AIC, 1988 - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC
second method for the proportioning of
angles. Here it is only possible to refer
briefly to Alberti's orthogonal
principles, as applied to the
intersecting plane in relation to the
horizontal, and how they were
eventually developed. Piero della
Francesca already began to develop
them in some of his later theories, and
they finally acquired a real and proper
form in the "inclined plane" as applied
to the paintings of Tintoretto and
Paolo Veronese. Federico Comandino
was the theorist responsible for the
latter developments, which occurred at
the height of the 15th Century,
followed by Guidubaldo Del Monte
who progressed them even further.
From then, up until the time of
Monge, perspective as applied to a flat
surface rapidly developed into
descriptive geometry: while the camera
obscura, which first made its
appearance in the 11 th Century, very
slowly had lenses and mirrors
incorporated in the period between the
16th and 18th Centuries, was first
used as an "aid" by painters (Vermeer,
Canaletto, Van Loo etc.) and then
finally as a base for the creation of
photography and its development.
So far, we haven't mentioned when
light and colour first came to be used
in images. First of all, we have to go
back to Pliny's charming little story
and ask ourselves if, in fact,
chiaroscuro and colour were
compatible with "outline"? If it is a
question of an "artificial" image, the
answer is obviously no. Neveretheless,
as far as the "natural" image is
concerned, that is the one perceived by
the eye/brain, the answer is not a
definite no, but neither a definite yes.
In fact, the "natural" image is not
merely a retinal image, but the
combined perception of tactile, kinetic,
light and colour data which has been
coordinated by the brain, therefore,
drawing an outline on a flat surface
can, so to speak, delineate a form
geometrically, but when it is a question
of drawing that does not require the
application of mathematical principles,
a compromise can be reached in which
shadow can also be indicated and, in
some cases, even a different light and
colour tone. All things considered,
however, an artificial image composed
entirely of colour and light, cannot be
compatible with a true and proper
outline, as it can only be suggested at
the points of maximum gradient. In
short, a painter who wishes to create
natural -looking images, can sketch in
the outlines but then has to make
them disappear as he works the paint
to achieve the colour and light effects.
All this certainly posed a great
problem for the ancient Greeks. And it
was only very late in the history of
their magnificent vase painting that
they were able to use their outline
tecnique also to create light; and it was
only in the latter part of the ancient
Naturalistic period that they were able
to combine colour, light and form, as is
evident in the extraordinary frescoes
and mosaics in Stabia, Herculaneum
and Pompeii, as well as the mosaics in
Amerina Square and the
Constantinople Hippodrome.
It took Leonardo da Vinci to both
theorize and experiment the complete
fusion between the representation of
volume, colour and light, also
developing, in addition to "linear
perspective" (the guidelines of which
are obliterated after use), the
perspective of "colour" and the
"perspective of expedition";
respectively, the attenuation of colour
and gradual blurring of outline, in
relation to distance.
However, Leonardo also researched
(and experimented, to a degree) the
laws governing photometry, and the
formation of shadows and half-light,
distinguishing for the first time
between individual light sources and a
general source. At the same time, he
evolved a method of analysing the light
emitted by different colour sources,
thus being able to establish the various
"additive" mixes. The painter who
understood and utilized the teachings
of Leonardo most ably and most
frequently was not Michelangelo, as
many people think, but Raphael, and
Leonardo's influence is most evident in
the "school of Athens". There is no
point in going into details here, as to
how the later painters developed and
updated the "artifical" images created
by their predecessors in the 15th
Century.
From the point of view of optics, first
black and white photography, and
then colour, has to be considered as
having inherited all the technologies
used in the creation of the images, to
which the cinema added movement. It
must be acknowledged that, as far as
the quality of light and colour is
concerned, the paintings of the great
maestros can hold their own with the
best cinema photography created
today.
The photochemical image, espcially as
used in the cinema, had only just
begun to be propagated ana perfected,
when it found itself having to combete
with "rivals". The main one was the
electronic image, which we also only
have space to examine briefly here.
Entrepreneurs and technologists went
to work immediately, when they
realized there was a possibility of
transmitting images virtually anywhere
electronically, which would enable
them to avoid the lengthy developing
and printing processes. However, it
took seventy long hard years of
research, before they succeeded in
doing it.
Just before 1873, the first devices
capable of converting light signals into
electric signals became operative. And
in addition to the photoelectric cell, the
photoconductive and photovoltaic cells
were developed and, finally, the Kerr
cell, which brought about the
possibility of combining the actual
sound track and film.
