ESA/EUCLID CONSORTIUM/NASA image

When I studied photography in Chicago the standard camera for professional photographers was a 35mm single lens reflex camera. Several different manufacturers made quality cameras and lenses, but the leading favorite of the photo journalists at Look and Life Magazines were the Nikon F series with a bayonet mount for changing lenses. A strong competitor for Nikon were Canon cameras. A good friend of ours who is left handed preferred the Canon cameras because the Nikon bodies were designed in such a way that it was nearly impossible to hold the camera so that the shutter could be operated by the left hand. I was able to purchase a used Nikon camera body. My budget allowed for only four lenses and only two of the four were manufactured by Nikon. The four lenses covered a range of focal distances from 28 mm to 200 mm. The standard length for a single lens reflex camera was 50 mm, but my go to lens was a 105 mm portrait lens.

One of the strength of a single lens reflex camera is that a mirror which retracts as the shutter is triggered, allows the photographer to look directly through the lens to fine tune the focus and observe the depth of field. Depth of field is an aspect of photographs that adds to the quality of an image. Images made by cameras are different from what our eyes see. Our eyes have an incredible ability to simultaneously focus on near and far away subjects. I can look toward distant mountains and see them sharply defined while at the same time have a nearby tree focused. A camera doesn’t share that much depth of field. Photographic images almost always have some areas that are not crisply focused because the depth of field is limited. Depth of field, however, can be adjusted by allowing more or less light into the lens by adjusting the size of the aperture. The size of the area through which light passes can be controlled through an adjustable aperture. In order to properly expose film, a wider aperture requires a faster shutter speed and a narrower aperture requires a slower shutter speed for he same about of light to reach the film.

Photography, then, is a balance of shutter speed, aperture, and focus. Mastering the adjustment of all three elements is key to the art of photography. Keeping track of all three, using a light meter to determine exposure, is a mental challenge. I learned to take several exposures, bracketing them for time and sometimes for aperture and then select a single image from a proof sheet to print.

A lot has changed in the years that I have been operating cameras. One of the first changes was the development of cameras that automatically changed either the shutter speed or the aperture when the other element was adjusted. My first automatic camera allowed me to set either the shutter speed or the aperture and have the other element adjusted. By setting the camera to aperture preference for nature photography, I could control the shutter speed to blur moving water or control the depth of field for a close-up of an insect or flower. I could change to shutter preference to freeze motion for sports events and other types of photography.

Over the years, lens technology evolved to allow for quality zoom lenses. This gave me the ability to adjust another element of the photograph. As I transitioned from a wider angle to a more telephoto lens, I could make far away items appear closer. By controlling the depth of field, I could make distant objects appear to be much closer. The use of long lenses became common in television news coverage and we became used to this particular photographic distortion. I was most aware of this during the news coverage of the 1987 and 1988 Yellowstone Park fires, when it appeared on the news that flames were much closer to iconic park venues than was the actual case. When I visited after the fires, I realized that the distances had been compressed in the news coverage.

Perhaps the biggest revolution in photography in my lifetime has been the switch from film to digital images. My first digital cameras were all “point and shoot” cameras that used range finders that had the photographer looking through a different lens than was used to capture the image. Soon, however, I was able to obtain a digital single lens reflex camera that used a mirror in much the same way as a film camera. In more modern cameras, the mirror is no longer necessary as the photographer is able to view a digital image before the photograph is taken.

The precise technology is of interest mostly to camera geeks like myself. People are able to make stunning photographs with cell phones that employ multiple lenses and combine digital images with high speed processors without knowledge of depth of field, aperture and shutter speed.

All of this evolution in image making has been going through my mind since the release of the first stunning images made by the European Euclid Space Telescope. There have been many incredible images from several different space telescopes. The fantastically expensive imaging tools are adding to our understanding of the nature of the universe while revealing beauty beyond our imaginations. In contrast to other space telescopes, such as the Webb, Hubble, and Kepler, the Euclid telescope is revealing images with incredible depth of field. The combination of several technologies including the ability to capture light beyond the range of human vision, the use of filters to eliminate the effects of cosmic dust and other particles between the scope and the objects photographed, and the optics of the lens itself allows for a wide angle of view with incredible depth across the entire photograph. We can at once see more distant objects in the context of nearer objects.

The images are stunning for the photographic breakthrough of the particular technologies of the device. Beyond that, they are simply beautiful. I keep returning to the image of the Horsehead Nebula. I’ve seen other images of this taken by other space telescopes, but the sharpness and depth of this image is beyond anything I’ve ever before seen.

I think we make photographs in an attempt to return to the beauty we have witnessed. At least my favorite photographs all capture beauty that is revealed each time I look at them. These new images from the Euclid Space Telescope once again reveal the incredible beauty of this universe. How fortunate we are to be able to behold and appreciate this beauty. Technology aside, the gift of the images is awe.