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Photos of faces perform almost 40% better on Instagram, study shows

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Whether you’re into Instagram or not, there’s no doubt it has become a powerful tool for photographers to showcase their work and even book sessions. Growing an audience is a tedious job (if you don’t want to use bots). But, the results of a recent study may help you grow the audience faster.

The researchers of Georgia Institute of Technology and Yahoo Labs recently looked at 1.1 million Instagram photos. They came to some interesting and potentially useful conclusions that could help photographers gain more likes and comments from their followers, and get people more engaged.

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Curved sensor breakthrough could dramatically increase digital camera image quality

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The idea of curved sensors has been around for a while now. Sony have been working on it since at least 2012, and we even got to see images created by it in 2014. Canon also filed a patent at the end of last year for both curved and “bendy” sensors. So, they’re definitely on the way. But new techniques developed by a team at Microsoft Research could speed things up dramatically.

The team have developed a way to create spherically curved image sensors by bending off-the-shelf sensors. Their quest started with the question “What would an ideal camera be like?”. They decided that very low light performance with sharp result would be vital, and they believed that curved sensors were the solution.

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Google & MIT’s New Algorithm Uses Edge Detection To Remove Reflections From Photos

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A team of researchers from MIT (Tianfan Xue, Michael Rubinstein, Ce Liu and William T. Freeman) are teaming up with Google with to present a new algorithm that is able to extract photographic inconveniences such as glares and reflections from photographs. The algorithm can then reproduce the image free of any reflections, in addition to being able to create an additional image of the reflection itself. This kind of problem solving would be especially useful when shooting behind glass or a fence, for example.[Read More…]

Overcoming Creative Dry Spells and where to find inspiration

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One of the things I used to hate when perusing my path as a photographer is when I reached a point where I was uninspired to shoot, or I’d reach a point where I’d feel that my best work is behind me and there is nothing new I can do. These creative dry spells used to happen to me from time to time and I know it happens to everyone so I want to share what I personally do to overcome this feeling.

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Researchers Use Slow Motion to Study Hummingbird Flight; Will Improve Drone Stability

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Drones have evolved from hobbyist toys to professional tools as the FAA partnered with CNN to establish a drone usage protocol for journalists and started issuing exemptions allowing commercial use.

In order for these tools to succeed in the fields above, let alone search and rescue missions, commercial delivery and monitor livestock farms, they need to be more reliable and able to operate in less-than-ideal weather.

Australian and American researchers took a high-speed camera and set out to find out how ruby-throated hummingbirds cope in turbulent winds.

The study could lead to drones getting ‘tails’.

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Microsoft’s ‘Hyperlapse’ Technology Will Make All Your GoPro Footage Look Amazing

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Last week, we wrote about how researchers at Brown developed a code that would allow realistic weather alterations in photo-editing through text commands. As fate would have it, the new trend these days is apparently groundbreaking algorithms. Two days ago, a video was uploaded showcasing Microsoft’s latest advancement in photography; using first-person-view cameras, researchers for the company developed an algorithm that makes what they call a hyperlapse. Watching the video, you’ll probably find yourself surprised by just how fluid everything almost looks. Keep reading after the break; seeing how it’s done is just as rewarding.

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New Algorithm Uses Text Commands to Change the Weather in Pictures

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Do you ever notice how sophisticated and easily accessible futuristic technology can look at times when watching a movie? Just to throw an example out there, remember how subtly awesome it was when all Tony Stark needed to do to paint his armor was ask Jarvis to add some hot rod color? As advanced as technology is these days, Louis C.K. was right; we’re a bit spoiled when it comes down to how much we expect. Just the other night, I had a friend complaining that he was stuck on 4G because there wasn’t any LTE in the area.

The bottom line is that efficiency and speed both play a big role in how technology moves forward. As simple as it is to take your phone out and press a button to show the screen, we ended up finding a way to make pushing it unnecessary. As simple as it is to type in a password to buy an app, we replaced it with a fingerprint sensor. And as efficient as it is to Photoshop your pictures to change the weather, we’ve now found a way to let an algorithm do the job for us.

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New Chemical Iris Technology Aims to Innovate Smartphone Camera Aperture

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As advanced as smartphone cameras are today, they’re still limited by the size they need to be. As a result, most smartphones have a fixed aperture to save space; the iris itself is mad from fixed blades that set the aperture for each camera. But as always, in a time where mobile devices are so engraved into the modern lifestyle, technology is constantly reaching higher ground. In this case, that higher ground is reached by a new type of iris – one made of chemicals that eliminate the need for physical blades.

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New Study Highlights Just How Misleading One Profile Picture Can Be

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Back when social media was still something establishing its foundations, things were a bit different. People didn’t care what they typed as comments on MySpace, or how many seizures they’d cause others to have from their profile’s flashing black-and-white Fall Out Boy skin(face it: that was why we all learned HTML in the first place.) Where once profile pictures were something you’d only expect high school kids to worry about, things have changed today.

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