Photomosaic
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In the field of photographic imaging, a photomosaic is a picture (usually a photograph) that has been divided into (usually equal sized rectangular) sections, each of which is replaced with either a solid colour, or another image of appropriate average colour. When viewed at low magnifications, the individual pixels appear as the primary image, while close examination reveals that the image is in fact made up of many hundreds or thousands of smaller images. Photomosaics are almost always produced using computers.
The term 'photomosaic' is a trademarked term by Rob Silvers but the process of creating photomasaics was not invented by him - despite claims to the contrary. His patent #6,137,498 protects a specific methodology of creating photographic mosaics and was filed in 1997 after much published work in the field. His claims of 'look and feel' protection appear to be unsubstantiated.
Silver's work was the first to achieve wide commercial exposure but many innovations in the field have emerged in recent years and there are now a number of companies that specialize in professional grade artwork. Freeware software (although limited in power) can also achieve acceptable results.
The word is formed from photo+mosaic.
External links
- Metapixel is a photo-mosaic generator released under the GPL (http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/~schani/metapixel/)
- Commercial company specializing in photographic and other innovative mosaics (http://www.doubletakeimages.com)
- Examples of photomosaics (http://www.photomosaic.com/p/posters.htm)
- Origin of photomosaics (http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2004/12/history_of_phot.html)
Websites trying to create photo mosaics for different causes
- National Wildlife Federation - Bald Eagle (http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/baldeagle/mosaic.cfm)
to do it yourself you can use freeware/postcardware programs like:
- centarsia (http://www.alhena-design.com/centarsia/) (broken link)
- andreamosaic (http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/)
Another DIY photomosaic software can be found : http://www.ezmosaic.com Custom photomosaic service provider http://www.photomosaicmaker.com
A photomosaic where you can expand the smaller images by mousing over them :
- interactive photomosaic (http://www.eatgolf.com/fred-couples-pictures.php)