Sunday 14 June 2009

Self portrait...


Did you know that when you look at a mirror the distance that you need to focus to see your image is twice the distance from you to the mirror? If you focus on the mirror itself this is what happens.

This was taken using an old mirror in my bedroom. The reflective film on the back of the glass has broken down causing the blotchy effect.

Saturday 13 June 2009

Cornucopia...


It's winter at last. The cold weather has set in and the comfort food has been added to the shopping list. Mind you, there isn't really a requirement for winter to set in to enjoys these "fruits"...

My fascination with colour continues; I watched a show about it a few nights ago and may even buy the DVD series. The show explained a lot about how we perceive colour from the purely mathematical physics of it through to the psychological/subjective interpretations of it. There was one interesting experiment that was done to demonstrate the difference: The subject was to look at a 3D shape as colours were applied to it with a projector. They were to say yes or no when the colour was what they thought the colour of a banana should be. They rejected more than half of the options. When the shape was changed to that of a banana they accepted that all of the colours could be the colour of a banana.

Years ago my dad built a cover over the BBQ. He found some old, green, corrugated sheeting that allowed light through and put it over the top. What this did was change the colour of uncooked meat from red to a purple/magenta (just not "right") and cooked meat to a grey colour. Nobody, and I mean nobody could eat that lovely, cooked BBQ meat under the green light... It just wasn't right!