Spinning through photos on my phone. Saw this. Don’t recall where I snapped the image – somewhere in NYC I think. But it is perhaps the most perfect summary of our quest.
Have a great weekend.
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Photo Geek History Lesson: Pictures that Jiggle [Stereoview to Cinemagraph]
Animated gifs have become an internet favorite. And for good reason; a little bit of movement can go a long way in making an image come alive. But let’s take a geek peek at the history and evolution of these suckers. Me thinks you’ll likey.
In the early days, photogs made use of the stereoview. A stereoview is two photographs of the same scene taken from two slightly different perspectives, mounted side by side on a card; the photos combine and appear three-dimensional when seen through a viewing device called a stereoscope. Back in the day you’d get the 3D effect from a stereoscope.
Some examples from the Civil War via NPR’s Picture Show and from from the Smithsonian’s Photographic History Collection to show the images in 3-D by flickering the right and left sides of the views. Your eyes and brain will collaborate (ie freak out) to give the sense of depth. The captions are transcribed directly from the back of the stereoview card.
Here’s an animation of some women using a Stereoscope in Japan.
Then as we move along to the advent of the web, where we can see some more modern, delightful imagery from over at Dangerous Minds–Bar Mitzvah goodness–made with this same technique, minus the stereoscope contraption used by the lovely Japanese women above, and done with, um, software.
Fast forward to a newer kid on the block – the photographic animation leapfrog…using a still camera that can motordrive 6-10 frames per second and some fancier software. Here Blake Sinclair snags a shot of his adorable Olive, using motor-drive and then animating in Photoshop.
And on now to the newest prize, also by Sinclair, but this one is shot with video, and then masked certain elements to keep the stillness. This sort of animation is the current benchmark, and is more technically be deemed a Cinemagraph, which melds video and still into a seamless moment.
Most recently you may have seen traipsing around the internet, the work of duo Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg who have developed the technique beautifully. Here’s how they do it, as described to The Atlantic in a recent profile:
We began seriously creating them during fashion week this past February. Our first few animated images were sequenced still shots looped in rapid succession which is a fairly common way of making an animated image. From there we began utilizing more fluid motion isolated in certain parts of an image to capture a moment of time, but also to un-freeze a still photograph by showing that moment’s temporal movement. The process involves still and video photography but editing is very manual and varies greatly from one to another so we’re routinely solving new problems when creating them.We feel there are many exciting applications for this type of moving image. There’s movement in everything and by capturing that plus the great things about a still photograph you get to experience what a video has to offer without the time commitment a video requires. There’s something magical about a still photograph – a captured moment in time – that can simultaneously exist outside the fraction of a second the shutter captures.
These have become a bit of an internet sensation, and you can see why– these little vignettes are pretty appealing:
And lastly, check out their commercial application, here for Dogfish Ale. This truly feels like it’ll be pretty damn popular in the future. Or at least like Minority Report.
So there’s the brief history for you photo geeks. I probably missed something, in which case I’m hoping you’ll enlighten us all in the comments below… thoughts, links or images.
And BTW, when is the Stereograph/Cinemagraph iPhone app coming out?
Olympus is Talking Shit About Your Camera Phone
Image by Mark Matthews @markmimage
Seems that a new guerrilla campaign by Olympus in Australia is talking shit about the “rubbish” photos from your camera phone.
“If you’re camera also sends text messages, that will explain why your photos are rubbish.”
Plaques in select Aussie cities bearing the above slogan have been pasted to the street and other urban environs, with the url GetARealCamera.com linking to Olympus. Personally, the message bugs me, but it’s pretty damn clever — made me look twice and type in the url. … Continue Reading →
Win A MacBook For a Snapshot: The Best Camera Challenge
Hi friends. I’ve ranted for years how mobile phone photography changed my outlook on a bunch of things…creativity born from constraints, the immediacy of the moment, digital sharing, the democratization of creativity, and on and on. As you may know, the ideals and the principle that ‘the best camera is the one that’s with you’ certainly captured my attention, led to my app, a book, a community, etc
But here’s a question: have YOU actually made any cool pictures with your mobile phone? If so, I want to see them. In fact, so does the world and PDN Magazine. So much is the case that the nice folks at PDN have put together a mobile phone photo contest called The Best Camera Challenge.
