LYTRO BLOG

Maker Faire Picture Challenge – Win Free Tickets

Lytro — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:11:50 +0000

Lytro is going to the Bay Area Maker Faire and you can too. On May 19th and 20th, the Lytro Team will be hosting several photowalks, demoing the camera and living pictures at our booth, taking pictures of festival attendees, and sharing them on Lytro.com/CampLytro.

Want to go to Maker Faire for free? You can win two free Adult Day Passes ($54 value) by participating in our Maker Faire Picture Challenge. Take and share a picture of something you’ve made to Lytro’s Facebook Wall or tweet the link to @Lytro with #MakerFaire. Deadline is 12noon PT on Wednesday, May 16. Five winners will be randomly chosen from among eligible pictures and announced before noon on Thursday, May 17. Winners will also be able to join the Sunday 2:30pm photowalk with Eric Cheng or any of the other photowalks lead by our Lytro Team.

Want to join our photowalks even if you don’t win free tickets? Sign up now to guarantee a space at your preferred time.

Want to win a Lytro camera? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – and check out Lytro.com/CampLytro on May 19 and 20th to find out how.

The Fine Print:

Eligibility: US legal residents at least 18 years old who are not Lytro employees or immediate family members of Lytro employees are eligible to participate.

Sponsor: Lytro, Inc. 1300 Terra Bella Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043.

Other Rules: Respect copyrights – share only pictures that are yours or you have the right to share. No indecent pictures, please. By playing, do not violate Facebook, Twitter and Lytro terms of use. An individual may win only once. The odds of winning depend on shared pictures by eligible participants during each day of the sweepstakes. While we will make every effort to contact winners, it will be the winner’s responsibility to claim a prize. Unclaimed prizes will not be awarded. Prizes are not transferable and cannot be redeemed for cash value. Winner is responsible for any taxes on a prize. We reserve the right to terminate the sweepstakes or amend the rules at any time. Lytro, Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter, Inc. will not be responsible for any injury, loss, damage or expense caused by participating in the sweepstakes. These sweepstakes are not endorsed, administered, sponsored or associated with Facebook or Twitter; any information provided by participants is provided to Lytro, Inc.

Tip: Photographing “the present”

Eric Cheng — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:07:20 +0000

Internalizing Lytro light field photography techniques can take time and practice, but there’s an easy one that you can master in no time at all. Get a friend to hold an interesting object out in front of him or her and take a picture, holding your camera really close to the object. We call this picture “the present” (as in the verb, not the noun).

Here’s a living picture of Alex, one of Lytro’s handsome designers, presenting his friend’s band’s CD:

… and here’s a picture of me taking that shot. I’m zoomed out all the way (full wide), and the front of my camera is about 4″ away from the CD. Note that 4″ means 4″—not 6″, 8″ or 12″. I’ve had Alex tilt the CD so it takes up less of the frame.

You can shoot from further away and still get great refocus by moving backward and zooming in. Here’s a shot taken at about 2x zoom (just over half zoomed in everyday mode).

The picture of me taking the above living picture shows that I have moved back a bit. The trick is zooming, at the same time, until the text on the CD starts to blur.

Mastering “the present” gives you an easy way to take highly-refocusable living pictures of your friends. Give it a try!

Earth Day Picture Challenge

Lytro — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:19:01 +0000

To celebrate Earth Day 2012, we’d love to know how you see our natural world in living pictures. If you haven’t tried out the extreme macro capabilities of shooting in Creative Mode, this is the perfect opportunity to try it out. Add a link to your picture in the comments, or post your picture on our Facebook Wall. If we select yours to reshare on Facebook, Twitter or this blog post, we’ll send you a Lytro T-shirt.

These pictures from other light field pioneers may inspire you to experiment and share.

April Photowalks in Monterey and Phoenix

Lytro — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:02:22 +0000

During the recent EG Conference in Monterey, photographer Trey Radcliff, invited the Lytro Team, including director of photography Eric Cheng, to join his photowalk.

