Posts Tagged ‘ tech

cameras + coins

summer is as summer does right. the time doesn’t just march during these warmer months but seems to have picked up from a mellow trot to a nice run to a full blown crazed neverending charge. hold on tight.

seems that technology is following the same path. lion is out + that rumored new phone complete with cloud support is on the way. always hear about the some geeks down at stanford or mit tweaking this setting or that but this is insane – post production focal point control. wondering how long until we simply wear cameras as the norm on jobs or even in life + then the work becomes the edit. when there’s auto edit, + i’m not talking animoto, then i’m outta this game for sure.

in the meantime, still working on eyes + boundaries. still following db cooper.

+ if that’s not enough star wars is now legal currency + sigur ros is making movies.

enjoy!

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TED + pdx

less then two weeks now until the sold out inaugural TEDPortland event. you can’t tickets anymore but if you’re around town next saturday it might be worth hanging around outside to see what you can pick up. can’t wait to hear what’s in store but even more excited to know that this should no doubt be a yearly event here.

+ with all that pdx has to offer in the way of ideas, creativity + downright zaniness it should only get richer in the future. definitely like to see more industrial design + architecture in future rounds.

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a few fine things

just for your liking…

a huge eyeful of amazing work with karin stack’s images + flipbook on her progress through chemotherapy.

inspiration via american masters on pbs.

the companion pbs app is great as well. just spent some time the other day checking out david pogue’s new show making stuff with my oldest boy + had fantastic geek time.

speaking of apps, wunderlist seems to be phenomenal. don’t waste your cash on things right now as the syncing here is much better + only looks to be growing.

which leads us to cloudapp, a stand along online sharing tool that fits nicely (+ is compatible) with wunderlist.

+ definitely take in jake shimabakuro’s work on his uke via ted.

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ahhh…. the japanese

明けましておめでとうございます = happy new year.

this is strange stuff optically + i’m interested in the repercussions down the road. optical camouflage via kinect by interactive designer takayuki fukatsu.

great photo project tokyo compression from hong kong based michael wolf. if you’ve ever had the joy of riding in tokyo at rush hour you might feel this a little deeper. unfortunately i had the pleasure a few years ago on my way back to tokyo from pataogonia headquarters south in kamakura. the stories are true. not as bad as it sounds or looks though. i mean, the first gentlemen is even sporting a smile.

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what i’ll be using visually in 2011

really like the way technology is developing in visual fields including search, capture + nearly every other area where it wasn’t a dominating method previously.

oSkope is an interesting search tool that needs some muscle but might come in useful.

flud is looking to be a dominating force in ’11 + i’m on board. still waiting for flipboard on iphone but in flud just might be the cure i’m looking for.

way into camera+ now too. for a mere $.99 tap tap has put together a powerful camera app for iphone that i’m spending too much time with already.

for variation of visual on your phone drop a few dimes on typedrawing + get busy. check out the best of the month for inspiration.

of course it’s all speculation but the soon to be released (april?) ipad 2 will undoubtedly continue apple’s success streak. never one to jump on first generations products i’m stoked to hear about this second generation market changer – front + rear facing cameras, smaller, lighter – everything a visual artist needs to put together a brilliant experience.

+ to really inspire, drop in on french director paul mignot’s mood collection, labeled by brain pickings as, “part photographic research project, part cultural anthropology of urban tenderness.”

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latest favorites

things have been ramping up lately as multiple projects are coming together at precisely the same time. which to be honest is not a bad way to live – i tend to thrive in the absolutely crazy stuff. summer’s finally arriving + our move to oregon full time will be wrapping up this month as will a brand spanking new hk website. in conjunction, have had numerous shoots lately (both still + video) + a plethora of to do’s + prep – pdn’s photo annual nyc rooftop party anyone?

the up tempo life will either make or break you in terms of focus + efficiency. here’s a few of my latest favs for streamlining everything i do in a day as well as a few for putting smiles on my face afterward.

creativestoryboard composer iphone app by cinemek – put together a whole scene the other day walking to the toyota dealer + was able to share with production help. fantastic.

videozoom’s h4n for solid sound in conjunction with movie slate.

workflow – import to fcp made easy(ier)… post haste

businesssquare. now we can all take payments anytime anywhere. bonus = we don’t have to face the credit card companies + their army of bloated fees. can’t wait to get mine.

webno, thank you.

photowhy not get it now. polaroid started it + though the game’s shifted a bit there are still plenty of options including the poladroid app for you desktop system.

music – the latest from bonobo, black sands, is worth sitting down with in a plush leather chair, a stiff drink + killer set of headphones. bar that, just put it on + soak it up.

radio – if you have time, this american life had a fun film related piece this last weekend titled “home movies“.

