We realize it’s not the conventional wisdom, but you should probably go play with fire. Why? Because, from fire comes art. Tell your mom we said it’s OK.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Argineering has launched a Kickstarter campaign for RGKit Play, ‘the first-ever modular wireless motion control kit that allows creatives to add movement to their design and camera.’ The campaign has already eclipsed its $ 50,000 funding goal by more than $ 25,000 at the time of writing.
RGKit includes motors, accessories, light controllers, sensors and a phone application and aims to simplify the process of creating mechanical motion. Argineering states that RGKit Play can be used for tasks such as videography and stop motion. Using the accompanying application, you can use RGKit Play to perform tasks such as moving your camera and a product while recording product video, rotating your camera around a subject and more.
In order to maintain stable and smooth movement, the RGKit Play has built-in motion stability features. Through the app, the user has precise control over distance, time and speed. The Camera Slider can carry up to 11 lbs. (5kg) and moves at up to 2″ (5cm) per second.
Using RGKit Play appears very simple. You mount the kit’s modules and accessories to your camera and fire up the app. Without needing to code, you can create a customized sequence of movements while adjusting speed, acceleration, duration, delay and more. There is also an automatic mode available. Accessories include a camera slider, pusher, pulleys, rotator, arms, rotator mounting, clamps, adjustable arms and more.
RGKit Play’s price depends upon the selected kit. The beginner kit, which does not include the camera slider, starts at $ 190 USD. The camera slider first appears in the RGKit Play: Videographer kit. This kit starts at $ 740 with early bird pricing. The eventual retail price for the Videographer kit will be $ 999. RGKit Play is scheduled to start shipping to Kickstarter pledgers in June 2021. To learn more about the RGKit Play and get details on each component and available configurations, head to Kickstarter.
Via DIY Photography
Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Retro tech and gaming YouTube channel LGR has published a new video showing the original DOOM video game being played on a 1998 Kodak DC260 digital camera. This model was quite expensive at the time with a price tag of $ 999.99; the cost was due, in part, to the surprisingly capable hardware packed into the camera, including a 66Mhz PowerPC CPU, 8MB of RAM and an 11khz sound chipset.
As explained in the video, the Kodak DC260 was unusual for its time in that it features USB and support for sideloading apps. Though this sideloading functionality was intended to expand the camera’s capabilities in unique ways, it also makes it possible to install and run a special version of the original DOOM video game, which appears to play without issue on the camera.
DOOM is one of the multiple apps demonstrated in the video, which includes instructions on downloading, sideloading and running the software.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Fujifilm’s next Instax mini model has a 5MP sensor, saves images to a memory card and allows users to record a ten-second audio clip that can be played when the printed picture is viewed. The Instax mini LiPlay, Fujifilm’s smallest and lightest Instax to date, produces the usual credit card sized prints but can print a QR code in the corner that links to the audio that was recorded to go along with the picture.
The idea is that users can record a message to a friend with whom they will share the picture taken with the camera. The friend scans the QR code using Fujifilm’s Instax mini LiPlay app and the audio clip plays through the phone. The audio could be a spoken message or the sounds from the place the picture was taken – Fujifilm suggests the sound of the sea to accompany pictures from the beach.
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The camera uses a 5MP sensor and allows users to review images before deciding to print them or not. Images can also be saved to internal memory or to a removable MicroSD card, and images taken with other devices can be printed on the camera via a smartphone with a Bluetooth connection. The camera’s lens has an angle of view to match a 28mm lens on a full frame system and has a maximum aperture of F2. The lens has an AF system and shutter speeds run from ¼ – 1/8000sec, while the auto ISO feature moves between ISO 100 and 1600.
The Instax mini LiPlay will come in three colors and textures, and will begin shipping immediately depending on your region. It will cost $ 159.99/£149.99. For more information see the Fujifilm website.
