Skiagraphics
of plants and shells are sometimes mistaken for
delicate pen-and-ink drawings or for black-and-white
photographs. When you look more closely, it becomes
clear you’re not seeing a two-dimensional rendering of
nature’s beauty, you are actually seeing through the
leaves and petals and into the shells’ chambers. That’s
because skiagraphics are X-ray prints of natural
objects. The word skiagraphic comes from the Greek skia
meaning shadow and graphic referring to drawing. An
X-ray print is actually composed of overlapping shadows.
Whereas a photograph is created when light bounces off a
subject and onto light sensitive film, an X-ray is
created when X-rays pass through an object and create
shadows on X-ray-sensitive film. When a doctor flips an
X-ray of your lungs onto a light box, he is looking at
overlapping shadows.
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