Being able to see by using a Camera

George A. Covington

By Phillip C. Otiss Brown, Blindink Design, December 30, 2009

       Mr. Covington was born legally blind with 20/400 vision in both eyes. Due to a combination of astigmatism, nastagmus, eccentric fixation and myopia, his eyesight was not optically correctable. His vision impairment was no match for a strong drive to succeed.

After attending and graduating from college, and then from law school, George has worked as an attorney, a journalism professor, an author and as a Press Aide and Special Assistant for Disability Policy (1989-93) to the Vice President of the United States.

Mr. Covington has written these books:


"Let Your Camera do the Seeing: The World's First Photography Manual for the Legally Blind." National Access Center. Available free to all legally blind and physically disabled people through the Library of Congress National Library Service Division of the Blind and Physically Handicapped (cassette RC 17386).

"Access by Design." Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996

"Photo Hero: A Satire of Photography." 1st Books Library, 2001.

This Kodak site has a biography and a virtual gallery of George Covington's photographs.
Web: www.kodak.com/takePictures/covington/introduction.shtml

      Mr. Covington has stated many times, "Sighted people tend to take photographs to capture an image of a loved one's face, to have a visual record of a person, place or event that they don't want to forget." However for George Covington, a camera is more than a means to help him remember -- it's a tool that has helped him to see.

 

     Mr. George Covington "discovered" photography while helping a friend who was shooting landscape photos. While his friend prepared for the shoot, George wandered about the sites, experiencing the landscape on his own. Later that day his friend handed him four photos from the shoot. "I held her photographs in my hand and realized I did not recognize any of the scenes. What I had 'seen' was strictly in my mind," he recalls.

 

      That moment led Mr. Covington to an inspiration: he could use photographs to enhance his limited visual abilities. As he explains, "I can walk into a room for the first time and see almost nothing. As I learn the contents of the room, my brain interprets what I perceive as a visual image. When I have become familiar with that room, I can describe every object in it and its placement. I actually 'see' the contents of that room by interpreting small bits of information that upon first entry were totally confusing. My malfunctioning eyes are augmented by memory, imagination, and experience. I interpret as much as I actually see, and photography helps speed up and improve the interpretation."

 

       What happen was he began taking his own photos, experimenting almost daily with photographs of friends, neighbors and family members. He learned to focus the camera by estimating the distance between himself and his subject. "Scale focusing", as this is called, and by using a camera with a wide-angled lens enabled him to take sharp pictures. As the prints were developed, George realized that the high contrast nature of a conventional print provided him with the information he need to "see" the picture. More often than not what he saw when he viewed the images surprised him. "I discovered that old friends had familiar faces, while new friends sometimes did not look anything like I thought they did," he explains. "Friendships made after the slow degeneration process (of his retina) began had faces created by imagination."

 

       The first 20 years of his photography was conventional, chemical-based photography. For the past 5 years, as his eyesight has gotten progressively and rapidly worse, he has converted almost exclusively to digital cameras, scanners and computers. His opportunity to take control of the developing process came in the mid-1990s with the advent of digital cameras. Using a digital camera, he could take a photo and upload the image directly to his PC. Then he could manipulate the image, drawing out details or adjusting colors and brightness, using software programs such as Adobe Photoshop. This new level of control allowed him to alter the image until he could view it most clearly. "A manipulated image allows persons with diminished vision to view the scene or object represented by the photograph in the best light and a distance from their eyes that compensates for their particular problem."

 

        A great thing happen, Mr. Covington, found a method for making the camera and computer his own "digital darkroom", a custom-tool for tailoring images to his unique visual capabilities.

Digital Darkroom

"Beginning photographers need nothing more than a conventional camera and film to get started. To get your pictures into a digital format, ask to have the negatives burned on Kodak's picture CD, or use a scanner to digitize prints."

"My own ideal digital darkroom would consist of:

1. Apple iMac, 700 MHz with 256 MB of RAM (The writer of this uses a simple Dell)
2. A digital camera of 2.1 megapixels or above
3. 2GB JAZ Drive
4. Scanner capable of scanning at least 600 x 1200 dpi resolution
5. Ink jet printer capable of at least 1440 x 720 dpi
6. A photography manipulation software in the caliber of Adobe Photo Deluxe or Photoshop

       This Process of Perfection can help any person that is visually impaired, to see as they have seen before. By using this process Mr. Covington has tweaked and honed the developing process until it produces the sharpest images for his remaining eyesight. Here's the process he uses.

