Wow. This is impressive: Microsoft released a new “Google sky” killer.. This is something you DON’T want to miss! It’s an interactive view of the sky like you have never experienced before. It shows changes in real time, has amazing tours, and is easy to use. Take it for a test drive and let me know what you think!
Category: Photography
I decided to check out if new videos were posted and there are now 10 videos to watch. The first four are a must-see and you can find more about them on my previous post. The most useful one posted is for the patch tool.
So the name is a little much for me, but some sports photographers may really appreciate it’s features. It is able to take 60 full resolution (6mp) frames in two seconds. It’s even able to capture photos prior to the shutter button depress. It also has a motion detection which allows you to capture an event when it comes in the frame. Finally, how does a low-res 1200 frames per second sound? Check out article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/technology/personaltech/03pogue.html?em&ex=1207713600&en=ac5e1533178d8858&ei=5087%0A
(special thanks to Aaron for the info http://www.aaronburg.com/)
Get while it’s hot at: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/
- Localized corrections — Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
- Improved organizational tools — Find the images you need quickly and easily.
- Multiple monitor support — Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
- Flexible print package functionality — Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
- 64-bit support — Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.
A first-of-its-kind telescope shows off what it can do. It’s dual mirrors are equivalent to a single 75 foot (22.8 meter) mirror.
“The images that this telescope will produce will be like none seen before. The power and clarity of this machine is in a class of its own. It will provide unmatched ability to peer into history, seeing the birth of the universe.” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080306075214.htm
CNET published a fantastic article on what to expect in the next 5+ years with
photography. Examples to expect to see in the future: Dept of Field (DOF) adjustments after the fact, changing the focal point in a photo, extraction of detail from multiple shots,3-D images, and High Dynamic Range (HDR.)
I mention HDR, but it is already used in post processing by small groups. Currently it requires extra shots of a scene be taken on a tripod, and
the data is combined after the fact with computer software.
Read and see more about it here:http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9882019-39.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
I have always been intrigued by optical illusions. Each time I find something new I
spend a lot of time trying to understand what makes it work. Arthur Shapiro has come up with a new illusion that also shows how our eyes and brain perceive light. What I really enjoyed about this write-up is the ability to tweak the illusion to see how changes affect what you see. Check it out here:
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/02/what_illusions_tell_us_about_t.php
I stood up to the 10 degree weather last night and took a few shots of the moon during the eclipse last night. See all the shots on my Smugmug, but here are a few if you missed it. The next one will be December 10, 2010. These shots were taken with my Canon 40D with an old 70-300 lens I had available. I love seeing the golden color from our atmosphere bounce off the moon
How does a shutter speed of 110 attoseconds (110 x 10-18) second sound? An
attosecond is one billionth of one billionth of a second. It’s fast enough to track electrons jumping atoms. Here is a link to a time line of high speed photography:http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-02/st_timescales
Canon apparently has filed a patent that would grab an image of your iris when you take a photo, and adds it to the metadata for each image. http://www.photographybay.com/2008/02/09/canon-iris-registration-watermark/
This single lens allows photographers to take a single shot, and afterwards modify
the depth of field, what is in focus and what is not in focus, and slightly change the angle of the shot. Amazing! Check out this short clip.
Also, here is a paper from Stanford University describing the Plenoptic Camera technique.
This discovery will have great promise for better telescopes, lenses for cameras etc. http://www.tfot.info/news/1084/bending-light-the-wrong-way.html
An Einstein ring is a rare phenomena where a distant galaxy is brought into view by a closer galaxy. The closer galaxy acts as a lens to bend the light around what would normally block the light. AAS found three galaxies lined up so that all three are visible. Read more here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/13682267.html
Did you get a new digital camera for Christmas? How about turning your photos into a slideshow?
Microsoft released a free app for making a theme-based slide show: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
Amazing real photos of liquid formations. This is something you have to see! I was
amazed at what I thought was computer generated (I’ve never seen shots where there is a tilt to the splash. The artist varies several items to get the unique shapes. While you are there, check out how it’s done.http://www.liquidsculpture.com/fine_art/image.htm?title=BigHatLittleHead
Finally Canon has support for viewing RAW files in Windows Explorer. Thread discussing a potential issue: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1019&message=25437250&changemode=1
Download:http://www.majorgeeks.com/Canon_RAW_Codec__d5816.html
Ok, this is too cool. It’s a memory card that also will use your local router to upload the photos to a photo site or your computer. If they had a compactFlash version I would buy one.
