Thursday, July 3, 2008

The Image Fulgurator


Now and then you come across an invention that makes you say WTF?! and this one really did. Seriously, the potential of this invention is immense. The advertising potential, the new-wave graffiti potential, the practical joke potentials are all so tantalising!
Julius von Bismarck has created a machine that can physically manipulate photographs.


"It intervenes when a photo is being taken, without the photographer being able to detect anything. The manipulation is only visible on the photo afterwards."


"In principle, the Fulgurator can be used anywhere where there is another camera nearby that is being used with a flash. It operates via a kind of reactive flash projection that enables an image to be projected on an object exactly at the moment when someone else is photographing it. The intervention is unobtrusive because it takes only a few milliseconds. Every photo another photographer takes of an object at which the Fulgurator is also aimed is affected by the manipulation. Hence visual information can be smuggled unnoticed into the images of others."


This video shows its use in Berlin at a tourist attraction.

I hope this invention makes Mr von Bismarck a very rich man and please read more details on his website. It's such a great concept that needs to be explained in more detail that only he can provide. Simply amazing!

[VIA]