Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
McKinney Fire that’s been raging in California since late July has become the largest wildfire of 2022 so far. Sadly, lives have been lost of both humans and animals, and lots of damage and destruction has been done.
But kind-hearted and empathetic people make everything more bearable. One of them is photographer Jonathan Rivas of AIO Filmz, who saved a puppy and helped reconnect it with its owner. He captured the encounter on camera and returned our faith in humanity.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware of the fact that plastic is one of the main marine pollutants. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) writes that Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic end up in our oceans. According to data from 2020, plastics consistently make up 80% of all marine debris.
Because of alarming facts like these, more and more individuals and companies are switching to sustainable and eco-friendly solutions. One of them is NYA-EVO, a Belgium-based company that has just launched a unique camera backpack. What’s so special about it, I hear you ask. Well, it was made entirely from recycled nylon and it combines sustainability, durability, practicality, and great design.
Earlier this year, Instagram started testing non-fungible tokens or NFTs for a limited number of US users. But if you live elsewhere and want to jump on the bandwagon, rejoice! From now on, you can buy and sell NFTs on Instagram in 100 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas.
I’ve always been a sucker for color-shifting items. As a kid, I thought there was some magic behind it. And now, as an adult, I bought a bunch of “chameleon” pigments for the jewelry I make. It looks pretty and it makes my inner child happy.
Thanks to a team of researchers at MIT, we now have color-shifting stretchy material. It doesn’t only look cool, but it could have many practical applications too. And you know what makes it extra fun for us photographers? It was made relying on a photography technique from the 19th century!
If you’re using Tamron Lens Utility to tune your Tamron lens features, it’s about to become even easier and more accessible. Tamron has announced the development of Tamron Lens Utility Mobile, a dedicated app for mobile devices. So, other than your PC, you’ll now be able to conveniently use the software on your smartphone and tablet, wherever you are.
COVID-19 pandemic has left many creatives without work, forcing thousands of them into bankruptcy. And it’s not only business owners that were hit in the process, but also their clients and customers.
This recently happened to a UK-based photography business, affecting all of its clients. Around eight hundred, to be more specific. The photography business declared bankruptcy on 27 July this year, leaving hundreds of couples hanging for their wedding shoot, their money, or their photos.
Remember when we were kids, we would look up into the sky and try to find shapes in the clouds? Well, I still sometimes do it at 33, and the latest James Webb telescope image reminded me of this fun activity.
JWST has peered into the chaos of the Cartwheel Galaxy, sending back a mesmerizing, colorful image. I loved looking at it and it reminded me of a merry-go-round that was always near the train station in my hometown. Of course, this is just my imagination, but the image is even more epic than I can imagine. It’s not only beautiful, but it reveals new details about star formation and the galaxy’s central black hole.
After Norway, the UK could be next to tackle the issue of unrealistic and harmful beauty standards. The Health and Social Care Committee found that more and more people suffer from body dysmorphia while social media and its ads are largely unregulated. As a result, the UK law could soon require ads to clearly label if there are any photoshopped bodies in them.
If you’re anywhere around my age, I’m sure you have a bunch of photos of your parents and grandparents that have seen better days (the photos, not your ancestors). Anyhow, you can now take those old, scratched, crinkled, and torn prints and restore them without any prior Photoshop knowledge.
A neural network called GFP-GAN (Generative Facial Prior-Generative Adversarial Network) restores your old and damaged photos with impressive speed and accuracy. But just like all AI-based tools, this one has downsides as well. So, let’s check out the good and the bads and see what it has to offer.
Minimalist Photography Awards has just announced the winners of its 2022 contest. For the fourth year in a row, the competition celebrates the beauty of simplicity. And this year, the overall winner is Daniel Dencescu from Germany with his mesmerizing series showing murmurations of starlings.
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