The Flying Snail

What the Hell Am I Doing up at This Time? - The 4am Project

2010-04-05T23:07:00.000+01:00

The 4am Project has just celebrated its first birthday, but this was the first time I got involved. It has been difficult to resist Karen Strunks' (The originator of the 4am Project) gentle stream of tweets over the last couple of months, so yesterday Easter Sunday (04.04) I was up at 3:30 in the morning planning to head out to take some photos. I had two plans for shooting, one was to head to Warley Woods (in Bearwood, near Birmingham, UK) with some flash guns to get some eerie shots of the canopy. The second plan was to find some empty crossroads to take some 360 degree panoramas. So with some trepidation - someone might call the police having seen strange lights in the night - I headed off to the woods.

Even though I'd tested the slave cells and flash guns at home they just didn't work well in the field (or the woods). I guess it was the distance, the use of Nikon Creative Lighting system on only one gun, and the power of the flashes. With my plan not working, well, to plan, I quickly changed what I was shooting and how. This did not stop me getting some interesting shots handholding the flash and manually firing, since the shutter was open so long (it was dark in the woods) this was very possible. The picture of Hemmingway's Bench (above) is a good example of both changing subject and technique.

I was having so much creative fun in the dark, in the woods, that I never made it to my next project idea within in the 4am Project hour. This I'll save for next time, and there will be a next time for me. This is not because I've never tried night shooting - I have many images of empty urban streets from around Europe - but because 4am Project is something different. The real genius of the 4am Project is not Karen Strunks' realisation that Birmingham was somehow different and an interesting subject to photograph at 4am, but that everyone's local environment could be different at this (befuddling) time in the morning. To get photographers around the world out of bed, looking at, and shooting they're locale (let's face it no one will want to go far at 4am) is inspired, and, no doubt, a lot of hard work.

I had this comment on one of the images I posted on Flickr:

This was one of the first 4am shots I saw this morning. My first thought was: "why have I been freezing my arse off taking crap photos when real photographers are out there taking great pics like this?!" (andytoots)

And this was my response:

Many thanks [andytoots], but I'm also an amateur who froze his arse off (there were some pros out there as well)! For me 4am Project is about the collection of all the images taken by all the nutters (and insomniacs), even the ones of the alarm clocks. It's the world at a different time and that's what makes it inspirational - well for me anyway.

That was, and is, what 4am Project is really about: an open creative photographic challenge that is building a community who are looking at their world in different ways. There are some great imaginative images in the 4am Project Flickr group and some which are just what people see, but they are all important as they form part of an archive of a time we rarely willingly see.

I learn't a few things yesterday morning, and confirmed some others, about photographing digitally at night. Below are my tips for anyone wishing to get out there for the next 4am Project.

Lastly a massive thanks to Karen for her tireless effort to make me and many other photographers get out there and take pictures when the duvet is far more welcoming!

Some brief tips for the next 4am Project outing

(Especially if you are going down to the woods!)

A tripod is often best

This is pretty essential, but it is possible to use small tripods like the Gorillapods to get interesting angles. If you don't have a tripod try making a small bean bag using lentils or rice in a cloth or strong plastic bag (The commercial version is The Pod) and this will allow you to keep your camera level and off the ground. Naturally you can up the ISO on your camera (or set it to auto) in well lit urban areas, but then you'll lose any streaks of lights from cars etc. and unless you have a Nikon D3 or D700 the images will have quite a lot of colour noise.

Have a torch (flashlight) handy

Even if you are in a well lit city centre a torch will allow you to check settings on your camera (especially on an DSLR) and if you are in a dark corner then it's essential.

Hotshoe spirit-level could be useful

Of course if you are shooting unusual angles then no need for one of these, but in the dark it is difficult to check if your camera is level (hotshoe required)

Use the self-timer or remote

Even on the tripod long exposures will suffer from blur if you press the shutter button or handle the camera. Using a self-timer also allows you to get your shadow out of shot if the lighting is coming from behind.

Charge your batteries

All of them! Long exposures, flash, bracketing exposures and shooting lots will run batteries down quickly. I had to use my back up camera battery part way through a set-up. If I didn't have the spare I would have missed my best shots.

Set focus to manual (if you can)

On autofocus the camera will spend most of it's time hunting for something to focus on. Setting it to manual will save time batteries, but this is where you need the torch with DSLRs.

Be prepared to change your plans

It's not quite the same place as it is in daylight, so the best laid plans may not be feasible at 4am. I was planning to photograph a much deeper darker part of the wood but it was too dark to see what I was shooting - perhaps I be braver next time!

Experiment!

Set yourself something new to tryout. If you're out close to home you can always try something else next time (but perhaps not the next morning at 4am). And most importantly - have fun!

An Impossible Dream made Possible

2010-03-25T23:52:00.001Z

Stocks of Polaroid instant film are now dwindling, but The Impossible Project, having taken over the last Polaroid production plant in 2008, have today started selling their first instant films. Interestingly they are black and white and one, PX100, is in SX70 format which never existed in black and white when made by Polaroid. I still have an SX70 camera somewhere so I might give this new film a try (I never thought I'd say that ever again).

Hipstamatic film & lens combinations test

2010-03-19T23:38:00.001Z

I have been testing every combination of Hipstamatic lens and film, you can buy with version 150, in a none too scientific way. Iwas bored waiting for the next tube train to Leicester Square, so I started taking pictures of the London Underground roundel logo tiles at Highgate station. Being red and blue on a white background this was hardly the best colour chart to test, and certainly not under optimal lighting conditions (hence the blur). However it has given me a set of reference images that will help in predicting, to some degree, the possible outcome of my choice for any shot.

