Amazon.com Inc. has received a patent for a photography process that involves shooting a picture against a white background.
The patent, titled "Studio Arrangement," was originally granted in March, according to CNET. The approach uses certain techniques to isolate the subject in the image, as described with very specific details in the patent.
"A background comprising a white cyclorama; a front light source positioned in a longitudinal axis intersecting the background, the longitudinal axis further being substantially perpendicular to a surface of the white cyclorama; an image capture position located between the background and the front light source in the longitudinal axis, the image capture position comprising at least one image capture device equipped with an eighty-five millimeter lens, at least one image capture device further configured with an ISO setting of about three hundred twenty and an f-stop value of about 5.6," the patent reads.
David Hobby, a professional photographer who runs photo blog Strobist, said the idea is decades old, having used the approach as a staff photographer on his first job.
"We did every single shot on a blow-away light," Hobby said. "It gave us a visual style and consistency, and we could shoot a wide range of subjects. But even as a kid right out of college in 1988, I didn't think this was new ... There is no defending it on any level."
Amazon first filed the patent in 2011, PC Magazine reported. The electronic commerce company has not revealed its reason for applying for the patent, which has received a lot of criticism and concern from photographers on review websites and forums about stunting innovation in photography.
"This patent may be specific, but certainly not novel," wrote Ask Patents commenter "bhimoff". "See Avedon, or any product photo in recent years. This is a great example of the system off its rails restraining innovation, and this is from someone who loves Amazon."
