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Posts Tagged ‘aimed’

New York Times unveils prototype system aimed at inspiring confidence in photojournalism

10 May

Misinformation is a big issue online, especially with how quickly false stories are shared. The New York Times R&D team has worked with the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) on a prototype system ‘exploring tools to give readers transparency into the source and veracity of news visuals.’ If a picture is worth a thousand words, the picture must be verifiably truthful to its viewers.

As CAI points out, it used to be a given that a ‘photograph never lies.’ However, that hasn’t been true for a long time. It’s easy for an image to be manipulated and tell a story far from the truth. It’s hard to tell fact from fiction, and a fake or doctored image can make the rounds so quickly that you see it many times on your feed before you ever see the original image. That is if you ever see the real image at all. A study by Adobe found that there’s a lack of trust in images and that people are concerned about seeing doctored content. The study also found that photographers are concerned with image theft and plagiarism.

The NYT R&T team shows their ‘secure sourcing’ prototype visualization.

For photographers, it’s not just about the honesty of an image, it’s about credit. Someone can screengrab a photographer’s image and spread it around the web before the photographer ever has the opportunity to demand the financial compensation they deserve. After the image has been seen all over the internet, the value of their work has already been irreparably damaged. Santiago Lyon, Head of Advocacy & Education at CAI, writes, ‘Regardless of source, images are plucked out of the traditional and social media streams, quickly screen-grabbed, sometimes altered, posted and reposted extensively online, usually without payment or acknowledgment and often lacking the original contextual information that might help us identify the source, frame our interpretation. and add to our understanding.’

Scott Lowenstein of NYT R&D says, ‘The more people are able to understand the true origin of their media, the less room there is for ‘fake news’ and other deceitful information. Allowing everyone to provide and access media origins will protect against manipulated, deceptive, or out-of-context online media.’

Along with Adobe and Twitter, The New York Times Co. is a founding member of the CAI. The CAI and its partners ‘are working to develop an open industry standard that will allow for more confidence in the authenticity of photographs (and then video and other file types). We are creating a community of trust, to help viewers know if they can believe what they see.’ To this end, the new prototype outlines a ‘secure sourcing’ workflow, which will preserve metadata with secure signatures at each step as an image is captured, edited in Adobe Photoshop, and published. As an image is published, links to an original image will be attached and signed by a social media platform.

Photograph by Niko Koppel for the NYT R&D project, integrated with CAI Content Credentials.

Lyon writes, ‘This important work demonstrates how a well-respected news outlet like the NYT is experimenting with CAI technology, giving us a hint of what’s possible at scale. This aligns with our goal of displaying a CAI logo next to images published in traditional or social media that gives the consumer more information about the provenance of the imagery, such as where and when it was first created and how it might have been altered or edited.’

Lyon continues, ‘This will bolster trust in content among both consumers and capture partners (such as Qualcomm and Truepic), editing partners (in this case, our colleagues at Adobe Photoshop), and publishers, such as the New York Times and others.’

Eventually, the hope is that CAI logos can be placed next to images on traditional publishing and social media platforms, inspiring confidence in the provenance of images and explaining how an image was edited before being published. Ideally, viewers would be able to click on the CAI logo and find out about the image creator and see all the edits that have been made.

For the initiative and the NYT R&D prototype to work, widespread adoption is necessary. The overall distrust in the news and images will require considerable work to improve. Reliable, secure, and accessible records of image creation and edits will go a long way toward inspiring confidence in images.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sony announces new SDK for camera automation aimed at product photography

08 Dec

Sony has announced a small but significant update to the Sony Software Development Kit (SDK). This update allows users to craft custom imaging solutions using Sony cameras.

The new camera automation software SDK has been created with product photographers in mind and is designed to streamline a product photography imaging workflow using Sony cameras. Sony writes, ‘It’s especially useful for large e-commerce businesses, allowing them to simplify, speed up and standardize product photography.’

This streamlining is achieved by the SDK enabling ‘virtually every facet’ of the camera and lens to be automated and controlled. This includes automation and control over white balance, image resolution, compression options, zoom, focus and video triggering. Multi-camera support is included, meaning that it will be easier than ever to capture 360° interactive product shots, for example.

The SDK is the first to support full-frame multi-camera control, allowing for multi-angle image capture. It has also gained macOS compatibility, which Sony states is the most-used operating system in the product photography industry. The SDK is also compatible with Windows and Linux. The SDK also launches alongside a Sony team and website prepared to offer support. Further, Sony states that bespoke apps are possible.

Yasuo Baba, Director of Digital Imaging for Sony Europe BV, said of the SDK, ‘This is a key part of Sony’s long-term vision. Sony’s Alpha range are the world’s most trusted mirrorless cameras, and this new move helps to back this up with the best software and the best support.’ Baba continues, ‘By doing this, we aim to make it easier and quicker for companies in e-commerce, and other B2B sectors, to automate every part of the image creation process.’

