What a Teleidoscope Sees: Choosing Subjects and Distances

3 days ago

7 min read

By Rocco (Roi) Ramon - licensed architect, founder of Studio Yabaye

A teleidoscope has no object cell. There is no wheel and no coloured glass at the far end of the tube. The instrument takes the scene in front of it and repeats it through a mirror system, so the pattern is made of whatever the tube is pointed at: a hedge, a facade, a shirt, a face.

That makes the choice of subject the main variable under the user's control. This guide covers that choice. I build the Studio Yabaye teleidoscope. The subject recommendations below are my suggestions, derived from the geometry of the instrument. They are not measured test results.

What a teleidoscope is

A teleidoscope is a mirror system with a front optic in place of an object cell. The front optic forms an image of the scene, and the mirrors multiply that image across the field seen at the eyepiece.

The principle is in David Brewster's 1819 Treatise on the Kaleidoscope. In Chapter VIII, on the "compound, or telescopic kaleidoscope", he places a lens in front of the reflectors so that the image of a distant object is formed at their end. That image, he writes, "became a new object, as it were", and the mirrors multiplied it. The history is covered in Brewster's telescopic kaleidoscope.

The Studio Yabaye teleidoscope has a glass sphere at the front, a three-mirror front-surface system behind it, and a lens at the eye end. The tube is brass, cut, fitted and hand-finished in the studio.

The full comparison is in kaleidoscope vs teleidoscope, and the definition is in what is a teleidoscope.

How a scene becomes a pattern

The sphere reduces the scene. A glass sphere is a ball lens with a short focal length. For ordinary glass its focal point lies just beyond the surface of the ball, on the side opposite the incoming light. The image it forms of a distant scene is small and inverted, top to bottom and left to right.

The mirrors repeat a piece of that image. The opening of a three-mirror system is a triangle, so the mirrors take a triangular piece of the image. That piece is reflected across each of its three sides, and the reflections are reflected again. The result is a field of triangular cells that extends across the view. The geometry is explained in how a kaleidoscope works and in two-mirror vs three-mirror kaleidoscopes.

The practical consequence: a useful subject puts an edge, a colour change or a point of light inside that one triangle. If the triangle contains a single flat colour, every cell in the field shows the same flat colour.

Distance and scale

The same subject gives different patterns at different distances, because distance sets how much of the subject falls inside the triangle. I have not measured the field of view or the closest usable distance of the instrument, so the three ranges below are relative, not figures.

Near. A single leaf or a single printed motif fills the cell. The pattern is made of a few large shapes with wide colour areas. A small hand movement replaces the whole content of the cell, so the pattern changes quickly.
Middle. A whole object, such as a shrub or a doorway, falls inside the cell.
Far. A street, a tree line or a skyline puts many small elements inside the cell. The pattern is fine and dense, and it changes slowly, because a small movement of the tube shifts only a small part of the content.

What to check: view one subject at three distances before moving on. As a rule of thumb, look for the distance at which the cell holds a few distinct elements.

Subjects to try

These are suggestions, not tested results.

Foliage. Leaves against sky put green, blue and the dark lines of branches in one cell. Wind supplies the motion, so the tube can be held still.

Building facades. A facade is already a repeating system: window bays, mullions, balcony edges, joints between panels. The mirrors add a triangular repetition to it. Straight lines in the subject join into polygons and star figures where they meet a mirror edge. A facade with openings in shadow and walls in sun has the contrast the pattern needs. For the architectural reading, see an architect reads the kaleidoscope.

Textiles. Printed fabric, woven rugs and striped cloth, in daylight or beside a window. Stripes demonstrate rotation clearly: turning the tube around its axis changes the angle at which the stripes meet the mirror edges, and the polygons open and close.

Faces. A face supplies an eye, a brow line or a mouth as the content of the cell, and the pattern changes with every expression. Ask the person first.

Water. A river surface, a fountain or the edge of the sea reflects sky and surroundings in pieces that change continuously. Keep away from the patch of water that reflects the sun.

