timeXposure: Explorations in time, space and movement

Lenticular technology is a spectacular breakthrough for both photography and printmaking. The closest comparable product on the market is holographic photography, which uses lasers to create images. Lenticular is superior in that it can be made with digital cameras, or from existing images using desktop computers and personal printers. It needs no special lighting and the colors are crisp and vibrant in comparison to a hologram's amber or green overcast.

To create a lenticular image, the source pictures or "frames" are developed in PhotoShop. A series of variations on the image are saved as flattened TIFF files. Each of these variations become a frame of the finished lenticular print. The frames which are designed to recede to the background are offset to the left. Frames designed to project forward in the picture plane are offset to the right. Frames are turned on and off in sequence to give the impression of movement.

Using a specialized software, the frames are then interlaced together in linear stripes. A piece of plastic, with a series of parallel lens or lenticules, is aligned with the interlace of the image, so that the viewer sees only one frame at a time. As the viewer moves by the image, all of the frames are seen in sequence, creating the illusion of movement, depth, animation, morphing or 3-dimensional space which the artist set up in the original frames.

If the photographic image captures a moment in time then the lenticular image expands the moment and captures a continuing experience. The unique ability of the lenticular process is to create an image that is in flux. The lenticular image suspends time, space and movement.

As it has evolved from the crackerjack novelty items of the 60's to 4'x8' works of art which draw you into it's depth, lenticular has emerged as one of the most exciting new technologies for photographers and printmakers entering the next century.

The woman in the timeXposure series in Linda Serafin, photographed by Jan Doucette.