360Photography

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  • Google taught an AI to create pro-level photos from Street View imagery

    Google is in possession of vast amounts of Earth imagery via its Street View product, and now it is testing machine learning as a way to harvest ‘professional-level photographs’ from that imagery. As detailed in a newly-published study, Google researchers created an experimental deep-learning system that trawls Street View landscapes in search of high-quality compositions.

    Machine learning, while capable at tasks that involve ‘well defined goals,’ struggles in the face of subjective concepts such as determining whether a photograph has high aesthetic value. Google developed this latest deep-learning system as a way to explore how artificial intelligence can learn subjective concepts such as photography—training the system using professional photographs taken by humans.

    Compositions identified by the AI from the Street View imagery were then automatically improved using an editing tool called ‘dramatic mask’ that enhances an image’s lighting.

    Here are a few examples from the Google Research Blog:

    “Using our system, we mimic the workflow of a landscape photographer,” the researchers explain. “From framing for the best composition to carrying out various post-processing operations.”

    To test the quality of its AI-generated photos, Google asked professional photographers to blindly rate a collection of photos from various sources, including its Street View photos. The team’s conclusion from those ratings is that, “a portion of our robot’s creation can be confused with professional work.”

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Panorama selfie goes horribly wrong, leads to viral photo

    Need a bit of comic relief this Monday? How about nightmare fuel? This panorama selfie gone-wrong provides a little bit of both. The photo was captured by Mitchell Flann, who was using his Samsung Galaxy S7 to take a selfie of himself and girlfriend Erika Gomos.

    They were using the phone’s Wide Selfie mode, which requires that you stand still while the camera is panned up to 120° to capture more of the scene. According to Samsung’s website, Wide Selfie “puts an end to getting cropped out.” While that’s technically correct, it did a bit more than that for Flann when Erika sneezed halfway through the selfie.

    The nightmarish shot they captured has gone ‘viral’ as they say, earning an insane 150K upvotes on Reddit.

    “We’re on vacation in Budapest and I couldn’t even enjoy the scenery at parliament because of the tears,” Flann said on Reddit. Apparently they’ve been taking photos like this across Europe, with some pretty fun malfunctions along the way, but nothing else has turned out quite like this.

    Photo © Mitchell Flann, used with permission.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • PocketWizard releases MultiMAX II trigger with 20 ControlTL channels and more

    Radio flash trigger manufacturer PocketWizard has reintroduced its much-loved MultiMAX transceiver, having added more control options and improved handling. The MultiMAX ll offers a total of 52 channels, including 20 dedicated to ControlTL devices, as well as improved features for time-lapse and sequential triggering.

    The new version of the MultiMAX features a PowerControl function that allows the user to manually control the output of up to three groups of flashes compatible with the ControlTL system from the MultiMAX display panel. The screen is now illuminated by a blue LCD backlight, which the company says improves contrast and legibility, and the keypad is said to be brighter than that of the previous model.

    The system’s intervalometer has had the burst limit lifted so users can set it for any number of flashes for as long as they like, making the mode useful for timelapse photography, and the SpeedCycler mode is now equipped to perform sequential firing of up to sixteen cameras or flashguns in sequence. That last part is useful in fast moving situations, when you can’t wait for an individual flash to recharge, so the MultiMAX just fires the next one in line.

    The PocketWizard MultiMAX ll costs $ 230 and is available now. For more information, watch the video below or head over to the PocketWizard website.

    Press Release:

    The Best is Back –Introducing the MultiMAX II

    More timing features, same great reliability, all at a lower price.

    LPA Design, manufacturers of PocketWizard Photo Products, the global leader in reliable wireless control of cameras, flash lighting and light meters, announces the MultiMAX II and the return of unique timing features that only PocketWizard technology provides. Whether you are a sports, wildlife or wedding photographer, you will be happy to learn that the most powerfully-featured wireless radio on the planet, the PocketWizard MultiMAX, is back and fully compatible with all other PocketWizard radios.

