History
Full-spectrum photography has its roots in spectral imaging, both multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, which began as early as the late 1950s and early 1960s as means for geological and military remote sensing. Wideband panchromatic film has been available in various forms since the 1920s, when some UV and IR sensitivity remained in commercially available emulsions. The earliest color films sometimes included wider band color than recent commercial photographic emulsions, and can be recognized by the more reddish and or limited color tones of early color prints (not to be confused with print fading).
In the late 1990s enthusiastic photographers began shooting infrared with digital cameras, necessitating either long exposures or the removal of the internal hot mirror. Most replaced the hot mirror with an infrared pass filter of the same optical thickness (to retain focus) and pass only infrared light to achieve results seen with infrared B&W film. Around 2000, electro-optical engineer David Twede, already engaged in VNIR and infrared spectral remote sensing, ventured into Full-spectrum photography art, using a modified digital camera to explore broader spectral imaging and developing art around it. Around 2003, forensics photographers using engineered cameras for specific purposes began modifying off-the-shelf digital cameras to acquire less expensive tools. Full-spectrum photography is used by enthusiasts of ghost hunting, though no claims of actually photographing psychic phenomenon with Full-spectrum or infrared photography have been substantiated.
Today, there are a few places that will modify digital cameras to pass broad, full-spectrum light for full spectral imaging. A few DSLR cameras such as the Fujifilm FinePix IS Pro are purpose-designed for full spectrum use and respond from approximately 1000 nm (IR) to 380 nm (UV).
Read more about this topic: Full-spectrum Photography
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)