City lights at dusk. Outdoors at dusk the sky still lights the scene, and lamps, signs and vehicle lights are bright points on a darker ground. Each point is repeated in every cell.

Colour and contrast

Contrast matters more than the number of colours. A subject with two colours and a sharp boundary between them gives a clearer pattern than a subject with many colours that blend into each other. The mirrors repeat boundaries, and a gradual blend has none.

Edges become geometry. Every line that crosses the cell is mirrored at the cell boundary and meets its own reflection there. Subjects with clear edges - branches, frames, railings, lettering - give defined figures.

Light. The Studio Yabaye teleidoscope works in every light condition except indoor artificial lighting. Eye position is covered in the eye position rule.

Movement: pan slowly, then rotate

There are three ways to change the pattern.

Pan. Move the tube across the subject. New content enters the cell from one side and leaves from the other. Pan slowly. A fast pan gives blur, not pattern.
Rotate. Turn the tube around its own axis without changing the aim. The content of the cell stays the same and its orientation changes, so the whole field turns.
Hold still. With a moving subject - leaves, water, traffic, people walking - keep the tube fixed and let the subject pass through the cell. The content of every cell then changes at the same moment.

What to check: use one of the three at a time, so the cause of each change is visible.

What does not work

Uniform surfaces. A clear sky, a white wall or a plain floor fills the cell with one tone. The field shows cell boundaries and little else.
Indoor artificial lighting. The instrument does not work in this condition.

Safety: never point a teleidoscope or any optical instrument at the sun.

Photographing the view

Phone photography with the teleidoscope is done through the eyepiece: the phone lens takes the position of the eye. The procedure is in how to light, view and photograph a kaleidoscope.

Checklist: a first session

Any light except indoor artificial lighting
Eyepiece close to the eye
First subject: foliage against sky, or a facade with regular openings
Same subject at three distances: near, middle, far
Pan slowly, then stop and rotate the tube around its axis
Place a boundary between two colours inside the cell
Never point the instrument at the sun

FAQ

What is a teleidoscope?

A teleidoscope is a mirror instrument with a front optic and no object cell. The front optic forms an image of whatever is in front of the tube, and the mirrors repeat that image across the field. The Studio Yabaye teleidoscope has a glass sphere at the front, a three-mirror system and a lens at the eye end.

What is the difference between a teleidoscope and a kaleidoscope?

A kaleidoscope carries its own subject: coloured elements in a wheel or cell at the end of the mirrors. A teleidoscope carries none. Its front optic images the scene outside, so the pattern depends on where the tube is pointed, how far away the subject is, and how the subject moves.

How do you use a teleidoscope?

Hold the eyepiece close to the eye, point the front of the tube at a subject and pan slowly across it. Then stop and rotate the tube around its axis. Change the distance to the subject to change the scale of the shapes. Never point a teleidoscope or any optical instrument at the sun.

Which subjects suit a teleidoscope?

My suggestions are subjects with distinct colour areas and clear edges: foliage against sky, building facades with regular openings, printed or woven textiles, faces, moving water and city lights at dusk. Each contains boundaries that a three-mirror system can repeat. A uniform surface, such as a clear sky, gives a uniform field.

How far away should the subject be?

There is no single correct distance. A near subject fills each of the three-mirror cells with a few large shapes that change quickly. A far subject, such as a street or a tree line, gives many small elements and a slow change. View one subject at three distances and compare the pattern density.

Does a teleidoscope work indoors?

The Studio Yabaye teleidoscope works in every light condition except indoor artificial lighting. It has no object cell and no light source of its own, so the scene supplies all the light that reaches the three-mirror system. Whatever the light, never point a teleidoscope or any optical instrument at the sun.

About Studio Yabaye

Studio Yabaye builds kaleidoscopes and teleidoscopes with front-surface mirror systems in a brass tube, cut, fitted and hand-finished in the studio. The studio is based in Israel and ships worldwide. The current range is at all products, and questions can be sent through the contact page.