ANALYSIS OF PHOTOGRAPHER'S COLOR MOOD AS A JAPANESE BRAND IMAGE IDENTITY ON INSTAGRAM SOCIAL MEDIA

Humans are visual creatures whose memories are closely related to what they see. It's like a photographer who uses his camera to capture visual objects in order to convey visual messages through his camera's captures. Currently, Instagram social media has become an exhibition space for most photographers to show the characteristics and beauty of the objects they take, including the characteristics of photos taken by Japanese photographers that can become a strong visual identity. This research was conducted to see how important the role of photographers is in the similarity of the use of color mood in photos uploaded to Instagram social media accounts. This characteristic can be seen in photos from Japanese photographers. The research will use descriptive qualitative research, reinforced by a survey of Instagram social media users, which will then be analyzed based on visual perception theory. Based on the results of the research, it was found that the similarity of color mood in the photos exhibited by Japanese photographers on their Instagram social media can play an important role in the brand image of Japan's branding


INTRODUCTION
Humans are visual creatures who absorb a lot of information through their eyes to see things that they think are important, so that they will be recorded in the human brain and become memories that can be used to distinguish things.So that some humans who are able to see will be affected by the diversity of image language which is included in visual culture.Harsanto (2016) in his book explains that image language is a visual culture whose use can take over the world, where an image is equivalent to thousands of words, can cross all cultures, so that it can become a global communication that is quickly accepted compared to verbal language.
Photography is an image language medium that has a real nature in easily persuading its target audience.It can be used as a representation of products or objects and subjects, and has a universal language to be used as a communicative and informative communication tool, and the use of photography can be a language (Harsanto, 2016).Pictures that are able to provide understanding without having to use words.Humans and photography is an image that can capture the relationship between the human and the surrounding environment to give a story in it (Tillmanns, 1995).
Current developments have had an impact on humans which affects the way they communicate.In the past the spread of news was only conveyed by verbally or stories, until the use of media such as posters, newspapers, radio, television, billboards, until the emergence of the internet through social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc. From some of these social media, the use of Instagram is the most popular because it has interesting visual information in the form of images and photos.
Media is a communication channel from the giver of information to the recipient of information through various tools that are close to the five senses and the presence of the recipient (Nasrullah, 2019).Along with these developments, Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh (2016) in his journal stated that the use of social media was felt to be able to provide continuity dialogue and rapid knowledge exchange with a very wide reach.Social media itself plays an important role in the dissemination and exchange of information from each of its users, but in recent years Japan's branding has not been very visible from one of the closest countries, namely South Korea, which is very well known as K-Pop or Korean-Pop.The presence of K-Pop itself in Indonesia is in great demand from Korean pop music, Korean dramas, and Korean films.So that the existence of social media that is very fast in exchanging information can certainly have a big influence on the Destination Brand of each country.
Japan is a country located on the East Asian continent with a diversity of indigenous Japanese culture in it.Japan itself has long been known by Indonesian people since the 1980s through various entertainment media used such as animation on television and picture stories or comics, so it is often called J-Pop or Japanese-Pop (Japanese Pop).The influence of Japanese culture for several decades until now indirectly can be easily recognized visually by Indonesian people.
Currently, Instagram social media has become a platform used to display portfolio results that have been worked on, one of which is photography.Many photographers post their photos via Instagram, especially with their own styles, but photographers from Japan have the same distinctive photo style, especially in color mood, so that they can be identified and form a brand image of a country.Hermawan Kartajaya (2012) said that there is one pillar in building the character of a brand, namely citizenship or it can be said as the concept of a good country color so that it can be part of the city environment.Then in its color development itself plays an important role in building the character of a country, so the hope is that color can be a direct representation of the country's keywords.Furthermore, the function of color is to be able to recognize objects, as identifiers, communicate (messages or information), as detectors or measuring tools, and to give moods or emotions or feelings (Rustan, 2019).
The use of color mood itself has developed along with current technological advances, where each photographer will have their own characteristics, starting from the object of the photo, composition, theme, to the color mood or color of emotion in the photos.Color associations are very possible as identification or conveying an image of certain emotions in branding, so that color can be the most important element of experience and convey information to the viewer (Gobé, 2003).The diversity of these characteristics is also a marker or identity of each photographers.
Identity is a very necessary and important thing for every brand's existence so that it can be a differentiator from other brands.Brand is about a perspective where there is a perspective on the image that needs to be known directly or indirectly by every consumer against the ongoing competition from each brand (Wesfix, 2017).The image of the brand has developed to become the identity of a place, city, or country.A city that has a positive and strong image will be very easily recognized and known to every audience, in contrast to a city that has a negative or weak image where it is necessary to improve the city's image and widely disseminate the changed image (Boy, 2014).
A brand is a basic message or symbol that differentiates and is used to easily identify a product or service, so the aim of the brand itself is to build differentiation from similar products (Boy et al., 2014).Then, the identity of a place or destination can become a marker that differentiates it from other places, so it is often called a Destination Image (DI) or a Destination Image.This can also be called place branding, in which there is connectivity between consumers based on the form of the place visually, verbally, and the behavior of the local community, which is then realized through the vision and mission or goals of a place through communication, cultural values, government, buildings, etc., and other aspects (Sebastian Zenker, 2010).
The image of city branding itself has undergone many developments to the point that it can be said to be successful if someone, consciously or not, can immediately recognize the image of city branding in a city, region, or country.This brand image competition has also entered into various tangible and intangible attributes in a person's mind (Shaked Gilboa, 2015).The presence of social media is considered a dynamic communication strategy, has a wide reach, and can build relationships between users (Missy Graham, 2013).So, this research aims to determine the intangible elements that form a country's brand image through photos from photographers on Instagram and social media.So that various brand image-forming attributes can develop, especially from the media used today.

