Gigapixels

Talking of high resolutions, there is already a few techniques developed allowing capture of images at incredibly high resolutions - billions of pixels (GigaPixel). First such images became to appear in 2003-2004: enthusiasts or even institutes were capturing multiple megapixel images and when stitching them on computer. Remember, where was the famous 2.5 Gpixel panorama image from Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO?
Later, inventors began to capture images on big size film using home-made optical systems and then scanning negatives with great resolution, taking barriers of gigapixel or even four gigapixels at one camera shot.
Largest size I could see now is 8.6 Gpixel image viewable through flash application. I must say - all those gigapixel images look fantastic - they have a great detail - you could zoom in, and zoom in and zoom in and still get the surprisingly sharp image and see smaller details.

416 Megapixels

Better Light has announced Super10K-HS™ - digital scanning back able to create image at native resolution of 10,200 x 13,600 pixels.

A scanning back is a type of digital camera back. Digital imaging devices typically use a matrix of light-sensitive photosensors, such as CCD or CMOS technologies. These sensors can be arranged in different ways - one way where each row captures RGB components, or using one full-sized layer for each color. A digital scan back takes a similar approach to the second type of photosensor, but instead of using one matrix for each component, it uses one array per component. This translates to a 3xN sensor matrix, where N is typically a large number (between 5,000 for earlier models and 15,000 for newer models), which is then placed vertically in a holder. To take an image, the sensor travels the x axis, taking one exposure per point.

Digital scanning backs are typically used by museums or similar institutions where demand for very high detail in reproducing art originals, prevails upon the other aspects such as time of the capture and storage space.
This new Super10K-HS™ allows scanning of originals of size up to 34 x 45 inches at 300 dpi without interpolation. It is supplied with 40 Gb or 80 Gb internal hard drive for image storage, as only one image with maximum resolution results in 794 Mbytes file.

On the image below Super10K-HS™ is mounted on Cambo Ultima 4x5 camera for art reproduction.

Images from Better Light site

Death of Film by David Lynch

In the last number of LOST magazine there is an article from famous American film director David Lynch. He writes what for him film as medium is dead, and he uses mostly digital video (DV) for his filming experiments, because it's more easier to work with and gives more possibilities for him and even for his actors.

...you have forty-minute takes, automatic focus. They're lightweight. And you can see what you've shot right away. With film you have to go into the lab and you don't know what you've shot until the next day...

...once you start working in that world of DV with small, lightweight equipment and automatic focus, working with film seems so cumbersome. These 35mm film cameras are starting to look like dinosaurs to me...

With all my respect to talented director thats not a great discovery - all this digital technologies give us some new abilities, so why just not use them? ;)

Photoarchive: flower monsters

From some sunny days of summer 2005:

Terrifying retouch

The manipulation on photographs were practiced I think since the beginning of photography. It all started long ago before the first computers appeared. In the past photo editing were either retouching done mainly by professionals with ink and paints on negatives or prints, or the other technique known as photo montage.
Technology made a great steps forward since then. Today even advanced computer user with decent knowledge of popular graphic software may do image manipulations surpassing the best examples of the past. It's became common to alter photographs to achieve better quality or just for fun.
But where were one more use of photography retouch in the past which were privilege of the governments: political propaganda. A good examples of this is collected in the illustrated album of unique photographs by David King - "The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia", which impressed me a lot. This album offers a great ability ot look into reality of Soviet era in Russia. It contains great collection of images from the Stalin era, in their original and altered lately state.

On the upper photograph Lenin is saying a speech in front of Big Theater, Moscow in 5th of May,1920. There is a Trotsky staying on the steps of tribune. Down is the photograph which were widely published in Soviet Union after Trotsky's retreat.

Mainly King's collection focused on disappearance of individuals from the photographs of the government events in the period of terror in the late 1930s.

Here is heads of Soviet government with artists of Moscow theater in 1938. Second is the photo published in 1949. The two man disappeared - they are Ezhov and Boyarsky, so called "Public enemies", they were arrested and executed.

Here on the rear seats of auto is Trotsky and his wife Natalja in Georgia in 1924. And the same shot published in 1936, after Trotsky was wasted from soviet history.

The main purpose behind these manipulations was to support changing ideology of regime and/or to represent Stalin as one of the ideologist of revolution in 1917, besides Lenin. The history of the whole state were changed by altering the documentary photographs. Members of Soviet government convicted as "Enemy of the people" were not only executed, but they were also erased from the past of their country.

Here, on the left Lenin and Krupskaya among kids and kulaks on the opening of electrical power plant in Kashino in 1920. On the right the same photo published 19 years later, then almost all kulaks were repressed.

Apart from a political and ideological purpose of the photos in the book one could see that the techniques to alter photographs were very rough: some photos contain visible artifacts: such as blobs, some very big spaces within group photos, or even mysterious hands or elbows. But instead of such details those photographs worked less than a century ago and made an alternative history.

This album could be found on Amazon:


The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia

Camera with GPS: whats next?

Technology nowadays is moving eight-mile steps: about ten years ago a digital camera was such an exotic device, now they almost replaced film cameras at nearly all areas and progressing further...

Some of the newly appearing cameras already becoming something more like, say, multi-functional toasters with bunch of add-on functions.

For example - some time ago there were announce of Ricoh camera with GPS module, able to determine current geo-coordinates and apply it to images and videos.

I'm even curious: what the technological feature will be added next to cameras?

Photoarchive: mushrooms

Thats from fall 2006.

Man behind the camera

I've started my first attempts in photography almost 20 years ago: it was Zenith-B, Lomo 8M and Kiev 88 film cameras. There was no digital cameras those days, of course :) Even the color photos was the privilege of professional studios.
Many time passed since then, a progress in digital photography and computers now gives almost everybody a potential ability to take and post-process images with quality overwhelming the professionals of near past, say 15-20 years ago. Nice, but instead of this many professionals still using film cameras. Why? They say what film gives you more life. Well maybe, but I think digital gives you more freedom - to try, to make mistakes, to learn.
I'm not professional, but I love photography. And I believe - digital or film - a good camera is only a camera and where is always a man behind it.

From photoarchive

Some of my first attempts with digital camera

Hello potential readers

"This is just another photoblog" - you may think. You're close, this blog about photography, but not just plain personal photo-archive! It's not only interesting photos, but everything related to photography, including image post-processing, manipulation, digital cameras, HDRI and more, more, more...
I'm not claiming to be professional photographer, everything you'll see is just how I see world through the lens of the camera. I like to travel, like to make photographs, like to post-process them, so stay tuned it's going to be interesting :-)