Category Archives: Photography

iObsessed for iPad

Mobile, Photography

Photographer Dan Marcolina used InDesign CS5 to create iObsessed, an interactive compendium of over 30 apps. The book complements his iPhone Obsessed photo book, and he writes:

This interactive format allows you to see video tutorials right in-line with the featured images, along with the ability to pinch and zoom any image to see its full detail. Additional surprise links are found on each chapter page.

Here’s the quick demo:

Adobe TV: Lightroom coloring techniques & shortcuts

Adobe TV, Photography

Recent vids of possible interest:

  • The Complete Picture with Julieanne Kost: Selective Coloring Techniques in Lightroom
    In this Episode of the Complete Picture Julieanne Kost explains two different methods for selectively colorizing an image to differentiate the subject from the background using Adobe Camera Raw.

  • Creative Suite Podcast: Photographers – 5 Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts that will Speed up your Workflow
    In this episode I’ll show you 5+ Lightroom Keyboard shortcuts that will definitely speed up your day-to-day Lightroom workflow!

    • iPhone photo seminar at 5pm Pacific today

    Mobile, Photography

    Photographer & designer Dan Marcolina is “iPhone Obsessed,” having used his phone + apps to produce a coffee table book (with up-resing courtesy of Photoshop). Now I see that he’s presenting a seminar just over an hour from now (sorry, just saw the invite):

    His new book, iPhone Obsessed, covers over 47 apps and the post-processing steps you need to know to achieve works of art right in your iPhone. Dan will cover many of these apps during this live Peachpit Photo Club event.

    Having met Dan & discussed the book last summer, I can vouch for him being a really interesting, creative guy; should be a good session.

    Photosynth panorama maker for iPhone

    Mobile, Photography

    I haven’t played with a lot of mobile panorama-creation apps, but I find Microsoft’s free Photosynth app for iPhone pretty amazing. It captures still images as you pan around, automatically stitching (and optionally uploading) the results.
    <br /><a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&#038;vid=286219d4-1988-4479-816f-12e36d18b514&#038;src=SLPl:embed:&#038;fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Microsoft Photosynth App – April 2011">Video: Microsoft Photosynth App – April 2011</a>
    The example of an aviation museum is especially well chosen: I distinctly remember my deep, painful frustration trying to photograph rockets at the Air & Space Museum as a kid. I’d have found something like this unspeakably wonderful.
    Aside: How do companies like Microsoft & Adobe profit by developing advanced technology & then simply giving it away? It’s like First CityWide Change Bank: Volume.

    Time Lapse: "The Mountain"

    Photography

    Terje Sorgjerd (see previous) has produced another lovely time lapse, this time taken atop Spain’s highest mountain:

    He writes,

    A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes. Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds.

    [Via Mark Kawano]

    Eye-Fi enables direct-to-tablet transfer

    Mobile, Photography, Tablets

    As I noted last year, photographers have been incredibly clear in wanting wireless tethering between their cameras & tablets. Forget about using tablets for storage: the big win is using a tablet’s big screen for “chimping” (reviewing & flagging one’s shots).

    Thus I’m happy to see that a new 8GB Eye-Fi card enables a direct connection between cameras & tablets.  I’d love to put my iPad in my backpack & transfer to it while hiking around.  Two snags, though:

    • The card is SD format, and my SLR uses Compact Flash. Something tells me a solution isn’t imminent.
    • Wireless transfer requires one’s tablet to be switched on. Long battery life or no, I’m not going to leave the iPad on constantly while hiking, driving, etc. Solving this problem very likely requires support from Apple, Google, and hardware makers.

    Still, the development is very encouraging.

    Video: Ten Things I Have Learned About The Sea

    Photography

    Even if you watch just for a minute, I think you’ll find Lorenzo Fonda’s ode oddly captivating:

    Seeing these giant containers, it’s funny to think: all this stuff around you–the screen on which you’re reading this, maybe the car you drive, the shirt on your back–it’s all been there, creeping over untold expanses of water.
    At one point I planned to join the US Navy. I spent three years in NROTC and generally loved it. Seeing dolphins race ahead of the bow quickens my pulse & takes me down a deep memory hole. The endlessness of the water, the blankness of the horizon, the ceaseless beating paired with beauty (think bioluminescent algae twinkling down the bridge windows after every 13-foot wall of green water)–strange to think of it all again. And strange where life takes us. [Via]

    A beautiful Aurora Borealis time lapse

    Photography

    “Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd,” writes David Pescovitz, “spent one week around Kirkenes and the Norway-Russia border, in -25 Celsius temperature, to make this magnificent time-lapse video of the Aurora Borealis.”

