photo of a photo


somebody123

Member
Mar 27, 2006
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hey everyone!

why does a photo of a photo look so flat compared to the original photo? when they are essentially the same thing? capturing light entering the lens onto the sensor. hahahhaa!
 

what have u been smoking.?
 

Amuse me..

try harder.
 

That's because It's the image of a flat object. Of course you can try using a lens with higher aperture and off camera flash to make it more 3d. :p
 

Amuse me..

try harder.

i'm serious guys... i've been shooting for more than 10 years. i love photography. not a pro like many of you.

but instead of scanning a few photos today, i was a little lazy and just shot it with my iphone for uploading. then the question popped into my head. it'll be good if someone could explain it comprehensively so at least i know the logic behind it.

i know for a fact it looks different. but i can't explain why! haha!
 

i'm serious guys... i've been shooting for more than 10 years. i love photography. not a pro like many of you.

but instead of scanning a few photos today, i was a little lazy and just shot it with my iphone for uploading. then the question popped into my head. it'll be good if someone could explain it comprehensively so at least i know the logic behind it.

i know for a fact it looks different. but i can't explain why! haha!

u must understand resolution.

scanner resolution definitely better then your iphone in someways.

scanner allows you to choose a certain number of DPI? iphone only shoots as a picture file with a standard DPI.
 

Assuming that angle and resolution are no issue. The photo which you took off a picture of has its own paper and ink characteristics which is different from lighting off a real scene itself. The photo is a modified sample of the real scene. The picture you took off the photo is a further modified sub-sample. How is it possible to reproduce the exact same thing?
 

hey everyone!

why does a photo of a photo look so flat compared to the original photo? when they are essentially the same thing? capturing light entering the lens onto the sensor. hahahhaa!



Let's just think about the sun, when you see a photograph of it, how is the photograph like the sun?

When you photograph a scene, you are shooting say, trees, rocks, sand, grass in the sunlight. When you are photographing a photograph, you are shooting a photograph. Even if you shoot it in the sunlight it remains a photograph and it doesn't quite handle light the same way as other objects that you might have shot in the photograph.

Unless you have a photograph of a photograph, and compare it to a photograph of a photograph of a photograph, with same lighting conditions, the photograph of a photograph will hardly look the same as the photograph. :bsmilie:
 

Last edited:
Let's just think about the sun, when you see a photograph of it, how is the photograph like the sun?

When you photograph a scene, you are shooting say, trees, rocks, sand, grass in the sunlight. When you are photographing a photograph, you are shooting a photograph. Even if you shoot it in the sunlight it remains a photograph and it doesn't quite handle light the same way as other objects that you might have shot in the photograph.

Unless you have a photograph of a photograph, and compare it to a photograph of a photograph of a photograph, with same lighting conditions, the photograph of a photograph will hardly look the same as the photograph. :bsmilie:

Photo-ception!
 

edutilos- said:
Let's just think about the sun, when you see a photograph of it, how is the photograph like the sun?

When you photograph a scene, you are shooting say, trees, rocks, sand, grass in the sunlight. When you are photographing a photograph, you are shooting a photograph. Even if you shoot it in the sunlight it remains a photograph and it doesn't quite handle light the same way as other objects that you might have shot in the photograph.

Unless you have a photograph of a photograph, and compare it to a photograph of a photograph of a photograph, with same lighting conditions, the photograph of a photograph will hardly look the same as the photograph. :bsmilie:

cks2k2 said:
Photo-ception!

The headache that i had till now just increased two-fold :bsmilie:
 

Photo-ception!

Any totem so that we know we not looking at a photo of a photo?

2 photo of photo taken recently, haven't reach limbo yet. :bsmilie:

photo.php


photo.php
 

Let's just think about the sun, when you see a photograph of it, how is the photograph like the sun?

When you photograph a scene, you are shooting say, trees, rocks, sand, grass in the sunlight. When you are photographing a photograph, you are shooting a photograph. Even if you shoot it in the sunlight it remains a photograph and it doesn't quite handle light the same way as other objects that you might have shot in the photograph.

Unless you have a photograph of a photograph, and compare it to a photograph of a photograph of a photograph, with same lighting conditions, the photograph of a photograph will hardly look the same as the photograph. :bsmilie:

This paragraph tells us that we shall drop the topic for good. :hung:
 

hey everyone!

why does a photo of a photo look so flat compared to the original photo? when they are essentially the same thing? capturing light entering the lens onto the sensor. hahahhaa!

Because you did not shoot with this.

 

edutilos- said:
Unless you have a photograph of a photograph, and compare it to a photograph of a photograph of a photograph, with same lighting conditions, the photograph of a photograph will hardly look the same as the photograph. :bsmilie:

Brain cramp!
 

with proper lighting, a decent camera, and optimization in post, your photo of a print could be as good as the print... but not necessarily as good as the photo the print was made from...
 

somebody123 said:
hey everyone!

why does a photo of a photo look so flat compared to the original photo? when they are essentially the same thing? capturing light entering the lens onto the sensor. hahahhaa!

Unlike a digital bit to bit duplication, such a copy of a copy is bound to lose more info in the first place.

Your subject being the film slide is actually really thin layer. To achieve a serious level of duplication at that level you need a slide stage to hold the film n maintain flatness, a macro rail for very fine adjustment of a camera with a flat field micro lens.

But along with the era of digitalisation n scanners, such setups are probably not worth the trouble..
 

hey everyone!

why does a photo of a photo look so flat compared to the original photo? when they are essentially the same thing? capturing light entering the lens onto the sensor. hahahhaa!

i'm serious guys... i've been shooting for more than 10 years. i love photography. not a pro like many of you.

but instead of scanning a few photos today, i was a little lazy and just shot it with my iphone for uploading. then the question popped into my head. it'll be good if someone could explain it comprehensively so at least i know the logic behind it.

i know for a fact it looks different. but i can't explain why! haha!

If you want to reproduce a flat copy of an article with best quality you can get, this is the set up you should be using, a more elaborate setup is to use polarized lighting.

[h=3]How to set up for copywork[/h]
 

sampling and aliasing ...