For those who don't know how Hipstamatic it is not like other iPhone photo apps in that you take a picture with a choice of "lens", "film" and "flash" to apply a set of transformations upon the image. There is no post-production processing choices and you cannot change your mind afterwards. This is fine if either you are happy with the randomness of applying creative filters (you can shake the phone to allow Hipstamatic to choose the film and lens) or you know what effect your choices will have on the pictures, so hence this little project [1].

The plain vanilla London Underground tile

So here they are 48 (+ 1) pictures of the same thing - 6 lenses and 8 films. I have not included the flashes in the test as this would have taken many delays on the Norther Line to complete [2]. The plus one is the standard shot (above) taken with the default iPhone camera, no post process, except cropping to square format, and otherwise taken in the same non-scientific manner. I've grouped the pictures both by lens and by film, and you can click through to the full-size image in my test set on Flickr

The Lenses

Lens: John S

One of my favourite lenses and especially in use with Kodot Verichrome film. This one comes with the basic Hipstamatic.

Lens: Jimmy

Jimmy seems most useful for lightening images and increasing contrast when used with the black and white films BlacKeys B+W and BlacKeys SuperGrain

Lens: Kaimal Mark II

Lens: Helga Viking

I particularly like this lens with Float film, but I also use it with Ina's 1969, Kodot Verichrome and the BlacKeys films.

Lens: Lucifer VI

Lens: Roboto Glitter

Worth looking at the full-size versions of these images as these thumbnails don't do justice to the effect.

The Films

Film: Blanko

Film: Ina's 1969

Film: Kodot Verichrome

Film: BlacKeys B+W

Perhaps the most useful comparison of lens effects with a film is with black and white films as there is a much more subtle difference in choice of lens.

Film: BlacKeys SuperGrain

Film: Alfred Infrared

Film: Pistil

Film: Float

I love the through the viewfinder effect

[1] It is a lot easier with other creative iPhone apps to demonstrate the different outcomes with post-production transformations on any one picture.

[2] There are 288 possible combinations of flash, film and lens for all available add-ons for Hipstamatic 150

More fun with Hipstamatic

2010-03-15T00:24:00.001Z

Now Hipstamatic 150 is out I've been able to shoot (if more slowly and with more crashes) at 1200 pixels, so I've been testing an idea shooting a pot of daffodils using one Elinchrom head, just the modelling lamp and with a honeycomb spot. The aim was to make a large enough image to print.

Close-up focus with my older iPhone 3G is still a problem when trying to take these still life images.

I have printed the photo above at A5 for a birthday card and it works well. I will run some tests at A3+, perhaps on the images below. I'd like to test some other potted cyclamen sitting on the windowsill but they do not have the height of the daffodils

Bye, Bye Google Chrome

2010-02-27T00:36:00.000Z

You did evil (probably), and now you are gone.

All the controversy over privacy issues and the failure of Google Buzz to understand the differences in the use cases for their products, made me notice that because I was logged into Google Groups (for my work) Chrome was now showing I was logged-in. In all likelihood Chrome was tracking my web usage and relating it directly to me! Now I know that it is completely possible to relate Web activity to an ip, but an ip is not me, well not necessarily when behind a firewall and when mobile. So Google knows exactly which sites I looked at, which pages, how long, when, etc., etc. Something for them to sell? If so they are now the new evil empire.

Upgrading the Mighty (Big) Mouse

2010-02-23T10:54:00.001Z

Having only recently upgraded my Macs to OS X Snow Leopard (I was waiting for some key apps to get their act together) I've experienced some problems with my Bluetooth Apple keyboard and Mighty Mouse, so I thought I'd better install (or re-install) the keyboard firmware and mouse software. I was somewhat surprised to find the Mighty Mouse software weigh in at a hefty 67MB download and on installation it would take over 101MB of hard disk space to install!

The Might Mouse drivers are mighty fat. Does it honestly take that much software to deal with gestures and if so that'll take a lot of CPU time? Probably not, so what else is being installed or updated? This all makes me remember, all misty-eyed, the days of OSes on floppy disks and makes me wish for some super super fast broadband. I hope the iPad doesn't need quite such big upgrades especially across 3G.

On Becoming Hip

2010-02-21T13:36:00.000Z

I've never really taken many pictures with my iPhone probably because I felt the quality of the lens, the CCD etc. wasn't up to much. It was certainly useful to always have a camera with me, but the camera app that came with the iPhone, and the time taken to get to the point of pressing the 'shutter' button, meant I didn't think about using my iPhone. Then I was recommended the Hipstamatic app and I've been taking photos everywhere with it and my iPhone.

Highgate Cemetery - gothic imagery is what Hipstamatic was made for!

Hipstamatic is fun and funky with choices of lenses and films with crazy names to use, plus the small 'viewfinder' make the outcomes unpredictable and exciting.

Bournville Green taken from the number 11 bus

It has it's flaws though. It's slow to start-up and it is seconds per frame rather than fps shooting. But these are minor points considering the creative fun that can be had. The basic set of "lenses" and "films" are great but add on the Hipstapaks and the range of choices are multiplied and so is the creative fun.

No, I don't want my photo taken!

