T3D Re: 8x12 Brandi phantogram

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

john bercovitz wrote:
> 
> Thanks, Paul, for the off-list thread on phantograms.
> Sounds like Boris did a lot of work and did it well.

Yes he did.  I bought a copy of his larger 1/4 scale
"Brandigram" as some of us call it, and it is quite
remarkable.  (As Boris noted on P3D, a recent ISU journal
cover and story, and some off-list discussion with Bruce
Springsteen of P3D, led to the eventual creation of the
Brandigrams.)

> I'm not sure I understand the question
> completely and so I will attempt to answer it and then
> you can say, "No, dummie, I asked...."

:)  It'll be a cold day in you know where before a
geometry-challenged fool like me can say something
like that to John B!

Here is an excerpt from instructions Boris gave me for
setting up a shot to create a phantogram:

> You will be matching the ratio of distance to tower / tower
> size, distance to image / image size.  If you are doing a
> small print - think about from what distance you want it
> to be viewed.  Then shoot from the commensurate distance
> in the real space.

Here's what I've gathered from my communications with Boris.
The phantogram distortions he refers to are different from
normal 3D perspective distortions.  When Boris printed 8x10
proofs of the image that was intended to be printed 3 ft by
7 ft, he said the image seemed to "grow" out of the paper.
I didn't see this distortion myself, but in my mind I picture
something like the genie in Aladdin coming out of the lamp...
the body growing from very small at the exit point of the
lamp to much larger in the upper torso.  In the phantogram,
the model's head would be extremely large relative to the
rest of the body.

When used the negative he created for the 13 x 23 print to
create an 8 x 12 print, he was surprised that the resultant
distortions were very small.  Small that is, in comparison
to the fairly extreme distortions when the negative that
was used to create the 7 foot print was printed to 8 x 10.

I'm trying to figure out which variables affect the amount
of phantogram distortion.

Paul Talbot


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