Comparison of visual properties in digital wood images

Communicating the advantages of the whole wood material, including visual impressions, is increasingly important. The computer can be a useful tool in this effort. The overall aim of this study was to find out whether there was an experienced difference between wood seen physically and the picture of it on a computer screen. This was done by creating a situation like a memory game wherein the respondents first studied a physical picture (photograph) and then chose among similar pictures (12 variations and one original) on a computer screen. The variations were composed from properties found in earlier qualitative studies. The properties were Shadow, Light, Scale, Contrast, Saturation and Gleam, and they were varied in a plus and a minus level (more shadow/less shadow). After a contest, six variations were compared with the original in a side-by-side comparison. The results indicate that Contrast is the most important property when visualizing wood, both for good and bad visualization. Shadows seem to be the least critical property. The study also supports the hypothesis of smart exaggeration, with only 2 top votes for the Original picture. People seem to need more than just physically correctly recaptured wood to experience wood on a computer screen as true wood.