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This new technology makes f/1.4 lenses at almost zero cost

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Researchers at Technion Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new way of making lenses with a curable liquid polymer that allows for faster prototyping of new and custom optics. It’s designed primarily for applications such as corrective lenses, augmented and virtual reality, medical imaging and astronomy, but could potentially become a new manufacturing method (or at least allow faster development) of photographic lenses.

According to a press release, the researchers began to develop the new method after realising that there were around 2.5 billion people around the planet who don’t have access to corrective eyewear. Their goal was to create “a simple method for fabricating high-quality optical components that does not rely on mechanical processing or complex and expensive infrastructure”.

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Independent researchers cease Instagram study after Facebook threatens to sue

A group of independent researchers at AlgorithmWatch recently had to shut down an Instagram research after a backlash from Facebook. The group had been studying Instagram’s algorithm and how it works. However, they claim that Facebook threatened with a lawsuit, so they were forced to bring the research to a halt.

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Giant crab steals a $4,000 thermal camera and hides it from researcher

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It’s interesting how many times we’ve seen animals steal cameras: lions, penguins, chimps, eagles… A PhD student of Western Sydney University also lost her camera to an animal, and this time, the thief was a giant crab. And it’s a pretty pricey piece of gear: a $4,000 thermal camera.

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Plants can now take selfies with the world’s first plant-powered camera system

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Taking selfies is so easy even a monkey could do it. But would you ever think a plant could take a selfie? Well, sort of. The scientists at ZSL London Zoo have developed the world’s first plant-powered camera system. It uses the energy from a fern named Pete which powers the camera – so the plant can take its own photo.

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Frequent selfie posters are seen as less likable, less successful and more insecure, new study claims

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Selfie is a phenomenon so frequent in the 21st century that it has inspired quite a few psychological studies so far. The latest one was conducted Washington State University psychologists, comparing people who post selfies and those who post photos taken by someone else. Will it surprise you if I say that the result is not encouraging for frequent selfie posters at all? According to this study, those who frequently post selfies are perceived as being “less likable, less successful, more insecure and less open to new experiences” than those who post photos taken by others.

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Researchers develop after-the-fact portrait relighting AI that works without 3D depth information

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When the iPhone X came along with its Portrait Lighting effects, a lot of people were very impressed. Apple was even claiming that you don’t need studio lighting at all anymore or any other fancy equipment. You just need your phone. And while the iPhone hasn’t taken over as the portrait photographer’s camera of choice, it’s an intriguing concept.

A concept so intriguing that researchers and engineers at UC San Diego and Google have taken it a few steps further. They’ve trained neural networks to relight portraits after the fact without requiring any 3D depth data and with a lot more control than a few Apple presets.

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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

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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