    Building on the legendary MultiMAX, the MultiMAX II takes its place as the most versatile, reliable and predictably compatible radio on the market. For the past 16 years, the MultiMAX has helped capture amazing images, many of which have landed on magazine covers throughout the world. MultiMAX Transceivers continue to be found in frequency crowded environments triggering arena flashes or remote cameras behind soccer goals, hockey nets, basketball nets, horse jumps, bull chutes, and the finish line of major International Track and Field events.

    After a brief hiatus, the MultiMAX II returns with new features including 20 ControlTL channels, Manual Power Control and an improved blue backlit LCD which provides better contrast for improved viewing in dimly lit studios or on-site locations. The key pad is brighter too, allowing photographers to easily change settings on the fly. Its 344 MHz frequency sets it apart from 2.4 GHz noise in crowded venues.

    “The MultiMAX II continues to provide incredible features that professional photographers have come to rely on. It has a whole suite of built-in tools designed for the demanding sports shooter like Patterns, programmable delays, and a settable contact time. The MultiMAX II is also Custom ID ready. Photographers can create incredible depth of field or stroboscopic effects with Multi-pop, give rear curtain sync to any camera, and even synchronize multiple cameras together, states Patrick Clow, Technical Support and Customer Service Manager.

    The MultiMAX II has a total of 52 channels: 32 Standard Channels and 20 ControlTL Channels. Photographers can creatively control groups of lights or cameras allowing them to work in crowded venues or with multiple flash set-ups. And now with Power Control, photographers can remotely adjust the manual power settings of ControlTL compatible radios and flashes in up to three zones with as many flashes in each group as you want.

    “Professional photographers have clamored for years to bring back the MultiMAX. We listened and we responded by making a great radio even better and offering it at a lower price. The MultiMAX II Transceiver is and remains the only radio on the market that performs special PocketWizard features including Infinite Intervalometer, SpeedCycler and Ultra Long Range. It is the most reliable Transceiver on the market for capturing life’s most amazing moments, states Karen Marshall, CEO of LPA Design

    The MultiMAX II will be available at retail and on line in the US and Canada starting July 17, 2017. The retail price will be $ 229.00 USD in the US and $ 309.00 CAD in Canada.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Five reasons to choose a PC over a Mac for photo and video editing

    Photographer Manny Ortiz uses both Windows and Mac computers to edit his photos and video work, so when it came time to choose his next laptop he had a choice: 15-inch MacBook Pro or spec-ed out Dell XPS 15. He chose the PC, and in this video he offers the top 5 reasons why he made that choice.

    Most Mac vs PC opinions are put out there by people who are heavily invested on one side, which is what makes Ortiz’ point of view refreshing. He has no loyalty. He uses both systems regularly, and spends the last part of the video praising the Mac for its various strengths. Still, when it came time to plunk down a couple grand on a new machine, he chose the PC.

    Here’s why:

    1. Money – The spec-ed out Dell cost $ 1,000 less than an equivalent MacBook Pro
    2. Ports – The new MacBook Pros have been lambasted for their lack of ports, and Manny doesn’t hold back either. The dongle life is not for him.
    3. Ability to Upgrade – With the MacBook, what you buy is what you get. If you’re thinking of upgrading the RAM, or swapping out the SSD, forget about it. With the latest builds, it’s all but impossible.
    4. Touchscreen – This one is very subjective, but for Manny, the touchscreen on the XPS is a big win.
    5. Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU – Manny isn’t implying the Radeon Pro chips in the MacBook Pros aren’t great, but he’s had nothing but good experiences with the Nvidia GTX 1050 inside the Dell.

    And that’s it. Obviously, there are a lot of other factors you could mention here—wins for both the PC and the Mac—but for Manny the decision was simple. The hardware on the PC was better, and he was getting it for $ 1,000 less.

