Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
No Picnic
Google are closing Picnik on April 19, 2012 (very soon). If you use Picasa, Photobucket, Facebook or Flickr the chances are you have used and come to love Picnik. Google have in fact used many of the features of picnik in google+ photo creative kit but the users of the other packages might really miss picnic.
Flickr has at least indicated they are working on an alternative, but I haven’t noticed an official notification of that yet.
For those looking for an alternative now, have a look at Aviary. It may not be as well integrated as picnik was but it does have a very comprehensive range of photo editing features available as standalone on PCs, web and mobile apps.
If you have photos still in a picnik account you can use the picnik takeout feature to download them to your computer (in a zip file).
A proper connection to SkyDrive
![](http://res2.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/Windows%207/main/4300ae64-546c-4bbe-9026-6779b3684fb9_0.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e8/Windows_8_Consumer_Preview_Start_Screen.png/800px-Windows_8_Consumer_Preview_Start_Screen.png)
There is a beta version of widows 8 (its a pre release trial rather than a true beta release) that you can download and test now. You can even create a portable version that can be booted from a USB key or external drive. This will be of most use for those wanting to develop apps for this new platform.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Windows_Media_Center_on_Windows_XP.png)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Reverse image finders
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/88x31.png)
How can you findout if your images is being “responsibly” used on-line?
The net is a wide open place these days and there are millions on millions of places to look. So just keeping your eyes open when you surf the net may yield very little success. The better strategy at the moment is to use a reverse image search tools. Luckily there are already two decent free and easy to use ones available. I didn’t bother to investigate the expanding number “ransomware” applications, (ie ones that promise the world, charge you a lot and probably just secretly use one of the options below).If Google Images is a hand grenade, TinEye is a sniper rifle.
![](http://images.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/logos/images_logo_lg.gif)
![](http://blog.tineye.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/logo.png)
As the wired post suggests these service are also very useful to locate the original source of an image so it can be correctly reposted with acknowledgement. Thus potentially avoiding a litigious band of lawyers trying to sue the pants off you, sending you nasty and threatening letters when a polite cease and desist was all that was necessary.I must admit I was a little shocked that one of my images was being used by a hacker’s collective. However they did remove my image when I asked nicely. Another of my images appears in over 300 locations, most that I checked not acknowledging I was the creator. Sigh!
Yet there is a bright side and I wish to pat on the back all those that have contacted me (and I have in most case said yes to republishing my images) and those that correctly linked back to my blogger post or my flickr photostream. Well done you guys.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Ibis Sunset
Several long strings of Ibis flew in at sunset and settled noisily in a set of Monterey Pines. Its been a few years since I have witness the Ibis in such numbers, perhaps they know El Nina is about to fade away.
I would like to explain to them, they would be much easier to photograph if the flew in about 20 minutes earlier.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Great Day for a Collage
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0W-L8PyrZPKbPW6EI_3q1o4KdGy67KNzpn5VhLvUvWUWLW01RjoT2mrtQlTG-cg1WscDhfRZ9DGU-Pzw8IgT3yTas2vi2IYmCo7wCy5IBfzH_VnrefX0SOCPZZyCBGXHRLxmO/s280/2012-03-13.jpg)
Big sky and a wide sweeping beach. Perfect for a hockney joiner style collage in picasa. Well thats until I get back to a computer with Autostitch.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Instantly a bigger band
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrJtvfi8QmTmqVLFv_IlS23yagMRXEwaoromzetWGLKuTLCdWphK29QCFc24FcDxdj7c7-lWtzRpKqEeKTNN_M4OrctrXGcHm_BgfdOWiWdEEt8ILEVQB0c726Y5U4YxnL57D/s280/2012-03-10.jpg)
Having a litle fun with Picasa collage tool, whilst enjoying thr Jazz (& blues) at the Inverlock Jazz festival's "free" tent.
Friday, March 02, 2012
Thursday, March 01, 2012
What is Lytro?
![](http://www.zurmat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/lytro-camera.jpg)
![](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2011/10/lytro-660x422.jpg)
So lets begin with what it is? Lytro is basically a zoom lens on a single aperture camera (its a wide aperture equivalent to F2 so it takes in a lot of light). The sensor is an array of sensors that can all record the vector of the light (angle at which it has left the subject and arrived at the sensor). Most other parts of a cameras hardware are replaced by smart software then prepares an image as a light field (Lyrto’'s term), actually it seems to be 9 versions of the image.This is in effect a new format of digital negative that can be further processed at viewing time, either in the camera or on a computer. It is a representation that is much more 3D than a current 2D photo we are used to.
Check out the Cnet first look video on You tube for a “Gee Whiz” style review.
![](http://a57.foxnews.com/img.foxnews.com/static/managed/img/Scitech/660/371/lytro%20camera%20samples.jpg)
Does this mean you will never have to focus again? I DOUBT IT.
Does this mean we will soon be able to do some amazing things that being photos to life, in a much more 3D way? I suggest YES
So what will drive this technology forward? Putting it on MOBILE PHONES! I do not think specialist hardware will get enough users into the technology. It is firstly the zoom lens that phones can’t or don’t do at the moment, plenty have limited aperture infinite focus lens and there is plenty of computer power on some models. After that it is licencing the technology and getting the light field sensor into the phones form factor.
I look forward to watching developments in this area. I probably wont be buying the camera right now, I still get joy focussing my camera on my subject.