I just wish I had a iPhone G3s (or what ever the next iPhone will be) as the image size on my iPhone 3G is quite small. I'm certainly looking forward to the upgrade of Hipstamatic to version 150 (none of this 10.6.2 rubbish).

Amateurs are Good

2009-08-08T17:05:00.002+01:00

It's funny, but I'm still surprised when dying old media lash out at the young pretenders. In Nicky Getgood's article she highlights that the latest old media on the attack is print journalism, with the target in the sights of some journalists being blogging and in particular the hyperlocal variety. It's clear that newspapers are having trouble in circulation and some professional journalists are possibly worried about their careers but it seems somewhat late to attack bloggers now. Hyperlocal blogging can be an excellent news gathering resource for journalists as well as the rest of us, and some are seeing the possibility of this no matter what one thinks of the role of big corporations in grassroots community projects.

Of course it is easy for the professional journalists to attack the bloggers with statements like:

"There is no way that blogging and so-called "citizen journalism" can replace the work of properly trained reporters who, if they are doing their jobs properly, strive to give a factual and objective overview of the events..."

"The only people who read such illiterate 'local' online rubbish are the halfwits who spend the wee small hours writing such tosh and railing against the unfairness of life, instead of going out and getting one."

But then journalism is one of the least liked and trusted professions along with estate agents and politicians. Like all media, one must approach blogs with the same level of scepticism as newspapers because they all are opinionated (and possibly inaccurate), the only difference being is the blog is generally the opinion of an individual; this is my opinion. As Phil Gyford points out the threat to good journalism is the bad journalism of ill-researched and dangerous science articles, content-free celeb "puff-pieces", & pointless life-style articles, and it is not the blogsphere that is doing the damage.

This got me thinking: what is the difference between amateurs and professionals, and why is the term amateur one of derision and denigration?

A media professional has to make a decision as to whether the work will pay enough for the effort involved, hence it is hard for newspapers to cover hyperlocal topics when the audience will be small. For all professionals the 'bottom line' is a factor that must always be taken into consideration even if the work is pro bono or professional development. Furthermore there is no clear guarantee that a media (or creative) professional will deliver a brilliant top-notch job for the fee. Qualifications and membership of bodies (that run on subscriptions from the members) guarantee, well little and previous performance is no indication of future returns! So a professional can be as bad as an amateur, or even worse.

It is assumed that an amateur is not as good as a professional because of the lack of qualifications and naturally this perception is maintained by professionals to appear exclusive. Amateurism and amateurish are invariably used disparagingly and as an insult. As an aside, I earn my living working within IT which nowadays uses the job titles such as 'software engineer' and 'software architect' to sound more professional.

I'm an amateur photographer and proud of it! I am an amateur in the true sense of the word: I take pictures purely for the love of it. This doesn't mean I'm not as good as a professional, I've just made the decision not to try to make a living from my image making and I'm comfortable with that. Talking with photography students they will often state their ambition is to work for the glossy Sunday supplements, or as a fashion photographer, but it is never to create the best images they possibly can. Not having to earn a living from my photography means I can experiment, play, and strive to create the best work I can without the worry of the client not really liking it, meeting deadlines, and fighting to get paid on time. Being a professional photographer is hard, but it's all the ancillary stuff that drags you down.

The world we live in would not be the same if it wasn't for the single-minded amateur. Charles Darwin was an amateur scientist, Albert Einstein worked in the patent office whilst developing his theory of Special Relativity, whilst Gregor Mendel, the discoverer of the laws of inheritance, was an Augustinian priest. We wouldn't have TV & radio if it wasn't for the early amateur inventors. Today there are many dedicated amateurs who are passionate and dedicatedly creating work that is appreciated by many, be that

We amateurs should reclaim the words amateur & amateurism and their true positive meanings, and not allow it to be used to belittle our efforts because doing whatever we do for the love of it is a noble pursuit. And just sometimes the passion of an amateur can pay-off. Nicky's dedicated work on Digbeth is Good has landed her a plum job helping others to become true amateur hyperlocal bloggers.

Focus on Imaging 2007: Where are the cameras?

2007-03-11T15:41:00.001Z

Obviously industry shows change over the years reflecting the changes in the industry and of course, those who can afford a stand. However this year's Focus must have had the lowest number of camera manufacturers with their own stand - a grand total of two! For the largest annual photographic trade show in Europe this must be a record. In fact it must be a record for any photographic trade show. So who was there - Nikon and Hasselblad - no Canon, Pentax, Sony, Mamimya, Casio, Panasonic, or Ricoh of previous years. For sure there were other cameras about the show but these were on retailers' and distributors' stands. Still the camera count was higher with the attendees than in the show. Instead there was a large selection of imaging finishers (printing on to more surfaces than you can think of), wedding album makers and software & web companies. Considering how many cameras are being launched each week it is still amazing to see so few cameras at a show open to the public. Perhaps the closeness of PMA in Las Vegas prevented some manufacturers from attending a European show, perhaps it's too expensive to attend all the shows around the world, maybe the industry is changing beyond the move from film to CCDs? Certainly the photographer is back in charge of the entire workflow. No doubt there will be some smart people who will provide services to fill in the gaps. One thing is clear, photo-sharing sites and digital chips in everything has meant the democratisation of professional photography, and I do mean professional as any one can make money out of their snaps now. No need for tens of thousands of pounds of kit, a degree or paying some organisation so you can put more letters after your name than before it, to make cash from your camera no matter what it is. The opportunities for the smaller photographic manufacturers is not in the hardware but in the services for all photographers.

