Digitally archiving and reproducing artwork as it would be seen in a museum is a mathematical conundrum of light and geometry.
Rochester Institute of Technology and color scientist Roy Berns have been awarded $855,000 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a practical approach museum photographers can use to eliminate subjective lighting decisions when imaging artwork.
Museum photographers try to capture the complex interplay between lighting, a painting and an observer in images of a museum's collections. Reducing the experience of viewing artwork in real life to a flat image -- a two-dimensional representation such as a poster or an image in a book or on a website -- relies on subjective and aesthetic decision making.
"Ultimately, there are decisions made in lighting and where you would stand. Realistic rendering is often limited by a lack of information about the object's shape and how incidental light is absorbed and scattered at each position on the object," says Berns, the Richard S. Hunter Professor of Color Science, Appearance and Technology in RIT's Munsell Color Science Laboratory in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.
The solution sought during this project will involve building an instrument to capture the geometric and spectral information of artwork. It requires reducing a painting to its most basic optical blueprint to bypass the subjective influences of light source and environment. Once the information is gathered, mathematical models used in computer graphics will create different viewing experiences of the artwork in a specific environment.
The five-year project has two phases. The first, supported by this award, will develop instrumentation that measures the spatial and geometrical properties of artistic materials as a function of lighting geometry, creating an important database, Berns says. Three-dimensional mathematical models will be tested that best predict these properties.
The anticipated second phase will simplify the process and equipment for museum photographers to use on site.
"It will include additional instrumentation to measure the art's and the specific gallery's shape," Berns says. "This all combines with computer graphics software to render the art as experienced in real life."
Capturing the optical information of important paintings in a collection will aid museums as guardians of cultural heritage and will benefit historians, scholars and conservators, as well.
Berns is currently wrapping up an earlier companion project, also funded by the Mellon Foundation, in which he built an imaging system that will help museums ensure color accuracy of reproductions and archival images.
Source: Rochester Institute of Technology
Related stories:
Online library gives readers access to 1.5 million books
The Million Book Project, an international venture led by Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, Zhejiang University in China, the Indian Institute of Science in India and the Library at Alexandria in Egypt, has completed the digitization of more than 1.5 million books, which are now available online.
Is the beauty of a sculpture in the brain of the beholder?
Is there an objective biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? This question has been addressed in a paper published in this week’s PLoS ONE, Cinzia Di Dio, Emiliano Macaluso and Giacomo Rizzolatti. The researchers used fMRI scans to study the neural activity in subjects with no knowledge of art criticism, who were shown images of Classical and Renaissance sculptures.
NASA seeks moon life and work images
NASA has launched a competition that invites university art and design students to create art representative of living and working on the moon.
Preserving Library of Congress' treasures is goal of FSU researcher
The Library of Congress has no shortage of reading materials with more than 134 million items in its collection. This summer, a Florida State University chemist will use his knowledge of cellulose, a key component of paper, to help the world’s largest library find ways of preserving its vast treasure trove of books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers and pamphlets, many of which are irreplaceable.
Forensic photography brings color back to ancient textiles
Archaeologists are now turning to forensic crime lab techniques to hunt for dyes, paint, and other decoration in prehistoric textiles.
Scientists develop artwork that changes to suit your mood
Computer scientists from Bath and Boston have developed electronic artwork that changes to match the mood of the person who is looking at it. Using images collected through a web cam, special software recognises eight key facial features that characterise the emotional state of the person viewing the artwork.
2,000-year-old mummy goes through 21st-century scanner
Oxford University researchers have used full-body scanning, usually used for medical reasons, to look at a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy from the University’s Ashmolean Museum.
Graffiti found at ancient Italian prison
Graffiti left by prisoners held by the Inquisition in Sicily more than 200 years ago have been found on the walls of an ancient prison.