Home movies are often all the same

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lightroom 3 tethered

here’s a run through of the latest from adobe on the lightroom front. version 3 beta 2 came out a week ago + i took it for a test run on a shoot for top secret project called broken. adobe’s refined a handful of things with this beta + there’s something like 350,000 of us current users waiting for the real thing sometime this summer. among other features is a revamped tethering capability that is solid so far.

to get tethered shooting working you’ll need a few things:

first, make sure your camera’s compatible. the canon 5dII is good to go as are most recent bodies.

next you’ll need either a usb or firewire cable (should come with camera). at this time it doesn’t look like the wireless transmission units currently on market are compatible. i imagine this could change in the future.

then download lightroom 3 + it’s as easy as file/tethered capture/start tethered capture.

overall it couldn’t be smoother. granted i was working with a short cord + raw images + all was solid. i would definitely like a few more things, however;

the ability to have the raw images on both the card + the hard drive. better yet an option to toggle back + forth so that if you’re ever card free you could always shoot tethered. better workflow wise though to have all the images in one place. if you start tethered + then jump off you’ll have images in two different place but not in a completely redundant way.

like to see more options on the shoot bar within lightroom. great to see the camera controls + have a nice lg shutter but the horizontal bit takes too much room. i’d like to be able to opt for a vertical stack as well.

this would be brilliant for video as well. when’s that out adobe? you’ve gone far enough with this beta to include video import + metalogging into lightroom so how far off are we? be way smooth to pull a histogram up with live video while you have one subject interview another etc, without you even being in the same room. the day that comes around + works wirelessly i’ll be one happy puppy as canon already has video doable over their WFT-E4A.

if that isn’t enough of the future for you in one day, try this from the photoshop front or this from ol’ pogue himself on the iphone front.

and lastly, rip jim marshall

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canon 5D II update in their own words

while it’s one sweet update, there are a few things still on the radar for this workhorse of a still + video machine. here’s what i’ve picked up in a day of use under the latest update;

Note: Firmware v. 2.0.3 does not add the HD 1280×720 resolution option that is available in other EOS models, such as the EOS 7D and EOS-1D Mark IV, and likewise does not add the 60 fps and 50 fps settings in those cameras. (that’s slow mo if you’re not familiar)

While the menu display will show level meters for Left and Right stereo input, please note that this upgrade will not allow users to separately adjust L/R stereo balance. There is one main manual adjustment for audio recording level only.

and a few quirks that you might have missed in the hurry to update;

Shutter-priority (Tv mode): Selecting Tv (‘time value’ or shutter priority) on the camera

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i predict the future

in a bold bit about the changing of the guard, there are at least three things that i see coming. actually one already has to some extent + i’ll bring up more then three but as i had another major prediction come to fruition this past week better put a hold on the doubt.

1. the three elements we have as for control as photographers + filmmakers have always been aperture, shutter speed + iso. can’t do much with the first two in most situations but i’ve always wondered what happens when we blow the roof off of iso limitations (this is the one i was saying was already on the table). to some extent it’s not really future but now. nikon + canon, among others, have especially has pushed up to what, 12,800 most recently with readings depending on how you measure over six figures. that’s not iso that’s some poor wall street salary. the crazy thing being it’s only bettering exponentially.

what i see this doing is really altering the way we collectively shoot in many environments. dark + you’ve got this thing with depth of field, now it’s doable. hate the blur? game over. i’m not saying this is happening overnight but i know i can’t wait to really use iso variations in my work. think about the days shooting film – how many of you actually used to use that funky film puller to extract a role midstream ’cause you were heading inside (or vice versa)? (that’s it below in case you never had the pleasure.)

Screen shot 2010-02-26 at 10.33.28 AM

2. the altering + increasing tech assistance working with imagery will forever change the way we compose as well as the final product. like something out of csi or whatever the latest tech oriented crime drama maybe here’s a very real, though not photo specific, example via wired. this idea of compressed sensing could vastly change the landscape of storage + battery life for us. if the industry starts to see, “instead of steadily improving compression algorithms …steadily improving decompression algorithms that reconstruct the original image more and more faithfully from the stored data”, well then, hell, the future has arrived.

Screen shot 2010-02-26 at 10.27.45 AM

i’ve also read about researchers + uber geeks playing with computer technology that could lead to variable focus done in post production. the two together make you wonder how long craft will be involved with visual media.

3. i claim no brain power on this this last one but picked it up somewhere along the way from a communciation among shooters on what the future holds some time ago. the actual opinion (if this is yours feel free to claim) was that images would be wirelessly transmitted (i’m down with that) via satellite (ok) directly to editors anywhere in the cubicle world (have to try this to believe).

that said, i do see the bottle neck of transmission + after the fact editing losing ground quickly to the efficiency of technology. while eye fi may be a good start, it’s just that – a start.

so give it some time + we’ll see if i need to head to vegas at some point down the road. you’ve got better predictions?

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workflow + tools

new tools are refining our workflow, from camera to output, like never before. on a near daily basis there’s great new ideas to test + possibly put into place. that’s not to say that everything i like is adopted immediately or even at all but you’ve got to stay on top of anything that propels your work. it’s not about having the latest but possessing the tools + knowledge to put your vision into reality.

inklet is proving to be a super cool idea though i’m waiting for it to expand a bit before diving in. price looks right + the maker seems dialed into what we’re after so let me know if you grab one.

google is always throwing a wrench in tech plans so never count them out. though still in beta you can ask for an invite for their retooled phone service (they bought out a working company awhile back) that promises to ring all your phones at once, email text versions of your messages to you, allow conference calls + for the spy in us all even record calls.

the other side of the adding new equipment conundrum is simply making better use of what you have. one nearly universal application here is lightroom. not only is the ver 3 beta out now with some fluid additions + changes but you can also retool your workflow with tools that are in place now. here’s a great example via the guys at the lightroom lab on keywording.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Keyword Sets from David Marx on Vimeo.

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