Digital Photography revolusioned three main areas of photography; capture, processing and output. Digital technology means these are subject to exponential improvement due to Moore's Law. We examine it's recent impact on photography and look to the near future.

1. THE ADVANTAGE OF
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

2. DIGITAL REVOLUTIONISED
THREE AREAS OF
PHOTOGRAPHY

3. BUT FIRST ...
WHAT IS DIGITAL
PHOTOGRAPHY?
LET’S EXAMINE THE
DIFFERENCES

4. ANALOGUE PHOTOGRAPHY
• Images are:
• captured and recorded to
film
• developed and processed in
the darkroom
• printed chemically or
projected

5. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
• Images are:
• captured by a sensor and
recorded to a memory card
• developed and processed in
software like Photoshop
• rarely printed but often
shared on the internet

6. THREE AREAS WERE
REVOLUTIONISED
1.CAPTURE
2.PROCESSING
3.OUTPUT

7. WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT
DIGITAL?

8. DIGITAL PROCESSING IS
POWERED BY INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
THESE ARE
THE MOTORS OF THE DIGITAL
AGE

9. MOORE’S LAW
GORDON MOORE,
INTEL CO-FOUNDER
1965

10. THE NUMBER OF COMPONENTS
IN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
DOUBLES EVERY TWO YEARS

11. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

12. THE NUMBER OF COMPONENTS
≈
THE PROCESSING POWER

13. MORE COMPONENTS
≈
SMALLER COMPONENTS

14. SMALL COMPONENTS
≈
SMALLER PROCESSORS

15. SMALLER PROCESSORS
≈
FASTER PROCESSORS
AND
CHEAPER PROCESSORS

16. DOUBLES EVERY TWO
YEARS?

17. THE PROCESSOR YOU CAN BUY
IN TWO YEARS WILL BE
TWICE AS FAST

18. THE PROCESSOR YOU CAN BUY
IN FOUR YEARS WILL BE
FOUR TIMES AS FAST

19. THE PROCESSOR YOU CAN BUY
IN SIX YEARS WILL BE EIGHT
TIMES AS FAST

20. THE PROCESSOR YOU CAN BUY
IN EIGHT YEARS WILL BE
SIXTEEN TIMES AS FAST

21. Components
Time
EXPONENTIAL IMPROVEMENT

22. THIS IS EXPONENTIAL
IMPROVEMENT THAT AFFECTS
EVERYTHING DIGITAL

23. THE THREE PHOTOGRAPHIC
AREAS
1.CAPTURE
2.PROCESSING
3.OUTPUT
IMPROVING
EXPONENTIALLY

24. CAPTURE
• More megapixels
• Greater dynamic range
• Greater ISO sensitivity
• Less noise

25. PROCESSING
• Faster computers
• Cheaper computers
• More powerful software
• Cheaper software

26. OUTPUT
• Better screens -
approaching print DPI
• Easier to share images
• Millions of pictures
uploaded to the internet
each day

27. RECENT HISTORY

28. FLICKR’S MOST POPULAR
CAMERA 2006
• Canon 350D
• Released: 2005
• Cost: €1099 RRP
• 8 megapixel stills
• Capture Only

29. FLICKR’S MOST POPULAR
CAMERA 2012
• Apple iPhone 4
• Released: 2011
• Cost: £424.68
• 5 megapixel stills, HDR
• HD (720p) video
• Capture, Process, Output

30. ONE YEAR OF IMPROVEMENT…
• Apple iPhone 4S
• Released: 2012
• Cost: £424.68
• 8 megapixel stills, HDR
• HD (1080p) video
• Capture, Process, Output

31. CANON 600D
• Canon 600D
• Released: 2011
• Cost: €749 RRP
• 18 megapixel stills
• HD (1080p) video
• Capture Only

32. CAMERAS GET
BETTER AND BETTER
AS TIME
PASSES

33. CAMERAS GET
SMALLER AND SMALLER
AS TIME
PASSES

34. CAMERAS GET
CHEAPER AND CHEAPER
AS TIME
PASSES

35. CAMERAS ARE EVERYWHERE

36. EVERYONE HAS A CAMERA
• High quality cameras now
come free with mobile
phones
• People can process their
images without using a
computer
• People can instantly share
their images with their
friends

37. PEOPLE TAKE MORE PHOTOGRAPHS
THAN EVER BEFORE
• Everything is documented - not just special occasions
• 250 million photographs are uploaded to Facebook every
day
• Out of the estimated 3.5 trillion photos ever taken a
whole 10% of them were taken in the past 12 months

38. CAMERAS ARE GETTING
BETTER
SMALLER AND
CHEAPER

39. THE NEAR FUTURE

40. IMPROVEMENTS IN
CAPTURE

41. LIGHT FIELD CAMERAS

42. LYTRO

43. RECORDS LIGHT AND INTENSITY

44. IMAGES ARE FOCUSED ONTO
THE FILM PLANE
USING THE FOCUS RING BEFORE
CAPTURE

45. RECORDS LIGHT, INTENSITY AND
DIRECTION

46. WITH DIRECTION
FOCUS CAN BE MADE AFTER
CAPTURE

49. LET’S SEE THAT AGAIN

52. CURRENT DISADVANTAGES
• The image is interactive, cannot be printed
• Capturing the direction of light requires a more complex and
larger sensor
• Images currently limited to 1.2 megapixels

53. IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROCESSING

54. CONTENT AWARE MOVE
PHOTOSHOP CS6

55. View video demo from Adobe at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrlsnQ32YhY

56. IMPROVEMENTS IN
OUTPUT

57. RETINA DISPLAY
• Super high resolution
screens
• More pixels than a 1080p
HD television on a 9.7 inch
display
• 264 pixels per inch, almost
print like

58. SOCIAL NETWORKS
• Facebook - 100 billion
photos
• Flickr - 6 billion photos
• Instagram - 150 million
photos

59. THE ADVANTAGE OF
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY?

60. MOORE’S LAW

61. THE THREE AREAS OF
EXPONENTIAL IMPROVEMENT
1.CAPTURE
2.PROCESSING
3.OUTPUT

62. QUESTIONS?