Ron Burnett | Critical Approaches

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Photo Experiment (Lytro Camera)

This is a static version of the living picture

The Lytro camera is unlike any camera I have used. Once you have taken the picture, the viewer can alter perspective and play with the focus and focal lengths. Here is an example. The static version is below. If you want to view the "living" version, click here. At the web site, run your cursor over the picture and click in any of the areas and you will notice a change in clarity. Right click to play with perspective. Lytro pictures are indicators of the change we are presently experiencing in our use and archiving of images. Not only do photos no longer exist as prints, but their transformation into files means not only that they can be altered, but that we can never touch them. Lytro pictures are in the earliest stage of development. Once you will be able to change the core elements of a photo (and this is quite different from working in Photoshop) from focus to perspective to actual position, it is hard to imagine anything being preserved for very long. The old adage that a photo captures a moment in time will prove to be anachronistic.

The unique foreground and background effect.