    Ever since the new MacBook Pros with their lack of ports came out, many photographers have been talking about switching to PC for their mobile editing needs. Have you considered it? And why would you choose one over the other? Let us know in the comments.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • 7Artisans teases 50mm F1.0 lens, in case the 50mm F1.1 isn’t quite fast enough

    Look closely on the 7Artisans website, and you’ll see an as-yet unannounced 50mm F1.0 lens front and center.

    Chinese lens manufacturer 7Artisans made some waves two weeks ago when they quietly revealed four affordable and fast lenses for various mirrorless mounts. Those lenses are available on Amazon and eBay, but one lens is being shown off on the 7Artisans website that doesn’t appear anywhere else online: a super-fast 50mm F1.0.

    Unfortunately, all we have is this photograph. The lens looks a lot like the company’s 50mm F1.1, but you can see that lens next to the F1.0 in the lineup, so it’s not some CGI typo. The lens diameter is even different—55mm vs 52mm for the F1.1.

    No, this is its own lens, we just don’t know what mount it will be made for or, just as importantly, why the heck a company would choose to make both a 50mm F1.1 and 50mm F1.0—seems a bit silly. Here’s a close look at the lens:

    Admittedly, the 50mm F1.1 lens announced a few weeks back is only available in Leica M mount. People would no doubt be thrilled by an equally affordable ($ 370 USD) lens available for the Sony E, Fuji X, or MFT mounts.

    As soon as this lens becomes official or pops up on Amazon alongside the other 7Artisan lenses, we’ll let you know.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Bye bye Bowens: The 94-year-old lighting company is going into liquidation

    Lighting giant Bowens, a company with 94 years of history and millions of customers under its belt, has entered liquidation. The news has not been officially confirmed by Bowens or Aurelius, the investment firm that acquired the company one year ago, but several independent sources have corroborated the story.

    Initial reports of Bowens’ downfall appeared on DIYPhotography, who heard from one inside source and confirmed with two others on Friday that the company has indeed entered liquidation. On Sunday, photography blog PetaPixel confirmed the news a fourth time, after they received an email from another “source familiar with the situation.”

    “All UK staff (including China factory) were informed that the company is going into liquidation,” the source told PetaPixel. “We were aware the company was facing problems and have all been working long days to pull company through a hard time, but we never thought it would end.”

    With pressure from fast-growing lighting brands like Godox, and big-name brands in the photo world going out of business at regular intervals, the disappointing news is not, alas, surprising. But no amount of regularity ever makes this kind of news easier to report on or read. If anything, it only gets harder.

    At the time of this writing, Bowens International’s contact form is no longer accepting submissions. We will update this post if and when we are able to reach someone at Bowens for official confirmation.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Tutorial: How to photograph wine on clear plexiglass

    Photographer Dustin Dolby of the YouTube channel workphlo is used to doing a lot with a little. In this tutorial, he uses a couple of flashes, a piece of clear plexiglass, and his know-how as a product photographer to capture a classic wine look, taking you along every step of the way. He even shares a neat trick for capturing a perfect masking frame for use in post.

    The tutorial is a little over 19 minutes long, so we wouldn’t call this “quick and easy,” but Dolby does show you the entire process, sharing a ton of great techniques along the way.

    The first part of the tutorial covers all of the frames Dolby needs to shoot to put together the perfect wine shot later. That includes a main shot, a brighter photo to bring out details in the label, and three frames with a stripbox placed directly behind his bottle to create a perfect high-contrast black-on-white masking frame to use in Photoshop later.

    Then, starting at the 6:25 mark, he jumps into Photoshop to show you how to create that perfect mask and then run you through the many cleanup, correction and compositing steps that turned these two photos:

    Left: Main lighting setup | Right: Label detail shot

    Into this final shot:

    The final photograph after cleanup and compositing in Photoshop. © Dustin Dolby

    Watch the full tutorial above to see how this shot came together from start to finish, and then leave Dustin a comment or question either on this post, or on his YouTube videos.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Photographer duo captures incredibly creative architecture portraits

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    Artist duo Daniel Rueda and Anna Devis have one of the most creative, fun, not to mention OCD-friendly Instagram partnerships you’ll ever stumble across. They travel the world finding creative, strange and colorful architecture, and then come up with creative, strange and colorful ways to interact with it.

