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Something is going wrong when the camera with its impressive algorithms and countless AF options forces itself into the centre and, hence, between photographer and object. Ideally, I would think, we photographers ought to use the camera as if it was not there. Just focussing on the composition and the 'essence' of the object and having the settings run in the background. I am not advocating 'point and shoot', I am saying that a camera should be built in such a way that we can 'forget' about it and focus on taking the picture. I think my older cameras do that. My newer ones are much more sophisticated and what they are increasingly trying to do is take over decisions I could make myself. What is my reaction? Number one, I prefer using my older cameras. And two, when using my sophisticated ones, I turn off a lot of their computer-powered procedures. I wonder what you think.
Seen in the Oldtimer Museum, Amerang, Bavaria, Germany. Shot with Sony A7 MII and Leitz/Leica SUMMILUX 75mm, F1.4 and NOVOFLEX Adapter.
The biggest security risk in any system is the user.
"Hundreds of Westminster insiders were added to - and then deleted from - a WhatsApp group set up by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick to promote his London Marathon run".
In this day and age there should be minimum level of competence with technology to gain access to any position of power or trust, (especially after the U.S "signal app" fiasco).
(As we old techies used to say the problem is "BTKAC" between the keyboard and chair).
The BBC has been told Jenrick is not referring himself to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which investigates data breaches. (What a surprise!).
Das Museum bietet mehr als 3.000 Exponate auf einer Fläche von über 50.000 m². Es zieht mehr als eine Million Besucher im Jahr an und hat 365 Tage im Jahr geöffnet.
Technology Museum Sinsheim
As of 2004, the museum had more than 3,000 exhibits and an exhibition area of more than 50,000 m2 (540,000 sq ft), indoors and outdoors. It receives more than 1 million visitors per year and is the largest privately owned museum in Europe.
Minolta X-700 Minolta 50mm 1:3.5 MC Macro Celtic 1:1 Extension Adox HR-50 LegacyPro EcoPro 1:1 05/04/2024
I last photographed the Thames Barrier a little over a year ago, but became inspired to revisit the location after coming across an article about the 1953 North Sea Flood, which overwhelmed British sea defences in the Thames Estuary and led to the deaths of more than 300 people across several counties. It was remarkable to read that the gates protect not only the immediate East London borough against tidal surges, but also the infratructure, underground network and power supplies stretching beyond the O2 Arena, the Docklands and Tower Bridge and all the way to Westminster. In addition to this, the barrier now also needs to contend with the impact of climate change and rising sea levels.
With all of this in mind, my aim with this image was a darker, moodier and altogether more sinister alternative to my last take on the location, capturing the formidable size and scale of the barrier's piers at dusk, but also contrasting the peaceful flow of the Thames and the reassuring glow of the piers' evening lights with the foreboding tones of the evening sky.
The final image is a blend of a dozen exposures captured over two hours, starting with a 90-second exposure as the sun was setting and continuing into the evening, at which point the shutter speed had extended to 12 minutes. My intention all along had been to weight the emphasis on the later exposures, but I knew I would also be using the earlier and brighter exposures to enhance the lighting across the roof of the piers and the tones along the Thames. Having created Pen Tool selections in Photoshop for the barrier's piers, the sky and the river, I blended in portions of each of these exposures using a combination of Soft Light, Lighten, Luminosity, Linear Dodge, Colour Dodge and Screen blend modes. The goal at this stage was to bring out the reflective finish and dimensionality along the tip of the piers, to emphasise the glow of the lights inside the barrier, to produce a clean finish in the concrete at the base of each pier, and to brighten the water and darken the sky. After blending the exposures,
I applied a gentle radial blur to the sky and used Silver Efex Pro to lower its midtone structure and soften its texture, creating a subtle contrast between the piers and their surroundings. I then used Colour Efex Pro to add some minor tonal contrast adjustments, with a gentle Detail Extractor to bring out the gritty nuance in the piers. The final touches were a combination of a Gradient Map to emphasise the chilly evening tones and a Colour Lookup set to Bleach Bypass to desaturate the tip of the piers, which helped to bring out their metallic texture and to add some definition to their background.
