Friday, November 27, 2009

Photography and the four dimensions




(Clic on the image for a larger view)
By Dr. Jiménez
Photography is the only art where each and every one of the four dimensions take part.
In the diagram above, figure a. represents an hourglass in the three dimensions. Its image in the form of parallel rays of light (fig. c.) passes through a convex lens (fig. d.), converging at a focal point into one dimension (fig. f.). At the precise moment in time (b.) or fourth dimension, a exposure is taken resulting in an inverted two-dimensional photograph (fig. g.).


4 comments:

  1. Interesting parallel between the image of the hourglass and the rays of light converging and diverging. Totally unintended, I'm sure, but still very nice anyway.

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  2. Our eyes work in the same way, only we don't have the ability to capture slices of time. We have an iris or automatic diagrafragm, and we must have some kind of shutter too, like a movie camera, or we would see everything in a constant streak. Also, our brains either know how to flip the inverted image, or as I lately I've come to believe, our brains are actually up-side down.

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  3. I like to think it's the latter, Mr. Cruz. We are actually hanging off the planet by our feet and only the force of gravity makes us "feel" rightside up!

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  4. Dear Mr. Nat, I believe you are right. "Up" or "down" might be no more than a: an emotional state, b: a social convention or c: an illusion. It would be perhaps more accurate to say that we are closer or further away from the center of gravity.

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