    On a related note, “Terje Sorgjerd” is one pretty solid name. He needs to join the Photoshop team & take up residence next to Seetharaman Narayanan, Iouri Tchernoousko, & other greats. [Via]

    A photographic (non-CGI) fly-by of Saturn

    Photography, Scientific & Technical Imaging

    The IMAX film “Outside In” is produced from “hundreds of thousands of still photos” taken by the Cassini orbiter. I have a hard time believing that the footage is real, but I’m hardly an expert. Check it out:

    The filmmaking is a non-profit effort being supported by individuals & a few companies. [Via]
    Update: See comments for some technical details from the filmmaker & others.

    Photoshop Express 2.0: Powerful noise reduction on iOS

    Mobile, Photography

    After more than 20 million downloads, the free Photoshop Express app has added its first paid features. As PM Jordan Davis explains, Adobe Camera Pack in Photoshop Express 2.0 for iOS* adds three new features:

    • Reduce Noise: Even the best phone cameras can introduce small amounts of grain and speckling—called noise—into images. The Reduce Noise feature quickly smooths out those flaws to improve your photos. (See screenshot with aggressive settings applied.)
    • Self Timer: Set a camera timer to 3- or 10-second intervals before the photo is snapped. Now you can be in the picture too!
    • Auto Review: Use the Auto Review mode to make sure you get a good shot and delete it if you don’t. Auto Review gives you a quick look at your picture before the action passes you by.

    The app remains free, and the Camera Pack is a $3.99 in-app purchase.

    The noise reduction code is based on the outstanding technology introduced in Lightroom 3/Photoshop CS5.  Squeezing very computationally intensive algorithms to run well on handheld processors was no easy feat, and I think you’ll be pleased with the speed & quality of the results.  We look forward to hearing your feedback.

    * Photoshop Express for Android has not yet been updated

    Photoshop Express: 20 Million Downloads & Counting

    Mobile, Photography

    Wow–quite a milestone. PM Jordan Davis reports:

    Photoshop Express for iOS and Android devices hit 20 million customer installations today. We want to thank all our customers who have downloaded and used the app to shoot, edit, apply fun effects, and share photos from their smartphones and tablets. If you haven’t yet tried it, Photoshop Express is available for free on the Apple iTunes Store and Android Marketplace.

    Thanks for your support, and your feedback is always welcome.

    Photograph Iceland with Julieanne Kost

    Photography

    If you take this trip in August, you’re going to make me seriously jealous.  Adobe photography evangelist Julieanne Kost writes:

    I’m hoping that YOU will be able to join me this summer (August 21 – August 27) on an incredible journey through the Icelandic landscape. This really is a unique opportunity to experience Iceland and all that it has to offer – glacier lagoons, Icelandic horses, waterfalls, and mud flats  are just a few of the things we may see on our excursions.  We will follow the weather and the light, photographing Iceland’s ever changing landscape with long hours of exquisite sunrise and sunset while the Focus on Nature team takes care of every little logistical detail  so that we can photograph in a relaxed, low pressure, unhurried, environment. We will come home not only with improved technique, but reenergized and inspired.

     

    Interesting 3D Photo app

    3D, Mobile, Photography

    I can’t readily pronounce it “endlessly useful,” but 3D Photo‘s ability to map a live camera feed onto 3D shapes is rather cool:

    [Via]
    It can be hard to take tablet hardware, which is largely designed for low-power media consumption & gaming, and make it perform well for general-purpose imaging operations. Lately I’ve taken to joking that, “Well, my year-old iPad can run a beautiful 3D pinball game fullscreen at 30+ FPS, so maybe we should let people draw with friggin’ 3D pinballs, because apparently those can be made to go fast.” Look for Adobe Avian AngerPaint™, coming soon to an app store near you!

    Photography: The sacred & profane in Eastern Europe

    Photography

    I’ve spoken admiringly in the past of Bruce Haley‘s photojournalism. Now he’s produced a new monograph called Sunder:

    Produced between 1994 and 2002, the images in SUNDER sweep the viewer along on a far-reaching journey through numerous former USSR and Iron Curtain countries, stopping at landscapes of ruin and moments of grace in equal measure. Haley’s explorations were intuitive, responding to a deep curiosity to taste the last drops of the would-be Utopian ideology that dominated global politics during the first thirty years of his life.


    Bryan Hughes & I have been trying for ages to get down to the bottom of Bixby Canyon to visit Bruce & his beer fridge*. Hopefully we can do that soon & maybe share a trip report.
    * But not, presumably, “goddamn barbecued monkey leg”