Been tons of chatter online about the Lytro camera the last few weeks. In case you’ve been living under a rock or too busy to notice, then you’ll be happy to know that the new Lytro camera allows you to select focus AFTER you shoot the photograph. AMAZING technology developed at Stanford by Ren Ng. Just like you can change the white balance after capture when shooting RAW, well now you can put those striking blue eyes of your model in focus later.
Consider that with the technology of a camera like the RED Epic – shooting a 5,000 pixel wide image at 96 frames per second. You can aim that sucker at a scene and shoot 1000 14 megapixel still images in 10 seconds. No more need to catch ‘the decisive moment’!
Combine these two technologies? Whew! Now you’ve really got something.
Unless… your pictures have no focus. If you think that you’re photos are going to be better in the future because you don’t have to pick the moment or focus on your subject, you’re entirely wrong. These technologies are truly amazing, revolutionary and will continue to change the face of photography as we know it.
But mark my words, if you’re goal is to get your work to stand out from the crowd (as good art does), then you’ll need to focus all the more.
Focus on subject.
Focus on content.
Focus on meaning.
Focus on artistic vision…
…because these are all the tools that computers can’t help you with and these are the only ways from here on out that you’re going to be able to make a mark.
Focus on that.
[and don’t hate it, celebrate it, cause it’s all you’ve got.]
It is just another “dummy” mode that will crop up on a camera that I won’t use but my mom will love.
I’m buying the darn thing
this is exactly what drives me day in and day out. the realization that technology can only take us so far….what is in my chest, and/or between my ears that’s pushing me and telling my finger when to press the shutter will always overcome what geniuses in their laboratories concoct.
Like anything else, the Lytro camera is a tool. Like all other tools (color film, auto focus, digital sensor, numerous metering systems, the list goes on and on) it has its uses and its limitations. Every new tool starts as a gimmick. Those that last have shown that they provide something new. In the end, they are all just new things to add to the list of skills, tools and tricks that we can use to achieve whatever result we are after. What Chase is saying is true, and it goes for all other technological advancements past and future. I do not think he’s trying to downplay or undermine the Lytro from a photographic or technological standpoint, but rather that there is more to photography than the equipment that is used. Indeed, the equipment makes up almost none of it.
Amen to everything you just said!
Isn’t this kind of technology only going to force us to spend more time sat behind a computer and not out shooting? I adore photography, finding, waiting and finally capturing that split second. I dislike, greatly dislike, spending hours sat in front of a monitor. I want to shoot, and then shoot some more!
That said, incredibly technology, and something I’ll definitely be fascinated with.