Imagine dipping your head in a can of paint, letting the excess drip off, pressing your face to one end of a strip of paper on a table and performing a pirouette to roll your head across the paper. The resulting image, similar to a fingerprint from an inked, rolled finger, would show the head seen from all sides.

Use photofinish or synchroballistic photography to produce this type of superior ID photo. Instead of rotating the subject as the film moves behind the slit of a stationary camera, the person would sit in a cylindrical booth with the camera circling around the head. A single passport or drunk driver picture would depict that person seen from any angle: frontal, profiles and from the back.
-- FarmerJohn, Feb 02 2004

how photofinish works http://www.veloresu...om/photofinish.html
[FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Panoramic photo http://www.pancorp.com/panoramic.shtml
Not quite what you're looking for, though. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Peripheral photo http://www.photophi...anon/peripheral.htm
What you'd end up with, I think. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

gloss or emulsion?
-- po, Feb 02 2004


"Holograms-R-Us" Passport and Driver's License Identity Photography has a nice ring to it.

If you are going to photograph from all sides, however, it might be wise to locate the booths in close proximity to an affiliated styling salon to ensure that potential patrons have the opportunity to look their best from all angles. Commercial tie-ins to and a percentage of the gross receipts of those establishments would be appropriate.

It might also be wise to locate these booths at a specified distance away from drinking establishments.
-- jurist, Feb 02 2004


Four stationary cameras would be sufficient, if the image is digitally processed. With special lenses and mirrors, you might even do it with a single shot.

I like the first portion of the idea the best. I'm almost tempted to coat my head in fingerpaint and make headprints. That would make a rather cumbersome ID card, however.
-- Amos Kito, Feb 02 2004


When you take the picture, you should have them standing by a wall that is marked in height increments so you know how tall they are. Also, they should hold up a sign with their identification number on it when the photo is taken from the front and from the side.

PS. Is it really necessary to have a picture of the back of someone's head?
-- GenYus, Feb 02 2004


I've seen prints like this. Not especially useful for identifying people.
-- DrCurry, Feb 02 2004


[phoenix & DrC] That link picture was just as I imagined it would turn out. I guessed the concept was too simple to have been original.
-- FarmerJohn, Feb 02 2004


I've had panoramic images taken. Looked nothing like me. The dentist and orthodontist seemed to find those x-rays useful though.
-- half, Feb 02 2004


The way it might work is if you projected it as a skin on a 3D model.
-- DrCurry, Feb 02 2004



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