Photographer Alexander Khokhlov recently teamed up with make-up artist Veronica Ershova and stylist Mikhail Kravchenko to bring to life an image that looks like a Photoshop job straight out of your nightmares.
Actual 3D footage can be a pain, both to capture and to watch, which is why we fell in love with this super simple technique when we ran across it. It turns out, all you have to do to turn a normal photo or animated GIF into a 3D experience is add a couple of white bars...
Sure, the 1980s isn't quite so far in the past as, say, the first photo, but the commercial above is classic nonetheless. It shows off the Nimslo 35mm 3D camera, the first consumer level 3D lenticular camera of the 80s and, if you believe the commercial, "the most important new camera of your lifetime."
If you were wanting to have your mind blown today, the video above might do it. It's a demonstration of a piece of 3D object extraction and manipulation software that made its debut at SIGGRAPH 2013, and it may just offer a glimpse into the future of photo manipulation.
For those art enthusiasts who just don't have the millions of dollars required to purchase their own original Van Gogh painting, Fujifilm has a solution for you. After seven years of development, the company's "Reliefography" 3D scanning and printing technique is ready to create near-flawless replicas of great works of art, which will be available to the public for tens of thousands instead of tens of millions.
The 3D camera movement never really took off like some people hoped that it would, but that doesn't mean 3D doesn't have its merits. Many people still love the idea of capturing photos or videos in 3D, but they're not necessarily willing to buy/carry around a camera dedicated solely to that purpose.
The Kúla Deeper side-steps this problem. It's not a 3D camera in and of itself, but a DSLR add-on that enables your existing camera to capture 3D one second and 2D the next.
Data is embedded in our environment, in our behavior, and in our genes. Over the past two years, the world has generated 90% of all the data we have today. The information has always been there, but now we can extract and collect massive amounts of it.
Given the explosion of mobile photography, social media based photo sharing, and video streaming, it’s likely that a large portion of the data we collect and create comes in the form of digital images.
The Tadaa app for iOS is a neat camera and effects app that has managed to win itself some 3 million users since it first hit digital shelves. It's done this by offering interesting effects and features that competitors like Instagram don't -- such as a Twitter-like re-share feature and the recently added ability to blur the background.
The newest feature out of the Tadaa camp, however, comes as its own stand-alone app rather than an in-app ability. Dubbed Tadaa 3D, it'll allow you to "create breathtaking 3D illusions" using standard photos.
Got a few dozen spare DSLRs and fistful of startup capital? Then you, too, could get into the emerging field of 3D selfies, as pioneered by Texas photo studio Captured Dimensions.
Photographer Jordan Williams started the business a few years ago after becoming convinced there was more to 3D printing than making industrial prototypes and the like. He fashioned a 360-degree photo studio in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, outfitted with more than 60 DSLRs, all remoted-out for simultaneous shutter release.
For a while now, researchers have been trying to remove two things from 3D photos and video: the glasses and the second lens. Some companies have made headway in the area -- think of Samsung's single-lens 3D technology and Panasonic's special single-lens 3D sensor -- but some new research out of Harvard offers a software-based alternative.
3D printing has made inroads into photography in many ways. From 3D-printed photos, to DIY flash diffusers, to a camera made entirely out of 3D printed parts, there's a lot of photographic applications to the third dimension.
But even as 3D printer costs are dropping, there's still the problem of capturing a proper, high-quality 3D scan of whatever it is you would like to print. The Fuel3D handheld bridges that gap.
Over the past week, we've had the opportunity to share stories that showed both the intersection of camera technology and sports, as well as camera technology and 3D modeling for video games. The video above has a little bit of both.
3D modeling for movies and video games is often done using lasers. The modeler scans whatever it is they are trying to reconstruct using a laser and then ends up spending a good bit of time cleaning up the results in post. In contrast, a new method developed by the folks at Disney Zurich promises to generate much more accurate results by replacing the lasers with photos.
First Lytro tried to make focusing irrelevant, and now an MIT project wants to make choosing a camera angle a thing of the past.
