February 2010

Michael Zhang

A Day in the Life of New York City

The Sandpit is a beautiful short film by Sam O'Hare that shows New York City in miniature using a shallow depth-of-field. In an interview on Aero Film, O'Hare says,

Michael Zhang

Digital Cameras With Detached LCDs

We've been seeing this idea floating around in concept cameras and new camera accessories, so it might be a coming trend in digital photography: detached LCD screens.

Michael Zhang

UK Photographer Films Own Arrest

Last December an amateur photographer named Bob Patefield was in Accrington town center shooting photographs of the Christmas celebration when he and his friend were stopped by police for suspicious behavior. He and his friend refused to provide the police with personal details (since they were not obliged to), and were stopped a total of three times before Patefield was finally arrested. His friend complied, provided his personal information, and was released on the spot.

Michael Zhang

Happy 20th Birthday, Photoshop!

In 1987, a PhD student at the University of Michigan named Thomas Knoll wrote a program on his Macintosh to display images, and named it Display. His brother John Knoll, an employee at Industrial Light and Magic, convinced him to turn it into an image editor. Taking a break from school, he worked on the software with his brother for six months in 1988, and renamed it ImagePro. In September 1988, Adobe decided to license the software, now called Photoshop.

Michael Zhang

Taking Photos with Hand Gestures

SixthSense is a wearable gesture device being developed by PhD student Pranav Mistry at the MIT Media Lab that allows the wearer to interact with their environment, treating the real world as a computer display. The above video is of the demo that was given at TED that generated international attention. What we found interesting is how the device allows you to photograph with hand gestures (at 6m25s), and the ability to work with your images on any wall.

Michael Zhang

Collapsible Tent Pole Tripod by Tamrac

Here's a "carry around" tripod for your carry around lens and camera: The ZipShot is a "compact, ultra-light tripod" by Tamrac that has aluminum-alloy legs that resemble the collapsible poles used in tents. While it's not very useful in windy situations, or with heavy professional gear, it might suffice for most ordinary uses and lighter cameras (supposedly it can hold up to 3lb). The biggest benefits are obviously weight (11oz) and setup time.

Michael Zhang

A Shortener for… Your Photographs?

Liquid Scale is an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that offers content aware image resizing. What does that mean? Basically it's like a URL shortener for your photographs, reducing the dimensions of the photograph but retaining the meaning.

Michael Zhang

Uncle Jack Shot with a Pentax K-7

Pentax recently asked a couple production companies to shoot short films demonstrating the HD filming capabilities of the Pentax's flagship K-7. After the recent flurry of short films shot with Canon and Nikon DSLRs, it seems Pentax would like to remind us all that they're still in the game. The two films were recently released, and are titled "Uncle Jack" (embedded above) and "The Rider".