Computational Photography Technology

Executive Summary
Explaining and defending the proposed book.

The Title: Top 12 Photography Technologies
Featuring HDR Imaging and Panorama Stitching in Photoshop

The title needs to include the words Photography, HDR, Panorama, and Photoshop. These words have the highest search potential and best describe the book. I’m not a fan of adding CS4 after Photoshop as this book will live on through several Photoshop revisions.
I’m using “Technologies” to bring together a number of otherwise disjointed topics. These are recent are revolutionary concepts, products, and techniques in photography that I have expertise in and feel are good material for a photography book. I aim to write a book about what I know and what I know photographers are interested in.
The audience for this book is a wide range of curious and creative photographers. The book does not exclude beginners or professionals. These people are not interested in reading every detail on the subject, just the part they need to get started working with the technology. The books I’m reading on these subjects can be greatly condensed for the average reader. Photographers are impatient artists. Most of my target audience would be overwhelmed by an in depth book on any one of these topics. They will buy the book because of specific interest in one area and a broad curiosity about the other topics.

1. HDR Imaging (50 Pages) Combing of exposure bracketed images for the purpose of expanding dynamic range.
The topic is hot among photographers and Photoshop professionals alike. There are good competing books in this area, but they are written at a very advanced level. The HDRI Handbook and Mastering HDR Photography are two good examples. There are over 600,000 HDR images posted on Flicker. The basic techniques are simple, but undocumented. This is a “How-to” chapter including my own unique techniques.

2. Image Stitching (50 Pages) Merging of multiple images to make one image with a wider angle of view or more resolution.
Photoshop CS3 has revolutionized image stitching. Photographers previously thought of image stitching as a complicated method for making Quicktime VR Panoramas, but it’s really much more. In this how-to chapter, I will include simple photoshop techniques and a guide to the more advanced procedures and programs(Nodal Point & PanoTools. There is a huge web community, but not much in print on the subject of Panoramas.

3. Synthetic Depth of Field (20 Pages) Merging multiple images to make one image with a wider angle of view or more resolution.
This is revolutionary and very new. I believe that I’m the first to call it “Synthetic Depth of Field.” Photographers are curious about the title and can guess what it means. It’s primarily useful in Macro and Micro Photography, but it also has a broad range of possibilities in landscape and architectural photography.

4. Digital Stereo 3D (20 Pages) The use of two images together to create the illusion of three dimensional depth.
Stereo Photography has a small but dedicated following. These photographers are using revolutionary methods to create interesting holograms and 3D projections. This is a topic of curiosity to many photographers because of the wow factor and the lack of information on procedures.

5. Lens Correction (20 Pages) Digital methods of correcting lens flaws.
This chapter is about several key additions to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Camera RAW. It will also cover the features of DXO, which is a more powerful lens correction program. In ten pages I will explain the key principals of lens design, the shortcomings of those designs, and how to digitally correct those flaws.

6. RAW Processing (20 Pages) Non destructive editing of original camera RAW files.
This is overview chapter that will explaining the RAW file format and the differences between the most popular RAW processing software. It will focus on those unique features of each rather than explaining all the features that the processors have in common. This chapter will empower the reader to make decisions about their own RAW processing needs.

7. DNG Workflow (20 Pages) A DNG file is a digital negative with include Raw data, adjustment XMP data, Metadata, and A Jpeg Preview all inside of one “bubble”.
DNG is the most revolutionary and powerful file format for photography. DNG will likely become the default format for digital photography. Recent changes to Adobe Camera Raw allow for the conversion of TIFF and JPG files to DNG. This is a huge step in the evolution of the DNG format. I have a unique workflow for utilizing this file format that is gaining recognition.

8. GeoTracking (50 Pages) Tagging digital images with geographic information and utilizing that information in programs like Google Earth.
Geotracking and Google Earth are very hot topics for photographers. GPS equipment can be linked to cameras and longitude and latitude can be imbedded into files. This geographic information can then be utilized to keyword and place images on maps. There are all kinds of photography GeoTracking communities popping up. The technology is also very useful for scouting locations. This technology is very new and therefore has not been covered in any books.

9. Sun, Moon, & Weather Tracking (50 Pages) Using Programs predict the exact location of the Sun and Moon and using internet sites to accurately forecast weather, clouds, fog, etc.
Amazingly most photographers cannot predict the angle and direction of the sun. This has been made easy by software that can tell you exactly where the sun will be at any time, and at any place on the planet. The weather section will include valuable information about the types of clouds and unique weather conditions that make for good photography.

10. Live View (10 Pages) Continues viewing of a camera sensor on a camera LCD or digital display.
Camera manufactures recently began adding Live View to D-SLR cameras. This new technology along with tethered shooting has far reaching implications. The ability to view off of the camera sensor changes the way photographers are composing images.

11. Wireless Communication (10 Pages) Radio and Infrared signals communicating between photographic devices.
Most of this chapter will be dedicated to using hand held Canon and Nikon flash equipment that communicates through infrared signals. There has been a lot of development in this area over the past couple of years. I will also include wireless transmission from camera to computer and GPS to camera.

12. Digital Display (10 Pages) LCD, Plasma, and Projection Technologies for displaying images.
The way we view images has fundamentally changed. This chapter will address new options for displaying photographic images. The chapter will include information on choosing display devices and preparing files for those displays. It’s primarily a discussion of resolution, aspect ratio, viewing distance, viewing angles, and color profiles for different hardware devices.

Plus: Top 12 Computer Technologies for Photography (50 Pages) Overview of a digital photography computer system.
Most of theses technologies can not be utilized without a properly set up high power computer system. This extra section gives me a place to explain hardware and software configuration for a photography computer system. In this section we examine hardware choices and software configuration. Readers will learn how to optimize a system for running Photoshop and storing huge numbers of files.

In Conclusion

This book covers a wide variety of topics that are relevant to modern photography. The intent is to convey just enough information on every topic to give the reader a full working understanding. Many of these technologies must be combined to be effective, and books aren’t really addressing that issue. The information about each topic needs to be condensed and simplified so that the reader has a broad understanding before reading specialized information on a single topic.

I’m very passionate about writing this book. I know I could write a book on just one of these topics and it might be easier to market because it would be better defined, but that’s not what this project is about. This project answers the questions that think photographers should be asking. I believe I know my audience; and after all photographers are my people.