Instruments

CHSOS provides on-site art examination and documentation with a growing set of mobile instruments.

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Technical Photography (TP) represents a collection of broadband spectral images realized with a modified full spectrum digital camera sensitive to the spectral range 360-1000 nm.. Different lighting sources and filters are used to acquire technical images Ultraviolet Fluorescence (UVF), Reflected Ultraviolet (UVR), Infrared (IR), Infrared False Color (IRFC), Infrared Fluorescence (IRF).

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Infrared Reflectography (IRR) is the imaging of works of art realized with a scientific cameras that can record in the range 1000- 1700 nm. Pigments such as azurite, Prussian blue and malachite become transparent only in the far infrared at about 1500 nm. The imaging sensors of these cameras are small and numerous images are stitched together.

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Optical Microscopy (stereomicroscope, compound microscope, hand-held USB microscope). A tiny chip of paint can provide plenty of information about the building up of polychrome works of art by cross-section microscopic examination.

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Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is a computational photographic technique and it is used in a number of fields related to art examination and documentation because it provides a virtual and enhanced visualization of an object’s surface.

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Reflectance Spectroscopy shows, for each wavelength, the ratio between the intensity of the reflected light and the incident light, measured with respect to a standard white reference (reflectance). The reflectance spectra provide information useful for the identification of pigments.

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Multispectral Imaging (MSI) is used to map and tentatively identify pigments and inpaintings on works of art. It is also used to visually enhance old and faded documents.

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Photographic Tools

CHSOS implements a range of photographic tools and methods for art documentation: Panoramic Photography (Gigapan panoramic automated head), Macro Photography (Stackshot automated macro rail).