How Do Space Pictures Get So Pretty?

[cjolley]

How Do Space Pictures Get So Pretty?

I thought this was very interesting.

[VJ]

Ah, so that explains why the Star Trek looks so realistically!
Our real images are copied from there. )

Just kidding, indeed an interesting read...


Jörg

[KRSESQ]

Space pictures weren't always so pretty. David Malin, a scientist at a telescope facility in Australia, did the pioneering work in color visualization more than 20 years ago. He figured out how to use black-and-white photographic film and color filters to create full-color visualizations.

With a wink and tip of the hat to Henry Kalmus, who used essentially the same technique to make color movies as far back as the 1920s.

See here.

I'd love to see a genuine three-strip technicolor movie some day. I hear they don't call it "glorious technicolor" for nothing.

Kevin

[Jon P. Inghram]

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/ has great true color images from the MERs and goes into detail as to how the images are made. It's neat to look at the raw color images and compare the difference, many of them make Mars look technicolor when it's really pretty much just bland orange and red.