Many high-end Sony mirrorless cameras are supported by the SDK, including the A9 II, A7R IV, A7 III, A7C and the RX0 series. While a niche SDK, it should prove very useful for some photographers and allow for a streamlined, more efficient workflow. It will also be interesting to see what sort of creative uses enterprising photographers come up with for the new SDK.

This is not Sony’s first major SDK release of 2020. In February, the company released a remote control SDK kit. This SDK allows key camera controls and still image data to be captured via remote access, which Sony stated at the time is of interest to industries including security, entertainment and ‘many others’.

A lot of great things can be created when a platform is opened to development, so it’s nice to see Sony developing new software development kits for its cameras. If you’d like to learn more about the latest SDK, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Canon launches a pair of new large format printers aimed at the professional market

09 Mar
The Canon imageProGraf Pro-4000

Canon has announced it will introduce two new large format printers for professional photographers as part of its imagePrograf Pro series. The Pro-2000 and Pro-4000 both use 12-color Lucia pigment ink systems and produce either 24in or 44in prints. With their black bodies and ‘accentuated red line’ the printers are designed to link visually with the Canon EOS range of cameras to emphasise that they are intended for photo-quality printing and made to get the most out of EOS files.

A transparent Chroma Optimiser ‘ink’ is used alongside the colors that Canon says improves ‘print performance on gloss papers’ – which means it evens out the finish between the inks and the paper so the inks don’t stand out.

The printers are due to arrive in the middle of the year priced $ 5995 for the Pro-4000 and $ 2995 for the Pro-2000.

For more information visit the Canon website.


Press release:

Canon launches new imagePROGRAF PRO series for unmatched image quality and productivity

Canon Europe, world leader in imaging solutions, today announced a new range of imagePROGRAF PRO large format professional inkjet printers. The new imagePROGRAF PRO-2000 and imagePROGRAF PRO-4000 are designed to bring stunning image quality to professional photographers and fine art applications, while the new imagePROGRAF PRO-4000S and imagePROGRAF PRO-6000S deliver fast and reliable printing to high-volume print service providers that require photo quality prints such as posters, banners and canvas.

Superior image quality for professional users
The 12-colour PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 enable the full clarity and texture of photographs taken with a Canon EOS camera to be perfectly reproduced. Thanks to Canon’s unique input-output technology and Crystal-fidelity feature, photos look as accurate printed as when they were captured. Available in two sizes (24” and 44”) the PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 feature an attractive black design with an accentuated red line, denoting the link with Canon EOS digital cameras. The new devices use newly developed LUCIA PRO pigment ink to meet the demands of the most critical photographers and graphic artists, as well as transparent Chroma Optimiser ink to improve print performance on gloss paper.
Mathew Faulkner, European Marketing Manager for Wide Format Group, Canon Europe says “At Canon, we understand the importance of fine detail and precise colours to professional users. Images shot on even mid-range cameras can be very high resolution, and with the ability of today’s image editing software, this demands a highly accurate and colour-consistent output. The powerful technology of the new PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 models, not only provide incredible image reproduction, but the small footprint makes them ideal for any office, studio or design department.”

Unbeatable efficiency for print service providers
Also available in two sizes, (44” and 60”), the PRO-4000S and PRO-6000S boast an ergonomic compact design, which is ideal for time and space-pressed print operations in graphic arts, advertising and creative sectors. With a powerful L-COA PRO engine capable of processing large volumes of high-res images and data with ease, the new devices enable poster-quality printing at twice the speed of current imagePROGRAF 8 colour models. Full connectivity and Wi-Fi functionality ensures optimum productivity for busy environments.

Mathew Faulkner continues, “Whether for PSPs or in-house print departments in retailers or educational facilities, the trend towards more operational efficiency and on-demand printing is undeniable. There is a growing requirement not only for high quality imaging, but for ease of use and efficient media handling, as well as high-speed and uninterrupted printing to support high-volume output. These fundamental tools require a powerful and dependable large format printer. The PRO-4000S and PRO-6000S deliver speed, accuracy and colour vibrancy, making them ideal for both print-for-pay and print-for-use environments.”
The new devices feature Canon’s unique dual roll technology to support continuous paper feeding and take-up of printed output, while direct printing from a USB memory stick enables fast and easy prints. The imagePROGRAF PRO series is further improved by the new precision 1.28” wide print head and high-capacity ink tanks for fast, uninterrupted printing.

The new imagePROGRAF series will be available across Europe from the middle of 2016. To see the new imagePROGRAF PRO series in action, visit Canon at FESPA Digital 2016 from March 8-11, Stand F100-F120

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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