Turning X-Ray into an Art

August 6, 2010 6:24 AM

Hugh Turvey takes color x-rays of flowers.
posted by shakespeherian (9 comments total)

These are the Autobots to Fruit MRI's Decepticons.
posted by oulipian at 6:33 AM on August 6, 2010

This is really amazing. A whole new way to look at a complex universe of life.
posted by sandboxworld at 6:39 AM on August 6, 2010

Really beautiful, but they're really monochrome, with color mapping to intensity in a few of them. It is possible to make (false) color x-ray images by observing at different frequencies in the x-ray band, like this one of a supernova remnant. It probably wouldn't be as interesting with plants, although who knows. It would be interesting to see this guy try it, if he has the equipment for it. It might also be interesting to see a mosaic with other frequency bands (e.g. infra red in red, and x-ray in green). The images might get too busy though.
posted by Humanzee at 7:00 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hugh Turvey takes color x-rays of flowers. GIVES FLOWERS CANCER. What a jerk.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:34 AM on August 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

I loved the concept here, but found the end result unsatisfying. The actual flowers are so much more colorful and vibrant than their color x-rays; I find myself wondering if it is worth all the time and trouble to create these poor substitutes under the guise of art.
posted by misha at 8:53 AM on August 6, 2010

I see in the police band and we have more colors than this.

('shopped or not, xrays of natural objects are always cool. Volutes inside of snail shells, bone trabeculae, whatever. Always cool, often very beautiful.)
posted by jfuller at 10:00 AM on August 6, 2010

Really beautiful, but they're really monochrome, with color mapping to intensity in a few of them.

At first I thought as much, too, except I think this one really is a false color image rather than simply color-mapped
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:50 PM on August 6, 2010

Using different frequencies of x-rays wouldn't be useful here. Plants, unlike many astronomical objects, don't give off x-rays; instead these images are produced by showering them them with x-rays and recording (via film or other techniques) the differences in absorption. Any color variation is post-processing (though rather pretty).

The supernova remnant pictures are produced by passively detecting x-rays at different frequencies. Medical x-ray technology is a active diagnostic.
posted by khedron at 2:47 PM on August 6, 2010

I have a poster of something like this of a eucalyptus plant in my bathroom.

When your art is destined for the bathroom, you should probably move on to plan B.
posted by Dr. Send at 2:48 PM on August 6, 2010