Skin of mistrust

What I find particularly surprising about this type of 3D scanning is just how much it emphasises the artificial nature of the process. The basic scan (left) has an integrity of its own, whereas when you add colour, light and shade (right) it seems to reinforce how paper-thin this illusion really is. It is almost as if three-dimensional scanning is at the point where photography was during the first few decades of its existence. Then photography seemed to be a direct imprint from the real; its veracity dependent upon the lack of human intervention. It took us many years to break this trust down and to start mistrusting photographs, seeing them for the illusion that they are, and perhaps it is something of this mistrust that the colour, light and shade bring to the basic scan. In contrast, the underlying shape possesses a bit of that old photographic veracity –…