Press release:
FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Kenji Sukeno) has announced that it will release a hybrid instant camera “instax mini LiPlay” (hereinafter “LiPlay”), which supports credit-card-size film, on or after June 14, 2019 on a market-by-market basis. The model is a new addition to the lineup of “instax” instant cameras, which allows you to enjoy photo prints on the spot. The camera’s main unit is the smallest and most lightweight in the history of the instax series for outstanding portability. Yet, at the same time, the camera is packed with new features such as the “Sound” function* to convey a voice message or other audio data in the form of a QR code** included in a photo print, and the “Direct Print” function*1 to print images in your smartphone on instax film — broadening the scope of situations the camera can be enjoyed.
Fujifilm has also announced new metallic instax mini film “CONFETTI” and instax square film “Star-illumination,” available in two designs, adding a touch of creativity to your photos.
Overview of the instax series
The “instax” series of instant cameras, launched in 1998, is affectionately called “Cheki” in Japan, where it has enjoyed wide popularity for over 20 years. Today, it is sold in over 100 countries around the world, including Europe, Americas and Asia Pacific, with the cumulative number of shipments topping 45 million worldwide. It has been particularly loved by the digital-native generation in their teens and young adults who have embraced it as a communication tool, saying “It is fun to share those precious moments in life in the form of photo prints. When I hand photo prints to my friends, it gives me a real sense of connection with them.”
Overview of the new product, “instax mini LiPlay”
The new “LiPlay,” is a hybrid instant camera that allows you to review photos captured on the device via the LCD monitor on the back of the camera and choose images you want to print. The camera’s “Sound” function is capable of recording up to ten seconds of audio. The function converts the audio data into a QR code and adds it to a photo to be printed out together. The audio can be replayed*** by scanning the printed QR code with a smartphone*4. This allows you to give a photo together with your description about the pictured scene. The camera also features the “Direct Print” function, which transfers a photo taken with your smartphone to the LiPlay for printing. You can print your favorite picture in your smartphone easily on instax film and share it with your friends. To make it easy to take a group photo, the camera also offers the “Remote Shooting” function so that you can use a smartphone operation to release the shutter while standing away from the camera itself.
The camera body boasts a streamlined and stylish design. Its compact and lightweight form factor makes it easy to carry. Buttons and dials for basic operations such as shutter release and “Sound” function are laid out for advanced operability. Extra attention has been paid to perfect the camera’s texture. The camera comes in three colors, each of which has different surface processing, such as embossed or smooth finish.
Fujifilm will continue to broaden the world of the “instax” instant photo system for on-the-spot photo printing.
* * The free “instax mini LiPlay” app must be downloaded and installed on your smartphone to use the Sound and Direct Print functions.
* ** QR Code is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Inc.
* *** Recorded audio data is stored for one year from the time it is uploaded to the server together with its linked photo image via a special smartphone app.
* *4 Smartphones with the QR Code scanning capability are required to read the QR code.
1. Product Name
(1) Hybrid instant camera “instax mini LiPlay”
(2) Mini-format film “CONFETTI”
(3) Square-format film “Star-illumination”
2. Release Date
On or after June 14, 2019, on a market-by-market basis
3. Price
Open price
4. Main features
(1) “instax mini LiPlay”
1. Smallest and most lightweight hybrid instant camera in the history of the instax series
The LiPlay is a highly-portable hybrid instant camera that incorporates digital technology. Featuring a 2.7-inch LCD monitor at the rear, the camera allows you to shoot photos while checking the monitor and choose pictures to print. The camera also offers brightness adjustment capability based on exposure compensation as well as six filters for processing photos, e.g. in sepia tone or in monochrome, to create a different impression.
2. New “Sound” function
The camera’s audio-recording capability means you can record up to 10 seconds of sound. The function converts sound data into a QR code and prints it on your photo. Scan the QR code with a smartphonoe’s QR Code reader and replay the audio message. Printing a photo with a recorded message allows you to convey your sentiments to the person receiving the photo, making the scene more memorable. Alternatively, photograph a beach and attach the sound of waves, for example, to create a print that reminds you of the photographed situation, so that your memory of the precious moment stays vivid.
3. “Direct Print” function to use the camera as a smartphone printer
Images stored in a smartphone can be transferred to the camera via Bluetooth*5 for printing. You can enlarge or rotate images before transferring them.
4. “Remote Shooting” function for taking pictures while standing away from the camera
This function allows you to release the shutter with a smartphone operation while standing away from the camera. Remotely-taken images can be also printed on the spot. This function is particularly useful for a group photo or when you want to achieve a dynamic effect by taking photos from high or low angles.
