The anti photo shield

Hold on to your sensors, a Russian yacht owner has equipped his ship with anti photog lasers that make it impossible for sensors to record an image. This is just the beginning. As we live our lives more and more in public, expect people to deploy their own technology to achieve a small measure of privacy. I expect to see this technology made available some of the following situations:

*Approach red light  traffic cameras

*Approach speed check traffic cameras

*Opt out of camera surveillance when in public places

It’s going to be entertaining to watch for sure. What do you think?

The light hasn’t changed but the source has

African mask lit with thumb light diode.

I was catching up on TWIP podcasts over the weekend and someone said that light hasn’t changed since Newton. True enough but the VARIETY of light sources–particularly for photographers–is galloping ahead at the speed of, well… light. Couple this with the increasing sensitivity of camera sensors and you have a genuine sea change in lighting.

Many photographers are opting for small electronic flashes over large mono-lights or power-pack/heads studio style lighting for location shoots. Part of the reason for this is that film needed more light more often to illuminate bracketed exposures of slow transparency film. But that was before the noise-free, high ISO files generated by the D3. With ISOs set at 400, 800, and 1600 the energy consumption of the small flash becomes more practical.

I have steered away from using small flashes for off-camera lighting because the recycle time is too slow and the battery appetite too big but I will be trying out Nikon’s CLS (creative lighting system) in the coming weeks when my wireless speedlight commander arrives. Sites like the Strobist have become required reading when planning new lighting strategies for small flash photography.

The practicalities of continuous light sources have also been affected by technology. The increasing sensitivity of sensors now allows for small thumb LEDs to be used for fill lighting and in some cases the main light for a photo. I also have high hopes for OLED technology which could allow large, soft light panels to be used for location lighting.

As camera and lighting technologies continue to advance I look forward to more creative and innovate use of light.

Royal without cheese

My old Royal. Lit with a Mini-Mag AA flashlight

The Times revisits photo fakery

I’m happy to see the Times run this piece re-ploughing old ground and opening up some new. Regardless of where you stand on image manipulation the fact is, imagery is an agenda-driven language prone to the same forms of distortion as any other language. As others have pointed out, the difference is our expectation that photographic images are in some way representative of a universal reality.  More here

The Eyeworm Turns

OK, I know this is not healthy but three days after the fact I’m STILL ruminating on Wired’s Top Ten Photo Peeves. It’s like one of those songs that keeps playing in your head (BTW, is a photo stuck in your head called an “eyeworm”?). Suzanne Salvo asked me if I had my own list so in the interest of answering her question (and some self-therapy) I’ll take a whack at it.

So here’s my list:

*When someone is looking at one of my photographs and says, “wow, did you do something to this?” Uuuuuh, yes.

*The idea that photographic talent is innate. If there is innate talent, it’s the self discipline that allows you to keep shooting….failure after failure until you finally get it right.

*When someone starts with  “you can’t really see it in my photo but…..” If you can’t see it, put it in the podcast.

*Leica wearers.

*Photos of people holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa or pinching the sun between their thumb and finger. These things MIGHT have been cute the first time but  have evolved into visual fingernails on a blackboard.

*Dwelling on photographic technique. Content is king. Who cares how it was made.

Surely, I’ve offended someone. Speak.

Reality bites

I’m still thinking about Wired’s top ten photo peeves and I have to admit the actual list has emerged as my top photo  peeve. Dissing high dynamic range images, for example, is a little  like complaining about images produced during the  hour before sunset. I think the real problem with HDR capture (for some people) is the perception that it in some way distorts reality.

If the argument is that HDR captures distort reality,  wouldn’t the clipping of dark and light image areas in a low dynamic range capture be far more distortion? It’s not like the camera is showing us something we couldn’t see if we were there looking over the photographer’s shoulder. However, it IS rendering a scene in a way that we’re not accustomed to seeing rendered by a camera.

Essentially, cameras are increasingly able to show us things in ways we aren’t accustomed to cameras showing us (at least consumer cameras operated by non-professional shooters). Many observers believe that HDR capabilities will be standard in all future consumer cameras. Multiple exposure capture will be seamlessly integrated into the camera’s function to the extent that it won’t be a special technique. Even now some FX sensor SLRs have enough dynamic range to capture in one exposure what many would classify as HDR.

The sea change, IMHO, is really our expectations about photography. Most people on the planet have attained a level of visual and technology sophistication unthought of a couple of decades ago. The ability to distribute images world-wide is every man’s tool. The majority of people on the planet will in the near future (if not already) carry a camera with them 24/7 in the form of a high resolution cell phone (camera).

Let the discussion continue…

Wired’s top 10 photo peeves

Gee, maybe I just haven’t had enough caffeine yet but I disagree with three out of the first four on Wired’s Top Ten Photo Peeves list.

Please tell me if I’m off base but wide angle verticles, HDR captures and shutter lag…..please.  As a general rule if technique gets in the way of content there’s a potential problem. Usually when I look at a photo I consume it first as a viewer. At this level I’m looking at the content,  I don’t really care how the image was made.  Later, as a photographer, I may deconstruct it  or if it’s an amazing image I could just stare at it in envy.

This list seems so arbitrary to me. Have I been off-planet? I’m trying to pay attention. Will square images, short depth of field and the color red be on the peeve list next year?

Imbedded video for print

When I saw this the first word I thought of was “Hallmark”. This could be one of those technologies that successfully bridge the gap between dead tree media products and digital new media content. My guess is it will be too expensive for editorial content but paper product companies are a different story.
Greeting card companies have been using crude audio devices to record and play music for several years now. Hi rez video content cannot be far away.

imbedded video

After, Hallmark, the next thing I thought about was how I could use this technology. As a photographer, I would love to produce a hybrid print/electronic portfolio piece. Carefully crafted slide-shows with soundtracks in a small mailable piece….amazing. Who knows, direct mail could become fashionable again.

Stranded on a desert island with one camera body and one lens

OK, I’m not the guy that has a golf analogy for everything in life. However….there is a scene in the movie Tin Cup where Kevin Costner’s character breaks all the clubs in his bag except the 7 iron. He then proceeds to play every shot with that one club…you know where this is going.

So, what camera and what lens would it be? If you could only choose one body and one lens which ones would you choose?

Today, my choice would have to be a Nikon D3 mated with a Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 zoom lens. This comes up way short on the long end and I don’t even consider a 24 to be a reasonable wide-angle. Having said that, this lens and this body together equal more than the sum of the parts.

One of the unintended consequences of rapidly evolving camera bodies is that if the lenses don’t keep up it’s painfully apparent. A camera that shows so much detail that the imperfections of the lens become visible (the current Nikkor 70-200 2.8 comes to mind) leaves us wanting. The D3 has enough resolving power to reveal such imperfections in a lens, the 24-70 f 2.8 has none that I’ve found yet.

What are your choices? Do you think this will change a year from now? How?

Is that an AP bureau in your pocket?

Photoscatter comes to the “Camera that Changed the World” enabling world-wide distribution of your photos with a couple of taps to the screen.
“PhotoScatter is a pretty cool looking iPhone App that lets you share your iPhone photos on a variety of photo sharing sites instantly. You can upload to Facebook, Flickr, Shutterfly, Photobucket, Picasa and Twitter with just a few taps on the screen.