blazar's random findings

It seems that very few people have seen the original (and uncropped) version of the image. […] Picture of Lena Söderberg, scanned out of a Playboy article. The image is probably the most widely used test image for all sorts of image processing algorithms (such as compression and denoising) and related scientific publications. Furthermore, it is the first published image in jpeg-compression. […] Lenna or Lena is the name given to a standard test image originally cropped from a Playboy magazine centerfold picture of Lena Söderberg, a Swedish model who posed nude for the November 1972 issue. […] The anglicised version “Lenna” of Söderberg’s name comes from the Playboy article; Playboy changed the original “Lena.” The use of the image has produced some controversy, with some people concerned about Playboy magazine as the source of the image, and with the image being copyrighted. […] Although Playboy is notorious for cracking down on illegal uses of its images, it has decided to overlook the widespread distribution of this particular centerfold. Says Eileen Kent, VP of new media at Playboy: “We decided we should exploit this, because it is a phenomenon.” Coincidentally, Playboy states the issue was its best-selling ever, having sold 7,161,561 copies as of May 2006. (via Photos that Changed the World)