![\"intel-realsense-depth-enhanced-photography-fig3\"](\"http:\/\/192.168.3.4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/intel-realsense-depth-enhanced-photography-fig3.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLets take out Rockaway Beach photograph again, only this time it was taken with a digital camera.\u00a0 When the camera created to image, it also created meta-data about the image.\u00a0 Some of the elements of that meta-data are the Geo-tag and time stamp.\u00a0 Instead of handwriting it, it is now embedded as a layer in the image file itself.<\/p>\n
Opening the image file on a computer, I can see that it was taken at Rockaway Beach this year.\u00a0 However, the detail is even greater than that.\u00a0 The Geo-tag tells me were on Rockaway Beach, typically within 25 meters.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the time stamp tells me down to the millisecond when the picture was taken.\u00a0 This is just ridiculous detail, but it’s there anyway because the digitized process does it automatically and effortlessly.<\/p>\n
With the meta-data, I can also see what device took the photograph and several settings that photographers would understand.\u00a0 These lend a hand to post processing and image enhancements later.\u00a0 The meta-data can be used to automatically post process the image for the best visual appearance.\u00a0 That is significant.<\/p>\n
The nit and grit of meta-data is it doesn’t stop with just those elements.\u00a0 There are consortiums that are constantly defining, refining, and ratifying the standards that meta-data is built on.\u00a0 One such element is the depth-map.<\/p>\n
A depth-map is an image layer that contains a gray-scale image with values the represent distance.\u00a0 The distance reference point is the observer, typically the camera that took the photograph.\u00a0 The varying shades of gray indicate how far or close a pixel is from the camera.\u00a0 The layer is a component of a standard known as the eXtensible Device Meta-data, or XDM specification.\u00a0 It is the result of a collaborative effort by Intel and Google starting in 2014.\u00a0 As of version 1.01, XDM supports a variety of use cases including Depth, VR, and 360 photography.<\/p>\n It might not be apparent, but the XDM spec isn’t just a meta-data value for depth-map, but a whole host of meta-data values that provide a large variety of values.\u00a0 With these values, the flat 2 dimensional image can be rendered with a greater degree of detail.\u00a0 The higher detail allows for more processing options.\u00a0 To put it simply, the image can now be analyzed, malipulated, and rendered in ways a traditional image can not.\u00a0 This is the real magic behind depth-map meta-data.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n