Dr. Martin Werner (U Bremen)

Habilitationsvortrag:

Do smartphones beautify our reality? Insights into the physics of digital photography

Since the development of the first digital image sensors in the 1970s, the field of photography has changed enormously: Digital cameras have almost completely replaced analog cameras, and smartphone cameras have increased the number of photos taken by people by several orders of magnitude. Today, digital photos can be taken by almost anyone, at any time and in any place.

In this seminar lecture I will give insights into key physical processes of digital photography. The technological advances that have made these changes in photography possible will also be discussed. This includes developments in digital sensor technology, optical systems and digital image processing. Components relevant to image processing such as demosaicing, autofocus, image stabilisation, sharpening and noise reduction are explained in detail. It will also be shown which physical challenges exist in the miniaturisation of smartphone cameras and how they are currently being solved. Finally, the latest trends and developments in the field of so-called computational photography are explained and it will be discussed how these developments will potentially change our current and future perception of reality.