Happy New Year!

2006-12-31T21:23:00.000Z

On trying to buy a PVR

2006-12-31T16:04:00.000Z

For those who've not come across such a device: PVR stands for Personal Video Recorder and is a hard disk (HDD) based recorder of televisual broadcasts. There are way too many acronyms, initialisms and jargon to explain all the other terms I've encountered in my research in to this subject to list as many are region/country/broadcaster (try digital video recorder on wikipedia).

Surprisingly this seems to be a bleeding edge area of technology. Why, I have no idea as the all the component technological parts have been in place for many years, except for the broadcasters are new to the world of digital and are changing their minds and standards they use.

In the UK there appears to be 2 top products (for receiving Freeview broadcasts) from brands that do not readily come to mind as high street names: Topfield and Humax. In comparing the Topfield TF5800PVR, the Humax PVR-9200Tand others I've come to some conclusions:

Anyone who has bought a PVR finds it absolutely dreadful or a marvel of modern technology i.e. they work or they don't - no half-way-house, no ambivalent 'it's OK'.

No PVR is perfect - they all have strange quirks, bugs and 'missing' features.

How passionate the owners of the Toppy and the Hummy are (yep that's what they are called affectionally by the user groups). Also how important these groups are to getting your shiny new device working.

Forget the term 'HD Ready' as the broadcasters certainly aren't.

Most PVRs are launched as a work in progress requiring regular firmware/software updates. Think computers rather VHS recorders.

Surprisingly for a living room device some are noisy, e.g. the Sony SVR-S500 - just read the reviews on Amazon!

No one has designed a good looking PVR (the Sony is about the best of a bad bunch). And as for the remotes.....

Finally, I found the differing approaches of Topfield and Humax to the software/hardware combination reminiscent of the PC vs. Mac on-going (often beer driven) debates/arguments/wars. Topfield seem to take the approach of limited functionality in their own software, publishing an API and allowing developers to create add-on applications/applets (called TAPs) to make the machine function in a usable way. This PC/Linux-like approach might be fine for corporate computing environments or programmers but does seem a bit odd in your home video recorder! I'm sure it appeals to those who like tinkering with their PC. Humax prefers to provide the users with regular(ish) updates (and bug fixes :-( ) of more complete software, so out of the box the unit has a good interface with a good user experience, however it does leave users requesting and waiting for wish-lists to be included: a more Apple-like approach (OK, some will argue that my comparison is not accurate to one side or the other). The irony of these approaches is that the Toppy works better with Macs and OS X and Humax don't directly support Mac connectivity at all!

Can a failure to support file formats kill Apple's Aperture?

2006-04-13T13:44:00.000+01:00

Apple Computer Inc. has survived (and thrived) 30 years in the fastest moving most innovative industry ever. So you'd think that they would understand how the photography market is morphing into a software and digital technology driven world with all that means in terms of rate of change. It seems somewhat odd that Apple seems unable or unwilling to keep pace in the professional photography market sector even with all their slick marketing.

Apple supports RAW file formats from within the operating systems so that both iPhoto and Aperture can take advantage of the same support, and so can anyone else writing imaging software for OS X. This make a lot of sense, especially when iPhoto only has one major upgrade per year and the operating system gets regular improvements. Since the camera manufacturers' product cycles are not in perfect synchronisation with Apple's, the chance to release new camera RAW file support with a regular operating system upgrade is the obvious path to take. So why hasn't Apple been doing this? For example, the Nikon D200 was launched 1st November last year and in users' hands in December, but those photographers who have also invested in Aperture are still waiting for support of the D200 RAW format in April! Furthermore there has been two important upgrades to OS X (10.4.4 & 10.4.5) since the D200 was launched.

Certainly it would be a simpler world if all manufacturers adopted a standard RAW file format, or at least stopped tweaking for each new camera, however we are still in the early phase of the development of digital imaging and there are still improvements to be made in all areas including RAW formats.

So where does this leave the professional photographer investing heavily in all sorts of technology? Well if they've invested in a shiny new Mac with a 30" screen to manage their RAW digital workflow then there are other RAW management software applications out there that do keep up with changes in the camera marketplace such as Bibble Lab's software & Phase One's Capture One Pro - both of which already work natively on Intel Macs unlike Aperture. If they've invested in the stunning new Nikon D200 first then there is a choice of computer platforms as well as software. However, if you've got a D200 and have been working with Aperture before then you are twiddling your thumbs, grumbling, moaning about Apple and how you are moving to something better. Even if the rest of the digital workflow software applications out there are not a patch on Aperture the chance of Apple being able to coax back the users, who have a heavy investment in terms of time and quantity of images under software management, will be slim. Apple's understanding and appreciation of what it takes to be an individual creative is key to their move in to the digital imaging world, but unless they get it right in all aspects of their pro software products, Aperture will not become an essential tool in the same way Photoshop is to photographers. This is a difficult time for photographers trying to get to grips with all the new technology that has invaded their cosy world, so computer and software companies shouldn't be making it harder for them.

[update] A few hours after writing this Apple have released Aperture 1.1 as a free download and included is support for Nikon's D200 and Canon's 30D, still that's over 6 months since the D200 was launched!

