Oliver Stenberg

Visual Study Of The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Introduction:

The series has been influenced by previous personal projects i have undertaken, that have taken a look at scientific topics such as the periodic table, Renewable energy and sterilization. The idea for these body’s of work is to try and explore a subject that can’t be seen by the human eye, break down their characteristics, and then visually interpret them. This series is a study on the EM spectrum - a visual portrayal of the different properties, attributes and characteristics of radio waves, micro waves, uv light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays.  

Myself and Oliver Stenberg worked through various literature on the EM spectrum and made note of anything we thought stood out that might help visually bring the spectrum to life. We looked at things like their uses in day to day life, their physical effects, the process in which they are formed or how they physically structured. For example when studying “Microwaves” we wanted to outline the fact these aren’t just found in the kitchen and that they are actually used most commonly in point to point communication, They also transmit thermal energy and can found in our cosmos. Visually we try to visualise this using different in camera techniques and sets.

This series is a study on the EM spectrum - a visual portrayal of the different properties, attributes and characteristics of radio waves, micro waves, uv light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays.

Radio waves are found at the lowest frequency end of the spectrum. The concept behind radio waves started with the classic visualisation of radio towers emitting their signals. In this image, we see a beam of light or energy emitting rings of radio waves

Micro waves are generally thought of as machines to heat our food by transmitting thermal energy although they are actually most commonly used in point to point communication. Micro waves are also found in our cosmos in the form of cosmic microwave background radiation.

UltraViolet Light is most commonly seen as black light, under which all light or white subjects appear to glow in darkness. UV Light can completely change the look of an object as seen from daylight and in darkness gives a deep purple glow. We depict this in our set, which is actually made completely out of white objects.

Infrared light is commonly used to trace heat signatures, it is used everywhere from body scanning to documenting dead versus living plant life in forests. The human eye can’t see this, but infrared imaging completely changes how an environment looks.  Our infrared ‘scan’ brings to life objects that in daylight actually appear dull and colourless.

Xray is the most known and seen of the EM Spectrum.  Without creating an actual Xray, we wanted to demonstrate how an X-ray shows the different densities of its subject.  Our subject in this case was paper, which through delicate folding and layering visualises this property.

Gamma Rays are the highest energy wave in the spectrum and is actually hazardous electromagnetic radiation.  We wanted to visualise this with a complete explosion of light

Photographer: @MitchPayne (.co.uk)

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