Discussion

The purpose of the Methods Project was to identify variables which produce the differences between the two resultant figures. To that end, five variables were identified which can be discussed in the ‘methods’ section to avoid common replication errors: camera angle, distance between camera and subject, weather conditions, and scale and bounds of the map.

Weather Conditions

The replicated on-site pictures appear more saturated in color than the original ones. While this may result from different camera type and saturation settings, a more likely explanation is differing weather conditions. The original pictures of the spider web were taken before rain, and brick walls appeared dry in both the ‘close-up’ and the ‘overview’ shots (Fig 1B,1C). In the replicated pictures, brick walls appear redder and more saturated due to being wet from the rain (Fig 2B,2C).