Bison Bud

I recently attended a local Photography Club's exhibit and was really impressed with some of the photos being displayed. However, I was a bit puzzled by several "Fractal" prints on display. There were indeed interesting, complex, and colorful, but I was under the impression that fractals are computer generated, basically abstract designs, produced by from some sort of mathematical formula. Maybe I'm wrong here or just don't understand the process, but how does one take a photo of something like this? At least to me, they appeared to be far too sharp and intricate to be photos taken of someone's computer display. Can anyone educate me on this process?

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Check out:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-80236-1.html

There are reference sites there...

OlinBost Loc: Marietta, Ga.

I made a 4hr thumb drive of fractals that I play on my tv occasionally. Neat.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I'm am a little confused too. At a photo club?! Fractal can mean two things to me. 1) One is a completely mathematically generated piece of graphic art that is not a photograph! 2) The other is a digital filter applied to an actual digital photographic image initially taken with a camera. I made created the second sort a number of times with a third party digital filter using Photoshop. See below. View with Download enlarged view! This was processed from a normal image similar to this one. Again view zoomed-in on and click (+) on courser.

JixiPix Software Spektrel Art

(Download)

Original Image

(Download)

bleirer

I think a fractal is any pattern that repeats and is the same at different scales, so you see the large when looking at the small.
https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/mit-k12/mit-math/v/what-is-a-fractal-and-what-are-they-good-for

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Fractals are used in photography filters among other things.

Now pure fractal images are generated by computers. Search "electric sheep fractals" for computer generated.

Fractals filters are misnomers. The usually are multifaceted glass filters. Some software filters try to emulate this. The fractal part? Just a exaggerated distraction smilat to using a broken glass (w/o being cut).

Fractal processing is also a misnomer as filter even if they are called 'filters'. They create an image outline using fractal math as shown earlier more than anything else. They can be fun to use due the results but many times this is a phase of discovery same HDR, bokeh and other stuff in the same vein. All have a place as long as not overdone and repetitive.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Actually is it is infinite pattern that repeats itself. The interesting part is that we find this in nature already, ferns, cabbage, flowers like sunflowers...

If I recall correctly snowflakes also present fractals patterns... Freezing water on a windshield or glass...

Come to think of it fractals are universals and surround us, we just need to become aware and see them.

Bison Bud

First off, I really like both the images you posted and it appears that you do understand my initial confusion at the photo club show. I think I also understand your response about using a digital filter, in post production, on an existing photograph, to produce these images. If that's the case then I too would call this "Graphic Arts" rather than photography! However, that appears to be a very unpopular opinion around here and I'm really not seeking to fire up yet another discussion about how much editing is too much editing. I am primarily interested in how to produce and print fractal images similar to the ones I saw and to understand the process if possible. Anyway, I really appreciate your input here, thanks.

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

Thank you. The digital world has confused the original meaning.
Feathers, ferns, our circulatory system, and more, to name a few,
Bill

Traveller_Jeff

A fractal is a graphic representation of data generated by a recursive mathematical formula, where the result on the right side of the = sign is then reinserted into the left side of the equal sign and the operation is repeated ad infinitum. As you gaze at the fractal and zoom in on any particular branch of it, the design of the branch looks exactly like the original design. Scale it up, scale it down, the fragments and the whole are look-alikes.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Actually, the term fractals was coined by Mandelbrot. Fractals don't exist naturally. Fractal features do, but those are far different from fractals themselves. Some things in nature come close with a great many fractal features, like snowflakes, Romanesco broccoli, and Orostachrys 'Crazy Eddie.' But the mere fact that nature is influenced by environmental features such as pests, diseases, light, rain, freeze, heat, etc., mean that a true fractal simply isn't going to exist naturally.

Also, don't confuse fractals with the Fibonacci sequence of numbers and the resulting golden ratio and golden spirals. The golden spiral is what you are seeing in sunflowers, cabbage, universes, hurricanes, and so much more. Even Twitler! (see picture).

There's an organization to which I belong called The Fibonacci Association which studies the Fibonacci sequence. Among our memberships are thousands of botanists, mathematicians, and botanist-mathematicians.

Russel Ray, author of "Nature's Geometry: Succulents" available at my Etsy shop with free shipping in U.S.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Those have features of fractals but are not fractals in and of themselves. What are in those are golden triangles, golden angles, and golden spirals developed from the relationships of the Fibonacci sequence of numbers.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

It's called "self-similarity."

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, fractals are fascinating, and they exist throughout nature.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

This is correct. The term "fractal" was originated by Benoit Mandelbrot, a French mathematician who emigrated to the United States prior to WWII to escape the Nazis. He worked at IBM for many years, and was a true savant. Mandelbrot was able to envision fractal figures from his early equations, but was a pariah in the mathematical community until computers were built that could graph his equations. The computer generated figures proved him correct and everyone else wrong! In later years he was professor emeritus at Yale, and later retired to write. Many beautiful computer generated "fractals" originate in open-ended complex equations.

His seminal work was "The Fractal Geometry of Nature," but he wrote several other books, two of which I'm familiar with involving analysis of markets (including the stock market), and other phenomena. Mandelbrot died several years ago.

As an incidental aside, Mandelbrot was a classmate and lab. partner of Paul McCready of fame for designing the man-powered Gossamer Condor and and Gossamer Albatross, which successfully flew across the English Channel.