The Process
The first step to hacking an image is to rename the photo from .jpeg to .txt. After renaming the image to .txt it can be opened with the preview app and the entire code of the image is displayed. Hacking the image happens by altering the code by deleting certain strings of code, copy and pasting certain strings of code throughout the image, or even adding new code that was not part of the original photo. While altering the code I realized that deleting lines of code created grey lines across the image. The more code that was deleted the bigger the grey lines would be. I experimented with copy and pasting random strings of code through the iamge and was able to rearrange parts of the photo.
The Difficulties
one of the main difficulties that I faced in completing the impossible project was breaking the images as I was altering the code. When I first started the project, I was constantly breaking
the images and when this happens they become unusable. I thought that I could only make small adjustments as a time, for example, delete one line of code at a time, so that's exactly what I was doing. I would delete 1/2 to a full line of code and then convert the image back to jpeg to see the alterations. However, when I would try to open the image up I would see a pop-up message showing me that the image was damaged and could not be opened. After breaking about 10 images, I became frustrated and realized that i must be doing something wrong.
What Did I Learn?
In completing the impossible project I learned how to successfully distort/hack an image while still having it look somewhat structured and aesthetically pleasing to look at. While experimenting with this project I struggled with creating something that fulfilled the requirements of the "hack" inquiry but also something that I was proud of and would be excited to present to the class. In the beginning, I was randomly scrolling through the code and deleting random pieces, which would mostly grey but sometimes colorful lines throughout the photo. While this was still considered hacking the image it was not really anything special and I wasn't really happy with any of the results I was seeing in my photo.
While originally hacking the photo I was mindlessly altering the code without having any specific changes in mind that I wanted to create in the photo. once i realized that I needed to be specific with my alterations i was able to create something that looked really cool and that i was excited to present. Once i decided what i wanted to do, I started over with a new photo and copied the section of code where the subject eye was pictured in the photo. I pasted the eye over and over again through the photo and created a really cool effect. I'm really happy with the final edits and I'm excited to present my process to the class and experiment more with hacking in the future.
