I’ve been hearing a bit about this ‘light field’ camera recently. Called Lytro, it’s the product of a bunch of clever chaps based in the States. This is how they describe the technology: “Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.”
At present, the cameras are only available in the US but I guess it won’t be long before they can be seen over here.
So what’s so amazing about these pictures? Well, to fully appreciate what they can do you’ll have to go to the website to try out the samples there, for if you click on any area of the picture it then becomes the focal point of the entire shot.
Sounds weird if not impossible?
Here’s a screenshot from the website:
See the tree and foliage is in focus while our friendly squirrel is not?
Well, click on the picture on the website and it has a little think about where you have clicked and then refreshes the shot with the new area sharply in focus, as here:
Yes, it’s interesting isn’t it and requires you to completely revise how you see a shot done this way.
I can only really liken it to how it was when I saw a hologram for the first time. You simply cannot fully describe it, you have to take a look and see.
So, is it the future of photography? I’m not sure as yet, but at least you read about it here first!
