The Physics and Art of Photography, Volume 2

The Physics and Art of Photography: Energy and color focuses on the physics of energy, power, illuminance and intensity of light, and how these relate to the photographic exposure, including a detailed example that follows the emission of light from the Sun all the way through to the formation of the image in the camera. These concepts are described in both their traditional manner, but also using very-low-sensitivity photography as an example, which brings the physical concepts to the fore in a visible way. Color, in terms of the spectrum of light, is also considered: how it interacts with the subject, and how the camera’s light detector interacts with the image focused upon it. But of equal concern is the only partially-understood and sometimes unexpected ways in which the human eye interprets this spectral stimulus as color. This volume covers basic photographic subjects such as shutter, aperture, ISO, metering and exposure value, as well as less familiar topics such as the Jones-Condit equation, Lambertian versus isotropic reflections, reflection and response curves, and the opponent-process model of color perception. Although written at a beginning undergraduate level, the topics are chosen for their role in a more general discussion of the relation between science and art that is of interest to readers of all backgrounds and levels of expertise.