difficult to get up to speed.

But it's the things you mention, such as Power Windows and tracking that are worth learning in depth and I enjoy well done video tutorials rather than manuals. I thought that Denver Riddle's series would be fun, but alas his customer service leaves something to be desired.

In any event, as powerful as Resolve is, it's a clunky piece of software from another era. Fixed page layout, no floating windows, no use of a second monitor other than for scopes. And if you leave the scopes on the second monitor, you can never get them back to the main screen unless that monitor is reattached. Bad design.

But Adobe has just announced that Premier will support CinemaDNG as of an Oct 15th update, so unless Blackmagic really pulls a rabbit out of it's hat I'm afraid that Resolve likely isn't in my future in any event.

[cmi]

Well at the end, a separation between creativity, spontaneity, intuition (call it how you want) and rational thought is always present in our world and also in us as individuals. A "scientific debate" wich would negate that would be of no use, to anyone.

So, nevertheless, an important topic not only for art - no matter how it is rooted biologically.

Best regards

[Jeremy Roussak]

In any event, as powerful as Resolve is, it's a clunky piece of software from another era. Fixed page layout, no floating windows, no use of a second monitor other than for scopes. And if you leave the scopes on the second monitor, you can never get them back to the main screen unless that monitor is reattached. Bad design.

Michael, I don't have Resolve and so I've not tried it, but if you're working on a Mac, there are quite a few apps which with gather windows for you, some of them automatically on disconnection/reconnection of a second monitor. I use one called Moom, from manytricks.com.

Jeremy