 

        Using Photoshop, George transforms his images into sketches using a variety of Adobe filters. The result is an "artistic sketch". In some cases he deletes a distracting or cluttered background in order to highlight a key area of the photograph. He prints out copies of the image after applying effects and uses these as guideposts that will lead to the final image. (George stresses that each person will need to experiment to find the process that works best for their specific visual requirements.)

    When George is happy with the image, he prints out two final copies: one for himself and another, if the photo was a portrait, to present as a gift to the subject.
Today George takes pictures using both conventional and digital equipment. He especially enjoys working with digital images. "Digital photography has given me a much wider range of control than I had in my conventional darkroom."

       Highlights and alterations to images that once took hours to perform in a chemical darkroom can now be accomplished in minutes and even seconds in his "digital darkroom." On some issues, however, George prefers low-tech over hi-tech. For example, while computer software gives George a palette of colors to work with, he prefers black and white or sepia.

      

 

Examples of Mr. Covington Work:

 

Mr. Covington taking a Picture

 

Photo 1.

Photo 2:

Photo 3

How Mr. Covington Sees:

Picture is worth a thousand words

A Photo and how he and I see it:

Seeing by a sketch of a photo

Seeing by changing a photo to a sketch and then putting a tine or color in it

The writer wants to see distance as other do, therefore I took a camera and show how I see in the real world and how a camera lets me see it as any average person does.

WHAT I SEE:

 

WHAT I CAN SEE FROM PHOTO

 

WHAT I SEE WHEN I GET HOME ON COMPUTER

MR COVINGTON HAS GIVEN US A LOT, NOW LETS GO OUT AND SEE!

George A. Covington personal website:

http://homepage.mac.com/gcovington/Personal7.html

VISION EXPLAINED

VISION EXPLAINED

In America, the Snellen Eye Chart is used which is based on standardized graded sized letters usually read at a distance of 20 feet.

Visual field = is the amount of distance seen left to right without moving the eyes from side to side.


20 / 20 = normal vision

A person with 20/20 can read the numbers in a telephone book and stock quotes on paper with the naked eye.

Normal Vision is the last 3 lines of an eye chart and extends from a vision of 20/10 to 20/20 and 20/30.


20/10 = better than normal vision!


The first set of numbers is the vision of the patient.


The second set of numbers is the vision of a normal person.


The numbers compare the two types of vision.

Patient (Compared to) Normal vision person
= P / N.

20/20 = normal


20/100 = Patient sees it at 20' / Normal person can see it from 100' away


20/10 = Patient can see it from 20' away / Normal person sees it at 10' away…the patient has better
than normal vision in this case!


Normal vision = 20/20


In order to get a driver's license = 20/40


In need of special educational accommodation/assistance = 20/80


The legal definition of blindness = 20/200

A person with 20/80 vision can read the headlines of newspapers…that is the type size of headlines, so that they can be seen from a further distance by most people, and also read by low vision people.

Visual Acuity = a measure of the spatial resolving power. It indicates the angular size of the smallest detail that can be resolved. (That can be seen clearly enough to identify correctly.)


The maximum visual acuity…considered to be 20/15 or 20/16.


O.D. = oculus dextrous (the right eye).


O.S. = oculus sinister (the left eye).


So…if a normal vision person sees an object at 600 feet, and the patient sees it only when at 5 feet, then if the normal person saw something at 2400 feet clearly, the patient would be able to see it at 20 feet. 5/600 = 20/2400.


Also…if a normal person can clearly see something at 225 feet, but the patient sees it only when at 10 feet, then if a normal person can see it at 450 feet away, the patient could see it at 20 feet away. Say you enlarge the thing the normal person saw at 225 feet so the normal person could now see it when at 450 feet…enlarge it 2x. The patient could see it after it was enlarged 2x when standing at 20 feet away because it was enlarged 2x. 10 x 2 = 20 and 225 x 2 = 450 10/225 = 20/450.


