Same Hill, Different Day is a series of project by Chicago-based photographer Paul Octavious in which he documents the life of a single hill in Chicago:

Octavious tells us,

When I first started photographed the hill there was no intent to photograph it for as long as I have been doing it. My weekly walks would always lend it self to being on the path the hill was located on.

There was something so intriguing about how the locals would interact with it. I soon realized thats the hill was stage and the locals the actors in this on going play, that’s when I fell in love.

To see more photographs from this project, check out his website.

Image credits: Photographs by Paul Octavious and used with permission

In addition to Content Aware Fill, Puppet Warp is another powerful feature to be included in Adobe’s upcoming Photoshop CS5.

In this demo, it’s used on a layer containing a wooden mannequin, allowing the limbs to be manipulated as you would be able to do in real life prior to photographing it. The feature is then applied to rope, digitally tying it into a knot, and finally to fix distortion in a multi-photo panorama.

While this feature isn’t as mind-boggling as Content Aware Fill, it’s definitely something those of you excited about CS5 can look forward to.

Ronen Goldman is a photographer based in Tel Aviv, Israel who specializes in surreal “dream” photography:

Goldman tells us,

I have no formal photography education, I’m actually a trained Scriptwriter that got tired of writing scripts and discovered a passion for making images that tell stories. I find the medium to be a lot quicker and easier for me to communicate, with it being a universal language, people can understand whether they are old or young.

The great thing about photography in my opinion is the learning curve — its never ending. There are always new techniques and views to develop and master and as a photographer you are forever a student, which in my opinion is a great place to be.

I have always been attracted to the Surreal movement, be it Magritte, Dali, Yves Tanguy Andre Breton or Man Ray, I love the idea of creating art that comes from the unconscious realms of the mind, feelings that cannot really be explained or articulated. The feeling you get from a dream you had that fills you up with happiness or sorrow, even when you cant really explain what you have experienced to anyone, no matter how much detail you give of the dream you had.

I hope those elusive feelings are somehow conveyed through the imagery i create.

To see more of Goldman’s work check out his website.

Image credits: Photographs by Ronen Goldman and used with permission

Adobe is working on a new feature for Photoshop called “Content Aware Fill”, and posted a mind-boggling demonstration of it on YouTube. The description states:

One of the biggest requests we get of Photoshop is to make adding, removing, moving or repairing items faster and more seamless. From retouching to completely reimagining an image, heres an early glimpse of what could happen in the future when you press the delete key.

Basically it allows you to alter or create reality in photographs as easily as selecting an area and running the feature. Gone will be the days when photojournalists are caught with embarrassing patterns created by improperly using the stamp tool. The demonstration is so amazing that many commenters are saying it’s fake, going as far as to say it looks… “photoshopped”?

What do you think of this feature and the sneak peek? Is it too good to be true, or will it change the way we think about photography forever?

(via PopPhoto)

If you’ve ever tried photographing a dog or cat, you probably know how difficult it can be to take a sharp photo while it’s looking at you. My friend’s dog (a pomeranian) is actually scared of my camera, and shies away when the DSLR is pointed at him.

FujiFilm’s new Finepix Z700 aims to make pet photographs easier by being the first camera to offer facial recognition for dogs and cats, and can automatically snap photographs for you when the pet is looking at the camera.

However, the technology is still pretty young, and has a ways to go before it rivals human facial recognition, which itself is ocassionally buggy.

For example, the camera has difficulty detecting pets that don’t stay still, and though it can detect up to 10 pet faces at once, it can’t handle a mix of dogs and cats. The subjects need to be either all dogs, or all cats.

Furthermore, some breeds of dogs (and maybe cats too?) can have pretty strange looking faces. The camera can’t handle those. FujiFilm even has a dedicated webpage listing the breeds of dogs and cats that the feature can usually detect, and includes sample images:

As you can see, you need to have a fairly… generic looking dog or cat if you want to detect its face.

Pets that cannot be easily detected include those that have: dark patches around the eyes or nose, too dark of a color, wrinkled/long/thin faces, or hair covering the eyes.

We’re guessing something like this will stump the camera:

Perhaps we should have titled this post, “Facial Recognition for Cute and Generic Looking Dogs and Cats”.

