I’ve spoken a fair bit about the misplaced dichotomy of science and art and about the intrinsic artful beauty in many subjects scientific.  This past week, I came across some beautiful soft X ray images by Arie van’t Riet.  These he refers to as “bioramas” and they are exciting because Dr. Van Riet has totally crossed the line.  These are studio images taken with X-rays and then partially colorized in Adobe Photoshop.  The transition is seamless and the colors appear as if they were always meant to be.

The artist by the way emphasizes that these are things dead, not alive.  No animals were sacrificed in the production of these images.  So we can begin with his image of the “John Dory Fish,” which has very little color but is an excellent example of the delicacy of form that X rays reveal.  You do not need to be a taxonomist to appreciate the structural beauty here.  But then van’t Riet combines the X ray images with color.  A good example is his his photograph of tulips growing out of the ground.  The colors have no significance.  But they appeal to the eye and enhance the beauty.

Color is an fascinating dimension in photography.  In mundane photography it can be a crutch, by which I mean that if if you have dramatic color, you can often fool yourself into thinking that you don’t need anything else to recommend your picture. I prefer to take images in black and white, or more accurately to convert to black and white, to emphasize form and dynamic range.  But sometimes the image screams out for color.

The really interesting balance, to my mind’s eye, lies in starting with a great black and white image and making the pictorial  decision between a pure black and white image vs. a toned one.  And if toned: cold or warm.  And if toned: exactly how much.  So in the same context, I think that we can appreciate Arie van’t Riet’s photographs in his decision process of exactly how much color to apply.  I think that some of his images are dazzling and dazzling because he uses color so sparingly.