The Importance of Images: Scientific Illustration and Photography

An etching of Caiman crocodilus and Anilius scytale by Maria Sibylla Merian
Engraver: Joseph Mulder. A public domain image.

A picture can tell the story of a thousand words. While many people may balk at reading a dense scientific article about Caiman crocodilus or Anilius scytale most of them would be happy to look at images of these animals. Images are one of the best ways to make science accessible and understandable for both laypeople and scientists.

Today illustrations and photographs are used to supplement scientific texts, but since photography didn’t exist, or was inaccessible for a large chunk of scientific history, only illustrations were used.

Woodcut print by Thomas Bewick from A History of British Birds (1797)
A public domain image

The European[1] invention of the printing press during the middle of the 15^th century, as well as the advent of perspective drawing and increasing popularity of realism made the first scientific illustrations possible. The earliest illustrations were hand drawn into printed books, but as soon as illustrations could be printed and mass produced those were used instead. Often multiple people would collaborate to create an illustration, the scientist/author, the illustrator, and the printmaker. The most popular methods of printing scientific images were woodcut printing, engraving, and etching.

Copper engraving from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium by  Maria Sibylla Merian 

Engraver: Joseph Mulder. A public domain image.

Umbrella Squid. Artist: unknown.
A public domain image.

American Pennyroyal woodcut print
artist: unknown. A public domain image

Most modern illustrators don’t use these printing methods anymore, but instead rely on sketches and digital touch-up methods.

When photography emerged in the 1800s it was quickly utilized by scientists. Even the earliest forms of photography, like cyanotypes and daguerreotypes were used to photograph algae and solar eclipses for scientific purposes. Science and photography have always been closely intertwined since photography is practically a science itself. Photography, especially modern digital photography, does have some benefits over illustration.

Cyanotype photograph of algae by Anna Atkins
A public domain image.

• Photography is more accessible to the average person, practically anyone can use a camera at an amateur level, but it takes much more work to become an amateur illustrator.   
• It takes less than a second to take a photograph, which makes it easier to accurately capture the images in the field.
• Videos can be used to show movement that illustration can’t capture as well. 
• Photographs can capture images not visible to the human eye. Rosalind Franklin took pictures using technology that captured invisible X-ray beams, which allowed the shape of DNA to be determined.  
• Scientists can use motion sensor cameras placed in a study area to observe animals, and to determine what species are present in a certain area without long hours of in-person research, something illustration could never do.
• Photography captures images as they exist in real life, the artist’s possible error in subject interpretation is not an issue.

Public domain photo provided by NASA/NSSDC

      Still, scientific illustration isn’t dead, there are still some things a drawn image can do that photography can’t.            
                                                                                               

Saturn 1874. Artist: Étienne Léopold Trouvelot.
A public domain image.

Disarticulation of the Four Fingers. Artist: Jean-Baptiste Léveillé.
A public domain image.

• Illustrators can simplify their subject matter or emphasize important details to make complex subjects like anatomy easier to understand.
• They can make objects transparent to do things like better show the placement of organs in the body.  
• Illustrators can draw study skins from museum collections in life-like positions, which is great when dealing with endangered or extinct species which are near to impossible to photograph in nature.
• Illustrators can use data from fossils to create images of ancient animals and plants as if they were still living.Illustrations show a certain sensitivity to the subject matter, lushness of color and simple layout that few photographs manage to capture. They are the ideal mixture of art and science.

Thunder and Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future by Lauren Redniss
Author's own photo.

Artistic illustrations for popular science books, like those in Lauren Redniss’ books Thunder and Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future and Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout capture the drama and feeling of a storm and the challenge and excitement of the Curie’s lives in a way photography or even more literally accurate drawings could not.

My etching of the Opah.

About a month ago I made my own scientific illustration as part of a workshop at the American Museum of Natural History. I choose to draw and etch the Opah (Lampris guttatus, a gigantic and warm-blooded fish). I noticed that after making the etching I could remember almost exactly how the Opah looked. Observing the Opah closely enough to draw it helped me to understand the fish on a deeper level than I would have if I just read about it. Illustrations help both the viewers and the artists understand something on a deeper level than words can express.

Sources.

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[1] Printing was invented in China and Korea much earlier on, in the 11^th and 13^th centuries respectively. Europe was late to the printing game, though they did advance printing technology and use water resistant inks.