

Stunning Photographs of Fractals in Nature - findaway
http://timewheel.net/Image-25-Stunning-Photographs-Of-Sacred-Geometry-And-Fractals-In

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xerula
Apart from the Romanesque cauliflower, these images mostly just show examples
of phyllotactic spirals, which are not really fractals.

Fractal models can generate patterns reminiscent of some organic structures,
particularly branching structures, but their importance in doing so is often
overstated. Generally speaking, they don't capture the underlying biological
processes giving rise to the structures; models that do (reaction-diffusion,
optimal transport networks, models of specific genetic developmental
programmes...) achieve more realism.

"The problem with a field such as fractal theory, which can be visually
dramatic and practised without much background and sophistication, is that
uninformed proselytising and inappropriate use can raise unrealistic
expectations as to its relevance and applicability. ...Although chaos and
fractal theory have been proposed by some as biological panaceas fortunately
there are enough realists to counter this view and generally keep them in
perspective." –– JD Murray, Mathematical Biology

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s_kilk
> ... which are not really fractals.

I suspect for some people the word "fractal" just means "a pleasing shape"

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mhroth
These are beautiful pictures! But I'm not sure that they count as fractals. A
defining feature of fractals is that they are self-similar at any scale. Most
of these plants are "simply" wonderful examples of a very regular geometric
structure.

Except for the broccoli. That one is arguably fractal-like. I like the
broccoli.

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daeken
The funny part is this: That broccoli is not 'natural'. Romanesco Broccoli,
like all broccoli, is a selectively-bred cultivar of Brassica oleracea. Also
of that same species: kale, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.

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peapicker
I recommend the book "The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants" by Przemyslaw
Prusinkiewicz and Aristid Lindenmayer (Springer-Verlag, 1990) if you want to
explore the mathematical systems behind plants like this. It covers
Lindenmayer systems (L-systems) in detail, of which phyllotaxis is only a
part.

I happen to have a first edition, but it is these days available as a free
PDF:
[http://algorithmicbotany.org/papers/abop/abop.pdf](http://algorithmicbotany.org/papers/abop/abop.pdf)

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markbnj
I agree with the other comments here. The images are beautiful, and
"fractally" in some interesting ways, but they are not images of fractals per
se.

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krylon
"Fractal cabbage" is kind of awesome.

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laurentsabbah
I have an extremely hard time believing what's real and what isn't anymore in
terms of photography.

All of the filters...

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ShinyCyril
Literally any photo you see will be 'impure'; as soon as the image is captured
from the sensor, the raw data goes through many, many transformations before
it arrives at the final image (white balance, exposure adjustment etc. etc.).
I guess we could draw the line at how much post-processing is applied. Having
said that, photography is very much an art form, and post-processing is just
one of the many steps which goes into creating the intended image.

Film photography also has many variables such as film type and development
process - fascinating stuff!

