Generating Images from Light Fields Utilizing Virtual Viewpoints

A system configured to synthesize images using captured light field image data, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory connected to the processor and configured to store captured light field image data and an image manipulation application;
• wherein the captured light field image data comprises image data, pixel position data, and a depth map;
• wherein the depth map comprises depth information for one or more pixels in the image data;
• and
• wherein the image manipulation application configures the processor to:
• obtain captured light field image data;
• determine a virtual viewpoint for the captured light field image data based on the pixel position data and the depth map for the captured light field image data, where the virtual viewpoint comprises a virtual location and virtual depth information;
• compute a virtual depth map based on the captured light field image data and the virtual viewpoint;
• and
• generate an image from the perspective of the virtual viewpoint based on the captured light field image data and the virtual depth map, where the generated image comprises a plurality of pixels selected from the image data based on the pixel position data and the virtual depth map.