The science of photography

Lytro is transforming light field technology from a scientific theory into a reality for everyone, promising a digital photography revolution. Founded in 2006 by a Stanford professor, the startup aims for photos to be “living pictures” that can be refocused in a snap after taking a picture and even refocused by people users share their pictures with.

As demonstrated above, Lytro is a digital camera that ends blurry photos which we all know as laypeople and as professional photographers is a problem. Lytro has developed an algorithm and photo sensor that captures all of the light fields of any scene so that you can later modify development without tricky photo editing software (which is why we suspect the camera will extremely well with hobbyist sector).

According to Lytro, “The light field is a core concept in imaging science that has been extensively researched for more than a century in academic environments. The light field is defined as all of the light traveling in every direction through a scene, from the foreground to the background and everything in between. Until recently, light field cameras involved a roomful of hundreds of cameras tethered to a series of computers in a lab. Dr. Ng has dedicated more than six years to researching this science to bring the technology out of the lab and make it available for everyone.”





Lytro in real estate

While Lytro could be used by the Realtors who do their own real estate photography, we think there is another use that is extremely useful and that is atmosphere shots. Realtors often use stock photography in websites and blogs because it is cost effective (although unimaginative and often noticed as repetitive by consumers hopping from Realtor site to Realtor site).

Imagine a site with all custom photography using light field photography. Imagine flyers or blog posts with high quality, custom images rather than recycled stock photos of a happy young couple in front of their new house shaking hands with a generic Realtor?

Samples of Lytro “living pictures”











See more sample photos in the Lytro Picture Gallery.