Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Apple Security Update 2007-001 released: Addresses QuickTime RTSP flaw: "Apple has released Security Update 2007-001 in both a Mac OS X 10.4.8 edition and a " (Via MacFixIt.) 6:28:13 AM

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

New Gitzo Tripods for 2007: "The very first PhotoTip article I wrote here at Earthbound Light back in October of 2001 was about using a tripod. I like tripods. So I've been quite interested in the recent introduction of Gtizo's new 6X carbon fiber models...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 4:43:41 PM

The Freedom to Make Mistakes: "Back in the heyday of film, photographer Freeman Patterson famously said that '36 satisfactory exposures on a roll mean a photographer is not trying anything new.' An analogous observation could be made of the digital shooter who doesn't end up with any shots that don't work out. In order to grow as a photographer, you have to be willing to try new things. In order to be at ease with trying new things, you have to allow yourself the freedom to make mistakes...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 4:43:09 PM

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Found Footage: iPod Panorama: " I stumbled across this video on YouTube, which shows a cool panoramic scrolling effect on an iPod. It comes from website Ben+Marc, which offers a complete write up on how they created the effect. They set up a camera on a tripod and took a series of pictures, snapping each one with about a 5 to 10% overlap to build a 360-degree revolution. After, on their computer, they edited the photos to create the near-seamless joins. Cool stuff. Enjoy the video." (Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.) 7:23:28 PM

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Just posted! Nikon D40 review: "Just posted! Our detailed in-depth review of Nikon's new entry level digital SLR, the D40. Announced just about three weeks ago the D40 generated a lot of interest, it's the smallest and lightest Nikon digital SLR not to say also the most affordable. It may not have as wider feature set as its bigger brother the D80 but then also isn't aimed at the same audience. See how the D40 shaped up and how it compared in our review." (Via Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com).) 7:58:02 AM

Using Zoomify to display big pictures on the Web: "One of the secondary features in the Photoshop CS3 beta that's of interest to us is the new Zoomify exporter, because it makes light work of presenting high-resolution photos in a web browser." (Via Rob Galbraith DPI.) 7:51:28 AM

Update: RealViz Stitcher Unlimited 5.5.2: "RealViz' panorama software adds export of projects in Flash 9 and Java, using ImmerVision's PURE Player, as well as improved stitching of fisheye images." (Via MacInTouch.) 7:50:14 AM

Friday, November 24, 2006

Nikon D40 Review at ePhotoZine: "ePhotoZine have published their review of the new Nikon D40 entry level DSLR camera." (Via PhotographyBLOG.) 7:10:34 AM

Another Photoshop Masking Technique: Luminosity Masking: "Last week, we looked at a Photoshop equivalent of the traditional darkroom technique known as contrast masking. This week, we'll look at a similar Photoshop masking technique known as luminosity masking...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 7:09:24 AM

REALVIZ Stitcher 5.5 Unlimited DS: "REALVIZ announces the availability of Stitcher Unlimited 5.5 DS ('Double Shot'), which offers the ability to automatically stitch 2-shot fisheye photos." (Via PhotographyBLOG.) 7:04:45 AM

Friday, November 17, 2006

Nikon D40, hands-on preview: "As we knew all along the leaks were fairly accurate, Nikon has today announced the six megapixel, compact, 'entry level' D40 digital SLR. This new digital SLR loses some of the D50's features but gains some new ones from the D80. Headline details are a new Multi-CAM530 three area AF sensor, 3D Color Matrix Metering II, custom Auto ISO (same as D80), 2.5 fps continuous shooting, no status LCD and in-camera retouching. The D40 also has lots of nice user interface touches designed to make using the camera an easier experience for first time users. We have a production D40 and have produced a detailed hands-on preview in anticipation of a full review in the next few weeks." (Via Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com).) 6:31:03 AM

Thursday, November 16, 2006

New Adobe Kuler is cool: "So I know I teased about it yesterday, but tease no more -- it's here and out in the open. Adobe kuler is a Flash-based app and runs in your browser. It's actually based on Flash 9 and ActionScript 3, so you'll need to download the latest Flash Player to use it (you'll be prompted to do so when you enter the site, if necessary). Kuler is a project of Adobe Labs (meaning that technically, it's in beta form), but most importantly, it's fun, free, and fabulous. Use kuler to find the perfect set of colors to use for any project. The user interface is pretty cool, and allows you to quickly choose a variety of "rules" such as analogous, monochromatic, complementary, etc. ...Since kuler is an online community, you can publish your colors so that others can see and use them. And you can rate the color palettes that people choose just like you can rate your own songs in iTunes. That means you can quickly see what the most popular colors are, which ones are rated the highest, or which ones have been recently added. You can find Adobe kuler at http://kuler.adobe.com. (Via Real World Illustrator.) 7:31:39 AM

