Portrait DA 40mm Limited, _some_ postprocessing....

Portrait DA 40mm Limited, _some_ postprocessing.... · 07:07 PM

This is a sample of work-in-progress from my current project. K10D with DA 40mm lens at f/2.8, ISO 1250 and shutter speed of ¹⁄₄₀th of a second. Cropped, with some postprocessing.

The image is rendered with exactly 100 circles. It's a png here, but is actually a svg vector image and so looks good printed very large, which it will be.

Hint: stand back a little bit from the screen, and squint your eyes. Then look again.

ltdstar · 01-31-2009, 07:29 PM

wow awesome!!!!

Alefone · 01-31-2009, 07:48 PM

How cool

Andi Lo · 01-31-2009, 08:51 PM

Huh O_O how did that picture happen and which step incorporates the 40?? It's really cool nevertheless

good job so far

richit · 01-31-2009, 08:54 PM

very cool...

mattdm · 01-31-2009, 09:32 PM

Here's another test image. This one isn't my photograph, nor is the subject my daughter.

But it is my processing — 250 circles this time.

There is an interesting effect where there is actually more detail in the image than you can see by looking closely. I think this is because the lines of the circles interrupt your brain's image processing in interesting ways, preventing you from seeing the forest for the trees. A physicist friend of mine guesses that this is literally like the high-frequency noise on a short-wave radio channel — the voices are there just fine underneath, but you can't hear/understand them because of the squeal. For this reason, the blur induced by squinting really does something that just moving back or shrinking the image doesn't quite duplicate.

Compare to source image:

The project was inspired by this: Genetic Programming: Evolution of Mona Lisa Roger Alsing Weblog
I realized that because he doesn't constrain the complexity of polygons used, what he ends up with is a very poorly color-quantized image. The process is interesting, but the result isn't. In fact, as the complexity increases, it becomes more and more indistinguishable from something that could be done with a carefully-applied mosaic filter. (See Genetic Gallery Roger Alsing Weblog)

I set out to focus on interesting end products instead — the circles are a part of that, for the same reason iambic pentameter is a good way to craft verse. (Although my program actually has some other interesting options I'm exploring.)

I started working before Alsing had source code available, and since I had gone in a very different direction before he published source, I haven't really even looked at that.

**sureshgvv** · 01-31-2009, 09:34 PM

Very Nice Matt

roentarre · 01-31-2009, 09:48 PM

So cute and very cool indeed.

Damn Brit · 01-31-2009, 10:13 PM

Oh Matt, what are you doing to my head?

Andi Lo · 01-31-2009, 10:19 PM

Lol, I finally "get it" after the Mona Lisa one

creampuff · 01-31-2009, 10:57 PM

Awesome. How can we go about recreating this. Thumbs up!

mattdm · 01-31-2009, 11:13 PM

Originally posted by creampuff

Awesome. How can we go about recreating this. Thumbs up!

Thanks. I'm going to post source code eventually, but I'm still hacking on it. It also requires quite a bit of computational power — one thing I'm working on is porting the code to MPI so it'll run on a 1024-core cluster.

hamidlmt · 02-01-2009, 12:54 AM

That is just wicked cute and snazzy cool!

bnishanth · 02-01-2009, 06:50 AM

Oi..!! dont post any more of these. You may leave many members (that includes me) permanently squint here..

Cheers
Nish

daacon · 02-01-2009, 07:11 AM

Intresting series indeed - that first one grabs my attention.

mattdm
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01-31-2009, 09:32 PM	#6
mattdm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,948 Original Poster	mona Here's another test image. This one isn't my photograph, nor is the subject my daughter. But it is my processing — 250 circles this time. There is an interesting effect where there is actually more detail in the image than you can see by looking closely. I think this is because the lines of the circles interrupt your brain's image processing in interesting ways, preventing you from seeing the forest for the trees. A physicist friend of mine guesses that this is literally like the high-frequency noise on a short-wave radio channel — the voices are there just fine underneath, but you can't hear/understand them because of the squeal. For this reason, the blur induced by squinting really does something that just moving back or shrinking the image doesn't quite duplicate. Compare to source image: The project was inspired by this: Genetic Programming: Evolution of Mona Lisa Roger Alsing Weblog I realized that because he doesn't constrain the complexity of polygons used, what he ends up with is a very poorly color-quantized image. The process is interesting, but the result isn't. In fact, as the complexity increases, it becomes more and more indistinguishable from something that could be done with a carefully-applied mosaic filter. (See Genetic Gallery Roger Alsing Weblog) I set out to focus on interesting end products instead — the circles are a part of that, for the same reason iambic pentameter is a good way to craft verse. (Although my program actually has some other interesting options I'm exploring.) I started working before Alsing had source code available, and since I had gone in a very different direction before he published source, I haven't really even looked at that.

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01-31-2009, 07:29 PM	#2
ltdstar Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: AZ Posts: 285	wow awesome!!!!

01-31-2009, 07:48 PM	#3
Alefone Inactive Account Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Montreal, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 326	How cool

01-31-2009, 08:51 PM	#4
Andi Lo Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia Posts: 2,924	Huh O_O how did that picture happen and which step incorporates the 40?? It's really cool nevertheless good job so far

01-31-2009, 08:54 PM	#5
richit Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 54	very cool...

01-31-2009, 09:34 PM	#7
sureshgvv Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Jacksonville, FL Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,115	Very Nice Matt

01-31-2009, 09:48 PM	#8
roentarre Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 11,783	So cute and very cool indeed.

01-31-2009, 10:13 PM	#9
Damn Brit Guest	Oh Matt, what are you doing to my head?

01-31-2009, 10:19 PM	#10
Andi Lo Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia Posts: 2,924	Lol, I finally "get it" after the Mona Lisa one

01-31-2009, 10:57 PM	#11
creampuff Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Singapore Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,953	Awesome. How can we go about recreating this. Thumbs up!

01-31-2009, 11:13 PM	#12
mattdm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,948 Original Poster	Originally posted by creampuff Awesome. How can we go about recreating this. Thumbs up! Thanks. I'm going to post source code eventually, but I'm still hacking on it. It also requires quite a bit of computational power — one thing I'm working on is porting the code to MPI so it'll run on a 1024-core cluster.

02-01-2009, 12:54 AM	#13
hamidlmt Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Gresham, Oregon USA Posts: 1,217	That is just wicked cute and snazzy cool!

02-01-2009, 06:50 AM	#14
bnishanth Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sydney Photos: Gallery Posts: 223	Oi..!! dont post any more of these. You may leave many members (that includes me) permanently squint here.. Cheers Nish

02-01-2009, 07:11 AM	#15
daacon Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Alberta,Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 20,914	Intresting series indeed - that first one grabs my attention.