Technorati Tags: Aperture, Aperture 1.1, Apple, D200, digital photography, iPhoto, Nikon

Focus on Imaging show - impressions

2006-03-06T14:53:00.000Z

Whilst the focus of attention in the photographic world was on the PMA show in Orlando the annual Focus on Imaging (apparently the largest annual show in Europe according to their PR) was running in Birmingham, UK. I've been going to this show for many years now and witnessed the change in emphasis from film and wet processing to digital and continuous ink systems (CIS). This year there was yet another change in what was being promoted to the photographer punters and from whom. Now, of course, it's about who is pushing their latest & greatest products and feel it worth while splashing out on a stand at such a show, but absences also speak louder than new toys. It felt very much like there was an absence of cameras in general, well at least manufacturers' stands; no Canon, obviously no Konica Minolta & Bronica, no Leica, no Rollei, no Minox, no Panasonic and only small shared stands for Pentax & Mamiya. There were the usual hardware retailers and distributors, and the accessory manufacturers like Lee Filters, Lowepro, Manfrotto & Crumpler (sorry no link as the site stinks). There seemed to be less fevered interest around the CIS (Fotospeed, PermaJet & Lyson) this year - perhaps everyone has bought one now. These systems have been at the vanguard of what appears to be a move to the photographer not only being in control of the entire pre, production and post processes but actually doing the work. Obviously, the move to digital has meant an increased interest in software, but this year's show felt more like a computer software show. For the first time Apple had a corporate presence demonstrating Aperture 1.1 for Intel Macs along with a couple of Apple retailers, and of course Adobe was demonstrating Photoshop and other products (with Wacom). There were lots of software demonstrated on stands such as Nikon's, but also many small stands offering software or more specifically Web services/apps for photographers covering areas from "everything a photographer would ever need" online to digital book printing services, Customer Relationship Management and proofing. There was also an increase in inkjet paper manufacturers and papers available to photographers, as well as DIY finishing equipment for mount cutting and framing. There may be a move from the traditional D&P and finishing services purchased by photographers, but it is clear that if a photographer wants to make money now, and in the near future, then he/she will need to learn a lot more than Photoshop to compete in the digital media world. Also photographers will need to assess what mix of services are best suited for their needs and those of their customers and which are the better services out there. This will mean that each photographer will also need to experiment with the bewildering array of online services available, some of which charge just to sign-up, and in a fluid marketplace of services keep on top of what's new, cool and works. Not only is it going to be a tough year (or two) for the photo industry but it will be tough for the photographers as well. [Update]
It looks like the attendance at Focus has been as strong as ever according to a press release from the organisers.

Technorati Tags: Aperture 1.1, Apple, digital photography, digital services, imaging, inkjet, Nikon, online services, photography, PMA, Web, Web apps

At last someone has realised

2006-02-21T16:55:00.000Z

That in-lens image stabilisation (or Vibration Reduction as Nikon calls it) is useful beyond digital compact cameras too small to hold or telephoto lenses too big to hold. Nikon are introducing a macro (or micro as Nikon calls it) lens for SLRs that has their VRII system to stop shakey-cam blurry pictures. The AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED also has ultra-sonic focusing (or Silent Wave Motor as Nikon calls it) so you don't scare off the bug you are photographing and internal focusing so you don't splat the bug when the front element flies out whilst hunting for focus. As I take a lot of close-up pictures hand held - well the camera still moves on the tripod in portrait orientation - whilst out treking this looks like a better option than the equivalent Sigma lenses. Oh well, something to add to my on-order list of Nikon kit.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, macro, macro-photography, Micro-Nikkor, Nikon, photography, Nikkor, image stabilisation

iPhoto'06 Effects Pallet

2006-02-18T00:20:00.000Z

I've been trying out iPhoto '06 (part of the iLife suite for Mac OS X 10.4 only) and testing the new matrix of effects available. Certainly the range of what can be done is nothing like Photoshop and the plethora of plug-ins available, however it is possible to combine the effects to vary the final image from the default look. iPhoto '06 effects are in a floating semi-translucent panel of 9 thumbnails of the main image. In the centre of the panel is the original image with: B & W, Sepia, Antique as colour effects; matte, vignette, edge blur for edge effect; and fade colour and boost colour. Selecting, for example Sepia, it is possible to alter the effect with the fade and boost buttons (these do affect the contrast as well) by clicking a few times in either direction. There does seem to be a limit of clicks available, in total, and when the image appears to stop altering then it is best to return to the original image and try again. It appears that it is not possible to mix the colour effects, however the Adjust panel can be used in conjunction with the effects to subtly adjust the toned effect required. I've yet to test printing an image with an applied effect, but as iPhoto does not appear to throw away colour information, as can happen if the wrong options are chosen in Photoshop when creating a B & W image, the outcome should be good. I now have Apple's iPhoto '06 & Aperture and Adobe's LightRoom on my PowerBook so I will be doing some comparisons soon, from a photographer's point of view rather than a computer geek, although some would class me as the latter.

Technorati Tags: Aperture, Apple, B & W, Black and White, digital photography, iPhoto, photography

Happy Valentine's Day?

