3D from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
December 26, 2010
• Click on any image to enlarge in Lightbox mode.
These images are from a recent afternoon spent in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. I recognize that not all of these images are stereoscopically correct, according to best practices. So if some are admittedly ‘wrong,’ I present them this way because I like them better, not out of ignorance. Honest.
X-Ray Pin Ups? Actually, Digital Creations for EIZO Monitors Promotion
November 3, 2010
You may have seen these around the web recently and thought they were real X-Rays of pin-up models, something like the fantastic work of Nick Veasey. But they are actually completely digital creations by CGI Illustrator Carsten Mainz of the German advertising agency Butter for their client EIZO monitors. Check out the WIRED piece for a complete explanation, here. Click images for larger size.
3D Photos: Wings and Wheels 2010 Car & Air show
August 18, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010. Sikorsky Memorial Airport, Stratford, CT.
3D Photos: Summer Dogs 2010
August 16, 2010
Anaglyphs of Luna (black) and Huxley (chocolate) Labradors and Bailey, Golden Retriever. Russian Beach, Stratford, CT. Summer 2010.
3D Photos: Sculpture Art from the Crosby Street Hotel, NYC
August 16, 2010
A trio of anaglyph images from the fantastic collection of art that graces the lobby of the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City. May 1, 2010.
Clarity on Copyright: The Purpose of Copyright Law – It’s Not What You Think
August 16, 2010
In the digital age with the almost frictionless ability to reproduce audio, video and text the issue of copyright has entered the mainstream in a big way. No longer the rarified domain of intellectual property attorneys, copyright issues make the news with the regularity of the latest RIAA lawsuit over the unauthorized sharing of music files and the current sturm and drang over Wikileaks posting of the Afghan War Diary.
It seems people only remember the first half of Stewart Brand’s famous pronouncement in 1987, “Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive . . .That tension will not go away.” In 1984 at the first Hackers Conference, Brand put it in a more nuanced way:
“On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.”
Thanks to the good folks at TechDirt for linking to this excellent article by attorney and associate professor Lydia Pallas Lorn of Northwestern’s School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, The Purpose of Copyright Law.
Copyright and patent law derives from a clause in the US constitution and “the primary purpose of copyright is not, as many people believe, to protect authors against those who would steal the fruits of their labor,” according to the author. The purpose of copyright is “to promote the progress of knowledge and learning.”
Pallas Loren traces the origin of this concept from English common law and the early publishing industry to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and beyond. I believe this is essential reading for anyone who creates content today – from the lowly blog scribe all the way up to Lady Gaga. Understanding copyright is necessary and Lydia Pallas Loren lays it all out clearly and definitively, in my opinion.
I wish the web contained more writing of this quality and thoughtfulness and less gossip, opinions, trivia and noise about disposable celebrities and manufactured scandals. ” ‘Tis of no importance what bats and oxen think.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Incredible realistic miniature model landscapes by Matthew Alabanese
January 26, 2010
In stereo photography there is a term, hyper-stereo which means taking two images with a lens separation greater than the normal interocular of about 2.5 inches. Ortho-stereo refers to images taken with a lens separation that approximates the normal human-sized view of the world. Hyper-stereo images are what it might be like to view the world from a giant’s perspective, or even greater.
Two cameras can be set up several feet or even many yards apart to take a landscape view like one of the Grand Canyon. The depth effect is very pronounced but it makes it appear as if we are looking at a miniature model of the Grand Canyon.
None of this has anything to do with the amazing miniature landscapes created out of ordinary materials like sugar, corn syrup, paprika and tile grout by model builder and photographer Matthew Albanese. Except that they remind me of many hyper-stereo views I’ve seen over the years.
Below are two samples of his work showing a Martian landscape and how he achieves a realistic cloud effect with just lighting and cotton wool. For the complete gallery at the Telegraph UK go here. Click on images for larger size.
Rare Color Photo of Beatles, circa 1957
January 18, 2010
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Winter Anaglyphs
January 14, 2010
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The Year in Space Photography 2009
December 23, 2009
The attitude this holiday season is very much anti-Big Government (whatever that even means in a country of 308 million people). There’s a widespread doctrine today that says the gummit cain’t never do nuthin right. So here’s something that, I think, Big Government is doing well: taking pictures of our amazing, astounding universe.
The shot above is a Hubble false-color image of glowing gas and dark dust clouds in a star-forming region in the constellation Cassiopeia just over 6,000 light-years away. Click on image for larger size.
There’s a great selection of images at the Telegraph UK site here, taken in 2009 from the Hubble Space telescope, the Chandra X-Ray telescope, and the Spitzer Space telescope. Your tax dollars at work.
I always find these images of the vasty deep sky humbling. In one way they seem to be the ultimate rebuke to religion. Oh yeah, obviously the folklore and superstition of a Bronze Age desert tribe is the best way to filter and interpret our knowledge of the Universe. For sure.
I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that all the problems of our little planet don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy Universe. Someday you’ll understand that. Here’s looking at you, Cassiopeia.