Photography: Physics and Art in Focus

This book uses art photography as a point of departure for learning about physics, while also using physics as a point of departure for asking fundamental questions about the nature of photography as an art. The topics in the book centre around hands-on applications, illustrated by little-known photographic processes that are inexpensive and easily accessible to students.

This second edition covers traditional topics such as the nature of light, geometrical optics, two-dimensional design, the physics of both photochemical and photo-electronic light detectors, the elements of exposure, colour synthesis, and image manipulation. Less familiar topics are also included such as the role of symmetry in art and physics, the use of historical processes in contemporary art photography, the nature of shadows in relation to both eclipses and camera-less photography.

This book is appropriate for undergraduate students enrolled on interdisciplinary photography courses as well as photographers, artists and scientists.

Key Features

• Uses art photography as a point of departure for learning about physics in an interdisciplinary format

• Provides answers to basic questions about how photography fits in as an art, and about the nature of art itself

• Explores the nature of physics as part of the study of the natural world as well as the nature of science

• Provides practical knowledge of technical aspects of photography