Meanwhile, technologists were
studying a way of breaking down and
re-composing a colour and light system
that was apparently continuous (real
image) into different points of light of
sufficient strengtlf. This was first
attempted with mechanical devices
(Nipkov disc), then electronic devices.
The possibility of manipulating
electronic images, breaking them down,
freezing them, reducing them, enlarging
them, superimposing them, altering
their light and colour balance etc. not
only resulted in considerable "creative
achievements" (first communicated to
the public in a systematic way at the
"Documenta" in 1973 at Kassel), but
also proved to be applicable in a
completely new technobgical area.
It was the area of outer space or, to be
more precise, the race to conquer space
(not merely for scientific reasons),
which from the very beginning, made it
necessary to "capture" images and
transmit them back across cosmic
distances to Earth. Very soon, the
technologists found themselves having
to resolve the problem of "background
noise" which was greatly increased by
the electromagnetic waves having to
travel across such vast distances, and
which resulted in all the images
transmitted by the telecameras being
"delayed".
The breakthrough came in the early
Sixties, when it was discovered that
each image could be broken down into
separate points, which could each be
assigned a mathematical "name"
(coordinate and value), and the
transmission of the relative data for
each "point" could be "delayed" for as
much as was necessary to ensure its
exact reconstruction and reinsertion
into the matrix upon the data's being
received on Earth.
The combined forces of rocketry,
astronomy, astrophysics, astronautics,
optics, electronics, computer science
etc. also began to be applied in this
area, resulting in the creation of anew
type of image, known as the
"numerical" or "digital" image.
However, this soon resulted in
"elaboratore" having to be developed:
not only did receiving, processing and
transmitting equipment for domestic
use have to be invented (telecameras
and scanners with AD converters, and
the appropriate calculators, tapes and
discs, pbtters and video tubes), but
also codes and "languages" had to be
elaborated which would be capable of
breaking down and recomposing all the
data for each image, and transforming
it as desired, so that it could be
reversed with the appropriate
algorithms.
During these same years, the
possibilities of analysing and
transforming digital images, were also
studied by various scholars and art
historians, in order to explore the
essential structure used in the
representations of objects on a flat
surface, which were also considered as
different phases in the transformation
of the real image.
It is evident from what has been said
that, if one leaves aside the images
used in video games (which are all the
rage, but which are only capable of
transmitting "information" according
to the rules of the game that the player
has chosen) that the digital image was
primarily invented to function, and
remains — at the level of video graphics
— mainly a scientific and technolgical
instrument, however, it can also be
used to create art (with its synthesized
images, which can be applied to at
least ten minutes of a sci-fi film, or the
creation of a television station signal).
What will be the future of the various
technologies applied to the creation of
the image? First of all, we have to put
aside the idea that when new
technologies are created, they
immediately supplant the preceding
ones. For example, painting has not
been supplanted by photography
which, if anything, has caused it to
re-define itself; neither was
photography supplanted by cinema,
nor cinema by television — and it won't
be as long as its photochemical images
maintain their superior definition.
It is, instead, likely that all these
various technobgies will continue to
co-exist for some time, each to a
certain extent supporting the other.
As far as the digital image is
concerned, it has the particular
advantage of being able to unify, and
also absorb, to a certain extent, the
preceding technolgies. It can take the
form of static configurations identical
to compositions of objects (even though
they are not physically the same), and
also moving configurations (even if
these are still not comparable to the
moving cinematographic image); it is
based on anabgical references, but
undergoes the conventional and
symbolic digitization process and,
general, bgical and mathematical
representation; it adds a new
dimension to the creation of art, and at
the same time is a subject for scientific
verification, research and evaluation;
finally it combines with the traditional
photochemical image, when one needs
to fix the forms created and print
them.
In fact, the digital image is linked to
all the other aspects of the world of
calculators and, therefore, to all the
other worlds of technical and scientific
knowledge. Thus, the digital image is
presently creating an "adult" and "in"
alternative to the video game, which
requires far more intelligence, is very
popular with the young, practised
extensively, and goes under the name
of "hobbistics". It is radically
transforming the world of
enimatography and the crossword
puzzle and introducing a
comprehensive knowledge of the rules
governing bgic and communication
into our culture which, up until a
generation ago, had been ousted by
cheap intuiticmism and creationism
and the indifference shown to
technobgical and scientific knowledge
(when it was not actually look ed down
upon).