[HN Gopher] U.S.D.A. Pomological Watercolor Collection
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       U.S.D.A. Pomological Watercolor Collection
        
       Author : bookofjoe
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2022-03-03 21:06 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (naldc.nal.usda.gov)
 (TXT) w3m dump (naldc.nal.usda.gov)
        
       | frabbit wrote:
       | I clicked on this by mistake at work: I thought it said
       | pornological.
        
       | dole wrote:
       | as they say, keming is important.
        
         | bowmessage wrote:
         | yes, but they're still nice looking peaches.
        
       | elil17 wrote:
       | The USDA National Agriculture Library has a bunch of cool digital
       | exhibits: https://www.nal.usda.gov/collections/exhibits
       | 
       | They also host free webinars about food, agriculture, and
       | ecology.
       | 
       | If you're in Beltsville, Maryland, you can visit and see the
       | collections in person:
       | https://specialcollections.nal.usda.gov/visit-special-collec...
       | 
       | Also, their building, the Lincoln Building, is really cool
       | architecturally:
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Agric...
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | abracadaniel wrote:
       | There was a fun twitter bot that used these designs to generate
       | new fruits. Source code in the bio.
       | https://twitter.com/new_fruits
        
         | monkeybutton wrote:
         | Now I really want to make a version with GANs.. This fruit does
         | not exist!
        
       | perihelions wrote:
       | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pome#English
       | 
       | - _" (botany) A type of fruit in which the often edible flesh
       | arises from the swollen base of the flower and not from the
       | carpels."_
       | 
       | - _" Hyponyms: apple, pear, quince"_
       | 
       | - _" The best-known example of a pome is the apple."_
        
       | abeppu wrote:
       | At first I thought these were cute little still lifes, but from
       | the date range ... were these of scientific use during a period
       | when color photography wasn't easily accessible? I'm aware that
       | color photography did exist and was producing pretty good results
       | in the early 20th century. By the late 30s/early 40s, would it be
       | surprising to still be using watercolors to try to capture and
       | convey images where subtle color differences are important?
        
         | detaro wrote:
         | Look at a modern-day plant or animal field guide. A lot of the
         | time you'll find drawings, not photos. Getting color "correct"
         | in photos isn't that much easier (esp in the past), and
         | drawings are flexible in presenting the right amount of detail
         | and optimal perspectives. Of course with plants you don't have
         | the problem of them running away and not sitting still properly
         | and can pose photos well, but drawings are still done a lot.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-03 23:00 UTC)