2006-02-14T11:33:00.000Z

I can't help thinking that there is a mixed message here. On the other hand, if he is rich, elderly and you are the sole beneficiary of his last Will and Testament then perhaps the marketing campaign is spot on for you! [update] The UK parliament gave everyone in England a healthy Valentine's present. In a free vote, the House of Commons decided to ban smoking in all enclosed public spaces (this is already going to happen in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Technorati Tags: Valentine

The Future of Web Apps Summit

2006-02-12T23:44:00.000Z

There will be many blogged reviews about this excellent conference organised by Carson Workshops (a big thanks to Ryan and Gillian for bringing to the UK such a great group of speakers and for the smooth organisation), but what interested me was the level and methods of audience participation. A free WiFi Internet connection was provided and Ryan Carson asked the attendees to use a standard tag of futureofwebapps and everyone was off and running. With so many laptops around the conference hall, and at least 50% displaying a glowing Apple logo, connectivity was bound to get slow at time. On opening up my PowerBook, before the event started and the room filled up, and checking out iChat the list of buddies showing up on Bonjour was massive and growing. Group chats were starting up as were IRC chats. This was the kind of thing you'd expect with this sort of audience, but more interesting was a Bonjour shared SubEthaEdit document that popped up for collaborative note taking. Amongst many others I joined and added only one or two notes during the conference (a little difficult for me as I was typing with one hand whilst making an audio recording on my iPod). Many were adding to the notes, including some off-topic stuff and funnies, simultaneously whilst others fixing typos and layout, although at times there was one person typing hard.

In addition to the co-operative document there were others blogging hard such as Robert Sharl (tapping at the keyboard ferociously next to me) and Rachel Clarke, and with all these sources created at the event it is possible to get an excellent feel of the day and the talks. In near real-time it was possible to follow the conference online as some did, even communicating to the bloggers present. I even noticed someone at the conference cutting and pasting from Robert's blog into an e-mail. Obviously this makes a great resource those who attended but didn't take notes. One interesting and useful record of the summit is from Lars Plougmann in the form of mind maps.

I (along with one or two others) was uploading pictures to Flickr on the day, but the mass of posters after the event along with the interest in the images has made the futureofwebapps tag the hotest on Flickr this week.

It almost seems pointless for Carson to add to this mass of media, but they do create really good follow-ups to their conferences and I'm looking forward to the podcasts which will be better recorded than my efforts. If you were one of the unlucky 200 on the waiting list, or just couldn't make it Kensington Town on Feburary 8th, then it's all out there in many forms, it'll just take you longer to view everything than being there!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Conferences, Design, Flickr, Future, futureofwebapps, Futurilla, Networks, London, Carson, Social Networks, technology, Web

Sometimes it's better to wait for some other shmuck to do the testing

2006-02-10T11:49:00.000Z

Nikon have finally admitted, via an FAQ, to some banding problems with some cameras in early batches of their new D200 under certain conditions. With so many caveats this may be a bit of a non-problem as few users have found it and as ever the issue is blown out of proportion on the message boards. There were back focus problems with some early D70 models and these problems were ironed out quickly as well. It sometimes feels like respected hardware companies are beta testing products on the paying public, but there is always going to be glitches when a product goes into full production. Nikon will get off lightly compared to the media furore surrounding the "scratching" issues with the iPod nano. And the morale of the day is - don't get caught up with the nerd frenzy around a new product that is going to seriously dent your bank balance. I'm still waiting for my D200 and happy to do so!

It's a hard ol' digital world out there

2006-01-19T14:54:00.000Z

Holy Cow! Konica Minolta are withdrawing from the photographic business. Some of the digital SLR assets will be transferring to Sony, but that's it for the rest: compact cameras, films and paper, minilabs. It does appear that Konica Minolta will continue to work in partnership to develop the Sony badged DSLR but it looks like the production assets will move to Sony. The Minolta lens mount will also become an asset of Sony, so at least any new lenses developed will be compatible with current Konica Minolta DSLRs. I've never been a fan of Minolta's SLR cameras (there has been some ingenious design in their recent digital compacts) but their lenses have always been highly rated, especially for portraiture. I'm sure they will be sorely missed by many professional and amateur photographers alike. So how long will it be before the Sony badged DSLRs will have MemoryStick storage and a Walkman badge on the front, oh, and the most incomprehensible nomenclature possible? So two more famous photographic names bite the dust, sure the company will (or might) survive, but not in the camera bag or the photo album. 2006 will be the year we can finally put a wreath on the grave of silver-halide film.

If I was a Conspiracy Theorist

2006-01-18T15:01:00.001Z

I'd be suspicious about the timing of the press release from Carl Zeiss AG regarding their introduction of a range of manual focus lenses for Nikon's F-mount, but as Nikon will continue to manufacture (probably in miniscule quantities) manual lenses of the same focal lengths as those announced today by Zeiss it's hardly something to open an X-File about.

Still it is interesting that Zeiss claims that the new lenses will work with both digital and film based SLRs. From the product shots it is clear that the lenses are backwardly compatible to the non-AI Nikkormats, but it is not clear if there are the electronic communications that will allow these lenses to function on bodies such as the D70, D70s and D50 which have no mechanical coupling to the lens' aperture ring (also non-AI?). Although Zeiss has only announced two lenses (50mm f/1.4 & 85mm f/1.4) so far, it is possible to make out from the product shots that they will be introducing a Makro-Planar (f/2.0) and a wide-angle Distagon (f/2.0).

