September 15th, 2007
PopPhoto has an article about a new application called Helicon Focus that can aid photographers attempting to achieve extreme depth of field. (See the manufacturer’s site here.)
It looks like it could be a handy tool if it works as well as PopPhoto says it does. The process is one of taking multiple shots at different points of focus and then importing them into the software. It then combines the images to achieve a depth of field you would not be able to get with a single shot.
Though its uses may be somewhat limited (it wouldn’t work on a moving subject), it could be useful for macro, still life and landscape photographers who are willing to take the time required to achieve this effect.
August 17th, 2007
This very cool video by Dr. Ariel Shamir shows off his presentation on content-aware image sizing that was presented at SIGGRAPH this year.
It demonstrates a software application that resizes images in such a way that the content of the image is preserved intelligently. The video describes it better than I can, but the basic idea is that if you want to stretch out an image, it will keep the key elements of the photo in sensible places while filling in less important areas. The same goes for shrinking an image - it will eliminate the less important features of an image and leave the main subject areas intact and in the same relative location as they previously appeared in the image.
Just take my word for it and watch the video. It’s cool.
I would love to see some high-resolution before-and-after pictures to see what kind of quality this software is capable of producing. If the quality is good, it could be a genuinely useful tool (with some huge ethical implications for photojournalists!).
I’m also curious about the future plans for the software. It looks like it is currently a standalone application, but I expect Dr. Shamir could make some serious cash if he licensed this program to Adobe for an inclusion into Photoshop.
Update: Thanks to the user migawka below who has made the video available on youtube.
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June 3rd, 2007
Adobe has released version 4.1 of the Camera RAW plugin for Photoshop CS3. Mac users can download the plugin here and Windows users get it here.
This release adds support for a number of cameras, but it also has some helpful new features. Photoshopnews.com has a handy article detailing what’s new in Camera RAW 4.1.
December 14th, 2006
The National Association of Photoshop Professionals has a good, first look at some of the new features that will be in Photoshop CS3. Among the highlights are the improved functionality of Camera RAW and a big upgrade to the Bridge application.
There appears to be a lot of other potentially-useful functionality appearing in CS3, so hurry up and have a look!
December 13th, 2006
AppleInsider is reporting that Adobe will be releasing a public beta of PhotoShop CS3 this Friday:
“The Photoshop CS3 beta, which will be posted to the Adobe Labs website on friday, will include Adobe Bridge and Device Central components, and be available simultaneously for both the Mac and Windows operating systems.”
In addition to the feature additions that will be available, this release should get a lot of people excited for the fact that it will be a Universal Binary release meaning that it will be natively supported on Apple’s Intel-based computers. Unfortunately, for owners of those machines, they will have to wait a little longer to try out the UB PhotoShop CS3:
“People familiar with the Macintosh version of the editor confirm it to be a Universal Binary which ’simply screams’ on Apple Computer’s new Intel-based hardware. However, they tell AppleInsider that this week’s beta will include only the standard version of Photoshop CS3.”
For this Friday’s release, it’s only PhotoShop CS3 that will make its debut. Other Creative Suite applications will stay under wraps a little longer:
“…the San Jose, Calif.-based software developer does not plan to release or discuss details of other Creative Suite 3.0 applications, such as Illustrator, Dreamweaver and InDesign.”
Head to AppleInsider for more details.
September 25th, 2006
With the Photokina photographic trade show happening this week in Cologne, there is sure to be a host of news about new equipment, software and technology popping up all over the place.
Major RAW processing software packages are no exception. Apple’s Apeture has been updated to version 1.5. The update will ship this week and is available free to owners of the current 1.1 version. Adobe’s Beta RAW Processor, Lightroom has been updated to version 4 on both Mac and Windows platforms and is available as a free download from Adobe. And if you can’t have enough photo processing options, Light Crafts’ Lightzone 2.0 is also available as a free download.
June 17th, 2006
If you have a free afternoon and you’re looking to practice both your portraiture and your people skills, you may consider having a look at photojojo’s guide to impromptu street photos. Just grab some poster board and a handful of small rewards for your subjects and you are on your way to meeting new people and getting some fun shots.
With the summer season upon us, you may be lucky enough to have an air show appearing somewhere in your region in the near future. Digitaldarell.com has a detailed guide to shooting air shows that will help you to capture all the action. The only thing I would add is that you shouldn’t forget to point your camera at the events on the ground from time to time. You may find yourself able to get some interesting shots of the planes or their pilots when you take a break from craning your neck upwards.
The gravity-defying MonsterPod looks like it would not only be a fun toy but also a practical addition to the camera bag of anyone looking to support their compact camera or external flash in a bizarre location. This small, red camera support has a strange, morphing underside that allows it to stick to most surfaces and hold a 10 ounce camera or flash. Weird, but potentially-useful stuff. For $30, it might be worth it just to see how the thing works.
Lastly, iView has updated its MediaPro photo management software to version 3.1.1.
June 14th, 2006
Google has announced the launch of their Picasa Web Albums service. Google’s photo sharing site is currently only available by invite. The launch of this test version of the site coincides with the new version of the Picasa photo software.
Another front on which the search engine wars are being waged, the Picasa service will serve as Google’s weapon in the battle against Yahoo’s popular Flickr photo sharing site. With a firmly-established community of Flickr users, Picasa has an uphill battle. If nothing else, a little competition will serve the users of both sites well.
June 14th, 2006
Adobe has just released Adobe Lightroom Beta 3, their RAW image processing solution currently only for Mac OS X. Download and try this public beta release at the above link.
For extensive coverage of the functions in this release, read photoshopnews.com’s article on Lightroom Beta 3.
Edit: I just had a quick look at the program and I personally find that it’s still far too slow for my purposes. I’m running a 1.5 GHz Powerbook with 1.5 GB RAM, so I am above the system requirements, but operations that happen quickly in Adobe Camera RAW just take too long with Lightroom. I hope that the program speeds up in future releases because a number of the features are attractive and it could be a good addition to my workflow.
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