Entrance fee: $1/image, or 7 for $5. Enter as many as you like.
Categories: People, Places, Things
Prizes: an Apple MacBook for the Grand Prize and lots of other stuff for category winners. Winning images will be featured on PDN. (and I’ll laud you with praise in my social channels too…)
Enter here: at www.thebestcamerachallenge.com
You have one week to enter from today. Deadline is January 31. Details after the jump and at www.thebestcamerachallenge.com
Google “Goggles” Will Soon Find Your Photos
If you’re like me, you probably use your iphone/android/whatever phone camera as a visual journal. Certainly I shoot creative photos with it, but I’m also constantly generating snapshots of things I like, patterns, ideas, magazine covers, ads, and other stuff that act as inspiration or reminders for me to check out something in greater detail later when I’ve got more time.
Well, Google’s new-ish app “Google Goggles” capitalizes on this. Snap a photo, do a search with that photo as the input, and get results. I’m only just starting to play with it, but Google claims that in addition to text the app recognizes landmarks, books, wine, artwork, logos and more.
And, since I shoot a lot of advertising imagery, what really got my attention was when they recently announced advertising partnership “tests” with Disney, Buick, Delta, T-Mobile and Diageo. Use the app to snap a photo of certain enabled print adverts in a magazine, billboard, or whatever–hit “go”– and you’re suddenly immersed in a rich media experience with results galore to explore.
If this is the case, how soon will it be that all your images will be recognizable by visual search rather than simply the Google Goggle enabled campaigns, or the metadata attached to the image. Or even cooler, when your un-tagged images have been sniffed and are returned in search based on their pixel content. Will a search for “Toyota” soon return this image of mine, will a search for “diabetes” return this one, or perhaps even a search for “women’s underwear” might soon return even this one? I’m banking that it won’t be long.
I think my mind just exploded.
A couple videos about how Google Goggles works, plus a link to download the apps and find out more after the jump. Hit ‘continue reading’ below. Continue Reading →
Which Photo Is Better: A or B ?
I was in Paris last week. Part work, but mostly fun. Eating, drinking, being merry, and of course, snapping photos my iPhone–as I do everyday–with no end goal beyond staying creatively engaged.
I was just now kicking through photos from the trip and stumbled on a couple of snapshots I thought were interesting for various reasons. I’ve posted stuff like this before and was really excited by the resulting discussion, so I figured I’d throw it out there again… These are of course just snapshots, but even snapshots have merit. AND these photos are VERY different from one another…. So, simply put, I thought I’d ask for your thoughts, which is better, A or B? And why?
Vote in the comments. Also love to know ‘why’ if you care to explain. 500 px wide images after the jump…
[ASIDE, since Paris reminds me of good food... if you like chasejarvisLIVE, I'm bringing in 2 special guests TOMORROW (Wednesday) at 12 noon pacific/3:00 eastern time. The goal is to combine a few of my passions and share them with you: photography, food, the internet. As such, join me tomorrow to welcome....
Guest #1 Penny DeLosSantos: Food/Lifestyle/Travel and National Geographic photographer Penny DeLosSantos (@pennydelosantos). Well talk about photo, food, and travel...photographing in the world's most suicide bombed markets in the middle east, travels to more than 40 countries, and the art of combining your passions into a career.
Guest #2 Barnaby Dorfman: Barnaby is a legendary tech guru turned entreprenuer who recently founded Foodista [@foodista] – the world’s leading online food encyclopedia/wiki and an overall amazing site. Combine food, tech, and storytelling and you get a thick slice of Barnaby. Hope to see you at http://www.chasejarvis.com/live tomorrow ….]
Now go vote on those photos below. Tell me what you think… Continue Reading →
For the Love of Photography
Seems like the more I listen, the more I hear people talking about the gear, the business of photography, the widgets. Let us not forget the simple love of photography.
