Project #6 Experimental Camera

See my code here

Design Process

I love trippy experiences, I love glitches, I love Y2K and all the early internet relic aesthetics. So here it is, the a camera for movement photography dipped in acid sauce all the way brewed back in the 00s.

3NJOY

Significance & Context

The idea really stemmed in my all time fascination with glitch and data stream. The digital cameras are not only capable of takng snapshots, but more so in processing streams of data of colors. The continuous stream of light that reflect a world full of movement and hues. By accentuating both, we arrive at this camera.

This project aims to create a visual space that resembles the way computer crunch the world as data for processing, but also a middle ground that humans can play with the way that machines process these data. In my case, the auto white-balance and auto exposure built into my webcam is what completes this piece.

The code accomplishes this by:

Calculating the average brightness of the environment (even though some web cam auto adjust for exposre, mine too) Replacing the pixels with sub-average brightness with random noise by generating and assigning random RGB The rest of the colors only show the max value of each pixel's RGB. The alpha value is set to 1/5th of the average of the pixel's brightness (calculated by averaging the RGB value)

Reflection

Absolutely loved this camera. Very playful and enchanting. I wish the project is not about just camera (taking snapshots) instead this camera would best be in a gallery space running continuously and projected on the captured space. Could be a very fun tripping experience. If I could use my Kinect sensor, more could be accomplished (e.g. human figure cutout & human movement replay loop, etc.). Definitely a great starting point for a side fun project.

Earlier Iteration