Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us
CONTENTS Introduction 4 Light and Shadow 6 Form 32 Traces 54 Transformation 76 Surfaces 98 About the Chapter Openers 124
INTRODUCTION AS A SCIENCE PHOTOGRAPHER and research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology I capture images of research in various labs Many of the photographs are used for research publications visually showing the science Sometimes the images appear on journal covers which helps bring attention to the research Every day I am introduced to various scientific phenomena and because of that I see connections to the world around us That's what this book is about Phenomenal Moments started years ago when cameras in phones became good enough to create high-quality images Like most people if I have my phone in my pocket I am more apt to take pictures as I go about my daily life Recently I realized I had accumulated a significant collection of images that could tell the story of how science is all around us In my job as a scientific photographer I usually use my Nikon D850 DSLR real camera with a 105mm macro lens Sometimes I put the camera on a microscope but recently I have been using my phone especially for the images you will see in this book The phone is a quick way I have the best job in the world I am constantly learning about science because of the pictures I take As an example of what I do I've included an image I took of a material called ferrofluid Ferrofluid is a suspension of very small pieces of iron in oil I placed a large drop of the material onto a glass slide Under the glass slide is a yellow sticky note and under the yellow sticky note are seven circular magnets You are seeing the iron particles responding to the magnetic fields made by the magnets If you look carefully you can see the pane of the window I used to light the setup You can also see the green card I held over it to reflect a little color And if you look even more closely you can see the lens of my camera Not something I meant to happen
of capturing phenomena when I have to get the shot at that moment The technology still has its limitations but it gets better every year The most important difference between my real DSLR camera and the phone is the image quality in terms of the file size File size is the amount of digital information you capture The more information you capture the more you see and the clearer the image is when you enlarge it Phone cameras are getting better with file size but they still don't compare to DSLR cameras However there is nothing more convenient than a phone camera I don't carry my Nikon with me all the time because it is heavy and i usually have to use a tripod with it While most of the images I made for this book were taken with the phone a few were captured with the DSLR and a couple were made with a flatbed scanner It's amazing what you can create with a scanner Scanners also vary in the quality of image they can capture A scanner that allows you to set the dots per inch dpi is the best for high-quality images The book is organized into five sections that explore light and shadow form traces left behind transformations and surfaces Each section opens with an image that demonstrates the theme of the chapter After the opener are a number of double-page double-page spreads each with a section of a photograph that serves as a kind of window of the complete image you will see when you flip the page It's like a guessing game Try to guess what the larger image is from the section that is initially shown Each full size image is accompanied by a description of how I made the image or a personal anecdote noted as a moment This is followed by the phenomenon which is a description of the science involved in what you see The last spread in each section has a pair of images sharing a similar phenomenon My hope is that you will remember these images as you go about your daily life You will understand what you are seeing and maybe be inspired to take your own pictures
