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Posts Tagged ‘History’

A photo history quiz tests the impact of color on guessing when images were captured

29 Oct

Does how we place an image in history depend upon its presentation? A new quiz (and experiment) by Matt Daniels and Jan Diehm aims to test this question. The quiz, published on The Pudding, shows users a series of five images captured in the United States during the last century and asks you to estimate the year the photo was taken.

We recommend taking the quiz before reading the rest of this article to preserve the integrity of the data results.

The quiz shows some images in color, and others in black and white. In some cases, the black and white image has been digitally altered from its original color presentation. Daniels and Diehm want to know if users estimate the age of the same image in black and white as being older than that image in color.

The pair were inspired to construct the experiment after reading this tweet from Hannah Beachler, Academy Award Winning production designer. In her tweet, Beachler shared a series of color photos from the Civil Rights movement and posited that showing this important period in American History as digitally altered black and white images leads people to believe it took place longer ago than it did, which may very well impact the general societal conception of the movement, particularly among a younger generation.

Daniels and Diehm write, ‘How we view history is largely defined by the aesthetics we associate with each period. When you were dating the photos, you probably looked for context clues — what people were wearing, if there were any familiar buildings, and if you recognized any faces. You were probably also looking at color…we wanted to test how color does or does not warp our perception of time.’

On the results page, you see the five photos you were shown again, this time with the color original and black and white versions. You then see how your guess compares against the average guesses for both the color and black and white versions. For example, one of the images I was shown in color was captured in 1987. In this case, users shown the same photo in black and white guessed that it is seven years older than it is. This same gap was present in another photo I was shown in color.

You can also view an additional series of images others saw when they took the quiz. In some cases, users guessed that the black and white versions were upwards of 14 years older than the same image in color. In the case of every image, participants guessed that the black and white version was older.

The photo, typically visible to the left in color (top) and black and white (bottom) has been removed. Here we can see that the average guess when presented the black and white version of the image is seven years older than the same image in color. While the difference varies, this pattern is consistent.

Color photography has been around for a long time, since the 19th century in fact, but its mainstream adoption lagged far behind for decades. While The Milwaukee Journal first printed a color image in 1891, many newspapers were very slow to follow suit. Even in 1993, when The New York Times wrote ‘newspapers’ adoption of color nearly complete,’ there were still newspapers in North America printing exclusively in black and white.

Given the results of the quiz, it appears that the presentation of an image does impact how users place the photograph in historical context. Further study, repeated testing and peer review are needed to produce definitive conclusions, but Daniels and Diehm intend to build analysis in the future.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: The history of cameras in space and how iconic space photos were captured

10 Oct

Astronauts have been taking cameras into space Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov orbited the Earth aboard the Vostok 2 in 1961. Since then, astronauts have used cameras to capture some of the most iconic photos of space exploration and created important memories for countless people back on terra firma.

As Scott Manley points out in his new video, How Astronauts Captured Iconic Space Photos – A History of Cameras in Space, although cameras are often modified for space flight, not every camera has been special. In fact, John Glenn bought a standard Ansco Autoset camera on his own, likely to avoid delays if he had gone through the standard government acquisitions process. NASA engineers modified the camera to make it easier to use while in space, including the addition of a pistol grip and an additional viewfinder that could be used with the suit helmet closed. You can learn more about Glenn’s Ansco Autoset in this article from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. A second camera on board Glenn’s first orbital flight was a special Leica camera which had been modified to capture wide-spectrum images of stars.

Walter Schirra, pictured above second from the left, took a Hasselblad 500C camera aboard the Mercury Sigma-7 spacecraft. Schirra was a photography enthusiast himself and had asked professional photographers who had been following the space program for advice. On their advice, Schirra purchased the medium format Hasselblad and after it was modified for improved usability and performance, he used it to capture images during six orbits of Earth. The resulting images were very detailed and as Manley says in the video below, established a new standard for images captured in space.

Schirra’s Hasselblad camera was later used in the final Mercury mission by Gordon Cooper and was eventually sold at auction for $ 275,000 USD. If you would like to own a working replica of this same Hasselblad, Cole Rise makes replicas of space cameras, including the Hasselblad 500C. You can learn more about Rise’s cameras at Space Camera Co.

Thanks in large part to Schirra’s photography in space, Hasselblad cameras became important cargo aboard subsequent space exploration missions as part of the Gemini and Apollo missions. Hasselblad cameras were used outside of spacecraft as well, capturing many iconic images. One of these iconic images was of Edward White during his spacewalk in 1965. By this point, Hasselblad had begun working directly with NASA to develop cameras for space and had outfitted NASA with a custom-built Hasselblad 500EL data camera, complete with a silver finish for thermal control, special low-distortion lens and Reseau plate.

