With thirty years experience photographing
Maya art, pyramid temple, palace, and ballcourt architecture,
F.L.A.A.R. is the ideal place to come for courses and training
to improve your photography. We now add instruction in digital
photography, both entry level (Nikon CoolPix, Sony Mavica) all
the way to upscale large format digital cameras (Dicomed, Better
Light).
(archaeology, art, iconography, epigraphy, Motagua
Maya, Tiquisate, Protoclassic, Early
Classic, Late Classic)
complete directory
of Mayan vase rollout photographs; rollout
photos by Web site
Mesoamerican
art history and archaeology
research is easier and more
productive if done in digital
format.
Digital Photography at the Maya Symposium
Michael
Collette of Better Light, recently developed the first direct
digital rollout camera. This remarkable invention records
the circumference of the Maya vases with no photographic film
whatsoever. Instead the computer measures the size of the vase
and then a light-sensitive sensor records every pixel on the surface
of the vase circumference.
The result of doing this with a computer and not by trial and
error, is, first of all, unprecedented accuracy. The computer
even focuses the lens, and "develops" the image, instantly
on the monitor.
The other result is remarkable color fidelity. But most
of all, this incredible camera is so accurate that the rollouts
can be enlarged in full color to 3 feet high by over 9 feet long.
The FLAAR Photo Archive just received an ENCAD Nova Jet Pro
digital printer which can print these rollouts at exhibit
quality up to thirty feet long, in color!
The FLAAR crew of Nicholas and Andrea have been
photographing Maya vases and bowls
day and night and weekend since June. Actually this camera is
so flexible that it can even do a
rollout of the inside of a Maya plate or large bowl!
The reason for all this effort is to insure that people who
come to Florida will have the opportunity to experience a
corpus of Maya material which is unprecedented in its quality,
and quantity.
Schedule
| index
of all internal links for www.maya-art-books
Maya
archaeology directory (for www.maya-archaeology.org)
Home,
www.maya-art-books.org
Sunday (Feb. 15th) is for anyone who would like
to learn how to take rollout photographs themselves.
Although the principle of rollout photography has been known
since the 1940's, there has never been a complete blueprint of
any rollout system actually published. Now is the first time that
the detailed mechanism of rollout photography is available to
anyone who would like to know about it.
You can use the camera yourself. No previous experience
is required.
We ask a donation since this session is rather obviously intended
just for one or two people, so that each individual gets full
personal instruction on every aspect of the camera.
And, if you would like to acquire any rollout camera for yourself,
or for your museum or project, we have extra cameras available
(we currently have three active rollout cameras, two which use
70mm film, and one which is digital). The entire digital system
is well over $40,000 but we have a sophisticated 70mm rollout
camera, for $20,000, which requires no computer since it is completely
calibrated in advance. This particular camera is actually far
more accurate than others which rely on trial and error to estimate
the rotational speed. This trial and error estimate results in
awkward and rather visible stretch or compression of the artifact
being photographed.
(archaeology, art, iconography, epigraphy, Motagua
Maya, Tiquisate, Protoclassic, Early
Classic, Late Classic)
complete directory
of Mayan vase rollout photographs; rollout
photos by Web site
Mesoamerican
art history and archaeology
research is easier and more
productive if done in digital
format.Complete details on F.L.A.A.R.
digital imagery capabilities can be found at:
www.digital-photography.org
and www.cameras-scanners-flaar.org
Schedule
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index
of all internal links for www.maya-art-books
Maya
archaeology directory (for www.maya-archaeology.org)
Home,
www.maya-art-books.org
All of the Maya Symposium Events are open to the
Public
page updated March 16, 1999; links added August 1,
1999