Retroreflective garment photography
A camera system including imaging optics, a system controller, a retroreflective surface, and an illumination source allows for capturing high quality images that allow for similar white balance between subsequent images. The camera system includes a camera body coupled to the illumination source such that the illumination source emits light towards the retroreflective surface. An object, is mounted to the retroreflective surface such that at least part of the retroreflective surface is obscured by the garment. Consequently, the light emitted from the illumination source is reflected by both the retroreflective surface and the object towards the camera body. The camera body contains imaging optics which capture an image from the reflected light. Thus, the camera system captures images of the object and retroreflective surface. The camera system similarly white balances any number of images including any number of objects.
1. A system comprising:
an illumination source to emit light;
a flat retroreflective surface that reflects the light at a reflection angle that is the same as the incident angle, the flat retroreflective surface configured for:
directly mounting an object such that the object is capturable by an image sensor, the object reflecting the white light in colors that represent the object towards the image sensor, and
reflecting the light towards the image sensor when the retroreflective surface is unobscured by the directly mounted object; and
a camera comprising a camera body and the image sensor, the image sensor to capture an image including the directly mounted object and the flat retroreflective surface, and wherein:
the flat retroreflective surface is external to the camera body, and
the illumination source is mounted such that it emits light towards the flat retroreflective surface at approximately the same angle that the camera receives reflected light from the flat retroreflective surface.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the illumination source comprises an array of light emitting diodes configured to emit a spectrum similar to white light.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the array of light emitting diodes are positioned in a circular pattern about the imaging optics.
4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the array of light emitting diodes are positioned in a square pattern about the imaging optics.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the illumination source is decouplable from the camera body.
6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a mounting mechanism for coupling the object to the retroreflective surface.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the retroreflective surface is a distance separated from the imaging optics and illumination source.
8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising optical elements for focusing reflected light onto the image sensor from external the camera body.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the flat retroreflective surface is an array of retroreflective beads arrayed in a flat retroreflective sheet.
10. A method comprising:
mounting an object directly to a flat retroreflective surface, the flat retroreflective surface configured to reflect incoming light at a reflection angle that is the same as the incident angle of the incoming light when the flat retroreflective surface is unobscured by the object;
illuminating the object and the flat retroreflective surface with light emitted from an illumination source coupled to a camera body of a camera system, the light emitted away from the camera body and towards the object directly mounted to the flat retroreflective surface; and
capturing, using an image sensor of the camera system, an image including the directly mounted object and the flat retroreflective surface using light reflected from the directly mounted object and the flat retroreflective surface, the flat retroreflective surface reflecting white light towards the camera system, and the directly mounted object reflecting the white light in colors that represent the object towards the camera system.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the emitted light is white light.
12. The method of claim 10 wherein the flat retroreflective surface in the image is an area of oversaturated pixels.
13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
removing the directly mounted object from the flat retroreflective surface;
mounting, directly, a second object to the flat retroreflective surface;
illuminating the directly mounted second object and the flat retroreflective surface; and
capturing a second image of the directly mounted second object and the flat retroreflective surface.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the flat retroreflective surface is imaged as an area of oversaturated pixels in the first image and the second image.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein illuminating the object further comprises:
activating an array of light emitting diodes coupled to the illumination source.
16. The method of claim 10 , wherein mounting the object further comprises:
actuating a mounting mechanism such that the object is coupled to the retroreflective surface.
17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the image is displayed on a web-page of an online order fulfillment system.
18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the image and second image are displayed on the web-page of an order fulfillment system, and the retroreflective surface in the images appears the same between the images.
19. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
selecting a wavelength of light to emit with the illumination source.
20. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
displaying the captured image on a display screen of the camera body.
21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the illumination source is positioned such that the directly mounted object does not create shadows on the flat retroreflective surface.
22. The system of claim 1 , wherein the captured image does not include a shadow of the directly mounted object on the retroreflective surface.