The Future of Photography

Latest Episodes:

010 Philosophy of Computational Photography Jan 10, 2018

Show notes

This week Ade and Chris try to leave the science behind and talk philosophy. They almost manage it, but not quite. There is an amusing interlude while we try to imagine what art critics think and then the reality of what the real critics - friends and family - might say. Also, would you be interested in a TFOP meetup, workshop and live recording? Register your interest here and we will start developing the ideas!

009 L16 Jan 03, 2018

Show notes

Happy New Year! The L16 is an interesting beast. 16 cameras and some computational photography make this a brick-shaped camera that is hard to ignore. Chris and Ade bring you some first-hand experience, they discuss what this means for photography and also talk about some of its shortcomings as portrayed by an article on Petapixel.

Our robot finally has a name: eevee. Thanks Dave Schuder for coming up with the idea! The t-shirt winners are Dave Schuder, Paul Friday for the cleverness award and Steve Connery and Deborah Nelson with a honorable mention each. Thanks all for your wonderful ideas!

008 Glitch Art Dec 27, 2017

Show notes

Glitch art is the practice of using digital or analog errors for aesthetic purposes by either corrupting digital data or physically manipulating electronic devices. It has a long history in movies, music and the arts. It also has some humorous unintentional outlets. A key assumption is that it's ok to destroy pixels - something photographers often try to preserve. And it's GREAT FUN!!! Try it yourself with the DECIM8 app discussed in the show and take a look at one of Chris' projects and a shot by Ade too.

007 An Observation by Adam Savage Dec 20, 2017

Show notes

Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) makes an interesting observation: lately the cameras that people bring to his live show's meet-and-greets have changed: where people used to bring phones, many of them now bring bigger dedicated cameras and analog media as well. Has the pendulum swung back? Has digital been a fad all along? Listen in while Chris and Ade look at the implications of this development.

006 Lots of Pixels Dec 13, 2017

Show notes

For years, we have observed and participated in the megapixel race. Pretty much all photographers have an opinion on this. So do Chris and Ade :-) So how do all these pixels impact our images? Are they necessary? Can we use them to be creative? What might the results of that look like? All these questions and more inform the boys' weekly musing on The Future of Photography. Science article from 2005. Lightning over New York from 2016 by Dan Piech. Some really big photos.... Gigapan makes products for crazy-big images. Vanvouver time machine gigapixel image. Don't forget, our robot still has no name and you could choose it and win a t-shirt! Make as many suggestions as you like here by 24th December.

005 Flat Lenses Dec 06, 2017

Show notes

Today's lenses are made of solid glass. This makes bigger lenses heavy and bulky. While fresnel lenses have managed to make lenses flatter by splitting them up in concentric circles of lens segments, they have always had some level of quality loss which makes them not ideal to use in photographic applications. Microsoft has now patented a flat lens that uses tiny nano structures on a flat surface to bend light similar to what a traditional lens does. For the future of photography this could mean smaller lenses and thinner smartphones without a camera bump. Don't forget, our robot still has no name and you could choose it and win a t-shirt! Make as many suggestions as you like here by 24th December.

004b Boy or Girl? Help Us Name Our Robot And WIN! Nov 30, 2017

Show notes

OH NO. Our robot has no name. What an inexcusable oversight of us.

Help us give it (him? her?) a name for a chance to win a t-shirt with ... you guessed it ... our robot on it.

Submit your suggestions here, the deadline is December 24 2017. Good luck!

(and of course, we'd also be more than happy if it turns out gender-neutral :))

004 Animating Images Nov 29, 2017

Show notes

In the last few years we have seen many approaches to animating photos. Not video as such, more visual effects for impact and fun. Right now it is getting easier all the time. Chris and Ade discuss how we got here, what tools we can use today and the impact they have on our images. From cinemagraphs, through professional tools and now into consumer space, we have lots to play with. Animoto and Quik will help you with presenting photos to friends and family. And Apple Live Photos, along with Samsung, Google and others will help you get started in the glorious, occasionally cheesy, art of animation.

003 Computational Zoom Nov 24, 2017

Show notes

What if one photo could contain multiple focal lengths and treat the magnification of background and foreground in a fundamentally different way? Researchers at the UCSB (the University of California, Santa Barbara) have moved one step closer to this. Their research paper shows their algorithm allowing to take a stack of images that was taken from different perspectives and at different focal lengths and combining them into a single photo with variable focal lengths.

002 Depth Nov 20, 2017

Show notes

Are you deep? Depth has many meanings in photography. Specifically for computational photography it can involve calculating depth, blurring, focus stacking and more. Chris and Ade discuss all these things and the way our cameras can work it all out - so mostly yeh then and less on philosophy! Mamiya waist level finder Asus Zenfobe AR Apple ARKit Photogrammetry Bookmark the website here

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected