Drones to assist photographers soon

New York, July 27 (IANS) Photographers will soon get a team of handy helpers to capture the perfect shot - flying flashbulbs!

A new drone, equipped with lights to create special effects during photo shoots, is being developed by researchers from Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, including an Indian scientist and photographer.

The drone will produce an effect known as "rim lighting", in which only the edge of a photographer's subject is strongly lit.

"Rim lighting is very sensitive to the position of the light," said Manohar Srikanth, who joined Nokia's Imaging Group in 2014 after his post-doctoral work at MIT.

"If you move the light, say by a foot, your appearance changes dramatically," Srikanth explained.

The system will give photographers the exact direction and width of light needed, as the drone will fly to the proper side of the subject and hold the light in place.

The handy assistant can also adjust itself to the photographer's movement by following a control signal given out by the camera 20 times a second.

"This self-correction feature was the most difficult part of the drone project." added Fredo Durand, a researcher from MIT.

The team believes that with rapid advances in robotics and related technologies, the drone can be made sturdy enough to work in the real world as a photographer's assistant.

The prototype will debut in early August, media reports said.