In November 2007 Stefanie Reichelt started ArtCell Gallery which is located in the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute (CRUK CRI), in the heart of the scientific community of Cambridge. The institute carries out world-class research to improve our understanding of cancer and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer. The exhibitions at ArtCell aim to bring art into the institute for Stefanie's colleagues, patients at Addenbrookes Hospital as well as the general public.

15 March 2014, 10am to 5pm

accompanied by

15 March 2014, 11am to 5pm, download information.

in conjunction with

5 March 2014 - 30 April 2014, excluding weekends apart from 15 March

Since inception in 1853 the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) has had the mission to promote the art and science of photography. Starting in 2011 with the International Images for Science exhibition, the RPS reaffirmed its commitment to Scientific Photography and the Science of Photography. The RPS primarily caters for those with an interest in the science of imaging and scientific imaging through three of its special interest groups, the 3D & Holography group, the Medical Group and the Imaging Science Group. While the combined membership of these groups is small compared to some of the other special interest groups, this does not prevent them holding ambitious events. This March marks a first, where these three special interest groups have combined forces and have worked with the East Anglian Region to organise a day of Scientific Photography covering a wide gamut of scientific photography and the science of imaging.

As part of the 2014 Cambridge University Science Festival, the RPS has partnered with Stefanie Reichelt, scientist at the University of Cambridge's Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, to deliver a range of talks, lectures, demonstrations and exhibitions, dedicated to promoting scientific photography and the science of photography. A first class range of speakers from both within the RPS and those engaged in scientific research will, on the 15th March, celebrate all that is fascinating within photography and imaging, but with a distinctive scientific slant. As part of the celebration the International Images for Science exhibition, 2013 will be on display in the Art Cell Gallery in the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, which is the same venue where the talks and demonstrations will be given.

The range of talks and lectures has been chosen to ensure that there is something for everybody. They seek to educate, challenge and answer a wide range of questions. The day starts with a talk answering the thorny questions of how many pixels do you need and how many are you getting and ends with a talk about developing the imaging tools of tomorrow, via talks on colour vision, high speed photography, medical imaging and images, 3D & stereo imaging, imaging nature evolving, and art & science. In this short article it is impossible to do full justice to the material the speakers will be covering but the following should give you a flavour of what will be covered on the day.

10:15   Welcome

10:15   How many Pixels do you need & Getting your Pixel's Worth! (Dr Tony Kaye, ASIS FRPS)
We receive marketing messages all the time about new and improved cameras. The Nokia Lumia 1020 mobile phone boasts a 41MP sensor. The £17,500 Hasselblad H5D-40 medium format professional camera with lens has a 40MP sensor. This prompts two questions, how many Pixels do we need? And how many are we effectively getting in practice? Does the pixel race make sense, or is it just a combination of marketing numbers, memory and computing power? This talk will focus on the resolution of the human eye and how that translates into how many pixels are really needed for high quality prints and how many pixels are we effectively getting in practice with today's cameras. Additionally the talk will look at the way digital cameras sample images, the need for low pass filters, and whether the effective number of pixels in your pictures is governed more by optical and software considerations, than the number of pixels your camera's sensor has.

11:30    Colour Vision "Should You Believe Your Eyes?" (Dr Ken MacLennan-Brown, AIS ARPS)
Do we actually see what we think we see? The short answer is only sometimes. Ken will examine some of the methods our brain uses to deal with the vast amount of information being fed to it by our eyes. In order to avoid information overload our brain employs a variety of stratagems in order to quickly assimilate the information received. This frequently means that we see what we think we see – not what is actually there. This talk will explore some of the common ways that our brain misinterprets what our eyes tell it. Additionally comparisons will be made between some of the things human vision is very good at – and some of the things it is not so good at. Once we better understand what our brain tells us the eyes are seeing then we can relate this to image quality and what this means when taking and processing images.

12:00    High Speed Photography (Gary Evans ASIS FRPS)
Photography's ability to capture the moment has inspired artists and scientists since its invention. Improved photographic emulsions, better shutters and better lighting have brought exposure times ever downward, allowing us to capture ever smaller slices of that special fragment of time. Now digital imaging has opened a new window into the realm of the ultra-fast. In this session some amazing high speed video footage will be shown, and how it is captured, enabling us to explore the very boundaries of what can be achieved with high speed imaging techniques. Gary will show us that we can look at the world around us in a new way, and prove that lightning does strike more than once in the same place!

12:30    Photography in Medicine (Dr Afzal Ansary ASIS FRPS)
The application of photography in medicine is almost as old as photography itself. Why do clinicians and scientists need images and what do they use them for? Today, sophisticated imaging techniques and equipment are used to achieve results which are paramount in providing better health care to patients and make significant contributions towards research and education. The presentation will be fully illustrated with images to explain the use of photography in all branches of medical and allied sciences to support diagnosis, medical developments, patient-care, research, publications and medical education. For those of a sensitive nature, be warned, the presentation may contain images which some attendees may find distressing.

13:00    Guided Tour of RPS International Images for Science Exhibition

14:30    3D, Holography and Stereoscopic imaging (David G Burder, FRPS)
3D is everywhere, today – in the cinema, in magazines, on lap tops, mobile phones and even on our home televisions. But there is nothing radically new about 3D – The Victorians loved it, and over 10 million 3D stereo cards were produced, over 100 years ago! Today, 3D has become more accessible to everyone, through the power of digital technology. Yet, less people are actually taking 3D photographs for themselves, despite the availability of 3D cameras. But why? The Holy Grail of 3D has always been quoted as 3D without glasses, but is this the true reason why 3D has gone still not become the main stream way of seeing images? Where is 3D going?

15:00    Imaging Nature Evolving (Dr Jim Haseloff) TBD

15:30    Tea

16:00    Art and Science (Dr Stefanie Reichelt, scientist and founder and curator ArtCell Gallery, CRUK CI)
We humans are visual creatures. While images can depict reality to us, they also invoke our imagination. They speak more than a thousand words. Scientists have always used images of various kinds – drawings, pictures, photographs and videos, to name a few – to make discoveries, describe processes in nature, catalogue and archive specimens, and illustrate observations and ideas. In scientific discoveries, images are often the scientific finding itself. But when is an image called art? How divergent is the artistic image from the scientific image both in its nature and purpose? Does the language of art speak only of creativity and that of science only of discovery? Such distinctions are merely spurious. Both art and science attempt to interpret the seen and the unseen, the factual and the imaginary, the real and the possible in our world. In Stefanie's talk she will show that art and science are not disparate, but complementary ways of seeing the world. Both depend on the subtle observations of life and attempt to blend the real with the imaginary. Both, the scientist and the photographer, has to have the capacity to observe and to imagine.

16:30    Developing the Imaging Tools of Tomorrow (Brad Amos Hon. FRPS, FRS)
New imaging tools are developed every month, as a result of the application of computers, electronics and lasers. Many of these are add-ons to conventional microscopes or cameras, allowing better resolution, imaging of new spectral regions, or even the collection of a complete spectrum for every pixel. However, the advent of confocal microscopy in the mid-80s revealed a surprising gap in the repertoire of the oldest and most-studied part of the kit: the lens itself. The optics used in confocal microscopes are useless for new types of 3D imaging when imaging relatively large objects such as 5mm long embryos. A radical rethink was needed which led to the development of the Mesolens which has a much shallower depth of field allowing images to be created that show information that previously could only have been obtained by cutting sections.

17:00   Questions and Answers with Speakers

17:30   End

The efforts of our Special Interest Groups, the East Anglian Region and our partners at Cancer Research UK have put together a day that will educate, fascinate and entertain anyone who attends.