Aydin Arpa, a reserarcher at MIT's Media Lab, recently presented a paper on CrowdCam, an app in development that would combine images taken from multiple perspectives into a seamless visual field where you could change the perspective just by swiping your finger on the screen.
Designing a camera from start to finish takes a lot of work by a lot of talented people. What begins as brainstorming and sticky notes must be turned into sketches, 3D renderings, and physical products. Even the UI has to be meticulously planned so that it is intuitive, speedy and responsive.
At Nikon, there is one overall department that handles all of these tasks: The Industrial Design Department. And the company just recently released a great behind the scenes video that walks you through the Nikon design process from sketch to finish.
Remember the old ViewMaster toys? All you had to do was put in one of the special cartridges and you could go "sightseeing" in 3D. A new invention by entrepreneurs Ethan Lowry and Joe Heitzeberg harkens back to the old ViewMaster days, only instead of a cartridge, you have your iPhone -- and instead of just viewing 3D content, now you can capture it as well!
Creating a 3D scan of an object can be done several different ways. We've seen everything from long distance laser cameras and hacked Kinects used to great effect. Computer engineer Giancarlo Todone's take on creating a 3D reconstruction takes another approach: using focus stacking.
Rumors of a high-megapixel Canon DSLR have been floating around for quite some time now, but the photo above might be the first time a photograph of the actual camera has leaked onto the Web.
Back in March, we shared about how realistic computer generated images has been encroaching on the commercial product photography industry and killing photography jobs. More and more of the product photos you see in advertisements and press releases these days did not involve an actual camera and photographer at all, but rather artist, a computer, and 3D rendering software.
For example, the Nikon D60 product "photo" seen above was created entirely in Keyshot, a powerful 3D rendering program.
For many user who use Adobe's Photoshop software, the "Content Aware Fill" tool has been a welcome addition in their arsenals of retouching tools. And while the vast majority of Photoshop users are editing 2D imagery, a partnership between Adobe and Brigham Young University has produced algorithms that'll do with 3D images what Content Aware Fill does with 2D images.
BYU grad student Joel Howard and professor Bryan Morse worked with Adobe's Scott Cohen and Brian Price to make the algorithm a reality. Adobe also provided funding for the project.
3D pictures are a pair of images of the same subject taken from slightly different angles. It is extremely difficult to edit them in a manner that won't be distracting in the final version. "If you try to show it stereoscopically and it’s not quite right, it’s very bothersome to the eyes," says Bryan Morse. "You have to fill the space in a way that preserves the left-right consistency."
A bit of clever thinking from San Francisco Instructables member Amanda Ghassei has produced some really creative 3D-printed images from nothing but old photographs.
Printed using an Objet Connex 500, Ghassei's creations are still meant to be viewed in 2D, but are textured to create an interesting silhouette effect.
In order to properly view them, they must be backlit with a diffuse light. Images used for printing were first converted to black and white, and according to Ghassei, "each individual greyscale pixel value of an image to thickness," which effectively allows for the printing of any greyscale image.
A team of researchers at the University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy just published a paper in Science that details how they managed to use an altered style of "ghost imaging" photography to create accurate three-dimensional images.
When it comes to capturing photos of your unborn child, you're pretty much stuck to the ultrasound pics/tape that the hospital lets you take home. But what if there was a service that could take that ultrasound, and turn it into a one-of-a-kind 3D hologram? Well, that's what Pioneer is working on with its new printing service.
Over the course of your comings and goings on the internet, you've probably spotted at least a few of those mind-bending GIFs that loop perspectives rather than a snippet of time.
Well, it turns out that making them yourself isn't that difficult, just as long as you have a 3D camera and some time at your disposal. And in the how-to video above, The Creators Project enlists the help of half the Mr. GIF team, Mark Portillo, to show you just how easy it is.
A team of researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have developed a new laser camera system that can take extremely precise 3D depth scan images from up to a kilometer away (0.62 miles). An impressive advancement in laser imaging, the camera uses a low power infrared laser beam to create 3D images precise to the millimeter.