About 15 newbie light field photographers tried out a Lytro camera for the first time, including David Polzine, who captured this extreme macro shot using Creative Mode.

We’ve posted many of their pictures on our Camp Lytro account, where you can check out pictures from all of Lytro’s photowalk, events, and demos.

Check out some of the ways they captured Monterey, and each other, in living pictures:

This weekend, we’re headed to Phoenix. Adam “Goolie” Gould and other members of the Lytro Team will host photowalks at the Desert Botanical Garden and during the Phoenix Pride Festival as part of the Pride in Living Pictures tour. Adam is best known for this picture, “Monarch at Rest”, which was taken at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and is one of the most shared living pictures from our Picture Gallery. There are still a few tickets available.

More photowalks are planned both for Lytro camera owners and those who want to try one out. The best way to help guarantee you’ll get a ticket, since space is always limited, is to subscribe to our EventBrite feed, or request to be notified via email.

April Fool’s Day in Living Pictures

Lytro — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:17:08 +0000

To celebrate April Fool’s Day, we’d love to see your living pictures that trick the eye or make you laugh. Perhaps these examples will give you some ideas. Add a link to your picture in the comments, or post your picture on our Facebook Wall and we’ll use them to update this blog post.

Andrea Koenemann used Creative Mode to make this look like a picture of a real airport.

Mugur Marculescu makes a tea hat for his girlfriend.

Richard Koci Henrandez plays hide & seek in the garden.

March Spotlight on Light Field Photographers

Lytro — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:56:06 +0000

Check out the living pictures being shared by these new light field photographers and get inspired by their creativity. See a shot you like? Try to make one of your own by following the tips, videos and advice on our Learn page.

Backyard Playground by Tony Hawk, skateboarder and photographer.

St. Patrick’s Day Kiss by Michael Sternoff, digital journalist and documentary director.

Tall in Ambitions by Hanlin Goh, who is traveling and sharing a new living picture each day.

Upside Down Fish by Trey Ratcliff, author of StuckInCustoms.com, a top travel photography blog.

Delish Dish by Yi Ng, frequent foodie photographer and wife of our CEO Ren.

Top 5 Living Pictures in March

Lytro — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:56:39 +0000

The Lytro camera has been out in the wild for 4-weeks! Check out the hottest living pictures shared in March. Take a moment to give the photographers some love in the comments.

Lounging ape at the Oklahoma City Zoo

Jay Z in action! This was a SXSW favorite live and in living pictures.

BEES! Amazing close up capture of bees in flight.

We want you to join the Lytro army!

Close up of Delicious-ness.

SXSW in Living Pictures

Lytro — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:50:15 +0000

We’re showing SXSW in living pictures. Here’s how you can catch up with us in Austin, or play along and win a Lytro camera.

Win a Lytro Camera – Share SXSW in Living Pictures

Lytro — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:00:43 +0000

Win a Lytro camera just for sharing SXSW in living pictures!

Play along with us during SXSW and you could win a Lytro Light Field Camera. SXSW offers tons of entertaining, interactive activities and we want to reward you for sharing pictures that tell “only-at-SXSW” stories.

How to play:

Publicly share a living picture from lytro.com/sxsw or any living picture shot in Austin during SXSW to your Facebook wall or Twitter feed along with hashtags #playlytro #sxsw. Can’t find a living picture you want to share? Share a traditional picture that you wish had been taken with a Lytro camera or join us at one of our SXSW events so we can take a living picture of you to share!
Start sharing now – the sweepstakes starts at 12noon CST, Friday, March 9, 2012. You may share multiple pictures per day, but only one share on Facebook and Twitter each day until 11:59pm CST on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 will be eligible.

