theprintspace

theprintspace is a 'DIY' digital print shop, in London, which puts the photographer in control of the entire printing process from editing, color management, retouching, to the final print. Photographers have access to high end equipment and technical assistance. For the rest of us, their site offers online tutorials and information on color management, print types and file preparation for printing.

And We're Back (and married)

I posted on Twitter a while ago about what I've been up to. The short of it, at least. The medium of it, goes something like this.

On July 13th, 2008, my fiance and I took our vows and were married in an art gallery (The Print Center). It's exhibit during our wedding was the 82nd Annual International Competition: Photography. The wedding could not have gone better and the few photographs we've seen so far from our photographer made us really happy.

The next morning, our plane took off from Philadelphia International Airport at 5:30 am, for San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where we were originally going to get a bus to Copan. However, a few days prior to leaving we decided to instead go straight to Roatan and spend the 3 days originally allotted for Copan at a tiny bed and breakfast, Sante Wellness Center. Our stay there was amazing. We then proceeded to Half Moon Bay/West End on Roatan where we found peace and comfort for the remainder of our trip.

My wife and I both took pictures (mine) (hers).

The trip was lots of fun and when we got back, I got sick. At first I thought it was malaria, and then dengue fever, but I was never diagnosed with either and seemed to the doctor, to be just some random thing I picked up along the way home.

PhotographyBB Number 6

This month's PhotographyBB (a free online photography magazine who's quality seems to get better every month) is jam packed full of goodness! It starts off with an article about developing film, talks about black and white, takes you to Australia and then hits the digital darkroom when it turns to an article about Adobe's Lightroom. I think this is probably the best issue yet, and I really haven't started reading.

Want to Make a JavaScript Photo Editor?

No? Well, maybe you should hear me out. There's this library Phototype which is a client/server-side image processing library that uses PHP (a scripting language) and GD (a graphics processing library). The idea is pretty simple. You send commands to the server asking it to manipulate an image, it does so and sends it back.

But, how is this useful to you as an end user? Perhaps it's not, but you might actually be using it soon if you visit sites with profile images. Just imagine a simple photo to turn your profile picture black and white, or to add Chuck Norris behind you, watching your back. Anyway, the point is, this will make some developers lives a bit easier to do this kind of stuf.

I've got one thing to say about it: "ISO 200 - 6400 (with boost up to ISO 25600 and down to ISO 100)." Preview at DPReview.com

HDRcreme

I think I have mixed feelings about HDR in general mostly because I see too many photos that are just not life like anymore after an HDR treatment. However, there are lots of photos at HDRcreme that look even better thanks to HDR.

Surf Galleries at Real Surf

I've always wanted to be a good surfer. I mean, I've gone surfing quite a few times, but I'm by no means good at it. Not living within minutes of the ocean I suppose is the major reason for this. Just because I suck at surfing though, doesn't mean I can't love looking at pictures and watching other people do it. That's why I love the Australian website RealSurf's gallery section.

Flickr Co-Founders Leaving Yahoo!. Did I just make a mistake by re-upping my pro account?

Bruce Schneier has some great thoughts about The War on Photography.

Chromasia Photoshop Tutorials

Looks like The Nightingale's (of Chromasia fame) new Photoshop tutorial is up. It's titled "LAB Color mode: part two" and can be found here. Since it's part two, you might also be interested in part one.

I haven't actually checked any of these out, but the sample, on Tonal Range and the Curves Tool looks very detailed and well done. I'll have to read in more detail later. Thoughts? Are they worth the money?

The Wedding Photography Blog turned me to a New York Times slideshow of photos taken at a wedding during the recent China earthquake.

The Photo Stream (again)

There's something about The Photo Stream that keeps me coming back. I have a very low attention span, and I think this must be part of the reason. At that site, I don't have to scan news headlines—I scan photos instead. Looking at photos is something I love to do. I guess there's one part of it that bothers me a bit though and that's the photos that get posted that are ambiguous.

A photo of, say, a tennis player could be many different things. It could be that the subject of the photo won Wimbledon and the shot is of her celebrating. Or it could just be that the shot of her celebrating is the only photo available of her when it's reported that she was involved in some other non sports related activity, which is a bit problematic.

The Photo Stream solves this by providing mouseovers which give you a headline, and I think that's probably the best you can hope for.

Photojojo Time Capsule

Now, here's actually an interesting idea, Time Capsule, which I sort of wish I thought of first. But, I can't think of everything first... Anyway, the idea is pretty simple. Once in a while send out photos from your Flickr stream that are older but were ranked well in "interestingness." That is, those photos that were commented on and viewed more often. Time Capsule will then send them to you in an email. It won't let your best photos be forgotten.