
Industrial photographer Andrei Duman has been chipping away at his X-ray series for a couple of yr now. When not doing work for purchasers, Duman likes to experiment with private initiatives and this one goals to showcase the merchandise folks use in each day life in a contemporary, new method and present what’s beneath their “pores and skin.”
The Motivation Behind the X-ray Venture
“I used to be fascinated with the way in which the inner mechanical preparations, the wiring, and contraptions you usually don’t see confirmed up when uncovered to X-rays,” Duman tells PetaPixel.

One of many extra time-consuming components of the challenge has been choosing the correct merchandise to reveal to X-rays. Duman has photographed LEGO, online game consoles and controllers, normal expertise merchandise like drones and headphones, a variety of Apple merchandise, and extra.
Discovering the Proper Objects is Difficult
“The method of selecting the best gadgets and discovering them was fairly time-consuming,” Duman says. For instance, it took him a very long time to search out all of the completely different iPhone fashions, as a few of them are actually fairly outdated, and folks don’t typically preserve them after just a few years.

Duman needs to make sure that the X-ray challenge isn’t only a random assortment of things however moderately that there’s a sample to the issues he images. It was important to search out completely different objects that individuals typically use, even when they’re not essentially “on a regular basis” objects like smartphones and computer systems. For instance, Duman photographed an electrical keytar, a cassette, a set of tv remotes, many various kids’s toys, his foot inside a sneaker, and rather more. The variety of topics is astounding.

Overcoming Sensible Limitations
The one inventive restrict is Duman’s creativeness. Nonetheless, there are sensible limits he should overcome. The pill he makes use of to seize X-ray photographs is round 64 x 64 cm (25 x 25 inches), so there are measurement restrictions. Additional, it’s not potential to focus stack the X-ray photographs.
“Imagine me, I requested,” Duman tells PetaPixel.

The introduction of human components to the collection is a comparatively current addition. The human issue is a superb addition, however PetaPixel requested Duman about any security dangers. “The machine has a number of settings for various physique areas, equivalent to cranium, shoulder, hand, femur, clavicle, foot, and so on., and these all have completely different quantities of radiation that get generated when the X-ray picture is taken.”

It took Duman a while to dial within the appropriate settings for various objects. In the end, the machine’s “foot” setting delivered probably the most constant outcomes. Whereas focus stacking wasn’t potential, Duman has used compositing in “just a few situations” when gadgets mix skinny plastic and heavy electronics. These sometimes required X-ray captures at completely different intensities, which have been then composited throughout post-processing.

Picture Processing
Duman makes use of Seize One to carry out minor edits and international changes and Adobe Photoshop to use the ending touches. “For probably the most half, post-processing was pretty easy, with solely small changes wanted. Essentially the most time-consuming side was masking the gadgets and altering the background to black.”

Nonetheless, some gadgets have been bigger than the pill and required a number of pictures of various sections that wanted to be stitched collectively. Duman says that these have been probably the most problematic and difficult pictures.

“This turned particularly problematic once we have been doing LEGO that wanted a number of photographs. Because of the method the person bricks present by when stacked, it will be virtually unimaginable to line up the sections accurately,” Duman explains.
Nonetheless, the LEGO pictures have been effectively well worth the effort. “The angle of the way in which the X-ray shoots straight down implies that the bricks have an virtually ‘in movement’ really feel to them, they usually fall away from the viewer in a number of instructions. I cherished the impact of that as a result of it feels dynamic,” Duman tells PetaPixel.
Duman’s Favorites
PetaPixel requested Duman if he has a specific favourite X-ray picture.
“I like all the collection for various causes. The Apple merchandise are fascinating to see what’s on the within, which is similar for all the opposite tech ones. I used to be to see issues we use each day and normally take with no consideration. I wished to look internally however another way. How many individuals have thought of their Roomba’s inside wiring and mechanics?”

The online game consoles have been a enjoyable technique to deal with the acquainted in an unfamiliar method and join with a variety of viewers. Nonetheless, some outdated consoles have confirmed difficult to search out, together with the ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and Sega Pico, to call just a few. If any PetaPixel readers have vintage sport consoles, together with those listed, and want to let Duman borrow them for X-ray photographs, they need to contact him.

The Spirit of Cooperation
Whereas Duman has required assist to trace down quite a few gadgets for his collection, he’s additionally labored with fellow artists. For instance, he labored with supremely proficient and famend sculpture artist Nathan Sawaya to X-ray Sawaya’s Yellow LEGO sculpture.

Sawaya graciously allowed Duman to take the unique construct, which has been toured worldwide, and X-ray it. Due to the sculpture’s measurement, he wanted a number of photographs, and it was the one most tough and time-consuming picture in Duman’s X-ray collection.

Extra from Andrei Duman
Extra of Andrei Duman’s X-ray photographs are available on his website, together with the remainder of his business and private pictures work. He can be discovered on Instagram.
Duman’s business work is very technical and element oriented, and that applies to his private initiatives as effectively. Final yr, Duman wrote on PetaPixel about his unbelievable macro bug images.
Picture credit: All photographs courtesy of Andrei Duman
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