RESEARCH METHODS
To complete this research, the author will use the online data observation method via Instagram social media which has the most interesting visual communication messages and is widely used or accessed which is for further analysis.Searching for research object data will look at events that occur at a certain time based on the results of observations or observations, then the data will be used to be processed in research (Pujileksono, 2016).From the results of this observation, the researcher will conduct a direct survey of Instagram social media users regarding the data that has been collected, which will be re-analyzed.The selection of photographer accounts from Japan was taken randomly by taking into account the similarities in the characteristics of the photos that were consistently uploaded to the feed or carousel on each photographer's Instagram social media account.Collecting data using a survey method includes looking at the results of the responses or opinions of respondents in a study through research questions, either in writing or orally, so it is often referred to as a questionnaire (Pujileksono, 2016).Then based on the results of observations and surveys, further analysis will be carried out on scientific studies related to the data that has been collected to draw conclusions.

Visual Perception
Humans are visual creatures, where most of the information sent and absorbed becomes a long memory from the dominant visual information.Visual media is a very effective medium for conveying informational messages because it is much easier for humans to process and remember messages presented visually (Ahmad Faiz Muntazori, 2020).So that the presence of various informational messages visually becomes the main attraction, followed by information in sound, smell, taste, and touch.The variety of information received will affect the perception received by each recipient, visual perception is the main benchmark in giving the impression that is left behind.Therefore, the influence of visual perception really takes on the role of the identity of a place to give an impression to the mind of the recipient.The following chart is the flow of visual perception in the destination image: The existence of destination brands is currently becoming a global competition, especially with the ease of internet access, so that each country with its destination wants to be known by each audience and it can be remembered in the minds of the audience, than it can be visited.The development of technology has also become a very important tool and media in the dissemination of visual culture from a country with various destinations in the memory of its audience.Visual culture is everything that we can see including the natural surroundings, phenomena, natural landscapes, plants and animals, including anything from a place or area (Barnard, 1998).The existence of Korean-Pop culture has slowly shifted Japanese-Pop culture over the past few decades with the term "Korean Wave," or the global South Korean wave (Annisa Valentina, 2013).This shift in interest has also been felt by the wider audience, especially Indonesian citizens, who are quite interested in South Korean culture.
The existence of Japanese popular culture, which is spread through comics and animation with images of Mount Fuji, kimono clothes, samurai, etc., is slowly being replaced by Korean popular culture through various feature films and current drama series.The existence of a nuanced image of a romantic male figure, the value of a woman's beauty, and interesting destinations to visit in South Korea do not make the identity image of Japan just fade away, but the existence of Japan can still be felt on the social media platform Instagram.Users of social media Instagram itself are very large and have high demand because users can be satisfied by the visual information provided by Instagram, both from still images (photos) to short videos.Indonesia itself is the 4th country with the largest number of Instagram social media users, with around 103.3 million users (Annur, 2023).Instagram itself is an online gallery with a very wide reach, so most photographers use social media as a place to display and showcase their photo works.
The existence of Instagram on social media has also been welcomed by photographers from Japan, especially in creating their online portfolios of photos that have been or have been taken that have the same characteristics and characteristics as the uploaded photos, where these characteristics and characteristics differentiate them from other photographers.photographers from other countries globally.The characteristics that differentiates most photographers from Japan can be seen from the use of the same color mood in the photos taken.Here are some photos from photographers from Japan: 523 List of Japanese Photographer accounts @minase812 @yabuken___ @nkr_photo.gram@seto_haru_ @shota.mebakuro@mmt_r @arca_0105 @__hosinoouzisama @citrontea3_photo Based on observations from several accounts of photographers from Japan, the following visual perceptions can be concluded: Photos taken from several photographers from Japan: @minase812, @yabuken___, @nkr_photo.gram,@seto_haru_, @shota.mebakuro,@mmt_r @arca_0105, @__hosinoouzisama, dan @citrontea3_photo The mood colors used are bright blue and blue, as well as natural colors The use of color in Japan is quite influenced by Shibui or a word that refers to a certain aesthetic that is simple, gentle, and does not interfere with beauty, so it is much influenced by the climate, reflected by the changing sky of Japan, frequent rains, to the existence of new life and the spirit of worshiping nature.that contribute to the overall aesthetic (LK Peterson, 2000).Furthermore, from the results of these observations, a survey was then made of 1390 users with an age range of 20-35 years, from several cities in Indonesia, with various educational backgrounds.Questionnaire for Instagram users regarding general knowledge of images from Japan, Korea, and Asia, as well as how to respond to different color moods of photos displayed by several photographers with different characteristics and whether they are able to form an intangible image.The following are the results of the survey that was carried out.

