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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Kaleidoscope



My eye happened on my kaleidoscope yesterday, and on my camera, and I found myself wondering if I could get good photos of the interior. I thought the light might be a problem. Well, the photos came out OK - not too dark as I had feared. However I found I got a much narrower view than with my eye. In the photos the individual components of the image are more obvious - you can see that the contents of the kaleidoscope are screws, paper clips, thumb tacks etc. However the field of view is narrow so that there are only a few repeats visible. With the eye, I get many many more. I'm thinking I'd need to construct a kaleidoscope with a much wider, flatter eyepiece (but I'm not cutting the viewing end off mine, which is made in one piece from beautiful kauri wood).

I found an example of the maker's work online here - it is similar to mine but has sewing items instead of stationery items (buttons, pins etc). I noticed that the photos of the interior on the web site don't have too many repeats either. Maybe it isn't possible to capture the full effect on camera.

I was playing with the options on blogger for layout for the two photos, I don't think I got it quite right - but it seems you have to choose the size and placement before you see how it will work, and the only option to change it is to upload them all over again.

7 comments:

claireylove said...

this gets a bit technical for me but I love the globe like effects, it's like looking up into a stunning domed roof.

Sandy J said...

Neat pictures and a such a creative idea! It really does look like looking up and seeing a beautiful ceiling.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

paris parfait said...

Great idea and lovely results!

Deb R said...

The photos turned out pretty cool, C! And how wild that we both had kaleidoscopes in mind today. (Cue the Twilight Zone music)

Malinda777 said...

Love these unique photos.

Here from Michele

Tongue in Cheek Antiques said...

The way you focus on details and call us to take a closer look, revealing a deeper world...ah!
Thank you!

Endment said...

this is great - I am so glad you decided to try these photos!