The BIG picture and the little picture

April 12, 2008 3:54 PM

Does anyone have any suggestions for books about photomicroscopy or astrophotography as art? In particular I am looking for books that deal with these subjects in relation to traditional art practices like painting and photography.

I would prefer to read a discussion of how the images are created and how decisions about composition, color, etc. are balanced against the informational or illustrative qualities of the images. I am familiar with Edward Tufte's books, but I am looking for examples that focus more on visual aesthetics rather than information design. I seem to recall a book that was published a few years ago that dealt with photomicroscopic images for their visual appeal as well as (in spite of?) their technical noteworthiness, but searching has been unproductive.

posted by coevals to media & arts (4 comments total)

I remember that book too, or at least the reviews of it. It will take me awhile to dig through my clippings of book reviews -- it was reviewed in either Chemical & Engineering News (the weekly from the American Chemical Society) or the MRS Bulletin (monthly from the Materials Research Society) or both. If you have access, you might try searching in those places.

Since the MRS regularly hosts image competitions at its national meetings, I imagine that someone in the organization offices can hook you up with some resources even if the review of that particular book is intractably lost.
posted by janell at 5:05 PM on April 12

Books that deal with the relationship between science and art deal with your interests in relation to traditional art practices. Technically, though, they are not as informative. But here are some suggestions:
Exploring the Invisible: Art, Science and the Spiritual
The Molecular Gaze
Seen / Unseen Art, Science , and Intuition from Leonardo to the Hubble Telescope
posted by extrabox at 5:21 PM on April 12

Felice Frankel is amazing. Is she the one you're looking for? She published Envisioning Science in 2004.
posted by pullayup at 7:39 PM on April 12

Hmmms, sorry, it looks like that Google link is less than helpful.
posted by pullayup at 7:40 PM on April 12