Why Moore’s Law does not apply to Digital Photography:
So why do I say that we are near the limit? The diffraction limit of our lenses is larger than the pixel size on some sensors. This means that the resolution of some current cameras is limited by the diffraction limit of the lens rather than the pixel size on the chip. This means that cramming more, smaller pixels on the chip will not result in a higher resolution image when you make a print.
We’re Just Sayin: The Genie Unleashed:
Thirty years ago last Christmas, I stepped off a plane in Tehran en route home from a story I’d done in the Pakistan territory of Baluchistan. Next to the mountainous exoticism of the Baluch frontier, Tehran seemed like an almost quiet place. I’d known of the unrest there in recent days, and the large-scale shootings at a pro-Khomeini rally in September 1978, but I had no real idea as I rode from the airport into the city what lay ahead. Within hours I found myself in the middle of a series of big demonstrations, shots fired, positions taken, and I realized that this story was for real. The Revolution was definitely on.
Washington Post’s Publisher and Editor Criticized for ‘Ethical Lapse’ – NYTimes.com:
The ombudsman also revealed in his column that other top editors who knew of the plan did not raise ethical concerns. Mr. Brauchli forwarded Mr. Pelton’s e-mail message to his top three lieutenants; one questioned using the publisher’s house and promising a specific reporter’s participation, but none challenged the overall concept. On June 24, Mr. Pelton made a brief presentation to about 200 Post managers, telling them the events would be off the record.
John Nack on Adobe: Wide-angle image correction tech:
Adobe researcher Aseem Agarwala, working with Maneesh Agrawala & Robert Carroll at Berkeley, has demonstrated techniques to enable “Content-Preserving Projections for Wide-Angle Images.” That may sound a little dry, but check out the demo video (10MB QT) to see how the work enables extremely wide-angle photography.
Readers’ Photos: Call Forwarding – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com:
To judge from the response to our cellphone photo solicitation — 1,524 submissions before we closed the mailbox on July 2 — our readers are doing nothing but taking pictures with their mobile devices.
And what pictures. My colleague Josh Haner, who curated our gallery with an eye toward graphic composition, use of light and unusual moments, found 353 photos that he thought were worth sharing with a larger audience. Many entrants focused on the sky, capturing moody colors and striking cloud forms; exactly those fleeting moments at which one used to say, “I wish I had a camera right now.”
F*cked, for the foreseeable Future « Fake Chuck Westfall:
I’ve been coming home drunk at night for the last few days because of this, and I’m seriously thinking about a career switch. I’m still hopeful that the 1D Mark 4 will do something for us, but the 60D is not going to come anywhere close to the D300s Nikon is going to release soon from what I see. And as far as I’m concerned, we can just stop manufacturing the 5D Mark II when the D700x gets released by the end of this year. It simply won’t stand a chance. Hell, the 5D Mark II is having a difficult time right now already. You can’t even begin to imagine the support nightmare it is causing us at Canon USA.
Leica Oskar Barnack Award Winner Photography | Hypebeast:
Leica recently announced the winner of their 30th Annual Oskar Barnack Award, in South African Mikhael Subotzky. Aside from earning respect throughout the photography community, Mikhael received a generous monetary prize from the historic German camera makers. With the winner now being announced, Leica offers a complete look into the photographer’s series of winning photographs. Excellent would be an understatement, as each image captures the essence of its subject matter brilliantly.
whats the jackanory ? – le tour de humphreys:
Hopefully we managed to wet your appetite for all things bicycle and in particular Le Tour de France with yesterdays teaser post. Unfortunately those of us not in Austin Texas will miss out on the party tonight as friend an inspirator Brent Humphreys unveils his monster Tour project with a show at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop. In attempt to get us all upside the peloton Brent was gracious enough to go through full WTJ? race scrutineering. The resulting post like Le Tour is pretty epic. 2972 words and 20+ pictures; way more juice then you would ever get in a feature well story. Hope you enjoy !!!
lenscratch: Peter Tonningsen:
Unfortunately I didn’t get chance to meet California photographer, Peter Tonningsen, at Photolucida, but his images were well showcased at the event. Peter approaches and presents his work with a unique point of view, and his broad range of images and interests are quite refreshing. After studying art at the San Francisco Art Institute and San Jose State University, he is currently an adjunct photography instructor at The Academy of Art University and has also been an artist-in-residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley since 2006. In addition, Peter is the recipient of the Phelan Art Award in Photography, which recognizes significant California born artists.
Jenn Ackerman. Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons « Prison Photography:
A few months ago I wrote to Jenn Ackerman, praised her Trapped project and of course offered to promote it. I wanted to get at her stories behind the images – namely do an interview.
Product Review: Hands on with the Gigapan Epic 100:
No larger than a lunchbox, the Gigapan system is super-easy to use, and is comprised of a single unit that mounts on a tripod and automatically orients a camera and trips the shutter (thanks to a small robotic arm) with just about no attention from the user.
SFGate: Daily Dish : Beyonce sweats over gig photos:
“Beyonce’s costumes are so tiny and her choreography is so complicated that inevitably she sweats. It looks pretty gross, so no one is allowed to shoot her from that particular angle any more.”
Urban Camouflage Against Crime – Josh Spear, Trendspotting:
Bags and purses that look like newspapers to not get mugged.
PDNPulse: Swedish Papers Boycott Britney Spears Over Photo Restrictions:
“Sweden’s four national newspapers, Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet boycotting Britney Spears concert at the Globe July 13. The organizer needs to press photographers must sign a contract that gives her the copyright to the images, and the right to decide which images may be published. ‘If they do not tear the contract we will not shoot,’ says DN’s image manager Roger Turesson.”
Is a Touch Screen DSLR Inevitable? | Gadget Lab | Wired.com:
The iPhone, of coure, is entirely touch controlled, but the whole interface would be welcome on a compact camera. There are already touch-screen compacts, but so far SLRs have escaped the treatment. Why? Well, for one, they are usually used held up to the eye — live-view can be useful sometimes but I’d bet that most DSLR users compose and shoot with the viewfinder. This would, it would seem, make touch-to-focus almost useless, something which could slow things down more than speed them up.
A Photo Editor – Flashes Of Hope:
“Flashes of Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating powerful, uplifting portraits of children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.”
Creative Commons comes to Google Image Search – Boing Boing:
Google officially launched the ability to filter search results using Creative Commons licenses inside their Image Search tool
Amazon Kindle contract sucks – Boing Boing:
Publishing contracts are generally kind of bogus to begin with, but this is a real pinnacle of bogosity.