TECHNOLOGY: Creativity is key with new photography system

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December 3, 2006

Virtual background machine makes for “unlimited creative potential.”

Anonymous The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sun Dec 03, 2006, 08:53 PM EST

WILSON — Some new technology is helping a local photographer create new and interesting shots.

Bill Myers, owner of Myers and Myers photography, said the new virtual background machine cost him about $10,000 — but it’s worth it, he said.

The system uses beam-splitting technology, as the light from the projector goes to a retro-reflective background that Myers said is 1,500 times more reflective than white paper.

The projection is too weak to show up on the person in the photo, but it reflects clearly off the background.

Anything that can be put on a slide can be used as a background, Myers said

“If you wanted a picture with your deceased grandmother in the background, you could give me a picture of her, I’ll put it on the slide, she’s in the background,” he said. “Anything you can see or take a picture of can be the background.”

The system can also project anything that light can pass through, including feathers or leaves, he said.

Often, photo studios will have a subject sit in front of a green screen for the photo session, and the background is added in later by a computer, Myers said. With the new system, backgrounds can be added and adjusted as the photo is being taken, so changes can be made immediately.

“And the cool thing about that is you can change (the slides) really fast,” he said. “It’s unlimited creative potential. There’s so much you can do with it.”

Customers have appreciated the new system, he said.

“The ones I’ve done so far, they’ve really liked it,” he said. “The background is important, but of course the picture is important, too. That’s the main thing. The background just accents the people.”

Myers is creating a collection of stock backgrounds, making slides from photographs taken around Wilson of architecture, landscapes and nature scenes.

“I’m not looking at stuff anymore as a picture, I’m looking at stuff as a background,” he said. “As an artist, it motivates me to be creative.”

Myers has been a professional photographer for 25 years. He said the profession has changed dramatically in that time, along with technology.

“It seems like with the digital cameras coming into play here, that a lot of people aren’t coming to professionals anymore. They’re doing their own pictures,” he said. “You can take a picture, if it’s bad, you can re-do it and take it again, until you get a good one. You can print yourself.”

But technology like the virtual background machine will mean he can do more with photos than ever, he said.

“I’ve been waiting for digital to get better, and finally it looks like it’s starting to get there where I want it,” he said. “It’s nicer because I can see it right away.”

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