5. Wide variety of design frames on offer
The camera comes pre-installed with ten design frames, which can be selected during or after taking a picture so that they are incorporated into the image for printing. Download the “instax mini LiPlay” smartphone app (free) to enjoy 20 additional design frames, bringing the total number of design frames available to 30.
6. Stylish camera body design
The streamlined shape of the camera body is complemented with a different surface finish for each of the three color variations in a design approach that even pays close attention to your tactile sense. The Stone White version has a rough, stone-like surface achieved with a special spray coating. The Elegant Black version features an eye-catching embossed finish on the camera surface, while the Blush Gold version dazzles with a smooth lustrous finish. Metallic parts are used for the lens ring, etc. for a premium look.
(2) New instax film
1. Mini-format film “CONFETTI”
2. Square-format film “Star-illumination”
* *5 Bluetooth® work mark and logo are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. FUJIFILM Corporation uses these marks based on a license agreement.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Google has removed 29 malicious camera apps from the Google Play Store according to security company Trend Micro. Researchers identified 29 Android camera apps, many of them ‘beauty apps,’ that compromised user security, including presenting full-screen malicious advertisements when the user’s phone was unlocked and potentially keeping user images on remote servers.
Of the 29 apps, 11 were downloaded more than 100,000 times, and of those instances, three were downloaded more than 1,000,000 times. The three removed apps with the highest download numbers were Pro Camera Beauty, Cartoon Art Photo, and Emoji Camera. Other removed apps include Art Editor, Super Camera, Art Effects for Photo, Art Effect, Prizma Photo Effect, and Pixture.
According to Trend Micro, some of the apps took steps to conceal their malicious nature, as well as hiding its icon so that users would struggle to uninstall it. “A user downloading one of these apps will not immediately suspect that there is anything amiss, until they decide to delete the app,” the company explained in its report.
Though it can be difficult to determine whether an app is malicious, users are advised to review existing user reviews before downloading for any warnings from others about potential security issues.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Your mother may have told you not to play with your food, but this week you have our permission.
Shot I did in New Orleans – very famous coffee and donuts.
I recently shared some video tutorials with food photography tips – check those out if you need help.
Here are some other dPS articles on the topic if you want more tips and ideas:
I used to do food photography commercially – a long, long, time ago! Here are some of my tips:
Don’t forget your fruit and veggies – even still in the tree or on the vine.
Food in its raw form including still on the tree works!
Not quite on the tree. I added the hands here to add interest and show scale, as well as the inside of this nut.
Add a human element or photograph the preparation of the food as well as the finished product.
The making of the iced coffee.
Add a human element for interest. Yes I did drink it and yes it was amazing!
Get the light right. The most common placement or direction of light with food photography is to have the light actually coming from behind the food. It makes it look shiny and more appetizing that way. Like this Colombian ajiaco soup.
Play with angles, light, and composition. Don’t just take one shot.
I wanted to show how full the table was here so I used this overhead angle. This is shot I did for a hotel in Nicaragua showcasing the breakfast they serve.
I took a lower camera angle here to show the setting of where the breakfast is served.
Here I added the human element and motion with the juice pour.
Now it’s your turn!
Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.
You can also share your images on the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Play with Your Food by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
Play on, LEGO brick layer, ’cause the projects adults are coming up with using these little plastic toy bricks are totally incredible. Some amazing recent creations either made from or inspired by LEGO bricks include a functional camera that prints photos, a plastic helmet based on LEGO figures’ bowl-cut hair, stop-motion animation, a life-sized Batmobile and a robot that folds and flies paper airplanes.
Making use of two retrofitted camera components and a LEGO brick housing, this fun model by a Hong Kong photographer blogging as Instax Magic doesn’t just take real photos, it also prints them. Taking lenses from a vintage Japanese Yashica camera and an ejection mechanism modified from a Fuji Instax mini camera, the creation playfully incorporates LEGO elements like figurines, fences and turbines. After seeing a neighbor throw a box of toy bricks in the trash, the photographer says “I started to think about the possibility of modifying a camera with LEGO. My impression is that there is always some creative way to use LEGO.”