I understand why there’s so much rhetoric in our industry about the business of photography and the gear and the gadgets. There is the common stereotype that most creative people aren’t good business people. There is fear. Gear is easier to talk about than vision. Exposures are exact, the camera dials have numbers. There is a ‘right’ answer to many of these questions.
But where is your love of pictures? Where are your actions that back this up?
Can you pick up a book of photographs and get lost in it?
Can you walk around with your iPhone or Android or your point and shoot or whatever and take 100 pictures knowing that they’ll never be for a client or a portfolio?
Do you love hunting for pictures?
Will you stay up late or get up early for pictures?
Do you sometimes ‘see’ life as a photograph?
It’s different for all of us, but when you can take a break from all the chatter, remind yourself–as often as you can–why you love photography.
Photo of the Day: Gorilla Loose in Telluride Colorado
At its root, this blog is about photographs. So here’s one I snagged last night with my iPhone at sunset from the always-epic Telluride, Colorado. Anybody spot the gorilla face in the picture?
[btw, As I mention the gorilla face... Photo gear is good, but vision is better. TODAY starting at 11am Seattle time--and throughout the weekend--a must see. Join us LIVE for FREE over at www.creativeLIVE.com as we bring you a masters-series weekend with David Duchemin, award winning photographer and author of the best selling photo books Within the Frame and VisionMongers. How to "see" pictures and pursue your dreams in photography isn't just something you're born with - they are skills you can learn. Register here now for free, join us all weekend long!]
Come Watch: LIVE shoot with Sarah McLachlan TODAY
UPDATE: If you missed our Sarah McLachlan video shoot/performance there’s a re-broadcast of the internet feed here on YouTube. Check it!
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First we kicked off chasejarvisLIVE, then creativeLIVE… so you figured out I really dig this LIVE thing. Well, today, I’m excited to share that I’ve also been working hard with a little coffee company down the street called Starbucks to help bring you StarbucksLIVE. To kick this off, I’m TODAY at 12 noon PDT (3pm NYC time) doing a LIVE photo/video shoot with multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning musician, Sarah McLachlan. Sarah will be performing live from a little nook inside the Starbucks headquarters here in Seattle, and we’ll have a few cameras and a few mics pointed at her.
WHAT YOU’LL SEE: In our typical style, the setting should be pretty relaxed. We’ve set up a baby grand piano, some basic lights and cameras and we’re going to make some great video images while Sarah plays from her new album, Laws of Illusion. Besides Sarah’s beautiful performance, the other thing you’ll see is me and my crew actually working. How bout that. This is the real deal. If you tune in a little early you’ll get to see us Continue Reading →
New iPhone Photos in My Portfolio: Be My Editor
I began posting portfolios of images shot with my iPhone more than two years ago now. And my love affair isn’t wearing off, it’s growing stronger. The best camera still is–and always will be–the one that’s with you.
I post iPhone snapshots everyday to my twitter, facebook, and www.thebestcamera.com, but I haven’t updated my iPhone portfolio page in quite some time.
Until yesterday.
I dug through a huge pile of images and completely refreshed the gallery with some new favorites. Scott and I are in a little disagreement as to which ones are hot and which ones are not. As such, I’d love some of your targeted feedback. Please visit my new iPhone portfolio page here and tell me in the comments below which image is your most favorite AND which is your least favorite image. We’ll did this crowd-sourced edit once before and it was really helpful. We’ll make some changes if a pattern emerges.
Since there’s work involved in your edit, I’ll give some shoutouts and send a signed book or three to some randomly selected people who are willing to lend a hand with editing thoughts. Thanks in advance for your time. Continue Reading →
The Best Camera Thanks You. Big Big Bigtime.
I slept 4 hours in a 65 hour stretch.
…that was in the couple days before and after launching The Best Camera ecosystem. But I loved it, because working hard to create stuff feels good. It’s not everyday that you get an opportunity to launch a book, or an iPhone app, or an online community, let alone all three. The experience has been exciting, humbling, scary and energizing all at once, and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to you.
