I actually found these readings useful, in contrast to a few previous readings... Chapter 24 gave me a few ideas for the graphics I plan on using for this project. After reading through the chapter I noticed that there were very few actual photographs; this reminded me of the commercials that use cartoonish figures in place of real actors. Someone had told me that they were cartoonish to give the non-intuitive effect of providing a sense of reality or validity. This makes much more sense now, I think. A photograph will have (likely) an array of things in the background or wherever that draw attention away from the real purpose of the image. An illustration of sorts provides simplicity and a pure form of the image. This is analogous to the "bear instructions" in the instructor's blog.
The idea of contrast and complementary colors is somewhat new to me. It makes perfect sense though. If everything is homogeneous, visually, the it is difficult to extract information and the reader will cease to be your reader (1/20th of a second). Contrast, it seems, does not end at just color or shading choice, but is also used in other aspects to covey a particular meaning-like the Sociology poster in chapter 25.
White space isn't something I had considered much either. But now that it has been brought to my attention, it is obvious that is is everywhere. It is almost as if the white space is a guard rail that tells your eyes, “don't go here”. This of course happens automatically, so I think planning for this may be challenging.
*Bonus: did anyone else notice the error in the “bear instructions”? It says “slowly back away” then in a later bullet it says “DO NOT YELL at the bear or slowly back away”...
Specifics
Make sure you turn your discussion to specifics about how the readings can help us with our current project. (This comment might be applicable here.) There is indeed a contradiction in the bear encounter instructions. It is noted in the instructor blog as something that should be addressed by subsequent revisions (there's a brief comment to this effect here).
Photos and screenshots
I actually hadn't given much thought to the specific advantage that illustrations give over photos, which is total control over the image. As you say, photographs tend to have extra bits of information in the background - and sometimes elements in the foreground, like shadowing - that cloud the message. With an illustration, everything in the image is intentionally put there, so you don't automatically have any unintended extras, though you could end up adding them if you aren't careful and deliberate in creating your illustration.
Since a lot of us are planning on using computer screenshots, I think it could be helpful to think of them almost the same way as photographs. For most applications it might not necessarily be a good idea to make an illustration instead of a screen shot, since screen shots also act as a reference tool for users. But you could try to focus on either eliminating distracting or extraneous information from screen shots of highlighting the important stuff.
Photos for Novices
I see the benefit of an illustration, but I think that the writer may fall into the dilemma of being an expert on the topic and forgetting to address questions the audience may have. For instance, as an expert, you may only include characteristics of an item that you remember or think are important. The reader, however, may notice other things and say to themselves "what the hell is this, and why isn't it in this illustration?" I could definitely see this happening with a novice user, and this is where I think that actual photographs may be more useful. When using them in instructions, just make sure to circle or highlight the portion related to the step(s) at hand. However, like you said, most of us will probably be using screen shots, making it a lot easier to exclude extraneous information. My project includes the use of Excel, so most of my screen shots (if not all) will exclude the Windows task bar, as it is irrelevant to Excel functions.
Roy G. Biv R8
The idea of using complementary colors for instructions is new to me as well. Obviously it makes certain parts of a photo stick out more but I never thought of it deep enough to realize that could be an excellent way of conveying certain information to the viewer. I think there are a good number of ways that we can control this since most of use will be using screen capture as well. For instance, we could change the colors of our PC/Mac/whatever themes in order to better identify one on screen command from another. Also, if you are like me and will be dealing with two separate programs at the same time, it could only be helpful to contrast them as much as possible.
Shane
Photos vs. Illustrations
I also think that photos can really help a novice. Like TaNoNati said, everything in an illustration has been put there intentionally, but the writer may unintentionally leave something out that a less experienced person would need. I always hate when looking at instructions and it tells me to click on a certain icon and the only think it shows is the small button. It always seems like I have to turn on every single toolbar and search through them all trying to find it, where if a little bit larger screenshot was used I could identify things around it. I think the readings had a good rule when using photos, which was to take them all in the same context, lighting, etc, to keep everything consistent. Photos and illustrations each have a place and can really enhance your writing and instructions if used properly.
Lost in translation
I’ve never really considered the differences in the use of photos and illustrations before this project. The idea that the creator of an illustration has complete and deliberate control over what is presented and what is not is quite an advantage. However, I feel some things could be lost in translation, such as context indicators. When looking at photograph of something, better sense can be made of what you’re seeing by taking notice to things such as orientation, surroundings, relative size, and location. These things are often times omitted in an illustration. Even if we think they are irrelevant to the task, a novice user may need these little clues to clarify what’s going on.