Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The Thing about Intuition

Intuition seems to be a very important ingredient for any creative process. It is our "natural way" of thinking before it gets systematized into a method where freedom is necessairly reduced.

With LightZone we are trying to build a photographic tool where a certain amount of intuitiveness can be regained in digital image manipulation.

We try to achieve this in two ways:

1) by providing a consistent image manipulation framework in which the photographer is not surprised by the results he may get.

2) by providing tools for image manipulation that are closer to the way human beings seem to perceive and analyze visual information.

By intuitiveness I mean that subtle quality of learning that people seem to have that allows one to forget about the tools he's using and concentrate on the result itself. Our dream is to create a tool for image manipulation that might become "invisible" and allow photographers to manipulate images "directly".

Solid grounding in color science and digital image processing strives to provide consistency of experience.

The brain seems to be able to learn complex patterns out of repeated exposures to consistent stimulation. If a computer program fails to deliver consistent experience than the learning process of "pattern discovery" is hampered and the intuition is never developed.

The other element for developing intuition is the use of appropriate tools, i.e. tools that feel natural for the task to be solved.

We decided to use the Zone System for image analysis and manipulation because most photographers seem to have chosen it historically between other methods and because, aside from being a methodology for obtaining consistent results in the darkroom, it seems to be a powerful framework for thinking about images.

All the discussions about image composition I've found in my career of amateur photographer consist in the breaking down of the image in separate visual elements and the discovery of patterns and juxtapositions between them. It doesn't seem to matter that a certain pattern, or a composition rule, is used rather the mere act of noticing the existence of patterns seems to allow people to eventually create "interesting" images.

The Zone System is formidable framework for image analysis and a place where planning can be performed about how we want to get the image we're "visualizing" out of what the camera is capturing. A certain amount of planning is necessary to decide to place some elements of the image in a specific zone to obtain specific results. Many people do this unconsciously, or "intuitively", some others do it more deliberately. What seems to be required is a place where "visual thinking" can be performed.

The Zone Finder is a very powerful tool for analyzing images, it is based on a segmentation algorithm used in AI for image recognition which manages to decompose an image into "meaningful visual elements", removing irrelevant visual detail (textures) and keeping what matters (shapes).

The Zone Mapper is an intuitive way to present a contrast transformation. With the Zone Mapper the user can apply a transformation to the lightness channel of an image with varying slope, thereby changing contrast in specific portions of the image's contrast range. This seems to be what all photography is about, extracting (or hiding) specific details in an image by means of altering the contrast between the different elements of the image.

Our Region Masks try to gain intuitiveness in the process of local contrast adjustment of an image. They are modeled after the cardboard cutouts that photographers routinely use in the darkroom for burning and dodging, where feathering is performed by moving the mask in front of the enlarger to project a soft shadow on the image.

6 Comments:

At 8:21 AM, Blogger Andy Ilachinski said...

Hey Fabio,

I just looked at your B&W portraits (following thge link on the tutorial page), and saw what looked like Nicholas Hlobeczy in a few of them. Am I right? Interesting coincidence...though I do not know him, I have recently read his remarkable book, "A Presence Behind the Lens" (my review is up on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890772518/ref=cm_pdp_review_teaser_product/103-9122923-6338223?n=283155

Sorry if my memory is horrible, and the image is of someone else; but if it *is* Mr. Hlobeczy, I'd be interested in learning how you guys met and what you think of his art?

 
At 10:38 AM, Blogger fricc said...

Hi Andy,

yes, that is the same Nick Hlobeczy.

Nick and I share some of the same interests in the forces that move us and allow us to participate to a creative process.

I like very much Nick's approach to photography and whenever I have a an opportunity to spend some time with him I try to listen to what he has to say.

 
At 12:20 PM, Blogger fricc said...

Hi Tim,

thanks for your comments, variable thikness feathering would be a cool idea but it might complicate the UI quite a bit with too mant control points. I have to find an easy way to present that to the user...

Meanwhile you can try using several overlapping regions with different feathering to achieve what you want.

Regards,

- Fabio

 
At 6:46 AM, Blogger jay said...

Hey there Fabio
I have a question I hope I can get an honest answer for at this blog I use a d50 nikon a d80 nikon.
I use picture perfect and nikon capture nx. -- thier full of bugs I wold like to scrap all nikon soft wear
--question will lightzone handle raw all color adj. plus burn to dish and Printing control
your opinon damage the original photo-- what about noise ? I need some real answers befor I scrap nikon
Thanks to you and all that take the time to answer
jay

 
At 9:11 AM, Blogger fricc said...

Dear Jay,

I don't have any experience with Nikon software, I don't know if you should scrap it.

LightZone comes with a 30 days free trial, please download it and see for your self if it suits your needs better. With the download you get a 100 pages instruction manual with plenty of tutorials.

Best regards,

- Fabio

 
At 5:47 PM, Blogger Nemes Sorin said...

I just downloaded Light Zone 3.4 for my Linux (Ubuntu).

First impression -> Best of Breed.

"Styles" are really beautifull.

 

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