How to win:
We’ll randomly select one (1) winning post each day between Saturday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 14, 2012. The winning post will be selected from all eligible posts that were shared on or before 11:59pm CST the previous day and meet the “How to play” guidelines above and “The Fine Print” requirements at the end of this post. A winner will be announced via Facebook and Twitter and on this blog post at 6pm CST each day Saturday, March 10 thru Wednesday, March 14.

Prizes:
One (1) 8GB Lytro Light Field Camera in Electric Blue or Graphite, color subject to availability, will be awarded daily (retail value $399.). A total of five (5) Lytro cameras will be awarded during this #playlytro #sxsw sweepstakes. If you are selected as a winner and are in Austin, we can arrange for you to pick up your camera in person before 10:00pm CST on Wednesday, March 14. Otherwise, we will mail your camera to you within 2-4 weeks.

Winners:
Saturday, March 10: Dave Bell @hbeardave
Sunday, March 11: Robert Pronovost @pronovost
Monday, March 12: Sean O’Neill via Facebook
Tuesday, March 13: Jennifer Smith via Facebook
Wednesday, March 14: Brian Isemann @moegreene13

The Fine Print: (Cheerfully provided by our amazing lawyer.)

Eligibility: US legal residents at least 18 years old who are not Lytro employees or immediate family members of Lytro employees are eligible to participate. If we need to ship your prize, you must be able to provide us with a US shipping address.

Sponsor: Lytro, Inc. 1300 Terra Bella Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043.

Other Rules: Respect copyrights – share only pictures that are yours or you have the right to share (living pictures from lytro.com/sxsw are fair game). No indecent pictures, please. By playing, do not violate Facebook, Twitter and Lytro terms of use. An individual may win only once. The odds of winning depend on shared pictures by eligible participants during each day of the sweepstakes. While we will make every effort to contact winners, it will be the winner’s responsibility to claim a prize. Unclaimed prizes will not be awarded. Prizes are not transferable and cannot be redeemed for cash value. Winner is responsible for any taxes on a prize. We reserve the right to terminate the sweepstakes prior to 11:59pm CT on March 13, 2012 or amend their rules. Lytro, Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter, Inc. will not be responsible for any injury, loss, damage or expense caused by participating in the sweepstakes. These sweepstakes are not endorsed, administered, sponsored or associated with Facebook or Twitter; any information provided by participants is provided to Lytro, Inc.

Our First Photowalk with Lytro Camera Owners

Lytro — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:09:13 +0000

Last week we shipped our first Lytro cameras, and this week we got to meet some of our first owners who brought their own cameras to San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Building. “It was an arrival point to look out at all these people with a Lytro camera in their hands…complete with wrist staps,” said Eric Cheng, our director of photography.

Members of the Lytro Team, including “original believers” Alex, Tim and Colvin, joined Eric and Ren, as we led our first camera owners through some hands on lessons and challenges to help encourage experimentation. For Ren, “Their enthusiasm was the most special part of the event. I got to share some of my favorite aspects of the creativity that is possible from just a single lens with the Lytro camera. It was exciting to see them start to discover the depth of possibilities.” For our engineers and product managers, the event offered a chance to get direct feedback on the end-to-end camera experience. “For one, we can never say ‘get close’ enough,” said product manager Kristen Berman, in order to get a strong refocus effect in your pictures. (You don’t have to come to a photowalk to share your feedback with us. You can have your say in the forums on our Support site.)

Andy B. took this shot, which matches one of the concepts featured in the Inspiration Gallery on our “Learn Page.”

Alexander Winter, managing editor of asterisk San Francisco joined in on one of our photowalks and experimented with Creative Mode to take this macro shot of his watch.

Besides creativity with living pictures, we also saw creativity with the cameras themselves:

credit: Mike James

Mike James caught our attention right away with his camera that was tricked out with flames designed by his friend Steve Hosmer, who owns Stokes Signs in Santa Cruz, CA.

credit: Eric Cheng

Ben Wong designed a unique sleeve for his Lytro camera so that he could attach a custom neck sling, made by his company Custom SLR).