Physics and Photography: First Principles of Computer Vision – Overview

Photography is arguably the most common way by which people interact with practical optics and computer vision on an everyday basis. With digital cameras present in every smartphone, we are often unknowingly using advanced concepts and techniques such as autofocus, color correction, panorama stitching, HDR imaging and so forth. As such, photography presents an excellent entry point to develop an intuitive understanding of concepts that are used throughout many domains of science, in particular optics and laser physics.
The goal of this seminar is to discuss physical and mathematical underpinnings of (computer) vision. Potential topics range from understanding analog and digital cameras, over image and video processing techniques, to advanced optical systems for polarimetry, phase imaging, hyperspectral imaging and directional vision. Many of the topics lend themselves to practical and numerical experimentation. We also have some equipment at the lab (SLR camera, lenses, microlens arrays, b/w photography development kit, etc.) that you can use for experimentation at agreed times during the semester.

The seminar is open to both Bachelor and Master students in Physics and related areas.

Please register via the LSF for the seminar.