Improving the Synthesis and Observation of Light Fields

Abstract

In this thesis, we examine light fields from two perspectives: synthesis, or displays, and observation, or cameras.

We develop a technique to increase the angular resolution of layered light field displays by adding a lens to the front of the assembly.

We show, both theoretically and computationally, the relation between angular and spatial resolution in layered displays, and define a method to determine the circumstances in which it is appropriate to add a lens or other optical element to the display.

In the second part, we develop the technique of light field fusion to record high resolution light fields.

We take a light field camera and a standard camera together to computationally produce a high resolution light field.

Along with initial results, we propose a variety of solutions to increase the resolution, speed and accuracy of this method.