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Nikon, photography, Zeiss

Nikon to drop film and focus on digital

2006-01-12T11:18:00.000Z

Well it was bound to happen, even to the big boys, but so soon! According to a press release from Nikon UK (why just here?) Nikon will stop the production of all film based cameras and accessories, except for the F6 and the FM10 (only available outside Europe) and all large format lenses and enlarging lenses. There are also reports that all manual 35mm lens production will stop, but it does appear that some manual lenses will still be made namely: 20mm f/2.8, 24mm f/2.8, 28mm f/2.8, 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, 50mm f/1.4, 55mm (Micro-Nikkor) f/2.8, 105mm (Micro-Nikkor) f/2.8, and the 85mm Perspective Control Micro-Nikkor.

Importantly "after-sales service will continue to be provided", so hopefully that means that they will repair film-based equipment.

So does that mean that the value of my film equipment will go up or down?

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Nikon, photography

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T17:15:00.002Z

iTunes DJ

2005-11-08T04:18:00.000Z

At the launch of the Apple's iTunes Music Store (iTMS) in 2003, Steve Jobs said it would bring an end to the illegal downloading of music. Well it certainly has put a big dent in this "problem" and has put some extra pennies in the pockets of the poor downtrodden multi-national music companies, but one thing the music industry forgets is that the way we, the public, get to find great new music is by sharing. Just do this little test: the last album you bought from an artist that's new to your collection, where did you hear it first? I bet a friend lent it (even copied it) or played it to you! And if you really like this new great find you'll go out and buy everything else the artist has made (plus replacing the illegal copy) eventually. We love to share music, either as musicians or listeners: music is a social thing. So the attempt to DRM everything and stop us sharing music with our friends, will actually kill sales.

This is a problem that Robert Sharl & I have discussed on and off for a while now. There has been a move to mass journal-ism through blogging and the opportunity for any one to become a 'radio' journalist thanks to podcasting. What we think could replace P2P music file sharing is the opportunity for anyone to become a radio DJ and broadcast their own radio station.

iTunes, the most widely used computer based music player, already lets you share your library of music on your local network, and originally across the Internet - until the music industry complained. So why not have a version of iTunes in which you can create a streaming playlist with the opportunity to mix tracks and create your own intros & links - perhaps through integration with GarageBand. As this is really for sharing with your friends, then the number of concurrent users could be limited - upload bandwidth on most broadband connections would also be a limiting factor.

To stop the record industry from complaining that this is the same as P2P file sharing, this software should not be a free upgrade and should include a limited broadcast license fee that Apple could forward to the appropriate local authority or organisation that redistributes the monies collected to the artists - Apple already make payments to record companies for songs sold on iTMS . Playlist details can be gathered to aid the redistribution of the fees to the artists who's music has been played. If you are creating your own music and broadcasting it you could make money as well!

So. what does iTunes DJ do for the interested parties:

Anyone can creatively mix, programme and broadcast music.
Apple can monetize an upgrade path for a product that currently has no upgrade options.
A license fee (perhaps annually) will ensure that the songwriters and performers are duly compensated for the use of their work
This could be a easy route for unsigned individuals & bands to broadcast their own music.

As ever, the fly in the ointment will be the music executives of the large companies and what fee they will demand, but Apple is probably the only company that could convince them that this is a good idea.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Blogging, Digital Rights Management, Digital_rights_management, DRM, iTunes, music broadcasting, Podcasting, Apple

Excuse me my dear, but are you BLOTO tonight?

2005-11-04T15:21:00.000Z

BLOTO (Buying Loads of Tat Online), according to the experience experts at Conchango, is something that the British suffer from after partaking in a few too many G&Ts

“In the past, experts have said that consumers are often put off shopping online through security fears,” said Paul Dawson, head of customer experience at Conchango. “But it would appear that all caution is going out of the window following a drunken session.”

I wonder if this is from the personal experiences of Conchango staffers, they are experts after all - unfortunately there are no webcams on their site to prove it, or otherwise.

Bird 'flu can infect your computer!

2005-11-04T12:39:00.000Z

Sometimes a headline just catches your eye, and sense of humour. In Computer Weekly this week there's an 'in brief' article about a bird 'flu computer virus (a Trojan in this case). Could this be the first case of a virus mutating in to the virtual world? Could we see computer viruses jumping the technology/species boundary and infecting humans? Would geeks be more susceptible? Will NAV fit in a syringe? And would Mac users maintain their smug expression with their usual mantra - "PC viruses don't worry us".

p.s. I'm a Mac user - with anti-virus software of course!

And now for something completely different

2005-11-04T07:20:00.000Z

In an ever increasingly competitive digital compact camera market it is actually difficult to find something that stands out from the crowd. In the early days there were diverse and creative camera designs with differing feature sets. Now nearly every camera has a small maximum aperture 3x zoom, a high pixel count small CCD, colour fringing, barrelling & pincushioning, power-hungry extra-large LCDs, and ever-more bewildering menus. So it was nice to see Ricoh come up with a camera with a prime wide-angle lens and a commitment to image quality: the GR Digital.

When I moved from film to digital I tried to replicate my range of film cameras with digital equivalents and found it impossible to to replace my high quality compact - a Nikon 35Ti - with anything that approached its quality of image, build or usability. In the end I purchased a Fujifilm F810 as it gave me some control over exposure, but it never matched my Nikon D70 or my 35mm cameras for image quality.

At a similar time that Nikon was producing the 35Ti (& 28Ti) Ricoh launched their GR1 family, and with no compromise on image quality in such a small form-factor, this camera became a firm favourite with landscape & stock photographers. Now Ricoh have dared to stand out from the crowd and have launched a camera that hopefully will be a firm favourite again. The GR Digital has a similar look to the old 35mm film-based range, except for the usual rear LCD and controls we have come to expect from digital cameras.

