A photo validity test

According to recent research findings photographs can be considered valid substitutes for real landscapes in studies on the correlation between observer reactions to a scene and photographs of that scene. These findings are partially supported in the present study. It was found that for some scenes and for some characteristics photographs can form a good substitute for reality: for instance, rather small-scale landscapes can be judged accurately on the characteristics ‘intensity of human use’ and ‘historical character’. For other scenes, such as large-scale landscapes with micro-relief, however, photographs formed a bad substitute.