The Digital Skinny

Sure, you could scale mountains and descend into bottomless canyons with thousands of dollars of photo equipment like that crazy Australian guy on the Weather Channel, or you can sit at your computer with a cool drink and create depth of field masterpieces without a scratch, bug bite or breaking a sweat. What use to require hours of darkroom work or Photoshop effects that took hours and extensive training can be done with point-and-click ease through Lytro Photography.

Lytro describes the process as, “unlike regular digital or film cameras, which can only record a scene in two-dimensions, light field cameras captures all of the light rays traveling in every direction through a scene. This means that some aspects of a picture can be manipulated after the fact. To acquire this additional data, Lytro cameras include an innovative new light field sensor that captures the color, intensity and vector direction of light rays.”

Some of the features of this new camera include:

• Shoot now, focus later - Because the camera captures the entire light field, there is no need to focus ahead of time. You can simply capture the moment, and adjust the focus later. This means you can concentrate on what’s happening in the scene, not fiddle with your camera. Lytro pictures can be focused to your liking days, weeks, even years after they’re taken.
• Unparalleled speed – This is fast. Since the camera doesn’t focus before a photo is taken, you don’t miss important moments due to auto focus shutter lag.
• Living pictures – When shared online, both the photographer and viewer can play with Lytro pictures, including changing the focus.
• Low-light sensitivity – Everyone knows low light pictures are usually very entertaining, but they’re also pretty difficult to capture with a regular camera or cell phone. By using all of the available light in a scene, Lytro cameras capture great pictures in low light environments without use of a flash, from clubs to concerts to candlelit dinners.
• Immersive 3D – Using the full light field, Lytro cameras will allow you to easily switch between 2D and 3D views or shift the perspective of the scene.

Want a demonstration of the possibilities of a Lytro Camera? See the images below or click here to see how the “focus later” function works. An amazing concept in “second chance” photography.

Why are we talking about photography advancements? Because we started as a photography studio over 20 years ago and we still are big fans of great photography. We’ve spun off the studio as Tonic Photo Studios, but we have extensive capabilities to print photography products. Photo books, greeting cards, notepads, calendars and more can be printed and personalized for any of your business needs. While Lytro isn’t available to the masses yet, we’ll be watching to see how this technology will change photography and ensure that we’re at the forefront of printing images captured by Lytro cameras.