If you ever wonder what marvels lie in the human visual system, perform this exercise. Next time your a passenger in a moving car, and driving through a region with trees, look out at the landscape passing you by. If you look at the leaves on a particular tree you might be able to pick up individual leaves. Now track those leaves as you pass the scene. You will be able to track them because the human visual system is highly adept at pinpointing objects, even moving ones. The best high resolution camera could either take a video, or a photograph with an incredibly fast shutter speed, effectively freezing the frame. Cameras find tracking at high speed challenging.

Tracking and interpreting is even more challenging. It is the interpretation that sets the HVS apart from its digital counterparts. It is likely one of the attributes that allowed us to evolve. Access to fine detail, motion analysis, visual sizing of objects, colour differentiation – all things that can be done less effectively in the digital realm. Notice that I said effectively, and not efficiently. For the HVS does have limitations – lack of zoom, inability to store pictures, macro abilities, and no filtering. The images we do retain in our minds are somewhat abstract, lacking the clarity of photographs. But memories exist as more than mere visual representations. They encompass the amalgam of our senses as visual intersperse with smell, sound and touch. 

Consider the photograph above, of some spruce tips. The image shows the needles as being a vibrant light green. What the picture fails to impart is an understanding of the feel and smell associated with the picture. The resiny smell of pine, and the soft almost fuzzy feeling of the tips. These sensory memories are encapsulated in the image stored in our minds. We can also conceptualize the information in the photography using colour, shape and texture.