Pictures made ​​by bacteria (images)

September 18, 2012
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A photographer and former microbiologist discovered how to make portraits through strategically placed bacteria cultures.

Zachary Copfer developed the technique, which he calls “bacteriography” with photographs of famous faces such as Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and telescopic images of the Milky Way.

It works by taking a bacterium like E. coli, making it a fluorescent protein and spreading it through a plate.

A negative photograph was then placed on top of the plate and exposed to radiation with the bacteria that grows in strategic locations to make the image. Then it is covered in acrylic resin.

Copfer, a student at the University of Cincinnati, said: “As a former microbiologist recently become a visual artist, I started looking for ways to synthesize seemingly dichotomous fields of science and art … For me the world of science has always been a beautiful and poetic, more ingenious than anywhere else I’ve ever met.’