Lytro adds Perspective Shift and Living Filters that Enhances Light Field Creativity

Lytro, Inc. is a light field camera start-up company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng, a light-field photography researcher at the Stanford University. Lytro produces its own cameras rather than licensing its technology with an established manufacturer. Rather than just capturing one plane of light, Lytro camera captures the entire light field around a picture, all in one shot taken on a single device!

Lytro announced two new features : perspective shift and filters.

With Lytro cameras you need not worry to focus on the object to capture it. What you can do is, focus after capture! Yes, this is light field capture. Lytro is the first self-contained device to make use of light field sensor which captures the intensity, color, and direction of light that is needed for the shot. Thus the Lytro camera lets you create living pictures that you can endlessly refocus after you take them.

Now, coming to its new features – Perspective shift and Filters; Perspective shift gives your image a 3D-like depth! Not only image moves, but it is as if you’re looking at the same scene from a different angle. There is only slight movement, rather than moving to a completely new spot — but the effect is still marvelous giving you a remarkably good three dimensional feeling!

“By capturing the light field, the Lytro camera lets photographers achieve things that were never before possible. The first groundbreaking capability was focusing pictures after they were taken and now we are excited to offer Perspective Shift, which brings living pictures to life in an entirely new way,” said Ren Ng, founder and executive chairman of Lytro.

Lytro has introduced nine new Living  filters that would just make you happy!  These, too, can be shifted around.

1. Carnival: Twist and distort your picture as you refocus and change perspective as if you’re in a funhouse of mirrors.
2. Crayon: Add a touch of color to a monochrome version of your picture. Click to focus and add color into your scene, or change your perspective and add color back into your scene as you explore.
3. Glass: Put a sheet of virtual glass into your scene. Everything in front of where you click will be unchanged, and everything behind will appear to be behind a piece of frosted glass.
4. Line Art: Reduce your scene to a grayscale outline, seeing more detailed lines where you refocus.
5. Mosaic: Create a tiled mosaic in the out-of-focus parts of your scene as you click or change your perspective.
6. Blur+: Significantly enhance the amount of blur in the out-of-focus parts of your scene.
7. Pop: Make parts of your scene pop out with extra detail and vibrancy when those areas are clicked.
8. Film Noir: Add a moody and stylized black and white look to your pictures, with a little bit of extra detail and color where you click.
9. 8-Track: Bring back the ‘70s with this filter that adds an aged, vignetted look to your pictures. Click to un-age parts of your scene and see them come back to life, disco suit not required.

The Lytro camera is available from the Lytro website starting at $499 and works with Windows or Mac.