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Looking at holograms
On encountering a hologram, what is most surprising is that a surface seems to hold a space. The difference of scale between the optical shaping by the hologram structure and our material sense of it as a surface produces a perception of a virtual form, as if the light holds its own shape.
Viewing a hologram print, the image changes as you move around. As if you were looking through a window onto a scene. This is because holography records the scene through an area of perspective. The viewing window of a hologram can also be broken up to record many different perspectives, this process is know as spatial multiplexing, and can be used to capture animation and/or create a holographic scene from a sequence of 2-d images.
In conclusion
The relationships that can be set up with the holographic image suggest a particular way of considering optical information. While there are a number of ways of making holograms, each having their own aesthetic qualities they all have the same underlying principle. Holography is a way of encoding recording an interference pattern.
Holography allows for the recording and reconstruction of spatially-dependent images. The holographic image is based on optical-material interference rather than sensors and programs; the information is enfolded within the surface rather than being applied onto it. We sense the difference by moving around, and returning to find the image again. The holographic image has its own presence, which we move through, playing the image with our own perception and agency.
The relationships that can be set up with the holographic image suggest a particular way of considering optical information. While there are a number of ways of making holograms, each having their own aesthetic qualities they all share the same underlying principles of holographic imaging. Holography uses an interference pattern to encode and record an image. The reconstruction of this image is an optical ‘shaping’ that appears distinct from the material surface. We perceive the light that flows through the hologram as holding space. This perceived space is dependent on the perspective from where it is viewed, allowing for a hologram to render a spatial and dynamic scene.
Learn to Make Holograms
At the HoloCenter we offer a number of programs from workshops to production support
Join and join the mailing list for invitations to exhibitions around the world, opportunities to make holograms and holographic art news
Recommended books:
Holography Handbook: Making Holograms the Easy Way by Fred Unterseher, Bob Schlesinger and Jeanne Hansen
Practical Holography by Graham Saxby
Holographic Imaging by Stephen A. Benton, V. Michael Bove Jr. (analog and digital holography)
Introduction to Holography video Encyclopedia Britannica in 1972
References:
Barger and White (1999) The Daguerreotype: Nineteenth Century Technology and Modern Science, JHU Press.
Gabor (1948) ‘A new microscopic principle’, Nature, 161, p 777 – 778.
Kafri and Glatt (1990) The physics of moiré metrology, Wiley.
Syms (1990) Practical volume holography, Clarendon Press.
Further reading:
Lippmann’s and Gabor’s Revolutionary Approach to Imaging by Klaus Biedermann
How are images recorded in a hologram?