CapellaSpace, a small satellite start-up company located in San Francisco, now specializes in providing the most complex synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images in the commercial market.
The company now provides 50cmx50cm "Spot" images-much higher than the previous best image resolution 1mx25cm. Compared with other satellite-based observations, SAR images have advantages because they are not affected by cloud cover, air visibility, lighting (day or night) and other factors.
CapellaSpace completely independently designs, manufactures and operates SAR satellites, and became the first American company to do so. Founded and led by PayamBanazadeh, a former jet propulsion laboratory engineer, the company put a satellite into orbit through RocketLab launch at the end of August. The company plans to launch two more cars before the end of this year, which will be equipped with the future carpooling service of Space Exploration Technology Company.
At present, the commercial maximum resolution of Capella is actually not limited by technology-but American regulators have set an upper limit on the details of SAR images provided by private buyers. Cappella pointed out that it can sell better images to American government customers, and once "regulations catch up with technology", it should be able to provide commercial images with a resolution of up to 25cmx25cm.
SAR images will become a major subversive change in space-based earth imaging, especially the technology to achieve this level of detail becomes more common and cheaper, enabling startups like Capella to provide it to commercial enterprises. At the same time, it is also a rich platform, which can analyze analysis and other types of observation data in layers to obtain detailed insights, but the limitation of optical imaging can't do this. Obviously, the national security organization of the United States is also very interested in this technology. With the help of its American ancestry, Capella has signed a contract to show this.
Commercial photography skills
Commercial photography includes the production of all images for selling goods, writing events or introducing books. Commercial photography in a narrow sense usually refers to advertising photography. What are the shooting skills for business? The following is the related content I shared, welcome to read, for reference only!
Skills of commercial photography: accurate color reproduction
In order to accurately represent and reproduce colors, the shooting standards of advertisements and products are stricter than any other photography category.
Some products, such as cosmetics or fabrics, are slightly off color, which may mean completely different models. It is difficult for the cosmetic boss to distinguish his rich products in the photos, and it will never look good. Not only that, one of the reasons that online shopping causes the most complaints and returns is the color difference between pictures and objects.
Skills of commercial photography: removing excess "light"
Compared with black tires, the shooting difficulty of stainless steel, metal and glass comes from the opposite side.
The difficulty of shooting tires and black rubber products lies in the lack of enough highlights and reflections; On the contrary, stainless steel and polished metal products may reflect everything around them like mirrors. You can't shoot this product only by retouching it later. As early as before the advent of the digital age, advertising photographers have specially summarized a set of special shooting methods.
When shooting, try to ensure that the surrounding area is in very dark light-if necessary, you can even make a circle of black tents with black cloth, so that the stainless steel surface will not reflect the messy environment. When lighting, use a rectangular soft frame as close as possible to the subject, and the white soft frame will map a very eye-catching white highlight bar on the surface of the object. If you want more highlights, then using more flexible frames will have a more complicated black-and-white interlaced effect.
Commercial photography skills: texture representation
Outstanding texture comes from sufficient light effect.
Like the lighting of portrait shooting: the dull front light tends to weaken the sense of volume and texture; Under the multiple combinations of main light, positive auxiliary light, negative auxiliary light, contour light and background light, the texture and sense of volume will be more fully expressed.
The secret of depicting texture lies in the use of subtle contour light: although it is not necessary to have a prominent light ratio, the existence of contour light will bring more layering to the plain picture, and different materials of the object will be particularly prominent on the dividing line between light and dark.
Commercial photography skills: creating an atmosphere
Picture control skills in mission impossible shooting.
As far as lighting is concerned, the lighting method for shooting dishes is relatively simple: using one or two flashlights with soft boxes or reflective umbrellas to illuminate from high position backlight and side backlight is the basic lighting method for shooting most dishes. However, in addition to using light, it also contains many key experiences and skills:
1. The dishes for shooting need to be specially made: the dishes cooked at room temperature are easy to burn, and the vision is burnt. It is best to cook the dishes for shooting for three or four minutes; If it contains vegetables, it is often best to add them directly without cooking; In order to get full color, you can apply a layer of clear oil to the dishes when shooting.