This custom-build Hasselblad data camera was used on Apollo 8, 9, 10 and 11 missions. Image credit: Hasselblad

Hasselblad has an informative website dedicated to its history in space, it is well worth checking out.

Near the end of the Apollo program, Nikon began working work NASA to outfit astronauts with customized 35mm SLR cameras. Nikon cameras are still used in space to this day. Some of the modifications made to make Nikon cameras suitable for space include different soldering standards, vacuum-safe lubricants and a more robust metal construction. You can learn more about Nikon’s history, including the use of its cameras in space, by clicking here. Manley also references Timm Chapman, a photographer who owns many Nikon space cameras. Chapman has written extensively about Nikon’s space cameras, including fascinating details on how they were modified.

Screenshot from Nikon’s dedicated history website. Click to enlarge.

To learn more about a history of cameras in space, including the beginning of the digital age in space, watch Scott Manley’s full video above. To see additional videos from Manley, head to his YouTube channel.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission to carry more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history

30 Jul

Tomorrow morning, NASA is expected to launch its Mars 2020 mission, which will take the Perseverance rover to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life, collect terrain samples for potential return to Earth and overall provide a better look at the Martian surface.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Amongst dozens of other pieces of equipment, the Perseverance rover features a record-breaking 19 cameras that NASA says ‘will deliver images of the [Martian] landscape in breathtaking detail.’ There are four additional cameras onboard other parts of the spacecraft that will be used for entry, descent and landing. These additional cameras will ‘potentially [allow] engineers to put together a high-definition view of the landing process after the rover safely touches down on Mars, according to NASA’s fact sheet.

An overview of the tools on board the Perseverance rover.

NASA breaks down how each of the cameras aboard the Perseverance rover will be used:

19 cameras total on the rover: 9 for engineering (color); 3 for entry, descent and landing (1 black-and-white dedicated to Terrain-Relative Navigation and 2 color for public engagement and engineering reconstruction of entry, descent and landing); 2 for Mastcam-Z (color with zoom); 1 for SuperCam (color); 2 for SHERLOC (color); 1 for PIXL (black-and-white with some color capabilities); and 1 for MEDA (black-and-white)

3 cameras on the back shell: all color, all looking up to capture parachute inflation

1 camera on the descent stage: color, looking down to view the rover from above

Students Alex Mather, at left, and Vaneeza Rupani, stand near the countdown clock at the News Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 28, 2020. Mather named the Perseverance rover, and Rupani named the Ingenuity helicopter. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Hitching a ride with the Perseverance rover is Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter, which NASA hopes will ‘be the first flyer on another world.’ The 1.8kg (4lb) helicopter is this mission’s technology demonstration, which is separate experiment designed to test interplanetary technology.

The UAV features two 1.2m (4ft) carbon-fiber blades that will spin at roughly 2,400rpm on counter-rotating motors — about eight times faster than the blades spin on a standard helicopter here on Earth. While Ingenuity is a separate experiment from the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission, the helicopter will have two cameras onboard: one color camera with ‘an oblique view for terrain images’ and one black-and-white camera for navigation.

As it has with previous Mars missions, NASA plans to make both raw and processed images captured during the mission available for the public to download on the mission’s website.

A ‘Quick Facts’ overview of the Mars 2020 mission.

The Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter are set to land on Mars on February 18, 2021, after which its primary mission will last ‘at least’ one Mars year (approximately 687 Earth days). You can find out more about the Mars 2020 mission on the NASA website and watch the launch live tomorrow if all goes to plan.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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A 40-minute video tour through the history of photography

26 Jul

Chemist, educator and photography enthusiast Andrew Szydlo recently gave an excellent video tour through the history of photography for Britain’s Royal Institution. While some of the topics may be well-worn territory for many of our readers, there should still be the opportunity to learn. Of course, if you’re a beginner, it’s a great watch for all 40-plus minutes.

With his own vintage camera collection on display, Szydlo takes us back in time to the first photographs and cameras. To understand how people tried to record their history and the world around them, we must first discuss the concept of the pinhole camera and the camera obscura effect.

Szydlo then discusses the first photographs and cameras, talks about the importance of famed photographer Henri Cartier Bresson, the advent of SLR cameras and talks about different interesting cameras in his collection. The final 10 or so minutes of the video are dedicated to Szydlo demonstrating his chemical expertise by making a photogram.

If you would like to watch Szydlo discuss a specific topic, you can click on the topics from the list below, which are timestamped links in chronological order.

  • Introduction
  • Pinhole cameras
  • The first photograph
  • The first cameras
  • Henri Cartier Bresson
  • SLR cameras
  • Other interesting cameras
  • Digital cameras
  • Demonstrating the chemistry of photograms

The above video is the first part of a two-part series from Andrew Szydlo. Next week, the Royal Institution will publish a video all about the chemistry of photography.