What makes the GR Digital interesting is the newly designed fixed focal-length f=5.9mm (28mm on 35mm format equivalent) lens with a maximum aperture of F2.4. Of course it has the now obligatory 8+ megapixel CCD and a large LCD on the back. Ricoh state in their blurb that they have developed a completely new image processing system, which is about time too, as there previous engines have not been anywhere near best in class. One thing missing from this camera, like so many others at the moment, is an optical view finder, however there is an optional accessory view finder that can be attached to the accessory (hot)shoe, which is also a rare find on pocketable compact camera. Other useful features is a selectable 3:2 image ratio (the same as 35mm film & most DSLRs) and ultra-wide angle lens attachment (21mm equivalent - like the GR21), however this (as well as lens hood & filters) sits on the end of an extension tube which reduces the compact nature of the camera.

Other interesting features include:

RAW capture mode (Adobe's DNG format)
magnesium alloy body
7 blade aperture & a neutral density filter
DSLR-like twin input dials
Aperture priority and manual exposure modes
Ricoh's usual ultra-close macro mode

RAW file format is disappearing fast from compact cameras so it is nice to see it here. This helps to convince me that this camera is aimed at photographers that already own a DSLR and are looking for a carry everywhere compact - at last! Let's hope that the image quality (at all ISO speeds) holds up to the promise that the specifications tantalising dangle before us.

[update] There is a review of the GR Digital on Digicam Review.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Nikon, photography, Ricoh, technology

So many DSLRs you don't know what to do with them?

2005-10-30T23:29:00.000Z

How about converting a spare digital SLR for infrared photography!

For many years I've been dabbling with infrared (IR) sensitive film from all the manufactures (Kodak, Konica & Ilford[1]) with varying levels of success and often much frustration (until I purchased an excellent book by Hugh Milsom[2]). When I bought my Nikon D70 digital SLR I checked that it could take infrared images - I did know that CCD are sensitive to the infrared end of the spectrum, but I needed to be sure. On my first trip with my shiny new camera, to Sicily, I tried-out taking some infrared filtered images with some pleasing results but much frustration. Sure I could see if I was getting acceptable results on the spot - I still needed to bracket my exposures - but I still had to mount my camera on a tripod every time and the exposures, even in noon day sun, were too long: with Kodak Hi-speed IR film I was able to hand-hold in most sunny conditions. The problem was that digital camera manufacturers place a filter in front of their CCD to reduce the effect of infrared light, which is great for everyone except those who want to creatively use IR.

A couple of days ago I came across a tutorial on how to modify my D70 DSLR to shoot just IR. This looked scary and the disclaimer even more so, however Life Pixel will do the modifications for you. Basically the procedure is the replacement of the infrared reducing filter attached to the front of the CCD with a R72 infrared filter which will only let light of a wavelength greater than 720nm through, i.e. cuts pretty much all of the visible light out. The advantages of this are that it is possible to hand hold the camera again and composition is easy as there is no IR filter on the front of the lens. The downside is that I'll have a large collection of redundant and expensive filters. Now all I need is a spare DSLR!

Notes

[1] Kodak PROFESSIONAL High Speed Infrared Film (aka HIE); Konica Infrared 750 (a pdf technical spec sheet); Ilford SFX 200
[2] Milsom, H., 2001, Infra-Red Photography: A Complete Workshop Guide. Available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

The D200: how does it fit in Nikon's DSLR range?

2005-10-30T22:06:00.000Z

It looks likely that the much anticipated Nikon D200 digital SLR will be launched shortly from the plethora of images available from leaks - either semi-officially or by accident. Amongst all the excited (even hysterical) comparisons between it and the Canon 5D, even with few accurate details of the D200 available, there has been little consideration of how this camera fits into Nikon's range of DSLR.

Many commentators consider that the Nikon D70 DSLR is a semi-pro camera, and based on my experience with it, it can certainly produce very high quality results. However it is built around the body and camera feature set of what Nikon term as 'hobbyist' in their film-based SLR camera range. Then there is the D100 which is clearly long-in-the-tooth, has leached considerable sales to the D70s (due to better post-processing and a better price!), and which was the semi-pro camera, but still based upon a 'enthusiast's' body not a semi-pro. Of course there are the Pro bodies clearly aimed at ex-Olympic weightlifters.

Comparing Nikon's current range of film-based SLR cameras with there DSLRs then there is a gap - a F100 equivalent. I don't use my F100 much these days, but it is an excellent work-horse camera that has a great range of features covering a wide range of uses and has never let me down in 10 years. From what can be gleaned from the images of the D200 so far, it has many similarities to the F100: magnesium alloy body, possible weather sealing, a separate power grip that has controls for use in portrait orientation, and a very similar layout of controls.

With all the Nikon vs. Canon histrionics going on in the photographic message boards & blogs, few have noticed the clear ethos and strategies the two companies are taking. With the D200, Nikon have finally put the last product in their DSLR that matches their film-based SLR strategy (of many years): hobbyist (D50), enthusiast (D70s), semi-pro/pro (D200), professional (D2H, D2X). You may have noticed I've left out the D100, well I believe this model is somewhat an anachronism being surpassed by both model nominally below it and above it in the range, and therefore will be dropped. Of course, this is all speculation, but will I be buying a D200, probably.

Technorati Tags: photography, nikon, digital photography, technology