2. Tableware plays a very important role in the picture: the grade of dishes often depends on the exquisiteness of tableware; White tableware is also an important element to keep the picture fresh.
3. The overall atmosphere of the picture is the core of the effect: warm colors are more likely to arouse appetite, but the shooting of dishes should ensure accurate color reproduction to make viewers feel healthy and fresh, so warm colors must be obtained through the color matching of food itself and the matching of tableware and tablecloth.
Commercial photography skills: meticulous carving
Jewelry, jewelry shot out.
Jewelry shooting is a special business abroad. A photographer who shoots jewelry can never shoot restaurant recipes at the same time; Although domestic photographers do not have such a fine division of labor, in recent years, they have also shown an increasingly professional trend.
In terms of the principle of light use, there is no essential difference between jewelry and "big" items. However, due to its small size, any slight adjustment may make the lighting effect completely different, so it takes more time and energy to control the lighting more carefully. In addition, the commonly used studio lighting equipment may not be suitable at this time because it is "bulky". Photographers who often shoot jewelry often make some special lighting equipment-small flashlights, LED bulbs, and even small mirrors with handles for dentists, which may become very effective lighting tools.
Jewelry will reflect particularly beautiful luster. If you look carefully, there are often many small sections specially polished on jewelry, and the focus of lighting is on these sections! When arranging lighting, we must try to distinguish two adjacent sections by lighting. The more parts we shoot, the more delicate the jewelry looks. For this reason, it is often necessary to use many tiny light sources and reflecting devices.
If the surface of jewelry is smooth and round, the usual shooting method is to place a strong light source at the back to shoot a transparent and translucent effect to show the special texture of jewelry.
Commercial photography skills: solidifying the "invisible" moment
How is the moment of "splash" common in advertisements taken?
As long as the flash is turned on at the moment when the splash is splashed, the splash can be concentrated-this truth can be understood by people with a little photographic foundation after careful thinking, but the problem is how to grasp this "just" moment.
A layman may feel the need to use a high-speed camera, or press the shutter again and again to wait for the moment when the splash "occurs"-in fact, professional photographers will never use such a "stupid method"-the former is too expensive, while the latter is almost taking a chance and the success rate is too low. Professional photographers can focus on such moments only with ordinary cameras and flashlights-just add a gadget.
Commercial photography skills: shooting transparent objects
Backlight and background light are the only way to shoot all transparent objects.
Take a very pure picture with backlight.
With a still life platform that can distribute light from behind and below, it is surprisingly easy to take clean and transparent photos. The desktop of still life platform is generally made of glass or plexiglass, which will leave a weak projection when shooting without background paper. When lighting, you can completely "ignore" the photographed items and only illuminate from the rear. If you want to get a pure white background, you need to use a large enough soft box or diffusion screen. As long as the background is overexposed by more than 2 levels, pure white will be obtained. If you want to shoot a uniform background effect, you can use a white diffusion screen or translucent sulfuric acid paper to illuminate the diffusion screen with lights, and pay attention to controlling the background overexposure to no more than level 2. Under the backlight, glass products will naturally appear transparent, leaving only a dark outline. Adding some colorful transparent drinks to glassware will enrich the changes of the picture.
Commercial photography skills: a special way of using light
We have already introduced the principle and operation points of "light painting". In advertising shooting, light painting is also a very important special skill-when shooting things that are too simple or too small, using light painting skills can often bring unexpected and touching light effects.
Commercial photography skills: the application skills of product light painting
Light painting is a method of illuminating the subject step by step with light as a pen. You can buy a special "light pen" for advertising shooting: in fact, it is a small flashlight, which can emit a small focused beam and adjust the colors of different light sources by using LED lighting.
Lock the B door or T door of the camera when shooting, and use a light pen to "describe" the shape and details of the subject in a completely black environment. The amount and proportion of exposure are completely determined by the length of time of light irradiation and residence. The brightness of the light pen does not need to be very high. If you use a smaller aperture when shooting, you can "draw" more leisurely-the more times you draw, the higher the probability of accidental light effect.
How to set a better picture quality for Nikon d800 commercial photography? Commercial photographers always save photos in RAW format, so that they can gain more freedom later.