Chinese young people are starting to take artistic photos of their eyes

Young people are starting to take artistic photos of their eyes

Young people born in the 2000s have become popular for taking iris photos. In this year's variety show "Flowers and Youth", many viewers also learned about iris photography through the program's camera. In the program, Ning Jing and Zhao Zhaoyi ran into an iris photo shop on the streets of France, and were praised by the photographer during filming: "Your eyes are very different, like diamonds in the dust

Everyone's eyes are different, which is the biggest selling point of iris photography. With the popularity of variety shows, Iris Photo Shop has taken root in many cities across the country, and has also opened multiple stores in Chengdu. How to take an iris photo? How did Chengdu become popular? On December 4th, Cover News reporters visited multiple iris photo shops to investigate.

Iris photography may sound mysterious at first, but it is actually a close-up shot of the eyes taken using macro photography. The store is usually named after the iris English IRIS with a suffix, hidden in the bustling city of Chengdu, with a somewhat niche and mysterious meaning.

The iris, as a part of the eye, is a circular part between the pupil and sclera, with many intersecting spots, filaments, crowns, stripes, indentations, and other details.

Photographers capture the texture details and color of the human iris through macro lenses, and then use special effects, color changes, etc. to preserve the basic texture of the iris while processing it into various imaginative patterns, such as volcanoes, storms, planets, or mysterious vortices. During the shooting process, lighting or flash is required to capture details. The price for taking a regular iris photo is usually around 100 yuan.

To the north is the manager of an iris photo shop in Chengdu. Last June, while traveling in Austria, he first learned about iris photography. As soon as I walked in, I thought it was a very fresh and interesting thing, "Northbound told Cover News reporters. He spent 50 euros to take his own iris photos and decided to open an iris photo shop in Chengdu at that time. Subsequently, he formed a team to study together in Europe.

After returning from studying in Europe, I started setting up stalls in night markets to do iris photography in the north.

At first, with the intention of giving it a try, he set the price at 20 yuan, but soon found himself too busy, and even some netizens rushed over from out of town to shoot. I mainly want to see if everyone can accept this thing, so gradually we will set the price at around 100 yuan per person and 200 yuan per person. Starting from setting up stalls in night markets, now the Iris Photography Store in the north has opened multiple branches in Chengdu.

With the popularity of variety shows, taking a photo of iris has become popular among young people across the country. In just over a year, I have taken iris photos for tens of thousands of people heading north. The reporter found through search that there are currently iris photo shops in many cities across the country, and nearly 10 have also opened in Chengdu.

Who are the people who come to take iris photos? The responsible persons of multiple iris photo shops visited told reporters that the vast majority of them are post-2000s and college students, mostly couples, who mainly use this method to keep a souvenir. There are also some special cases among the group who came to shoot. For example, when a mother and daughter travel together with pets to take photos, there are also groups with different eyes. The most touching photo shoot for Northbound was when a young man received his first month's salary and brought his parents to shoot. He said it was a gift for their wedding anniversary.

When the reporter arrived at another slightly smaller iris photo shop, the store manager Xiao Li was doing post production for the photos. In this store, Xiao Li is responsible for both photography and post production, as well as reception. One person can maintain the operation of a store. He usually works from 2pm to 10pm throughout the day, but the busiest time is on weekends when the most people come to shoot. "He's so busy that he can't keep up, he just takes advantage of every opportunity to go to the bathroom and drink water

Because shooting requires macro photography with flash or lighting, will iris photography hurt the eyes? Northward, he stated that he had taken multiple photos during product testing and did not experience any discomfort in his eyes. Up to now, we have also filmed tens of thousands of customers and have not received any feedback on eye injuries.

Previously, Yu Pingping, director of the ophthalmology department at Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Second Hospital, mentioned in an interview that the principle of iris photography is to enlarge the local area of the iris to present subtle structures, which has been widely used in medicine and generally does not cause harm to the human eye. However, due to the fact that strong light is often required for capturing moments, if the light is too strong and can be focused instantly, it may still cause light damage to the retina. Therefore, it is recommended to "avoid strong light as much as possible when shooting, do not stare at light sources, and it is not recommended to shoot frequently

Due to the formation of the iris during fetal development, it will remain unchanged throughout the entire life process. These features determine the uniqueness of iris features and identity recognition. The iris features of the eyes can serve as recognition targets for each individual. As a result, some netizens on social media have also raised questions about the safety of iris photography? Will it expose biological privacy?

Regarding this, Northbound expressed that they will not. He said that iris photography is only taken with a macro camera, which is completely different from the way iris biometric information is collected, and cannot capture biological privacy. At the same time, he added, "If there are really concerns about this, you can use this photo to see if it can be achieved in the iris unlocking scene after the shooting is completed