Print images on green leaves!

Posted by Haje Jan Kamps

Picture-210.jpgCompletely out of left field, this story, but it turns out that you can use leaves as photographic paper, by using light and iodine to dye the starch in leaves dark.

Random? Well, yes, but it is a fun project, and the results are nothing short of stunning. How does it work?

The chlorophyll in healthy green leaves captures light and uses its energy to join together carbon dioxide and water. The result is the organic compound we call starch. It is the basis of much of the food we eat. Starch is white, but if you drop a small amount of a solution of iodine on it, the starch turns black. So that’s it really.

Why didn’t I think of that? Err, never mind. Go read the article and prepare to be amazed!

Did you like this post? Stay in touch!

If you liked this post, why not stay in touch with Photocritic going forward?

I'm on Flickr and Twitter, or you could add my RSS feed to your favourite feed reader. Or, if you don't fancy doing any of that, drop us a comment below; you can be anonymous if you want to, but if you add a link to your blog or similar, I'll promise I'll come have a look!

Money made from this advert will be invested in beer.
Posted in: All articles • 21 Apr '06

Insights, suggestions and comments

By reg on April 21st, 2006 (permalink)

didnt you ever do this when u were 12 at school. not that amazing TBH

By ScottB on April 21st, 2006 (permalink)

Heh, I thought about doing this something similar but my idea was to somehow detect the varying amounts of oxygen that the plant was giving off. So, the part of the plant that’s exposed to more light then the more oxygen that part of the plant gives off. Hmmm, maybe setup some sort of magnesium sheet that’ll convert to magnesium oxide when oxygen reaches it and reacts with it? But then you’d have to somehow prevent the oxygen in the air from reacting with the sheet. Also, it’d probably have to be a pretty long exposure to generate enough oxygen to be effective. Thoughts?

By Stu on April 24th, 2006 (permalink)

Looks like an interesting project. I’m not sure about the ’soaking in hot meths’. I was going to try it until I read that section - it sounds a little scary for my liking. Certainly not one to put on the gas stove :)

By hourlyjobs on February 16th, 2009 (permalink)

I really liked your blog! Keep up the good work.

 

Share your wisdom



Current Poll

By the end of the month, will you own an iPhone?
View Results

My recent Flickr favourites

Sweet as sin and black as hell©ashley suzanne taylorWalt Disney Concert Hall 2Caressed by the Sun IIIPale LifeBorage flower"Between the lights and the shadows, a woman sits"End of Day (II)Midsummer!Hair Trim (87/365)Rocas ValleThe Netherlands, insidePaint the town Pink.Have a good day!DSC_4102Bending The Laws of Gravity
See all my Flickr favourites here

My recent Flickr uploads

near Swingate, ENG, United KingdomWarmenhuizen, North Holland, NetherlandsKorrewegwijk, Groningen, Netherlandsnear Ladegårdshuse, Roskilde, Denmarknear Hornstrup, Vejle, DenmarkVejleHolmenkollen, Oslo, NorwayRogaland reflected in an Arai
See my Flickr galleries here

Photocritic on Twitter...

  • Jul 5 tweet: 58 crazy-good photography tutorials has lots of good tips (and features one of mine at #40 :) http://is.gd/1nPHc (link)
  • Jul 5 tweet: Awesome photograph by the lovley @phototropy; Sweet as sin and black as hell http://is.gd/1nyDp (link)
  • Jul 3 tweet: http://bit.ly/v7PfR was nominated to become a Twitter tee - feel free to vote it down if you think it's lame! :) (link)
  • Jul 2 tweet: "We shot 50,000 pix, printed 8,000 of them and shot another 1,800 pictures" - http://is.gd/1lTrX (YouTube video / stop motion animation) (link)
  • Jul 2 tweet: I failed to notice that I now have over 3,000 followers! I'll do my best not to disappoint, stay tuned for Photocritic updates soon. (link)
  • Jul 2 tweet: The Human Printer 'prints' photographs in CMYK using felt-tip markers. Bonkers, but very cool: http://is.gd/1li3D (link)
  • follow @photocritic on Twitter!

My book

macrocover.jpg
... is now available from »Amazon.com and »Amazon.co.uk, too!

About

This site is all about learning more about photography, from the incredibly insightful (rarely) to the dreadfully mundane (also, hopefully rarely) via just about everything in between.

If this website seems a little whimsical and random, then that's because the author of this blog, who for the occasion is confusing himself by writing about himself in the third person, is slightly whimsical and random himself.

Enjoy!

- Haje