If you’d like to try your own hand at making a photogram at home, which is simply the art of using photosensitive materials to make a photograph without a camera, you can refer to this guide from BBC.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: Lensrentals announces it’s hit the 1,000,000 order milestone, shares the history of the company

03 Mar

Lensrentals has announced it’s shipped its one millionth order, an incredible feat that took just 13 years to achieve after Lensrentals founder, Roger Cicala, decided to rent out gear to sustain his photography hobby.

To celebrate the occasion, Lensrentals shared the above video, an accompanying blog post and shared a 45-minute podcast episode (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube) that goes into the history of the company and the work it took to hit the monumental milestone.

If you can find the time, be sure to read, watch and listen to the history of Lensrentals to see how Roger and his team have crafted an incredible success story in an industry that continues to struggle. And, of course, from all of us here at DPReview, congratulations to Roger and team for the monumental achievement. We look forward to many more humor-riddled teardowns.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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PBS showcases MIT’s ‘The Polaroid Project’ on the history of instant photography

25 Jan

PBS affiliate WGBH recently took viewers into The Polaroid Project, a new exhibition at the MIT Museum. Described as ‘being at the intersection of art and technology,’ Polaroid revolutionized photography with the launch of its first instant camera in 1947.

The exhibit showcases notable Polaroid photography from past decades, as well as a number of Polaroid instant cameras and instant film packs. Curator Willian Ewing in talking about the technology told WGBH correspondent Jared Bowen:

It was a very small thing you could hold in the hand, but you had to participate in the making of the picture. The thing whirred and clicked. The picture came out and developed slowly. And that was described as magic.

The Polaroid Project Part I will be live until February 23 followed by Part II from March 9 to June 21.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography

03 Oct

The post Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Flowers have had a presence in art for millennia. In this article, we’ll have a look at the history of flowers and some photographic principals that can be drawn from the historical use of flowers in visual culture.

history-of-flowers-in-art-and-photography

Floral colors

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Over the course of visual arts, colors have become embedded with a rich symbolic history.

While red can denote love and passion, blue can imbue a sense of calm.

The pairing of colors and flowers in both nature and art has influenced the reading of floral imagery throughout history. For example, the Ancient Egyptians often painted artistic renderings of the blue and the white lotus. However, the blue lotus was used as symbol of rebirth whereas the while lotus represented innocence and modesty.

In Renaissance artworks, a red carnation was symbolic of love. A pink carnation, on the other hand, stood as a symbol of marriage or betrothal, while in Japan, yellow chrysanthemums have historically signified the Emperor and Imperial family whereas white chrysanthemums indicate purity, truth or grief.

Melding color psychology with floral symbolism touches on our perceptions of visual art history. This is especially relevant if you are presenting your images as a conceptual artwork or as a gift with a heartfelt message layered in meaning. If you are looking to convey peace or emotional depth, try photographing blue flowers.

Incorporating yellow flowers into a photograph stimulates an energetic reading and sympathy is conveyed with white floral blooms.

You can also alter the color of flowers completely in post production, or strip it of its colorful meaning by working in black and white. This draws greater attention to a flower’s form rather than its biological pigmentation.

history-of-flowers-in-art-and-photography

The language of flowers

Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography

Over time, cultures have linked flowers with specific ideas as a means of communication. Flowers like the lily and rose are used as symbols in the Hebrew Bible. This is especially the case in the Song of Solomon.

An age-old art form in Japan, the practice of Hanakotoba involves the pairing of flowers with meaning in the hopes of conveying emotion without the use of words. And for the first half of the 19th century, floriography was hugely popular in France, Britain and in the United States. Although many floriography dictionaries differed in meaning, some consensus on particular floral associations has prevailed in Western popular culture today.

Red roses (and their thorns), for example, continue to symbolize the duality of pain and pleasure in romantic love. The red poppy has become a symbol of remembrance of the fallen in war and white lilies, often used at funerals, signify sympathy and purity.

By utilizing the popular associations of flowers in a given culture, you can communicate ideas to a viewer through the photography of floral blooms.

Physicality

history-of-flowers-in-art-and-photography

Physicality defines the physical features that make up a floral bloom. For example, the textural qualities of a bloom influence our ability to visually feel the make-up of a flower. Aspects like the heaviness of a flower head can add visual weight to an image and the direction of a bloom can convey movement.

Varying dimensions of the flowers in Still Life With Flowers by Ambrosius Bosschaert cultivate energy and directionality, while the whimsical dimensions of the iris petals in Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises burst with movement and spontaneity. The repetition of Renoir’s Bouquet of Roses reinforces the soft quality of the rose heads, each vying for a place within the artist’s rendering, while Imogen Cunningham’s Magnolia Blossom features a single magnolia, emphasizing the delicate membrane of a lone flower.