    Surprisingly (or maybe not) Devis and Rueda are not photographers who love architecture, but architects who love photography. The architectural education gives them a better understanding and appreciation of the spaces they’re working with, while the photographer’s need to tell a story is what inspires them to insert themselves into each pictures as ‘characters.’

    As Rueda explained in an interview with design website More with Less, in addition to lending a sense of scale, “the role of these characters in my pictures is to tell a story that goes beyond aesthetics. That is, it is not enough to just have an image that looks more or less beautiful; it has to tell something without the need of putting it into words.”

    Devis and Rueda’s work is, plain and simple, a treat for the eyes. You can find many more creative shots like the ones above on Instagram at @drcuerda and @anniset.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Recycled: the Dakota Digital single-use digital camera

    True DIGITAL quality at a single-use price!*

    *Printing costs as much as the camera.

    July 2003 was a pretty big month for digital photography. Digital camera sales were up 93%, the Nikon D2H was announced, and DPReview posted three enthusiast compact reviews in a single day. Oh, and Ritz Camera announced the Dakota Digital single-use camera.

    According to Ritz Camera, the Dakota Digital gave ‘consumers the exciting benefits of digital photography without the cost and complexity.’ That’s true, to an extent.

    The concept was simple enough. You buy the camera for $ 11, go out and take your 25 photos, then bring it back to a Ritz or Wolf Camera store. After handing over another $ 11, Ritz would give you prints and a Photo CD, and then they’d ‘recycle’ the camera to sell again.

    For 8 dollars more you could view the last photo you’d taken.

    The Dakota Digital is as basic as you can get. It had a 1.3 Megapixel sensor, automatic flash, self-timer, an optical viewfinder and a lens of unknown focal length. On the back of the camera was literally an entire printed manual as well as an LCD that told you how many photos were left on your digital ‘film.’ After you took a photo you had the option to delete it, even though you couldn’t see it. About a year later, Ritz introduced a camera that let you view the last photo you took on the LCD – a big step up.

    So how did the photos look? Not very good, according to a PC World review at the time. The magazine recommended buying a cheap digital camera rather than essentially paying $ 22 every time you wanted to take 25 shots with the Dakota Digital.

    The guts of a single-use digital camera. Well, single use for only a bit longer. Photo by Tyler Akins.

    You probably won’t be surprised to hear that folks found a way to modify these cameras so you didn’t have to take them to Ritz after 25 shots. You simply need to disassemble it, solder on some cables that you’ve wired properly, and glue the USB receptacle in place with some epoxy. Et Voila, you now have a poor quality digital camera that you can use again and again, and for $ 11, it was quite the bargain.

    After some soldering, cable wiring and plenty of epoxy, your Dakota Digital now had a USB port, so you could use it again and again. Photo by Tyler Akins.

    We couldn’t figure out when this single-use camera store disappeared from shelves or if anyone actually bought one. Ritz Camera itself filed for bankruptcy twice, first in 2009 and then again in 2012, and stores were closed or sold to other companies.

    Did you happen to own a single-use digital camera? Share your memories in the comments below.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Google introduces Backup and Sync for Photos and Drive

    Google Photos is a very efficient tool for storing and sharing your images online, and can be conveniently used via dedicated mobile apps for iOS and Android. Now, using the service has become easier for desktop computer users as well.

    Google has just introduced the Backup and Sync desktop app for Windows PCs and Apple Mac computers to replace the existing Google Photos desktop uploader and Drive for Mac/PC.

    Google says the new app is a simpler, speedier and more reliable solution than the previous tools, and safely backs up files and photos from your computer or connected memory cards and cameras. Simply choose the folders you want to back up, and the app takes care of the rest.

    Backup and Sync is now available for download on the Google website. More information on how Backup and Sync works is available in the Google Help Center.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)