Walk down the street looking like you’ve got a yellow LEGO claw for a hand with this fun promotional shopping bag by New York-based advertising and designers Junho Lee and Hyun Chun Choi. The illusion only works when you’re wearing long sleeves, and you clutch a fabric ribbon hidden inside to hold the bag.
Helmet hair is actually desirable if you wanna bike around town looking like a LEGO figure that sprouted to real-life dimensions. Design firm MOEF created a functional bicycle helmet mimicking the proportions and characteristics of the original plastic toy thanks to 3D scanning. Right now, it’s just a prototype, but it could go into production with the aim of encouraging kids to wear helmets.
It took Atlanta-based filmmaker Walt Thompson 22 hours, 2,600 photos and hundreds of LEGOs to create a stop-motion animation marriage proposal to his girlfriend of four years, Nealey Dozier, even going so far as to dress the LEGO couple in outfits that matched what the real-life couple wore when they met.
What would LEGO Lamborghinis, trucks, camper vans and helicopter models look like if they were kept exactly as they are, but enlarged to fit into the real world? Pretty ridiculous, as it turns out in this series of digital images by Italian photographer Domenico Franco, which sets them among Italian scenery. But at the same time, the models are so familiar, they don’t seem particularly out of place. “The aim is to transform ordinary contexts into extraordinary ones, thus compelling the toys to get out of the idyllic and politically correct landscapes belonging to their perfect and idealistic cities, with the result of instilling them in those vices, virtues and desires typical of human beings.” says Franco.
[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
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Chris McVeigh didn’t reach paid photography through any of the usual routes. He didn’t study photography, didn’t work as an assistant and he didn’t even have photography as a goal. His background was in writing for technology magazines and providing illustrations and animation for online advertising. It was only when the economic downturn left him with less demand from his regular employers, and more free time for creative experimentation, that he turned towards picture-taking. His images have since become regular additions to Gizmodo, they’re sold on RedBubble and Society6, and Lucasfilms has even put one of his photos on the front page of StarWars.com.
His success has been helped by the fact that Chris skirted around the competition for landscape photographs and wedding shoots. He produces a nearly unique set of pictures that he calls “toy photography.” He creates sets out of Lego figures and uses them to illustrate scenes.
Chris’s interest in Lego started as suddenly as his interest in photography. Like most people, Chris had left playing with plastic bricks in his childhood. Some friends, though, bought him some Star Wars Lego sets for Christmas… which he then ignored for about a year before assembling them.
“When I did finally break open the boxes and put them together, it was like a spark ignited within me,” Chris recalls. “However, it would be another few years and a dozen Star Wars sets before I was really hooked again.”
At the same time, Chris was playing around on Flickr, creating a series of comical self-portraits as part of a daily photo challenge. That series built an audience, won plaudits and gave him the confidence to buy his first DSLR.
Photography: Chris McVeigh
Each Set Takes Two to Three Weeks to Build
It wasn’t long before his growing interest in photography met the fun he was then having with Hasbro Star Wars figures. Lego, though, offered a more flexible platform, with parts that were interchangeable, allowing Chris to reuse pieces from any Lego theme from Batman to Harry Potter.
The props might be toys but creating the images isn’t child’s play. Chris usually has plenty of ideas but he starts designing using a Lego CAD app called Lego Digital Designer. That allows him to experiment with the build without spreading all the bricks in front of him. Once he’s happy with the design, he creates a test build in the real world then works to optimize the parts usage.
Some designs, he says, take as little as 24 hours but most require a development of two to three weeks before they’re ready to be photographed.
The shoot is a whole different challenge. Legos’s bricks are highly reflective, especially the darker colors, says Chris, so he has to be very careful about how he uses light and where he positions his panels. It’s no surprise that he typically builds and photographs new models just once a month at the moment, although he might produce a number of models concurrently and photograph them at the same time.
The result is a mixture of whimsy and smart photography. Scenes include a version of American Gothic, a reconstruction of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video (complete with dancing zombies) and a bowl of milk filled with floating stormtrooper heads. Reconstructions of early technology, including a Leica M9-P Hermes and a (sort of) working Polaroid Land Camera are popular too.
