When you take a picture you capture a 2 dimensional image. That image is defined by the point of view or perspective of the camera and the settings of the camera. The camera settings include the shutter speed, aperture, lens focal plane, and the sensor ISO setting. This effectively captures a 2 dimensional image, but it does throw away much of the available data that is passing through the lens at the time you press the shutter release.
What am I loosing?
The data that you discarded was all of the other possible combinations of aperture and focus and to a smaller degree, variation of perspective that was contained within the light rays passing through your lens at the instant you pressed the shutter release.
So...
What if you could capture all of the data that was available at that instant and then decide later what the aperture, focal setting and perspective should be to create a 2 dimensional image? Or perhaps create a 3 dimensional image?
Come to our June CMPG General Meeting and learn about Plenoptic Photography, with our very own Dennis Kohlhafer!