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

VR Cures Amputees' Phantom Limb Pain: "An anonymous reader writes, 'Scientists have developed a virtual world like Second Life where real-life amputees have their limbs restored. The experience can cure patients of the perception of pain in their missing limbs. From the article: 'The machine is designed to combat phantom limb pain (PLP) — a sensation of pain experienced by an amputee that appears to originate in the missing limb. Intriguingly, researchers have discovered that if a person's brain can be tricked into believing they can see and move a 'phantom limb,' this motion reduces the perception of pain in PLP.' The graphics used by the computer look very crude, almost comically so, but apparently the system works.' " (Via Slashdot.) 7:11:27 AM

Contrast Masking in Photoshop: "Contrast masking is a traditional 'wet' darkroom technique used to help bring the contrast range of a film image into line with what can be printed on paper. A black and white negative is made from the original positive slide and sandwiched together with it for printing. The negative will be darker in areas that are lighter in the slide and lighter in shadow areas. When combined, the result will add density to the slide proportional to the brightness of each part of the original. Digital darkroom techniques allow us to achieve a similar effect and much more...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 7:09:48 AM

Friday, November 3, 2006

8.6 gigapixel stitched photograph of Italian fresco revealed: "HAL9000, an Italian group that specializes in art restoration, preservation and high-resolution art photography, has posted an 8.6 gigapixel stitched image of a 35-foot-wide fresco. The 1145 frames that went into producing the final image were shot with a Nikon D2X and Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED AF VR." (Via Rob Galbraith DPI.) 7:40:36 AM

REALVIZ announces VTour 1.1: "REALVIZ today announced the availability of VTour for Mac 1.1..." (Via MacMinute.) 7:39:29 AM

Just What is a "Digital Lens"?: "OK. So you've sold your old film body and bought a new digital SLR. What about your lenses? If you've looked into the subject at all, you've undoubtedly noticed that more and more lenses are being marketed as being 'designed for digital.' This week we'll take a look at just what this means and whether you should care...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 7:39:20 AM

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

News: PangeaVR browser plug-in goes Universal: "PangeaVR -- a browser plug-in that accelerates the display of QuickTIme VR panoramas -- has been updated as a Universal binary." (Via MacCentral.) 6:18:58 AM

DAZ 3D Releases Bryce 6: "The principal new features in Bryce 6 include Advanced Terrain Editing via customizable image-based brushes, and higher-quality renders thanks to Image Based Lighting (IBL) with support for High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI)." (Via Graphics.com.) 6:18:36 AM

Friday, October 20, 2006

Bill Atkinson Describes Dust Mapping with the ExpoDisc: "Yes, the ExpoDisc works great in odd lighting situations to help you capture accurate color and clean whites. But you can also use this photo accessory for identifying color shifts across your sensor array and for creating a dust map for auto retouching. Check out this video where color expert Bill Atkinson explains additional uses for the ExpoDisc." (Via O'Reilly Network Articles and Weblogs: Derrick Story.) 6:28:23 AM

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

When to Change Epson Inkjet Cartridges: "The ink light on the front of your Epson inkjet photo printer is blinking. The Status Monitor has an annoying warning symbol on it. What's a photographer in his digital darkroom to do?...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 6:53:58 AM

Photomatix HDR Tone Mapping Plug-in: "The 32-bit HDR (High Dynamic Range) feature released as part of Photoshop CS2 has the potential to allow photographers improved access to the wide range of tonality present in nature, but the tools needed to map the resulting files into something that can be displayed in print or on a monitor remain somewhat primitive. While I expect this situation to improve in future releases of Photoshop, users don't need to wait for Adobe...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 6:53:47 AM

Thursday, October 5, 2006

Nikon releases new firmware for the D2X, D2Hs and D200: "The promised fall firmware updates for the Nikon D2X, D2Hs and D200 are beginning to appear on Nikon servers. Changes in the D2X and D2Hs firmware bridge some of the functionality gap between these cameras and the D2Xs, while the new firmware for the D200 introduces support for image authentication as well as Wireless Transmitter WT-3/WT-3A." (Via Rob Galbraith DPI.) 7:28:25 AM

Apple may add Google integration to iPhoto: "Some poking and prying through the software resources of Apple Computer's latest iPhoto update has turned up evidence that company may soon offer users a new feature tie-in with Google's map services. As discovered by a MacTelChat forum poster, th... " (Via AppleInsider.) 7:27:48 AM

