Colour Your Worlde

At the recent Adobe MAX 2011 conference, Jue Wang, one of the magicians behind the scenes at Photoshop gave a sneak peak at a new tool they are currently developing. This new tool may eliminate blurry pictures forever. As you will see in this video, the crowd was pretty amazed by the demo. The new deblurring feature can restore detail, even in text, and is simply mind blowing. They made no promises of when it would release in the Photoshop package. Keep a look out for it in the future.



Here are some close up shots of an image run through the deblurring filter. The tool does its best work on fixing camera shake, and not motion blur or out of range focus. (Not yet, anyway.)


They are still in the process of perfecting it. So, Jue has set up a site where he is collecting images to use as practice. You can submit your images here.

Found [Via]

Awakening to the Light

Award winning photographer Christine Taft of The Perceptive Lens will be hosting a one woman show and reception this Saturday, April 30th at Studio ADT for a special Mother's Day event. The reception will be held from 2 - 5 pm. Christine will be showcasing her new coffee table photography book as well as her framed photographs. Her work will be on display at Studio ADT until June 18th.

Introducing her newly released photography book and showcasing many of her award winning and landscape photographs.

Please bring your mother and friends to join us in an afternoon of celebration with light refreshments & networking.

Looking forward to seeing you at this event!

Location: Studio ADT
                1775 West University Dr., Suite 122
                Tempe,  AZ  85281

This could be a fun weekend project. This video from the Matt Richardson at MAKE shows you how to go 'old school' with all the benefits of new technology, and convert your DSLR in to a pinhole camera. Besides not needing to spend hours in the darkroom trying to figure out your exposure, there are some amazing options that you could never do with a traditional oatmeal box pinhole camera; effects like creating multi-exposure HDR images and shooting pinhole video.

When film ruled the photographic world a 4x5 transparency was the best option for an artist looking to reproduce their artwork. The 21st Century equivalent is a high end digital back that can produce a file with the same resolution previously only found in large format sheet film. With technology ever changing and improving, soon the capabilities of the newest digital backs will surpass what film could capture in one exposure. When stitching multiple frames together, like the project seen here, digital files have already reached that level.

Digital Output magazine chronicled the partnership of Kyoto Cultural Association (KCA) with Canon and their use of digital capture to reproduce a 17th Century piece Viewing Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park by Hishikawa Moronbu. The each panel of the six panel piece was captured segmented into several units, with each part exposed three times in RAW. They estimated it took 15 to 20 minutes per panel to photograph. The final images were then stitched together using proprietary software.

Before they printed their final piece several proofs were produced and held up to the original for matching. Much like our process here when reproducing original art, the color matching relied on the expertise of their staff - "Despite all of the technology available, this final stage still relied on the human eye". The reproduction was printed on Washi paper specifically designed for the project and then finished with gold leaf to replicate the original as close as possible. The duplicate was produced to be displayed at the Freer Gallery in the Smithsonian Institution in and effort to expose a wider audience to Japanese art.

We use a similar process when we reproducing original art. Many of our customers are looking to replicate an hand crafted painting in a giclee canvas print. We can also take the same digital capture of their artwork and apply it to new applications like printing to fabric, metallic photo paper, or printing directly to tile.

Scott Price of Innerhand Shaping completed a professional design and installation of 7 large format pieces for San Diego Sports Medicine. Their main lobby and gym at the new facility were enhanced with images of local San Diego landmarks and athletes by local photographers. The images where a mix of a direct to print on Sintra and high quality FujiFlex paper face mounted to acrylic. The large images were 6ft x 4ft and spectacular with their resolution, color and presentation. They truly transformed an empty large space into a fascinating, inviting and unique one with positive energy! The focal piece is the image of San Diego beachfront with breaking waves. The FujiFlex paper give amazing depth and aliveness to the image, and the effects of the plexiglas mounting add a watery shine that makes you feel as if you are actually there. It is amazing how well these images can represent your business and convey what you are trying to say.

We also worked with Scott to create an oval shaped image for a unique presentation. The image was printed direct on to Sintra and cut to shape with our digital router. The oval outline shape on the group of cyclists training together gives the image motion, and a truly thinking outside the box presentation. The ability to create and deliver images of different sizes, shapes and materials gives Innerhand Shaping the professional tools to deliver on artistic vision.

Innerhand Shaping does commercial and home art design and installation, using personal, local, stock or Scott's own abstract digital images. Also check out Innerhand's abstract fine art web gallery.

German camera company, Leica, worked with Advico Y&R to demonstrate what can be accomplished with a 37.5 megapixel camera. These shots were taken by photographer Christian Bobst with a Leica S2 model. The posters, shown here in their actual location, provide razor sharp close ups of the walls and fences on which they are placed. Creative advertising presentation as well as the perfect illustration of how higher resolution cameras can substantially increase the results in large format displays.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) images are dramatic and eye catching. Creating these breathtaking results just became a little bit easier with the release of Nik HDR Efex Pro.