Thanks in large part to this community, in the first 24 hours after launch:
_Best Camera app debuted at #12 of all paid apps in the app store.
_The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You book, debuted at #172 of all titles on Amazon
_ www.thebestcamera.com saw 200,000 sets of eyes.
…And since that first 24 hours, it’s been getting better by the hour. Wow. I am humbled. And I Thank you thank you thank you.
Launch is fun, but it’s where we want to go with this thing now that’s important in the big picture.
Overall, I want to continue to celebrate pictures. I want to continue to grow thebestcamera.com and the visualizer in the app, into a seriously remarkable place for viewing pictures. I am blown away by what I see there everyday as you’ve been choosing www.thebestcamera.com in the sharing menu. There are currently hundreds of pictures being added there every hour. If you haven’t stared at that thing, and if you haven’t been voting from your phone (ie giving the thumb’s up) to images you like, the community has been missing your input. Give it a shot…[click the 'continue reading' link below]
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For those of you who were rightly concerned about the Facebook captioning issue, apologies abound. It was an unintended hiccup that inserted a placeholder caption ‘uploaded with Chase Jarvis’ Best Camera’. We missed removing it during testing. You should know that we fixed it within 24 hours of launch and subsequently re-submitted the refreshed code to the app store for approval. Simple work arounds are listed in the FAQ’s.
For those who want to upload to Flickr: every Flickr account has an email addy for uploading. Send to that address from the share menu in the app. More elegant solutions soon 
Of course there are a million ways for us to improve what we’ve created, many of which we’re already aware. If you’ve got ideas or suggestions, I want them. I am listening. That said, please don’t put them in the comments below. We’re collecting your ideas via the submission form on the support page.
While we’re gathering feedback, I don’t want to look too far into the future or into the past. After all this ecosystem is still only 2.5 days old. What I’m really hoping for is that we focus on using this shiny new toy. Just like your mobile phone camera has one button and you can have lots of fun and discover what’s possible with that one button, I’d love for you to crank on our version 1.0 of Best Camera and see what you can make it do for you. Have fun with it.
For those in this community who have written me asking how you might help this app further succeed, the answer is pretty simple: 1. tell your friends online and in the real world; and 2. rank the app and write a (hopefully glowing review in the iTunes app store. That’s in large part how other people in the world discover and buy apps.
And the same goes for the book….the initial rounds of The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You are beginning to arrive on your doorstep from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. For those of you who sent email and asked to further help out…just like the app, please tell your friends and rate/review on Amazon, B&N;, Borders. Thank you thank you.
Lastly, wanted to remind you that on Monday, September 28, I’m choosing my favorite picture that’s been uploaded to www.thebestcamera.com and giving its creator a brand new, unlocked (yes unlocked) iPhone 3Gs loaded with the Best Camera app. I’ll ship it anywhere in the world. Hope to see your photos there this weekend.
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The Best Camera: iPhone App + Book + Community
Today I’m really pumped to share with you the results of many months of hard work, a whole lotta fun, and–in many ways–a dream come true. It’s a trifecta of projects that I’ve just launched moments ago:
Introducing:
1. Best Camera = An iPhone photo app that allows you to shoot, add creative effects, and share your images more simply and powerfully than ever before. Virtually limitless creativity, and the ability to share photos directly from Best Camera to Facebook, Twitter, via email at a new iPhone photo sharing site, www.thebestcamera.com. I’ve poured all my experience into creating this app, and I’ve partnered with my ubersmart software developer friends, Ubermind, to bring you Best Camera. Read more and/or buy it from iTunes here.
2. The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You = A book of my iPhone photography from around the world. The first of its kind. It’s both a playful celebration of mobile photography and a serious artistic endeavor. It’s the production of my ideas and the way I see the world. It’s real and it’s RAW. I hope you dig it. Learn more and/or buy it here on preorder now – should be shipping this week.