Research into flower usage in art history will help you to achieve the right balance of physical characteristics within a floral photograph.

Abstraction

Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography

According to Tate.org “abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead use shapes, colors, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.”

Abstract flowers in art are exemplified by the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe. A leading figure in American Modernism, O’Keeffe pushed the boundaries of art by combining abstraction and representation. O’Keeffe’s close-up paintings of flowers allowed viewers to appreciate intimate forms from a fresh perspective.

In the same way, photographing abstracted flowers cultivates a sense of intimacy. Abstraction provides the opportunity for viewers to experience the properties of flowers through the eyes of the photographer.

You can achieve floral abstraction through the use of various photographic techniques.  Camera movement, cropping or creative macro photography are some of the ways a photographer can create intriguing abstracted floral imagery.

Conclusion

With thousands of types of floral blooms spread around the globe, flowers have caught the eye of artists for millennia. Familiarizing yourself with the history of flowers in art can be beneficial in a number of ways. A knowledge of colors and their use in conjunction with flowers is a useful tool in conveying emotional depth.

Knowing the history of flowers in art and culture can open more channels of communication between the photographer and the viewer. Training the eye to assess the physicality of different flowers allows for well-considered image-making.

And abstraction can introduce a unique perspective to your floral photography.

 

history-of-flowers-in-art-and-photograph

The post Why You Need to Know the History of Flowers in Art and Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.


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DPReview TV: Great moments in EVF history

07 Sep
High quality EVFs, or electronic viewfinders, are pretty ubiquitous these days, but that wasn’t always the case. This week we take a retrospective look at several cameras that raised the bar for EVF performance.

Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

  • Introduction
  • Fujifilm X100
  • Sony RX100 III
  • Fujifilm X-T1
  • Samsung NX1
  • Leica SL
  • The new ones
  • Conclusion

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5 will drop mid-May with searchable history, nested tags and more

25 Apr

ON1 Photo RAW may not be as well-known compared to the other major brands in the photo editing software space, but that doesn’t mean it should be discounted. It’s the only service that can transfer and displays Lightroom-edited photos in Photo RAW. The software package boasts hundreds of built-in filters, LUTs and presets. It also supports layer masks for creating composite images.

ON1 is offering up a free update of its service with ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5, scheduled to be released mid-May. As a standalone product with photo organizing and editing features, ON1 Photo RAW boasts the tools that photographers use the most in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and places them in one program. For users who don’t wish to fully convert, ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5 can also serve as a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5 will include new updates to increase productivity, additional organizing benefits, more feature and performance enhancements, and new camera support.

ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5 will also have a fully-reversible history section. Each editing step will be accessible, along with the ability to roll-back and compare prior adjustments.

Photographers will be able to search for photos based on specific adjustments applied such as cropped, retouched, and so on. Crop tool settings will be persistent and information on those adjustments will be retained across all photos.

The master keyword list will now support nesting keywords inside of other keywords. Nested keywords will allow photographers to organize keywords as they see fit. They’ll be easier to search, add, delete, and modify. Importing a list of nested keywords from other apps such as Adobe Lightroom will also be supported.

For photographers new to ON1 Photo RAW, there will be new walkthroughs that teach the basics. These series of short tutorial videos explain how to use each feature and help shorten the learning curve.

The Portland-based company has even more plans beyond the forthcoming release of ON1 Photo RAW 2019.5. These include incorporating solutions into the software for photographers that use mobile devices in their workflow. ‘The next year will be the biggest in our company history. A lot of these internal projects we’ve been working on will finally get introduced to the market. There is a lot to be excited about for our customers and our industry, and it all starts with Photo RAW 2019.5,’ said Craig Keudell, ON1 President & CEO.

Users can start a free 30-day trial of the current version of ON1 Photo RAW today. The software is available as a one-time purchase of $ 99.99 for new users and $ 79.99 for users with past versions who are updating. It includes both macOS and Windows installers, plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, and can be used on up to five computers. The Photo RAW 2019.5 update will be available mid-May. For a full rundown on all the new features that will be added, visit ON1’s blog.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: ‘The completely bonafide and entirely unfalsified history of the camera’

14 Apr

YouTube channel ‘The Royal Ocean Film Society’ by filmmaker Andrew Saladino has published a tongue-in-cheek video detailing ‘the completely bonafide and entirely unfalsified history of the camera.’ Viewers are greeted with an amusing, biting narrative about human nature and how it supposedly contributed to the creation of photography.

The Royal Ocean Film Society channel is known for its animated video essays covering a variety of topics. According to Saladino, this video was ‘partially inspired’ by the short film ‘A Lecture on Man’ from Richard Williams.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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