American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 26
dozen grades of modern abrasive and
modern polish.
The result, Kelly attests, was impressive. "I'd love to have a lens like that," says
the cinematographer. "It had beautiful
aberrations that gave the projected image a
certain look you just wouldn't get with a
modern lens."
Jenison's adventures in lens making
were just one small part of his quest. As
Tim's Vermeer chronicles, he soon realized
that Vermeer could not have worked with a
camera obscura alone. It is a draftsman's
tool, good for tracing lines, but Vermeer's
canvases contain no underlying sketch.
Could he have simply applied brush to
canvas under a projected image? No, Jenison found. As he demonstrates in the film,
it's impossible to match colors because a
colored projection changes the hue and
value of the pigment it falls upon.
Jenison's breakthrough was his
"comparator mirror." A simple instrument
that could have been in Vermeer's kit, it
comprises a small first-surface mirror on a
stick. Positioned at a 45-degree angle to the
subject, it allowed Jenison to match colors
perfectly as his gaze shifted back and forth,
comparing paint and reflection at the
mirror's edge. Jenison could build an entire
painting this way, and he did, first using a
black-and-white photo that he re-created
with remarkable fidelity.
His next test combined the comparator mirror with the camera obscura, a
combination that would explain both the
optical artifacts in Vermeer's paintings and
his color wizardry. Jenison set up his drafting
table inside a chamber-sized camera
obscura and projected a simple white jug.
That worked, too, but Jenison allowed
himself a cheat: The jug was blasted with
light from a 2.5K HMI Fresnel.
Next came the critical test. After
painstakingly re-creating The Music Lesson
scene, Jenison tried his device using only
natural light, but the projection was too
weak and blurry. Next, he thought of
projecting onto a mirror instead of white
Masonite, thus marshaling all the light
waves in one direction. That made the
image 250 times brighter. Even better was a
concave mirror, which enabled Jenison to
see more of the image. With brightness
increased 250-fold, he realized he no longer
Top: Jenison
visits the
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
to study
Vermeer's
Woman with a
Lute using
surgical loupes
he created.
Middle: The
inventor spends
hours polishing
a handcrafted
lens. Bottom:
Jenison
examines one
of his optical
devices.
26
February 2014
American Cinematographer
American Cinematographer - February 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2014
Table of Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 1
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 2
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - Table of Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 4
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 5
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 6
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 7
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 8
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 9
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 10
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 11
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 12
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 13
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 14
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 15
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 16
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 17
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 18
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 19
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 20
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 21
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 22
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 23
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 24
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 25
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 26
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 27
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 28
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 29
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 30
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 31
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 32
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 33
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 34
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 35
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 36
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 37
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 38
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 39
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 40
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 41
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 42
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 43
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 44
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 45
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 46
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 47
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 48
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 49
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 50
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 51
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 52
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 53
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 54
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 55
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 56
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 57
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 58
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 59
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 60
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 61
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 62
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 63
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 64
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 65
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 66
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 67
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 68
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 69
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 70
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 71
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 72
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 73
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 74
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American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 77
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 78
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 79
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 80
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 81
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 82
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American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 85
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 86
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 87
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 88
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 89
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American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 91
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - 92
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2014 - Cover4
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