Event Location: NSH 1507

Abstract: When we snap a photo with a conventional camera, we record all incident light
no matter how it got there. In this talk I will discuss a new family of
cameras that gives us many more degrees of freedom: these cameras record just
a fraction of the light coming from a controllable source, based on the
actual 3D path followed. Photos and live video captured this way offer an
unconventional view of everyday scenes in which the effects of scattering,
refraction and other phenomena can be selectively blocked or enhanced, visual
structures that are too subtle to notice with the naked eye can become apparent,
and object appearance can depend on depth (Z-keying).

Although the basic operating principle is firmly rooted in 3D computer vision
and computer graphics, the cameras themselves operate in the optical domain
and produce images that require no computational post-processing. I will
explain how these cameras work and show output from three prototypes we
built, observing people and common household objects.