Founded in 2011, interior mapping startup Matterport is planning to bring detailed 3D mapping to your home, office and beyond very soon. Using a special camera rig designed by Matterport co-founder Matt Bell, the system promises to help users "create accurate, photo-realistic 3D models -- quickly, easily and automatically."
Remember that slow-motion wildlife footage that consisted entirely of still photos animated with parallax? French photographer Sebastien Laban does the same thing, except with his wedding photographs.
In the video above, all the apparently 3D scenes you see are actually the result of using some After Effects magic on ordinary 2D photographs.
When Samsung debuted its single lens 3D technology, the company put the magic in the lens. By using two shutters, the lens is able to capture left and right eye views of the scene that the camera then translates into three-dimensions. Panasonic's response is to put the magic in a CMOS sensor also creates a three-dimensional image, but in a very different way.
3D printing is becoming cheaper and more accessible, so photographers no longer need to rely on camera gear manufacturers for simple plastic gear items such diffusers and other light modifiers. Eric Chu over at MAKE recently noticed a photo intern using a piece of paper as a cheap flash bounce. Seeing that the makeshift bounce didn't ever last more than a few days, Chu wanted to offer a better solution... so he decided to produce one himself.
Tired of capturing the world as 2D photographs? What if you could just as easily capture things as 3D models? That's what Lynx A does. It's the world's first point-and-shoot 3D camera that produces 3D models with the push of a button. The company claims that "you can use a point-and-shoot Nikon, you'll find the Lynx A even easier to use."
Chilean visual artist Felipe Baeza is doing some pretty interesting work with Matrix-style camera rigs. Instead of bullet time videos, Baeza uses his rig to create 3D portraits of subjects that can then be displayed in augmented reality or through a 3D model viewer.
3D technology is consistently improving. And even though Samsung may have pioneered single lens 3D technology, Panasonic have put together an impressive rig that can shoot 3D panoramas.
The array is part of a project called Dive Into World Heritage 3D, in which Panasonic went and captured seven world heritage sites so that people could experience them even if they can't afford to travel there.
The image you see above isn't a screenshot from some city-building video game like Sim City. It's a panoramic photograph of New York City captured by Sergey Semenov that recently won Epson's Pano Award for most outstanding panorama captured by an amateur. Check out a high-resolution version of the image here.
One of Samsung's big reveals at CES 2013 is its new 2D/3D lens, which can be paired with the new NX300 to capture true 3D photographs and video using a single lens and a single sensor. When you're feeling like switching back to 2D, a convenient switch on the side of the lens turns it into an ordinary camera lens.
If you're looking for a fun and cheap gag gift that's somewhat photography related, check out Paper-Kit. It's a simple, and easy-to-use web app that lets you turn your portrait photos (probably better described as mug shots) into nifty 3D heads that you print, cut, and assemble yourself.
CES 2013 is just around the corner, and along with it about a gagillion (official number) announcements, but the first major announcement comes 5 days early courtesy of Samsung. The South Korean tech company has officially announced the NX300 -- a 3D capable successor to the NX210 -- alongside a 3D lens that Samsung is calling the "world's first one-lens 3D system."
This iconic photograph by LIFE magazine photojournalist J. R. Eyerman turned 60 this past week. Shot at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood in 1952, the image shows the opening-night screening of the first ever full-length, color 3D movie, titled Bwana Devil.
Earlier this month, we wrote that the world's first 3D photo booth had popped up in Japan. The studio looks like it's designed for ordinary portraits, except the "photographers" capture you with fancy handheld scanners and then turn your into miniature sculptures instead of photographs. Since then, more information has emerged that provides a better look at how the whole thing works.
Omote 3D is a new "photo booth" that has popped up in the Harajuku district of Tokyo Japan. A project by creative studio PARTY, the booth differs from any other portrait studio you'll find on Earth: instead of producing 2D portrait photos, it turns subjects' images into small 3D figurines.
Lytro has been upgrading its cameras and shipping them to store shelves all over the world as of late, and it's not planning to let up anytime soon. In addition to the newly added manual controls, the company is gearing up to jump into the world of 3D.