The end result involved more planning and attention to detail at both the shooting and editing stages than my previous take, but it hopefully brings out the immense feat of engineering behind the barrier's design, as well as the rock-steady industrial strength of the barrier against a sometimes menacing force of nature, which was the aspect that inspired me to revisit the location in the first place.
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Sitting on the window-sill and enjoying the low afternoon sun. Illuminated and in sharp focus is the "good" eye, the one I use for photography. The other one plays second fiddle. However, none of them was really involved in taking this self-portrait. It was the artificial eye of the camera in connection with a clever algorithm (automatic eye recognition) that kicked in when I pressed the shutter release (via a long cable). This is one of the situations where camera technology enables me to do things with ease that, if done manually, would have been quite difficult to achieve.
Crazy Tuesday - Vintage Technology
A set of heavy metal scales (I borrowed) and imperial weights ranging from 2lb down to 1/4oz !!
Absolutely love the way this turned out. It's inspired by this concept art from Elysium. Something I've wanted to do for quite a while now. Not quite done yet as I need to add to the interior cargo area and make some actual cargo for it, but I wanted to get this photo before the decals aged or something happened to them. This is also the first time I've been able to get a white background to look good in a long time! XD
The cutting-edge technology that keeps the Silverstone motor racing track in tip-top condition could be coming to Croydon. John Bownas spoke to the team hoping to bring it here.
Pot holes – we all hate ‘em, and Croydon certainly has its share.
But now, the borough’s highways team is taking a lead from the people responsible for maintaining Silverstone’s grand prix circuit.
New technology that is good enough for the world’s top racing drivers is being tested in Croydon to see if it is up to the council’s exacting standards.
If trials are successful, the infrared-powered Nu-Phalt repair system could become invaluable to Croydon’s road repair crews who would be the first in London to realise its potential benefits.
Apart from a significant possible cost saving, the biggest advantages that the new technique has over traditional methods are:
•speed: a typical 1 square metre repair can be completed in just 20 minutes; currently, the same job takes considerably longer, and would be only a temporary fix;
•durability: the infra-red triggered thermal bonding means that patch repairs are far more permanent and blend seamlessly into the surrounding road surface;
•environmentally friendly: the process starts by recycling the existing macadam and needs only a small amount of new material to top off the repair.
The council has recently announced a multi-million pound investment project to resurface many of its roads.
However, there will always be a need for fast and efficient repairs in those cases where small patches of tarmac work loose.
This can happen at any time of the year – although it is usually after spells of wet or cold weather that these small holes open up to create a real headache for motorists and cyclists.
In total, the council’s emergency repairs operation currently costs about £560k every year in manpower and materials – and that’s not including the money that is budgeted separately for the major road resurfacing schemes that we will be seeing a lot more of over the next few years.
Steve Iles is the council’s head of highways, and he knows better than anyone else in the borough just how big a task it is to stay on top of the thousands of road repairs that his teams have to carry out every year.
Talking to Your Croydon about this mammoth job and his hopes for the promising high-tech solution, he first ran through some of the big numbers involved.
“We’ve got nearly 3,000 roads in Croydon, and these all get inspected by the council at least twice a year.
“We look out for any problems that might have arisen since the last visit – and particularly any new holes or cracks that could pose a hazard.
“Since January our system’s logged nearly 5,000 new reports from both streetscene inspectors and those members of the public who phone or email to tell us about possible problems.”
In that same time we’ve managed to fill in or repair about 9,800 – but there’s still around 8,600 that we know about waiting to be fixed.
“That takes a lot of doing,” continued Steve, “I’ve got six full-time staff who spend the majority of their day out doing this sort of work.
“And when they can’t do road repairs, because of snow and ice, they drive the gritting lorries to try to keep the roads clear.”
Tony Whyatt is the highways engineer whose research into improved technology solutions has led to the trial of the Nu-Phalt system.
“I’m really optimistic about how this will save us time and money.
“We reuse most of the existing road material on-site and need to add only a small amount of fresh material to each repair.
“There’s no noisy compressors, and the system cuts the number of vehicles and staff involved in each repair.
“We also minimise disruption to traffic – which is good for drivers – and these repairs can be driven over again almost immediately they’re finished.”
Indeed, driving away from our meeting with Tony we drove over a number of holes that had just been filled – and the first thing we noticed was that we didn’t notice them at all.
The repaired road was as smooth as the day it was originally laid.