The same is true for vision of 5/600. If the patient has to be 5 feet from something in order to see it clearly, while the normal vision person can see it from 600 feet away. Then an item large enough for the patient to see at 20 feet, the normal person would be able to see from 2400 feet away…nearly ½ mile away. To figure this, take the patient vision of 5 feet compared to normal vision of 600 feet. Then enlarge it to where the patient will be able to see it at 20 feet…you will need to enlarge it 4x. Make the normal person's item 4x larger also so that they will be able to see the same sized item, and the normal person will now be able to see that 4x item from 2400 feet away. 5 x 4 = 20 and 600 x 4 = 2400 5/600 = 20/2400.



Synopsis / Recap:

The goal is to make something to where the patient can see it from 20 feet …

Remember how the comparison is written…

P / N (P=patient
/= compared
to N=normal vision person)

10/225……………..20 divided by 10 = 2 (If the patient can only see it when standing at 10 feet away, then this means you need to enlarge the item 2x so the patient can see it from 20 feet away).

The 225 is the distance a normal vision person could see the item. If we enlarge the item for the patient to be able to see it from 20 feet away, it will change the distance that the normal vision person will see it at also. If we enlarge it, the item can now be seen by the normal vision person when they stand at 450 feet because 225 x 2 = 450.

10/225 (x2) = 20/450

If a patient can now see the item at 20 feet away, yet the same item is normally seen from 450 feet away, that means the patient has far less than normal vision. The patient should have been able to see the item from 450 feet instead.

When visual acuity is below the largest optotype on the chart, either the chart is moved closer to the patient or the patient is moved closer to the chart until the patient can read it. Once the patient is able to read the chart, the letter size and test distance are noted. If the patient is unable to read the chart at any distance, he or she is tested as follows:

Name	Abbreviation	Definition
Counting Fingers	CF	Ability to count fingers at a given distance.
Hand Motion	HM	Ability to distinguish a hand if it is moving or not in front of the patient's face.
Light Perception	LP	Ability to perceive any light.
No Light Perception	NLP	Inability to see any light. Total blindness.

Many humans have one eye that has superior visual acuity over the other. If a person cannot achieve a visual acuity of 20/200 (6/60) or above in the better eye, even with the best possible glasses, then that person is considered legally blind in the United States. A person with a visual field narrower than 20 degrees also meets the definition of legally blind.


A person's visual acuity is registered documenting the following: whether the test was for distant or near vision, the eye(s) evaluated and whether corrective lenses (i.e. spectacles or contact lenses) were used:

• 
  
  Distance from the chart
  
  
  
  
  • D (distant) for the evaluation done at 20 feet (or 6 meters).
    
  • N (near) for the evaluation done at 15.7 inches (or 40 cm).
    
  
  
• 
  
  Eye evaluated
  
  
  
  
  • OD (Latin oculus dexter) for the right eye.
    
  • OS (Latin oculus sinister) for the left eye.
    
  • OU (Latin oculi uterque) for both eyes.
    
  
  
• 
  
  Usage of spectacles during the test
  
  
  
  
  • cc (Latin cum correctore) with correctors.
    
  • sc: (Latin sine correctore) without correctors.
    
  
  
• 
  
  Pinhole occluder
  
  
  
  
• The abbreviation PH is followed by the visual acuity as measured with a pinhole occluder, which temporarily corrects for refractive errors such as myopia or astigmatism.
• So, distant visual acuity of 20/60 and 20/25 with pinhole in the right eye will be:
  DscOD 20/60 PH 20/25
• Distant visual acuity of count fingers and 20/50 with pinhole in the left eye will be:
  DscOS CF PH 20/50
• Near visual acuity of 20/25 with pinhole remaining at 20/25 in both eyes with spectacles will be:
  NccOU 20/25 PH 20/25
  

"Dynamic visual acuity" defines the ability of the eye to visually discern fine detail in a moving object.


Another type of eye chart, can you read it:

Baseball logos

I wanted to teach my grandson about logos, so I began with baseball, if anyone has any that they would like to send me, do so at blindinkotiss@yahoo.com ... just label it logos  These are the MLB logos and the Japan professional teams.

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