Method for determining the complex amplitude of the electromagnetic field associated with a scene, comprising: a) capturing by means of a photographic camera a plurality of images of the scene focused on planes of focus arranged at different distances, wherein the camera comprises a lens of focal length F and a sensor arranged at a certain distance from the lens in its image space, b) taking at least a pair of images from the plurality of images and determining the accumulated wavefront up to the conjugate plane in object space corresponding to the plane intermediate to the planes of focus of the two images of the pair.