One of the main issues some of you might have with Lytro is the rather boxed in and silo-ed image viewer that we have had experiences with in the past. Well, Lytro is opening things up to a bigger audience with the launch of a new open-source WebGL player, with 500px as their flagship partner. Prepare for Lytro images to get a lot more reach.
Lytro is making the code for the light field "Living Picture" player open-source, in the hopes of bringing interactive imagery anywhere on the web. Companies will now be able to use the Lytro player in any web interface, with the potential to be integrated into any website or social media platform, if they so choose.
And 500px has so chosen.
500px, the premier photography community for discovering, sharing, buying and selling inspiring art, will be the first to integrate the Lytro WebGL Player. In addition to enabling 500px's global network of photographers to present their own Lytro living pictures, the integration will also introduce 500px's vast audience to the rich, layered compositions of living pictures.
"When the LYTRO ILLUM was announced, we wanted to create a seamless way to showcase this new style of visual story telling for our community and help them embrace Light Field Photography," said 500px Co-Founder and Head of Product, Evgeny Tchebotarev. "This integration will greatly enhance the signature 500px photo sharing experience and help expose our audience to more of the world's most inspiring photography."
Since the announcement of the Lytro Illum earlier this year, Lytro has produced a significant amount of buzz. We'll withhold too much judgement until we can use the camera ourselves, but it looks like the company is doing their best to make the platform more mainstream.