Question
The Result 1. Do you like to see photos on Instagram like landscapes, cities, countryside, etc.?
Mostly like to see photos of landscapes, urban, rural, etc 2. Do you know Japan?
Mostly know Japan 3. Which country's culture do you like?Japan, South Korea, China?
On the order of 1 Japanese culture, 2 from South Korea, and 3 from China 4. From these photos, which color mood do you like?
Majority likes color mood 4th choice (D) 5. What comes to your mind when you hear the word Japanese?
When hearing the word Japanese, mostly feel "Happy" Based on the results of the survey, it can be concluded that 47.7% of questionnaire fillers liked the photo "D" with the use of color mood in photos taken by Japanese photographers which were then displayed on Instagram social media which can become a characteristic and form a destination.image of Japan indirectly through intangible attributes.And the presence of photos that have been edited for color mood can represent a pleasant or calming impression for 67% of those completing the questionnaire.One of the important roles in forming city branding is citizens or local communities who try to become Brand Ambassadors for their own country indirectly, especially through the various media that exist today, so that they can represent the image of their country in a real way in that media.
The photos seen randomly by every Instagram user, especially photos from photographers in each country, have their own character.The characteristics used in the resulting photos, through the color mood used by photographers from Japan, can make it easier for someone to differentiate between the character results of photos from photographers from other countries.Even though the photos uploaded on Instagram social media have no accompanying text or explanation in the bio of each photographer on Instagram social media, every eye that sees them will think that the impression of this photo resembles a photo taken by a Japanese photographer.There is something in common with most of the photos from Japanese photographers on Instagram social media, namely that they have color mood edits that can form a brand image of Japan, especially on Instagram social media, because color itself is a visual element that has various impressions on every eye that sees it.Color is one of the visual elements that has a tremendous impact when it can be applied correctly, so the use of color will bring a message reinforcement which can be worth a thousand words (Robert Cumming, 1990).

CONCLUSION
The disruption of Korean pop is currently attracting attention, as the existence of Japan has long been known to some Indonesian citizens, but recently it has not been as widely heard as its neighboring country.In the middle of K-Pop disruption to the existence of a destination brand from Japan, which was brought by a photographer from Japan through photography, especially the color mood used, it turned out to be able to reelevate the Japanese city branding from the side of social media, especially Instagram.The use of color mood is one of the things that makes it easier for someone to identify the differences from each characteristic of each photographer in the world.As explained by Gobé (2003) in his book that the use of color in a brand can be used to identify a display and stimulate a good memory of the brand, so that when it is applied it can be adjusted to the meaning when given.
Then according to Dameria (2007), blue is always associated with sky and water, life and strength, gives the impression of calm, coolness, inspiration, trustworthiness, and can provide a holiday and relaxing atmosphere.The application of blue to the color mood of Japanese photographers can be stated to be very unique, especially in bringing back the identity of the Japanese destination brand which was not visible, so that when Instagram users see a photo with that color mood, they will immediately be reminded of the country of Japan.In photography, a style or approach to taking pictures is very influential so that a soft and natural approach will give an image with a more realistic result (Bavister, 2001).
Picture 1. Design Scheme of research process [Source: Author's documentation]

Table 2 .
Visual perceptions of the photos [Source: Author's documentation]

Table 3 .
The results of the survey [Source: Author's documentation]