Computational Photography
Photography is about to experience a truly amazing period, as the true benefits of combining computing power with the camera allows photographers to do things they could never do previously and indeed possibly break what previously seemed to be laws of physics and optics.
DIMi has a major interest in the computational aspects of physics. From here you will find access to our specific coverage areas, as well as overall computational photography news.
Computational photography is what you get when you combine the camera with a powerful computer and appropriate software (and the underlying algorithms and mathematics). Now one could argue that computational photography began when the first dedicated purpose analog computer, in the form of a light meter, was built into a camera. But generally the processing is more complex to be consider computational photography these days. Certainly complex, in camera, matrix metering is these days done by computer and does fit into this category, as does face recognition in auto focus systems. But these only allow you to do better what you could do before.
Computational Photography Testbed Camera, the Frankencamera
Computational Photography: The Future Has Just Begun
Computational Photography in the Mainstream
Computational Photography: Doing What No Camera Could Ever Do Before
Currently, computational photography covers the following practical areas:
- High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI);
- Extended depth of field;
- Panorama or grid stitching of images;
- Subject extraction by generation of masks;
- Noise reduction and processing;
- Computational optics to enhance optical performance and correct abberations and distortions.
More are on the way and this is a very dynamic field, both in terms of software releases for existing areas and new research leading to completely new possibilities.
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