Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
License Your Photos via Getty Images
In the past, Flickr was known as a low quality, amateur outlet for uploading and viewing photographs. Think of it as the "YouTube of Stills." However, just as YouTube has evolved, so has Flickr. Not only does it offer great features such as multiple resolution images, and tag search, but you now have the ability to license your image through Getty Images! They call it the “Request to License” program, and the option will automatically become available if you have an account. You will notice it under the "Additional Information" heading.
Once you sign up for the program, an additional link will be made viewable to visitors. When someone wants to license the image, they simply click the link, and Getty Images takes care of the rest! When the process is complete, you receive an email, or "FlickrMail," in which you decide if you agree to the terms and want to go through with the license. Yes, it IS that simple!
To leave feedback on this new program, or to get more information, head over to the Flickr forums.
Once you sign up for the program, an additional link will be made viewable to visitors. When someone wants to license the image, they simply click the link, and Getty Images takes care of the rest! When the process is complete, you receive an email, or "FlickrMail," in which you decide if you agree to the terms and want to go through with the license. Yes, it IS that simple!
To leave feedback on this new program, or to get more information, head over to the Flickr forums.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Walking Around
A couple weeks ago I got a chance to go up to Gainesville. With it being a growing city with one of Florida's largest Universities, I decided to go for a stroll. I passed by a developing neighborhood that only had 3 or 4 town house styled homes completed, and all on the same row. This left much open field to explore. As I got to the far end of the neighborhood, I approached a finished community park. On the ground was this pair of spray-painted Airwalks. I snapped a quick series, this is one of my favorites from the bunch.
Friday, June 4, 2010
JPEG vs. RAW
A question often asked when first introduced to professional Photography is, "What is the difference between shooting JPEG and shooting RAW?" First, lets consider how a photograph is made: you press a release, which opens the shutter, which allows light to reach a plane, which "exposes" a digital sensor. From here, the image is saved to your supported format.
A JPEG image is a compressed file. The objective is to process the image in a way that causes no quality loss visible to the human eye. In other words, the camera is saying "I don't need this data in order to show you an accurate image." This is great because it allows for small file sizes, and beautiful images. A standard 15mp image will be about a 4MB file. So did you catch that? The image is processed before it leaves your camera.
Every thing has a positive and a negative. No matter how you take it, JPEG is a lossy compression format. And each time you process the image, it loses considerable quality. What most are not conscious to is that the original image has already been processed once, in-camera. So when you edit that image, you are already re-compressing the file. This is where the term "post" processing originated (digitally at least). Another problem is that editing introduces artifacts which can soften or otherwise distort the image. It's like a one way valve, once the data is gone, it's not coming back.
Then we have the RAW format. A RAW file is uncompressed. No camera processing is done to the image after it is captured. That means you are starting with the original (like a negative), and have complete control over how the image is processed. There are obvious benefits to this such as the ability to make adjustments, especially white balance, without any loss in quality. On the other hand, a RAW file will take up about 5 times the space of a JPEG.
If you need the highest quality image, shoot RAW. At the very least, it provides one less round of processing (assuming you will be editing the images). If you are going to deliver pictures straight out of the camera, there is no need to shoot RAW. JPEG is a great format, but it wasn't born to edit; it was born to specify a codec in which images can gracefully be compressed.
A JPEG image is a compressed file. The objective is to process the image in a way that causes no quality loss visible to the human eye. In other words, the camera is saying "I don't need this data in order to show you an accurate image." This is great because it allows for small file sizes, and beautiful images. A standard 15mp image will be about a 4MB file. So did you catch that? The image is processed before it leaves your camera.
Every thing has a positive and a negative. No matter how you take it, JPEG is a lossy compression format. And each time you process the image, it loses considerable quality. What most are not conscious to is that the original image has already been processed once, in-camera. So when you edit that image, you are already re-compressing the file. This is where the term "post" processing originated (digitally at least). Another problem is that editing introduces artifacts which can soften or otherwise distort the image. It's like a one way valve, once the data is gone, it's not coming back.
Then we have the RAW format. A RAW file is uncompressed. No camera processing is done to the image after it is captured. That means you are starting with the original (like a negative), and have complete control over how the image is processed. There are obvious benefits to this such as the ability to make adjustments, especially white balance, without any loss in quality. On the other hand, a RAW file will take up about 5 times the space of a JPEG.
If you need the highest quality image, shoot RAW. At the very least, it provides one less round of processing (assuming you will be editing the images). If you are going to deliver pictures straight out of the camera, there is no need to shoot RAW. JPEG is a great format, but it wasn't born to edit; it was born to specify a codec in which images can gracefully be compressed.
MOFILM video contest
MOFILM.com is an organization that brings filmmakers to large coorporations. Every year they hold several contests that allow people to compete from all across the globe. The objective is basically to create an ad for a brand by using the supplied information about the company. You must consider the companie's objective, goals and creative strategy. The winners of the contest recieve cash prizes, and are usually invited to an awards ceremony. Recent competitions have involved the likes of John Landau and Spike Lee, so you can see how beneficial this could be to anyone involved on the project.
I really like the idea of the MOFILM. I also love that it is not an annual event, but rather several throughout the year and channeled through many different organizations, such as Cannes, BFI and Shanghai International. This is a big deal! Some of the prizes, such as the $2000 awarded to Matt O'Dowd's team for his Walmart commercial, seem a bit sub par compared to the industry standard, but they did get an all expenses paid trip out to LA Film school. Part of me sais this is just another way for coorporations to get commercial work for cheap, but the level of exposure you get in return may make it well worth it. The UK originated MOFILM is already among the top visited sites in Great Britain, and is rising fast in the US. The top three entries are awarded.
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