In 1979, The Buggles lamented the inevitable demise of the radio star as video became the new, hip medium. Now, in 2009, video seems poised to shift another paradigm as it threatens to unseat still photography as the best means to a perfect picture.
According to a recent article from New Scientist, new technologies called computational cameras will be the next big shift in photography. Following close on the heels of the radical switch from film to digital, this technology, exemplified by the likes of Casio's EX-F1, claims to be capable of taking the perfect picture regardless of the photographer's savvy or skill. Currently, the computations of these cameras are limited to single frames from single exposures, meaning that several exposures, taken miliseconds apart, are merged digitally by the camera producing a near perfectly focused and perfectly exposed image. However, this function in a camera requires a large monetary investment and still requires a fair degree of technical prowess on the photographer’s part.
Imagine you want to get that perfect shot of something in motion – say the look on your friend's face as a water balloon collides with their head. Obviously, this shot would take plenty of skill and even more luck in order to get the timing and the exposure just right. What researchers at Microsoft have now devised is a means of affordably extracting perfect photos from video. Currently, doing so with even a high end camera would yield a fairly low resolution, under-exposed and poorly focused image. However, Microsoft’s new technology actually captures a video stream while simultaneously snapping high resolution still images. The user can then select any frame of the stream and the computer merges content from both the video and the stills producing a perfect picture. Currently this technology is computer-based, but Microsoft sees it being incorporated into cameras in the near future.
The concept of computational cameras has also produced other novel means for us to take more artistic photos. Researchers have developed a way for cheap cellphone cameras to produce high quality shots with background blur. Currently, the only real means of achieving this without digital software is by using a high-end SLR or DSLR camera that enable extensive aperture control. However, in the near future this neat effect will be commonplace on the cheapest of cameras thanks to innovative digital post-processing.
Interestingly, these seem to be yet more contributions to the rising trend of making art more accessible and easy to produce. Recent releases like Microsoft’s Songsmith – famous not only for its terrible commercials but also its promise to make anyone a songwriter – and the multitudes of software that claim to transform photos into paintings or Warhol-esque visions are becoming an accepted “creative outlet”, despite the fact they represent nothing more than a clever algorithm. So would that “perfect photo” really be art or just another extension of a culture fascinated with image and individual expression? Surely not a question for the Sci/Tech section; we just like shiny stuff.