Dealing with Untagged RGB Files: "'Untagged RGB' isn't just another color space. Indeed, it's the lack of one. A file that isn't tagged as being in any specific color space still has red, green and blue values for each pixel of course, it's just that a program reading it doesn't have any way to know what those numbers mean...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 7:23:01 AM

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

"We're in an era of transition in the way that we manage digital photographs. A year ago, we were mostly stuck with the filesystem and tools that built on top of it. That experience sucked. Enormous books were written about Digital Asset Management (DAM) with Photoshop. We all suffered. Some of us knew there had to be a better way. But, even though there were other alternatives to the Photoshop/Bridge/Filesystem method, nothing quite worked right. Not even close." via Duncan Davidson 7:30:57 AM

Surprise! QuickTime 7.1.3 Disables its Own Flash Support: " Sounds like some developers’ phones started ringing on Tuesday night. Not because of iTunes 7, but because of QuickTime 7.1.3 and some surprise breakage. QuickTime has long supported Flash as a media type inside of QuickTime movies, equivalent to video, audio, text, sprites, etc. Some people create QuickTime movies with embedded Flash animations, others use Flash to provide interactivity to QuickTime movies (since Flash has rich support for interactivity and the state of a Flash track’s variables can be accessed by host applications). Only downside is that QuickTime’s support has generally been at least one version behind, so it’s possible to find Flash content in the wild that QuickTime will try, but fail, to play. So, QuickTime 7.1.3… you know, the one you hastily downloaded so you could watch The Incredibles at the iTunes store… disables Flash support within QuickTime by default. A terse statement from Apple says: The version of Flash that ships in QuickTime is older than the version available from Adobe and used in Safari, therefore, while we still ship Flash with QuickTime, it is turned off by default. This was a pretty unpleasant surprise to developers whose applications or sites depend on the QuickTime/Flash integration. On quicktime-api, Henry Martin writes: We are writing an application which produces QuickTime movies with embedded Flash animations. They must play properly for anyone with QuickTime installed. If I understand correctly, QuickTime 7.1.3 will not allow this behavior unless the user modifies their preference settings. Meanwhile, Michael Diehr speculates as to the bigger picture. I think at this point, it is incumbent on Apple to give us a straight answer about what is going on with Flash under QuickTime. For several years there were constant (slow) updates — QT 5 supported Flash 4, QT 6 supported flash 5, etc. For several years now it’s been stuck. And now this. One could speculate that Apple has decided to drop Flash support under QuickTime altogether. Scott Kevill of GameRanger Technologies is plain ol’ ticked off: Whose brilliant idea was this? And why wasn’t there any advance notice for this arbitrary decision? My product must play pre-supplied Flash 5 movie files with QuickTime, and the QT 7.1.3 update just broke that. How do I override this for my application only (or globally)? Telling my users to enable Flash manually is NOT an acceptable option. And on quicktime-users, Milton Aupperle thinks it’s the end: On ‘other’’ QT lists, Apple is saying nothing about it, so it’s a pretty safe assumption they don’t really care what any Developer thinks. My guess is they want out of supporting the interactive market and have decided this is the best way to get everyone to switch to Flash - sort of like they did with SMIL, QuickDraw 3D, Sprites and other technologies they’ve dumped. " (Via MacDevCenter.com.) 7:22:11 AM

Apple's newest director, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, stressed his personal commitment to the company in an interview with Time Magazine. He explains: "Apple is an innovator in its own space. Apple is engaged in probably the most remarkable second act ever seen in technology." via MacWorld UK 7:18:39 AM

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Aperture 1.5, due out "this week," is all about workflow: "Apple Aperture 1.5 for Mac, due out as a free update in the next few days, is all about workflow. Based on glimpses of the new release today at a packed Apple presentation in Cologne, Germany, v1.5 appears to be a significant update to the pro photo management application that made its debut in the fall of 2005. We have words and pictures from the event." (Via Rob Galbraith DPI.) 6:56:50 AM

Monday, September 25, 2006

Photographing Fall Colors: "This weekend is the autumnal equinox, the time of year when the days have grown shorter and are now of equal length with the nights. It's also the time of year when one has to accept that summer is over and fall has arrived. But while the alpine wildflowers may be gone for another year, fall photography opportunities can be just as rewarding. With fewer hours of daylight, the decrease in chlorophyll production in the leaves of many plants triggers the annual show of fall colors. If you are looking to improve your fall foliage pictures, here are a few things to keep in mind...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 7:24:12 AM

