Focus After The Fact

Now that is something that I like! Focusing into the picture after you have taken the picture, and it is a tiny device that you can carry around with you to take photographs. I have been curious about this camera for some time now and there are two versions available the 16GB ($499) and the 8GB ($399), I’m interested in the 8GB since the only difference is with the amount of pictures it can take. The camera has many lenses built into it so it can take a lot of light information so it can process the focus after you have taken the picture which is a very cool concept. I’m going to get one to try it out, it literally is point and shoot so I’m going to enjoy trying it out for sure. It has two buttons one is for power and other is to snap pictures, and snapping pictures is instantaneous because it doesn’t have to focus. You need the software to focus the pictures but the downside of that is that the software is only available on the Mac right now but Windows is coming soon. For a photojunkie they will love this device, but its not a replacement for a DSLR, not yet at least but the technology behind is genius, and I bet you can come up with some very interesting photographs with it. You can order it now but it will ship in 2012, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Link: Lytro

The worst possible thing that could happen with the memory stick of your camera is for it go south and you would lose all your photographs, that includes a memory that could go corrupt in a phone. After doing a little research I found PhotoRec which is freeware photo recovery that works with all forms of media.

PhotoRec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from hard disks, CD-ROMs, and lost pictures (thus the Photo Recovery name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the file system and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media’s file system has been severely damaged or reformatted.

I had to work on a Micro-SD card that went corrupt from a phone and a corrupt SD card from a camera. I plugged into the card reader on my PC and it couldn’t read the volume and asked me to format it but I cancelled that. I ran the program and pops up on command line window, keep mind this is a freeware program that is meant to do a job and doesn’t look pretty. You pick the lost MiniSD card that the program can see then you choose a location for it to deposit the recovered files, there are a few technical steps in between like what type of file system was used for the card, I managed to pick the right one. As things progressed it too about 10 minutes to finish all the choices and then the program starts, it said approximately 57 minutes to recover 16 GB worth of pictures. I came back an hour later it recovered everything that was on there even things that I didn’t know was on there. Overall about 70-80% of the pictures were recovered, the rest were either text files or disturbed black images. The program does what you need it to do even though its a bit on the rugged side, I think its a fantastic program.

Link: PhotoRec

There is always something good about having a very comfortable office. This is the offices of Wanken & Designspiration for working all types of media. Taking photographs and plastering all over the wall for inspiration, I really like that idea, and thinking of applying to my office. Its interesting that he uses the Yashica and the iPhone as his photography tools, I have equipment laying around but not as utilized or organized yet.

Wanken originally started as a video production venture by brother and myself in 2004. After a while video production become less of an interest so I took Wanken and ran with it in a different direction involving design and photography. The first versions of Wanken.com were interesting to say the least–full flash sites with intros and hit counters. When the blog started it was only photography but soon after, my interests evolved; architecture and graphic design became more prominent.

When I first saw the anouncement of a photography gallery being held in Tilal Gallery I was excited, it turned out to be four events during the whole month of September, each week being a specific type of Photography. I wanted to make sure that I went to every one of those events so it was once a week. I know that Tilal Gallery is a very nice and spacious gallery with ample parking so I wasn’t worried about getting there but the one annoying part is that they close on Saturdays so you only have time during the week to see them.

But with my schedule I only managed to make it to two out of the four events, the first part was the Fine Arts, and I went to the third one but the fourth one was the under water photography and that is the one I missed. There were some fantastic photographs and art work all ranging from 150 KD up to 750 KD which ins’t bad compared to the prices of art work I have seen and these were really works of Art. I hope to see more events in Kuwait such as this, just beautiful.