Chris’s intention when he began creating and photographing his models was little more than to enjoy some creative experimentation. But when he uploaded them to Flickr, the pictures continued to win attention, including from buyers.
“One of Gizmodo’s editors was a contact of mine on Flickr, and was impressed both with my capacity to design my own models and my ability to present those models with my photography,” Chris said. “So he contacted me through Flickr to see if I’d be interested in contributing to Gizmodo.”
From Lego to Kozik’s Mongers Menthols
The technology website has published dozens of Chris’s pictures using them to illustrate articles about water pressure as well as explanations of the difference between GSM and CDMA. The site made a point of linking to Chris’s Web pages and even mentioned that he was able for commissioned work.
His work for Lucasfilms also came about as a result of his presence on Yahoo’s photo sharing site. Bonnie Burton, formally of the Official Star Wars blog, contacted Chris on Flickr after seeing his Star Wars action figure/chipmunk photography on Digg.
Chris isn’t the only photographer who has managed to make money setting up toys and taking their picture. Ryan Roberts paints with a slightly different canvas, using collectible figures from Japan and China’s urban vinyl toy culture that was popular in the 1990s. They might include the Kozik’s Mongers Menthols series that contained a smoking pile of poop, Domo’s Acid Sweeties, or Pete Fowler’s Monsterism.
“These figures went way beyond my childhood toys with so much color and attitude,” says Ryan on his website. “They were already tiny works of art by giant artists from other genres such as painting, illustration, silk screening, and street art.”
Ryan’s broader choice of figures gives his scenes a greater freedom of expression even if the models themselves are less familiar than the Lego characters used by Chris McVeigh. He sells his prints from his websites, has a DVD of toy-based shorts and markets a calendar of his images that costs $ 45.
What both these photographers have in common is the combination of a passion for a hobby — in this case a particular kind of children’s toy — and a knowledge of photography. Bring those two together and add the kind of photography-loving networking that can still be found on sites like Flickr and while you might not find yourself traveling down the usual route taken by professional photographers, you could well find yourself winning commissions, landing sales making some money doing a photo-based activity you love.
Photopreneur – Make Money Selling Your Photos
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]
The deep sea anglerfish is a disturbing monstrosity that uses lights to lure in its prey and is the featured backdrop of a recent work of graffiti best experienced at night.
Existing wall lamps serve as the lures in this case, while the fish itself is positioned to swallow up anyone brave enough to venture down the stairs from above.
Hailing from New Zealand but living in Bergen, Norway, street artist Skurk hand-cuts stencils and paints large-scale murals around different themes but often involving light and shadow. The works are also site-specific, made to interact with and respond to conditions in a given physical context.
In some cases, his silhouettes seem to be cast like shadows. In other instances, the idea of electrical lighting takes various forms, like a bulb being plugged into an available (vent) socket.
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]
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Lenovo has announced the Moto Z Play smartphone at IFA in Berlin. The new model slots in below the Moto Z Force and Moto Z in Lenovo’s current smartphone lineup and, like its sister models, is compatible with the Moto Mod range of detachable accessory modules, including the also newly announced Hasselblad True Zoom camera module.
With a 16MP CMOS sensor, F2.0 aperture, on-sensor phase detection, laser-assisted AF and dual-LED flash the rear camera specification sounds very similar to the Moto G Plus that was announced back in May but, unlike the G Plus, the Moto Z Play is capable of recording 4K video. At the front the new device features a 5MP camera with a 85 degree angle of view and LED-flash.
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Android 6.01 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset with a 2 GHz Octa-Core CPU. The device comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 2TB via a microSD slot. Images can be viewed on a 5.5″ 1080p Full-HD Super AMOLED display and a fingerprint reader below the screen provides extra security.
The device body comes with a water repellent nano-coating and a USB Type-C port is used for charging and connection to other devices. Lenovo claims the 3510 mAh battery is good for 50 hours of mixed use, and it also features the company’s TurboPower quick-charging which can give you up to 10 hours of usage in only 15 minutes of charging.
The Moto Z Play will be available worldwide in September for €499/$ 408.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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