Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-21)

15 June 2019 47

Thisshotwastakenusing

theE-M1X’sIntelligent

SubjectDetectionAF,

setformotorsports

OlympusOM-DE-M1X,300mmf/4,

1/160sec at f/8, ISO 200

SmartphonesandAI

Insmartphones,thehardwareis solimitedthat

softwarehastobridgethegap,whichhasled

tomanyinnovativeAIphotographyfeatures.

Burstphotographyis oftenusedtomake

upforsmalllensesandsensors.Most

smartphonesusehigh-definitionrendering

(HDR)automaticallywhentheydetecta

high-contrastsceneandbycombiningdata

fromvariousimages,thiscansignificantly

improveimagequality.

Similarly,Googlehasdevelopeda pixel-

shifttechniquethatusesdatafromvarious

images,shiftedbyonepixeltoachievehigher

resolutionandhencegreatermagnification.

Google’sPixelphonesalsofeaturea TopShot

functionthatautomaticallytakesa three-

secondvideoandpicksthebestshot.Night

Sightusesfour-secondexposuresand

machinelearningtorendervastlymoredetail

in night-timephotos,morethananysoftware

couldteaseout.

However,thereis anotherreasonwhythebig

companiessuchasApple,HuaweiandGoogle

areleadingthechargewhenit comestoAI:

unliketraditionalcameramanufacturers,they

have access to vast amounts of data, which

makeperfecttrainingsets.Huaweiused 10

millionimagesto‘teach’itsP20phoneto

recognisemorethan 500 objectsandassign

oneof 19scenestoenhancetheimage

optimally.Forexample,if thecameradetects

thatyouaretakinganimageof thesky,it

adjustssaturationandcolourtomakethe

skyappearmoredramaticandblue.

ThelatestiPhonecarriestheA12chipwith

a ‘NeuralEngine’,masteringfivetrillion8-bit

operationspersecond.It canrecognise

thesceneandapplythebestsettings–

forexample,separatinga personfromthe

backgroundandblurringthebackground

orchangingthelighting.

Finally,AIhelpsyourphonetosortyour

imagesbysubjectorpersonphotographed.

Youcan,forexample,askSiri(Apple’svirtual

assistant)tofindalltheimagesyouhavetaken

of anything,fromcastlestoteapots,anddo

quickeditstoremove blemishes or make the

imagespunchier.

AIcameratechnology

Since2007,facedetectionhasbeenusedto

ensuretheAFfocusesonfaces,whichis

usuallythefocalpointof animage.While

featureslikeSmileDetect(wherethecamera

wouldonlytakea photoif thesitterwas

smiling)didn’tprovepopular,AIis alsobehind

eye-detectionAF,whichallmajorcamera

manufacturersnowoffer.Forexample,

SonyjustreleasedanimprovedAFsystem,

includingreal-timeEyeAFthatevenworkson

animals.It usesobjectrecognitionaswellas

dataaboutthedistance,movement,colour

andpatterns,tomakeit oneof thefastest

AFsystemscurrentlyavailable.

OlympusdevelopedIntelligentSubject

DetectionAF,throughdeeplearning.This

meansthattheOM-DE-M1Xrecognises

eightdifferenttypesof vehicles,including

motorcycles,helicoptersandbullettrains,and

automaticallychoosesthebestpointtofocus

on– forexample,therider’shelmet,

cockpit or train conductor’s seat,

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Testbench

WHILEcomputationalphotographyhas

takena firmholdovercasualphotography,

thejuryis stilloutonhowlargea roleAIwill

playin professionalphotography,butthere

is undoubtedlysomescope.Robotics,for

example,hasbeenusedformanyyearsto

helpcoversportingeventsfrominaccessible

places,suchastheroofof stadiumsorthe

bottomof swimmingpools.

Todothis,Nikon’ssubsidiaryMRMChas

developedroboticsupports,suchasthe

PolycamPlayer,whichcanautomatically

followandphotographanathletewithout

somebodyat thecontrols.

Thismotorisedcameraarmusesface

detectionandlimbrecognitiontopredict

athletes’movements,adjustingthezoom

andfocuswhiletrackingplayers.It caneven

home in on just one or multiple players.

Robot

photographer

Thesystemis abletokeeptrackof players’

movements around the pitch

Huaweismartphonesareabletoidentify a wide

range of subjects, including dogs

PolycamPlayer

employsrobotic

cameras

© ANDY WESTL AKE

© AMY DAVIES

© MARK ROBERTS MOTION CONTROL

© MARK ROBERTS MOTION CONTROL