3. www.thebestcamera.com = This is the hub of this ecosystem and a new photo community. It gives you the how-to videos for the app, the nuts and bolts of the book and is the support and feedback center. But most importantly, it’s a living, breathing feed of images from around the world created with Best Camera iPhone app. From within the app share your iPhone work here at the first photo community of its kind. Buy the app, login from your iPhone and join the revolution.
That’s right–you’re getting the picture–each of these elements is tied together with that goofy-but-strangely-sticky phrase I inadvertently coined rallied a while back, “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”. This is the first ecosystem–app, book, community–of its kind, and I’ve put a heckuva lot of work into creating it. I’m dying to know what you think.
A complete video tour, some informative links and a free, unlocked iPhone 3Gs after the jump… [click the 'continue reading' link below]
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If you buy the app, book, or both and like what you see and experience, please consider doing the following things:
a. Tell your friends. Unlike my commercial photography, this is entirely a community-based endeavor and it depends on your patronage and good will to succeed. If you believe in this, please spread the word.
b. Rate the app and the book at iTunes and Amazon or wherever you purchase. Being in your favor is in large part an indicator of how good of a job I’ve done in creating this ecosystem, and it tells those who aren’t in your immediate network what you think. I want it to be fun and I want it to be good and I want it to evolve. Your feedback matters.
c. Participate in the community. Snapping photos everyday with my iPhone changed my life. I am more in touch creatively now than ever before. It’s contagious in the very best way, from professional artists to my 63-year-old mother. Take pictures and share them. It can change the world.
And here’s some fun that might get your attention: On Monday Sept 28th, I’m choosing my favorite image that’s been created using Best Camera and posted to www.thebestcamera.com , and I’m giving away a brand new, unlocked iPhone 3Gs, loaded with the Best Camera app. That’s right. I look at your pictures, I like one, and then give you an unlocked iPhone 3Gs loaded with my app. Can’t wait to see your photos.
Here’s a video tour of the iPhone app Best Camera:
Lastly, lots more details and behind the scenes to come this week. Until then, some helpful links:
[Buy Best Camera app via iTunes.]
[Buy The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Borders.]
[Visit www.thebestcamera.com, the hub that tells you more about the app, the book, and the community.]
[Visit the new iPhone portfolio on my website, created entirely using Best Camera.]
[Big thanks to the gentlemen of Mad Rad for their track on the video. Buy their beats on iTunes here.]
[And of course a huge thank you to my development partner Ubermind, and my book publisher Pearson/Peachpit. You guys/gals rock.]
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Amazing Photo of The Moon with iPhone
[UPDATE: Martin has chimed in with more details and original photos...all info after the jump].
After reading the headline of this post and looking at the image, you’re probably waiting for the other shoe to drop. What’s the catch? Well, there isn’t one. Yes, my pal Martin Gisborne used only an iPhone 3Gs and a telescope to get this shot. He did some slight tweaking in Aperture, but no crazy-fancy space cameras, no Photoshop, no compositing, no gimmicks. Pretty impressive. The best camera is the one that’s with you.
[By contrast, last spring I was dorking around and also shot an image thru a telescope. My results were, er... let's say, less interesting. That image after the jump...]
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Here’s my laughable shot:
Not nearly as powerful a telescope…
[And here's Martin's addendum, just cut and pasted from his email to me...Thanks Martin!]
…Here’s the scoop:
1) Exposure was simply controlled using tap to focus/expose.
2) The telescope was a modest 80mm William Optics Zenithstar II… only 545mm focal length. I used a 20mm Plossl eyepiece in a 2″ diagonal.
3) The iPhone was handheld – which was the most challenging part… getting the lens in alignment over the eyepiece without moving the scope.
4) The size of the moon in the frame came from using the 20mm eyepiece on the telescope.
This is the original frame from my iPhone… you can see that it’s not BAD exactly as it is:
This is the image cropped in Aperture:
This is the cropped image with Levels applied:
This is with Definition applied:
And, lastly, this is with Edge Sharpen applied, no external plug ins used:
[Thx again for the play by play, Martin.]
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