Putting On More Squeeze!

I read something very exciting in photographyblog today! It is all about squeezing jpeg file even smaller without loosing detail! Is that possible? ;)

According to the press release:

"Human Monitoring Ltd today announced the global availability of its new hipix™ still image compression technology. hipix™ enables users to send (and store) high resolution images at between 15% and 50% of the size of normal compressed (jpeg) files! hipix™ works on Windows, Linux, Mac and the Android mobile platforms."

The Versatile Point-&-Shoot

While commenting on the impractical of the new 35x zoom Canon PowerShot SX30 IS compact camera, a reader; (hiding behind a name of "TM") have this to say about me :)

"Who really cares if you have been a photojournalist all your working life? I guess that makes you an expert in all types of photography?

For pro wildlife photographers, the Canon 800 f5.6 is a very practical lens that costs over $10,000.

For amateur photographers the 840mm reach on the SX30 will be practical, especially for under $500.

As a know-it-all photojournalist, you should know that large fees have been paid for terrible-quality images used by The National Enquirer, major newspapers, etc. I’m sure the SX30 at 840mm will produce images as good or better than some of those images.

Did you ever see the terrible quality images of the assassination of President Kennedy? Too bad some of those photographers did not have a SX30 at that time.

So maybe you should look up the meaning of “practical”."

WOW! Where was he coming from?

Kit Lens

Many years ago, in the good old days of films; SLR were sold with a standard lens of 50 or 55 mm range. The word "kit lens" was not invented yet :)

Wikipedia defined kit lens as:

"A "starter" lens which can be sold with an interchangeable-lens camera such as a single-lens reflex camera. The kit consists of the camera body, the lens, and various accessories usually necessary to get started in SLR photography. A kit lens can be sold by itself; ie; not in a kit.

It is generally an inexpensive lens priced at the lowest end of the manufacturer's range so as to not add much to a camera kit's price.

Originally kit lenses were of normal focal length; more recently kit lenses tend to be inexpensive zoom lenses that range from medium wide angle to mid telephoto for added versatility. Prime lenses are generally faster (smaller f-number), but the change to zoom lenses has usually means that a slower (higher f-number) lens is used.

This is because in most cases prime lenses are faster than comparably priced zoom lenses. However in most cases the inclusion of an inexpensive zoom lens is to maintain a low entry price and maximize usability for the beginner photographer."

Read that 4th paragraph again ;)

HDR Toning

If you are into photography, you would knew by now that HDR photography is all the rage for a while.

Google Search return a whopping 124,000,000 results on "HDR"!

HDR of course, stand for High Dynamic Range.

According to Wikipedia:

"High dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight."

Quite a mouth full? ;)

To the photographers, HDR photography is simply by taking shots of the same scene with different exposure and with the help of special software; recombining those shots together to form the final image with a WIDE dynamic range.

World Press Photo in town!

Wellington was bashed by a short storm at noon yesterday and 3,500 house hold lost electricity at the Hutt Valley. But today the sun is out, the wind is still strong and a bit chilly; but that is classic Wellington weather ;)

So where is "the storm, size of Australia"?

I am glad the weather did a reprieve, because World Press Photo is showing at Shed 11! And we are going!

Shed 11 at Jervois Quay, Queens Wharf, Wellington; nice brick facade to test lenses with!

WPP has been exhibited at Shed 11 for a few years now, this time round it will be from 17 September till 10 October. As usual it is organised by NZ Netherlands Foundation.

Apology Not Needed

After my comment on the front page photo of the Sunday Star Times, a reader hiding behind "Anonymous" said...

Hey, just wondering when you're going to apologise to the photographer. It wasn't a jack-up at all ... the girl has been quoted as saying she wanted to "play in the earthquake" and the photographer got lucky. If your gonna dish dirt you shld have the grace to apologise - September 13, 2010 8:12 PM

I did a search and discovered that the Sunday Star Times published a follow-up to the story saying:

"LITTLE MYRO McKee became the face of the Sunday Star-Times earthquake coverage when she featured on the front page last weekend.

The five-year-old was pictured in the rubble by Christchurch photographer Jane Wyles, a shot that prompted some readers to complain it was staged or sensationalised. It was neither."

Wellington Waterfront

The sky did a reprieve on Sunday afternoon and it turn into a glorious sunny Wellington day!

We going to take a walk along the waterfront after our usual Sunday shopping for our weekly groceries, but Mr Murphy decided otherwise and we were stuck at the Kilbirnie Pak'n Save with a flat car battery! AA came to our rescue one hour later but we decided to head home because it is getting dark and cold.

Instead I will show you some pictures of our waterfront that has not been published in this blog before :)