Design of a prototype® for photogrammetry from a single image, based on specular reflection

Abstract

The present work presents a low-cost prototype® designed for the photogrammetric survey of small objects, from a single photographic shot. To do this, it relies on the different perspectives of the object presented by a series of mirrors conveniently placed in front of the camera lens. The set of specular reflections projected on the sensor of our camera simulates the same effect as having taken these photographs from the equivalent points for each mirror. A small script for dividing the image taken by the sensor into as many images as there are reflections, allows us to work with the usual shape from stereo photogrammetry procedure.

This prototype® allows, not only to photograph small inert objects more quickly but also enables the photogrammetric survey of small living beings, such as an insect, that cannot remain still during the traditional photographic image taking.