The document analyzes an advertisement by the World Wildlife Federation depicting deforestation through an image of lungs in a landscape. The image uses contrasting colors and perspective to draw attention to how deforestation is destroying habitats and endangering the environment. It aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and motivate viewers to take action to limit deforestation before it's too late. The document discusses the history and techniques used to create the digital image, including Photoshop manipulation, and how it effectively conveys the interconnected relationship between nature and humanity.

1. Before it’s Too Late Analysis Paper
By: Ida Daly
Everyday millions of people across the globe are subjected to advertisement. This may
come in the form of magazines, television, the internet, buildings, vehicles, and much more. Ads
are essentially everywhere. There is no bypassing them. Environmental companies are joining
the advertising campaign in an attempt to raise awareness to environmental issues. The photograph
I decided to write about is an advertisement for the World Wildlife Federation depicting the
devastation being caused to animal habitats by deforestation.
My personal perspective upon viewing the ad was one of sadness due to the reality of the
piece. The lush green trees in the shape of lungs centered in the picture drew my immediate
attention. The lungs appear to be nature’s lifeline. There are white rivers flowing through the
lungs as if they were veins and the lower right corner of the lung is completely brown and dead.
The lack of any wildlife is extremely evident as well.
Upon searching the rest of the picture, I was overtaken by the contrast between the lush
greens of the trees, the soft yellow and greens of the lands, the soft blues of the sky and the deep
brown that has taken over part of the lung. These colors supplied me with a sense of both serenity
and uneasiness as I was captured between the life and death of the land.
Horizontal lines between the sky and the land give the impression that neither ever truly
end. They blend perfectly together just as they would if you were viewing the scene in life. There
is no boundary. The blending of the two creates a sense of natural beauty and undefined space.
The size of the lungs compared to the rest of the land really empowers the ideology that
the trees are nature’s lifeline and are slowly dying. The use of contrasting colors allows the viewer
to gain a sense of awareness as to how rapidly nature is being depleted. The lungs are in a 3D
depth, commonly associated with the linear perspective, which allows them to pop out at us and
draw attention to the issue at hand. The rivers flowing through the trees like veins through lungs
supply the viewer with a sense of imminent danger to their self and the environment in which they
live because of the realization that the death and decay of nature is closer than they think.
The original image seems to have been produced through a normal lens. This allowed the
photographer to capture the view through human eyes. Natural lighting was used along with a full
range of tones for proper exposure and contrast. This seems to be a high contrast image as the
colors are vividly brought to life.
The conceptual perspective is applied to this image in the form of social type since the
lungs are centered in the image and are larger than the rest of the images within the picture (Lester,
P. (2011). The graphic movement is also presented with the use of different shades of green and
brown, lines, and the centered larger lungs to guide our eyes along the picture instead of focusing
in on one part (Lester, P. (2011). This image also draws on the ethical perspective because it is
showing the viewer what deforestation is doing to the habitats of many different species.
The dawn of digital photography allowed this piece of artwork to become a reality. Digital
photography began in 1974 with the invention of the Charge Coupled Device by Willard Boyle
and George Smith (Lester, P. (2011). Following this was the 1981 invention of the Still Video

2. Camera by Sony which made digital photography available to anyone with a computer (Lester, P.
(2011). It is thanks to these pioneers of photography that this piece came to life.
The digital photograph was most likely prepared by a visual journalist who is a social
documentarian since Photoshop was used to digitally manipulate the image in order to form the
lungs (Lester, P. (2011). By using Photoshop, the photographer incorporated the technical
perspective into his/her work. This was done to draw the viewer’s visual cortex toward what the
photographer wanted to bring attention to.
This image was extremely well prepared because it draws attention to multiple
environmental issues. Though the ad may have been meant to target deforestation, there seems to
be a hidden agenda that is meant to target us as human beings on this Earth. This is essentially
what caused a vulgar taste in my mouth as I thought about the consequences of our actions. What
will become of us if nature is removed? How badly will environmental hazards affect our bodies?
What will we do if our essential food chain no longer exists? These are some of the questions this
image forces me to think about; as I’m sure it does others as well.
Though the history of Earth and evolution is well known by most citizens of the world, this
image really captures how reliant every creature on Earth is on nature. It causes the viewer to
question what path humanity is heading towards. We cannot exist without water to drink, plants
and animals to eat, and trees to provide oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. This image shows how
everything is connected and if one branch is removed, the rest will slowly wither into oblivion.
In conclusion, this image is powerful and full of meaning. It is my belief that this image
was meant to raise awareness about deforestation and other environmental issues among those
viewing it. It is quite easy to forget about issues such as these when they are not being seen by the
naked eye every day. This advertisement is meant to cause enough shock and concern that people
begin to take action. The caption alone, “Before it’s too late”, demonstrates this. The hope is
essentially that if enough people become involved, the likelihood of limiting/ eliminating
deforestation will increase.
References
60 Powerful Social Issue Ads That’ll Make You Stop And Think. (n.d.). Before it’s too late.
Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://digitalsynopsis.com/inspiration/60-public-service-
announcements-social-issue-ads/
Lester, P. (2011). <i>Visual communication: Images with messages</i> (Sixth ed.). Belmont,
Calif.: Wadsworth Pub.