Just posted! Nikon D80 Review: "Just posted! Our in-depth review of Nikon's sub-$1000 ten megapixel D80 digital SLR. Announced and previewed just last month this is the second of our 'Photokina reviews' (the first being the Panasonic DMC-FZ50). The D80 takes the D70 to the next level with a smaller body which doesn't compromise on comfort or ergonomics, a wide ranging feature set and range of customization options, fast performance and above all great image quality. As you can probably tell we liked the D80, so dive in to our 30 page review for all the detail and how it shaped up to the competition." (Via Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com).) 7:24:06 AM

Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel SLR Camera Review at the Digital Picture: "The Digital Picture (my favorite Canon review site) reviews the Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel SLR where they write - 'If you want a big step up in capabilities from a prosumer point & shoot camera, the 400D/Rebel XTi will be an excellent choice. This may be the right time for original Canon 300D Digital Rebel users to make a jump as well - The Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel XTi's features and image quality improvements are definitely significant enough..." (Via Digital Photography Blog.) 7:24:00 AM

Thursday, September 21, 2006

New Zeiss lenses for Nikon revealed: "Zeiss has published a web page that looks like it's possibly still under construction which reveals three new ZF-series lenses for Nikon cameras, and confirms the 35mm f/2.0 lens that was inadvertently leaked earlier this month. The three new optics are a 25mm f/2.8 Distagon, a 50mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar, and a 100mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar." (Via Rob Galbraith DPI.) 7:06:48 AM

The Monitor Color Temperature Question: "Last week, we looked at the question of choosing the appropriate gamma value to use when calibrating your monitor. This week, it's time to consider color temperature...." (Via Earthbound Light Photography Tips.) 7:05:43 AM

470 Megapixel Seitz Roundshot D3: "The new rotating Roundshot D3 digital camera with its D3 digital back is equipped with the first high-speed scanning sensor developed specifically for photography." (Via PhotographyBLOG.) 7:04:11 AM

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Photomatix 2 Creates High Dynamic Range Photos Without Pain "High Dynamic Range (HDR) photographs are photos that cannot be taken using a camera. HDR images require software and at least two photographs taken with different exposure settings. If your camera has exposure bracketing --and most SLRs do-- you can also create HDR images. In Photoshop the task is relatively easy, with a command sitting under the File > Automate menu, but there's no control over the output, except perhaps for the white point adjustment. Photomatix 2 is an application specifically tailored to creating HDR images, and more." via IT Enquirer 6:56:48 AM

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Zooomr launches way cool photo "portal" feature "This is even cooler than the faux-3D images that PictureCloud makes: Photo site Zooomr has a new feature that lets you put "portals" into photos. Portals are clickable zones that link photos together. For example, if there's a picture of a house, you can make the door into a Zooomr portal, and link it a picture of the inside of the house. ... Since Zooomr already makes it easy to geotag photos, it should be easy to find images to make complex collections of portalized photos, for example of popular tourist attractions." http://news.com.com/2061-12572_3-6108175.html 7:03:40 AM

National Geographic publishes The complete guide to Digital Photography: "For confused consumers National Geographic’s Digital Photography Guide is the answer, with a complete in depth view of everything from taking the perfect photo to using your computer as a fully functional Digital Darkroom." (Via Digital Photography Now.) 6:22:11 AM

QuickTime 7.1.3 released; Flash caveat; Security Enhancements: "As is generally the case with major multimedia application revisions, Apple has had to update QuickTime in order to support the enhancements made in iTunes 7.0. " (Via MacFixIt.) 6:16:37 AM

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

News: Stone releases new versions of video, imaging apps: "Stone Design has released new versions of Videator, its video processing application, and Imaginator, its image and photo processing application. Both now feature 'Sub Effects' support and other capabilities. " (Via MacCentral.) 6:37:22 AM

A new generation of the KARLINE rodeon modular VR head is now available which provides: • KARLINE rodeon modular + Panorama Calculator + Realviz Stitcher Unlimited together enable an automatic workflow • Bluetooth connection up to 100 meters + camera W-LAN make data communication without any cable possible The panoramic equipment is made in Germany, while the Panorama Calculator is Swiss made. 6:29:59 AM

Redbug releases Mapwing Creator 1.0: "Redbug Technologies has released Mapwing Creator 1.0 along with an update to Mapwing Creator Pro. Mapwing Creator is an application designed to make it easy for users to create, share, and view virtual reality tours. The tours can be created using existing (or new) digital photographs: the application takes the input data and creates a Web-based tour using Adobe's Flash technology (can be distributed over the internet, CD, etc.)" (Via The Macintosh News Network.) 6:25:43 AM

Monday, September 11, 2006

A Look at... High Dynamic Range Photography and Photomatix Pro Software http://www.applelust.com/reviews/archives/photomatixpro/ 6:46:00 AM

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