I have about four to five lenses in my current kit and I use about two to three most of the time, and I have been reading about Lensbaby lenses for some time now, they are not as expensive but come out with some very trippy photographs, sort of like an insant Instagram filt built into a real DSLR camera. There are several Lenses to choose from and they range from $150 up to $450 depending on the effect that you are looking for, and now they have put together a kit of everything they have which seems extremely tempting. Even though the is on the high side I have always been tempted to try out one of their lenses and after watching the youtube video I might pick up a lens, but if you are looking for the whole kit this is the perfect package.

The Lensbaby Movie Maker’s Kit is designed for Canon DSLRs (like the 5D MKII, 60D, T2i, etc…) and Arri PL movie cameras, with an array of optic adapters that can create trippy-looking fisheye, wide angle and soft-focus effects, among others. The whole thing will cost you $2900, but it might help you further your craft.

Link: Gizmodo

Toy fan and photographer Edward McGowan has created a fantastic collection of toy scene photo art representing certain movies that I think you’ll really like.

These photographs are amazing, these photographs are taken in a way that gives these models life. I have a lot of toys and models lined up on my shelf and I had a chance to take photographs of them before but not like this. I’m going to try something like this but I don’t know if it is possible with my skills.

Link: GeekTyrant

A very interesting project with photography and video to put together this amazing work of art. Different styles of dance brought onto one playing field, I really love projects such as these and the amount of technical work that goes into it makes it seem effortless. I do not have the technical ability to pull off something such as this, I would like to develop the ability to get better, but I’m amazed at how they got it done.

“The 360 Project” is an exploration into the crossroads of photography and motion pictures. It is a study of peak dance movements, captured simultaneously by 48 cameras aligned in a circle. There are two components to “The 360 Project” – “Ballet 360” features ballerinas from Canada’s National Ballet School, “Krump 360” features dancers from Northbuck Krump. The two styles of dance represent polemic perspectives in both technique and origin – one is beauty, the other beast. The resulting images resemble a type of digital statue – a frozen, peak moment, embodying the essence of each dance form in 360 degrees.

A little while ago I posted about the Belgium Photographer who managed to get the confidence of the Yakuza. I didn’t find out except after a little roaming around that he put together a book of all the photographs and details, that book had a limited edition run and was sold out extremely quickly. This time around he is making another edition of the book which will be available in limited quantities by October 30th, I personally loved the photographs and jumped at the possibility of buying the book, so I bought two.

To buy the book click this link: AntonKusters Buy Book
To see more photographs click this link: Photographs

CineSkates are a set of three wheels that quickly attach to a tripod and enable fluid, rolling video in an ultra-portable package. CineSkates work specifically with the GorillaPod Focus tripod. A ballhead is also required… most small, strong ballheads will work great. Fortunately, JOBY, the maker of GorillaPod Focus and Ballhead X has agreed to include their products in the CineSkates System at a generous price!

Since DSLRs have become amazing at taking videos I have been thinking about purchasing a dolly but they are expensive and bulky. But with this new Kickstarter project called Cineskates its a totally different dolly solution. This Kickstarter project is in such high demand its gone past $100,000 more than the original $20,000 goal. The Camera Sliders attach to the bottom of a Gorilla pod (included), changing it into an extremely versatile and flexible camera dolly. With such flexibility and the adjustable BallHead, the CineSkates make it easy to achieve low and creative camera angles. I didn’t even think about how you can be creative and angle the Gorilla Pod legs to make the camera move in interesting ways, you can see it by checking out the video below. I already backed the project and can’t wait to get my hands on the CineSkates and test it out as I already have the GorillaPod Focus and X-Ballhead.

Check Out The Video Below

Link: Kickstarter

The Yakuza are one of the most dangerous organizations currently operating in Asia and specifically in Japan, and they have been around for a long time. I tend to find the Yakuza to be extremely interesting with their complex set of rules and honor system, there are those are living by the old code and those living by the money. It is a difficult world to see let a long penetrate, but through two years of perseverance Anton Kusters from Belgian managed to gain the group’s confidence and bring photographs of this world to light. Be warned some of the photographs are explicit.

Link: BBC