Take a look at this photo and get amazed, use the cursor to set the focus point on wherever part of the image you would want it to be.
Just imagine the possibilities this would bring, to our post processing photos, even after you have taken the pictures.
I found this new research technique for focusing after the picture has been taken.
Refocus Imaging, Inc. is an early-stage company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Refocus is taking the next big step in photography, transforming the camera into a powerful computational platform.
One of the capabilities that their technology allows an image to be refocused in post-capture. What that means is a focus-like ability for a blurry image (due to bad focus) to be adjusted or refocused to be sharp again.
Just look at some of the examples of the posted images and there are plenty more on their web page Refocus Imaging, Inc.
This would mean that a professional wedding photographer will no longer need to take so much of his time to find the right focus when capturing the moment and a macro photographer will now find solace in getting an ultra-deep, depth-of-field in his/her images something extremely difficult with the current state of the technology.
But would this will make you take better pictures?
In my opinion I guess not. You will still need to know what are the Depth of Field, Hyperfocal Distance and other camera related factors.
Don't know what is Depth of Field?
Take a look at this extensive Understanding Depth of Field from one of the cambridgeincolour.com tutorials.
I think that this would bring a different perspective on how we will deal with them on post processing instead of having worrying too much about it on the field.
The Refocus Imaging technology is based on a concept called the light field, a much richer description of light entering a camera. Capturing the light field requires very different processes from conventional cameras.
The technology is still under development, and Refocus Imaging's success will be an improvement for the whole imaging community.
I look forward to be using this technology in the near future.
Meanwhile enjoy the pictures.
(All images credit and copyrighted to Refocus Imaging, Inc).
2 comments:
Honestly, I doubt they have any real technology behind these images. Everyone familiar with Photoshop knows what Lens Blur filter does. The most tricky part (and time consuming also) is creating a depth map for the photograph. Especially if the photograph wasn't taken using hyperfocal distance (i.e. if it already has "natural" blur). And if you are using HFD, you lose in sharpness (and detail) on entire image.
They don't say a word about how their technology work. I looked carefully on their examples and I think these tricks are made with Lens Blur, manually creating the depth maps. Some of them look even composited (like the one with girls and many tree branches). Most interesting part is how do they think they can take a depth map of a scene in a snap and without any special equipment.
I used to work with depth maps to emphasize natural blur, here is an example (sorry for funny English, the page is originally in Russian). When I first saw the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop, I thought just about the same: how to shoot first and focus later. The only way I thought out was "scanning" a Z-axis with your lens. Put your camera on a tripod, make sure nothing in frame is moving and take many-many pictures while slowly changing focus from closest distance to infinity. And then you need some software, which will analyze the photos and make you the depth map along with "everything-in-focus" image. But the fact that you can't use this for moving subjects makes the whole theory pointless :-)
Dear Rui: the technology behind this type of cameras has been investigated by a group of Stanford University students, a couple of years ago, called by them "Plenoptics camera" and light field photography. You have some information about there work here: http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/
Um abraço
Luís Bravo Pereira
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