The software's tools include several single-click presets for realistic or artistic finishes, as well as the ability to do global exposure and contrast image adjustments. The HDR Method option uses a four tone-mapping algorithm that can apply a variety of HDR styles. Selective image refining and enhancements like curves, levels, and vignettes can also be done with a single mouse click with out the need for layer masks or selections.

Normally to achieve the HDR look a series of exposures would be necessary to capture the detail in the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows, then those shots are blended in to one image that contains the best aspects of each exposure. While you are still able to produce images from that type of work flow, an exciting feature of this software can construct a HDR look from a single exposure. Meaning a whole new world of possibilities just opened up for your image library. The image seen to the right here was created using a single exposure shot.


For a photographer's review on using this software check out R.L. Charpentier's blog. Rich makes an excellent observation that applies to large format printing - Watch out for chromatic aberrations in your processed image. Nik does offer suggestions on how to resolve the issue on their FAQ page. Best practice, as always before printing your image large, zoom in and make sure you don't see any anomalies on screen. If you see it on screen it will definitely show up on a the print.


Have fun creating some cool HDR effects with your images!

Knowing how to create and work with layer masks in Photoshop can save you time and offers control and versatility when editing and manipulating images that is superior to just using selections. For some reason layer masks have the reputation of being difficult to do, which is simply not true. Mastering this technique can aid immensely when prepping images for printing; selective color adjustment, lightening, and sharpening can often make the image pop and come to life when printed.

Jay Kinghorn for Photo.net shows you how to get started. He explains exactly what layer masks are, the benefits and how they work, and why it is a better workflow than just using selections of an image.

Harnessing the Power of Layer Masks

Layer masks are one of Adobe Photoshop’s most powerful, yet least understood features. In this tutorial, I’ll demystify layer masks by highlighting the benefits of incorporating layer masks into your image correction workflow and demonstrating the use of these tools in common, real-world situations. This tutorial is designed for photographers who are comfortable working with layers in Photoshop and have at least a basic familiarity with Photoshop’s painting and drawing tools, including the Marquee selection tools, the Brush and Gradient tools.

You can use layer masks most effectively if you first understand what they are and what they do. Layer masks allow you to selectively hide, or mask, portions of a layer while allowing other portions of the layer to show through. For example, you may use a mask to make the background of an image transparent. This allows a designer to combine the photo with text or graphics in a page layout program.

More commonly, photographers use layer masks for applying changes to specific portions of an image without affecting the rest of the photo. Similar to burning and dodging in the wet darkroom, these changes give you tremendous control over your photos. These selective corrections can bring a photo alive, add depth, improve contrast and shape your photo in subtle, yet powerful ways.

Photographers also use layer masks to composite multiple images for an entirely new creation, or, blend multiple exposures taken of the same scene to expand dynamic range, blend multiple white balances, or extend the depth of field.

Understanding how to use layer masks is one of the keys to unlocking the true potential of Photoshop. Once you’ve mastered the use of Layer Masks, the doors to Photoshop are wide open for you to explore.

Film's dead, right? Then you haven't heard of QuantiumFilm. Just like digital photography revolutionized the industry and replaced most people's traditional film cameras, QuantiumFilm technology may become the new way that digital photography is captured.

The new technology by InVisage the uses a matrix of nanoparticles embedded in a polymer film, instead of silver grains like photographic film, which can be simply "painted" onto the top of a low-cost wafer. The new sensor offers four times the sensitivity of conventional CMOS image sensors at a dramatically reduced cost per chip.

Quantum film threatens to replace CMOS image chips - EE Times

"Our quantum film replaces the silicon used for image capture, but what we have really created here is a new semiconductor material," said Jess Lee, InVisage president and CEO. "Our quantum film even looks like photographic film—an opaque black material that we deposit right on the top layer of our image chip."

Unlike tradition semiconductors, which have a fixed bandgap, the bandgap of Invisage's quantum film can be adjusted by changing the size of the embedded quantum dots. The film can also be painted-on at room temperature, obviating the need for expensive high-temperature fabrication techniques required by conventional sensors.

"We can paint our quantum-dot film onto any surface," said Lee. "Right now we are painting them on silicon wafers for our first product—an ultra low cost image sensor that obsoletes CMOS sensors."

Traditional CMOS sensors require that light filter down past several microns of metallization to reach the photodetectors on a silicon wafer, but InVisage's quantum film is on the top layer for 100 percent exposure to incident light.

InVisage also wants to apply this technology to night vision goggles and solar cells.