(via PC World)

Image credit: Castle Combe by Karen Roe

Vans and the places where they were is an ongoing project started in 1996 by Joe Stevens, a filmmaker and photographer based in New York City.

Joe tells us,

This project examines the juxtaposition between the van’s aesthetic and that of the surrounding architectural and natural elements, and asks us to consider whether that has occurred consciously, subconsciously or as a result of pure chance. Sometimes I am drawn to situations which suggest that perhaps the driver chose this arrangement on purpose or it seems as if the van may have somehow chosen the arrangement itself. I am also drawn to instances where the arrangement creates conflict.

I suppose the answer will come with each individual’s reading of the images. Clearly there is pride which comes with owning something which is unusual and one of the last of its kind. In cases where the vehicle has been customized by the owner it presents a glimpse into that individual’s personality and evidence of the human compulsion to turn something which was stamped out on an assembly line into something which is more strongly indicative who we are. Whether or not we might describe it as such, each of us makes hundreds of art-direction choices every day. This project asks whether something as seemingly mundane as choosing a parking spot is actually one of them.

You can view more photographs from this project here.

Image credits: Photographs by Joe Stevens and used with permission.

We came across some work by Maciej Leszczynski the other day, and wanted to share it with all of you. We’ll let the photographs speak for themselves.

Leszczynski tells us,

Born 1986, I’m Polish, actually live in Sopot at Baltic coast. I’m biologist and self-taught photographer. I specialize in black & white photography, but sometimes I love capture in color as well. I’m trying to create simple, peace, balanced images where pure form, harmony and composition are essential. To achieve these I’m frequently using long exposure technique.

Visit his website to see more of his work.

Samsung recently announced five new digital cameras due for release sometime in February. Two of these cameras, the ST60 and ST70, have a pretty interesting and unique digital effect mode called DeFog Clear/Fog Lifting that the company claims “cuts through the haze to take clear photos”.

While there’s no sample images or additional information on how this fog-elimination is done, our guess is that rather than utilizing some super-sophisticated technological mojo, the camera will simply increase blacks, contrast, and clarity, much like we’ve done in this example:

This is pretty relevant to the poll, “Should Digital Cameras Go the Way of Cell Phones?“, we just posted today. If digital cameras were like the iPhone or Android OS, a developer could make this “fog-killing” feature really easily without it being announced as a special feature by a camera maker.

(via Photo Rumors)

Image credit: Lonely Birthday by cindy47452

This interesting collection of images by Indonesian artist Agan Harahap, titled “Super Hero”, features famous superheroes (and villains) inserted into iconic war photographs.

Though it’s not “photography” per se, we found this set of images quite amusing.

Here’s his statement on the work:

Have you ever wondered what life would have been like if Superheroes and Villains actually existed? For the most part, all we can do is ponder the infinite possibilities, often courtesy of video games, books, television, movies and, most importantly, our very own imagination.

Agan Harahap, a photographer and illustrator from Jakarta, Indonesia, has taken the concept of Superheroes and brought them into a pseudo-reality. By incorporating infamous characters into iconic World War II photographs, Harahap has managed to blur the lines between fiction and truth. In so doing, he has managed to merge the fantastically impossible with our past physical existence, in order to create a Superhero adorned alternate reality.

Harahap’s latest collection, aptly titled ‘Super Hero’, consists of memorable political and wartime scenes from the mid-20th century, but with one difference: the inclusion of notable Superheroes (or Villains?). This extraordinary combination is a true juxtaposition in effect.

For the rest of the images in this collection, check out the SUPER HERO Flickr set.

Image credits: All images by Agan Harahap and used with permission.

According to a patent filed in June 2007, Nikon is looking into adding an email client directly into their point-and-shoot cameras (DSLR users can breathe a sigh of relief). This would allow people to quickly email photographs from their cameras, rather than have to transfer them to a computer first.

Obviously this is being done more and more these days through the use of cameraphones, and having email capabilities in a camera might not be very useful unless the camera can access the Internet from anywhere. However, email capabilities would be extremely useful on a trip if you don’t have your laptop with you.

What do you think of this idea? Do point-and-shoot cameras need email?

(via Nikon Rumors)