 Previous
page
|
|
Rev 9/14/12 |
SynthCam is a photo app that takes pictures with special blur effects. It does this by taking a short movie then post processes the images to to give the desired effects. Before taking the picture you indicate what parts of the picture you do not want to blur. Because it starts out with a video image it does not capture as much detail as a photo. On my iPhone 4S the image is 640 by 480 pixels (0.3 megapixels) or 720 by 960 pixels (0.7 megapicals) rather than 3264 by 2448 (8 megapixels) of a standard photo or even the normal video resolution is 1920 by 1080 (2 megapixels) so SynthCam is apparently reducing the resolution further. Given all this the resolution is still adequate for images to be displayed on a computer.
To switch between the default resolution of 0.3 megapixels to the 0.7 megapixels tap on the gear icon along the bottom of the home screen then turn on "Record HD Video.
There is also options to "Show bokeh" and "Save bokeh" The bokeh is apparently he path of the red dot on your target area to not blur. You see it in the lower right corner of the SynthCam image of the apple below. I do not know why you would ever want to save it with the image. I can't tell what difference it makes if you elect to show it or not so I have no preferences on that option but using the default of ON in probably a good idea. There is also an option for the amount of "Unsharp masking". I have no idea what this means at this time. When I figure it out, I will post it here.
Click HERE to see video explanations. To see a more general discussion of the program and a description of the author, click HERE. He is a Stanford Professor of computer science and electrical engineering. To read the user notes in the App itself, click on the gear icon along the bottom then select HELP in he lower left corner. To see these instructions online, click HERE. You will need all the help you can to use this app so definitely check out everything.
In above picture I said I want the forest to not blur. Also I did not have to move the camera as the water took care of the moving.
At the time I took this picture I tried to do a similar picture of the part of the creek below the dam where the water was moving between the rocks. It did not come out at all. I have not determined yet whether it was a software problem or an operator problem. There is a significant learning cure with this program and I am in the early phases.
 This is the picture taken with the regular camera. |
 This picture was taken with SynthCam focusing on the apple. I put the target on the apple and slowly moved the camera around but did not rotate it. |