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Raw Meet: Fred Ritchin Redefines Digital Photography

shaun — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:14:20 +0000

Fred Ritchin says that we are obsessed with ourselves and images of the unreal. That we are escaping from very real photos of destruction into visions of idyllic fantasies, and that this escapism is being branded by governments and corporations for their own ends. We are being sold products and social scenarios that appeal to our fantasies but ultimately fail us. Unlike many critics of capitalism, however, Ritchin offers solutions.

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The Apple Store at 10: Past, Present, and Future

shaun — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:14:23 +0000

On May 19, 2001, the Apple Retail Store at Tysons Corner in Virginia opened its doors to the public and no small amount of criticism. From only two days later, the headline “Sorry, Steve: Here’s Why Apple Stores Won’t Work” is hilarious now, especially the prediction of it being “two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake,” but at the time it arguably made sense.

Past

In 2001, Apple Computer was struggling. The tech bust saw Mac sales plunging as much as 50 percent in one quarter in 2000. The company was fully engaged with launching OS X. If Apple didn’t have enough problems with its own business model, there was the cautionary tale of Gateway Country Stores to consider. In March, PC reseller Gateway closed ten percent of its retail stores. If ever there was a time for Apple not to try retail, it was 2001. How fortunate for Apple and consumers the company did try it anyway.

The origin of the Apple Store begins with a full-sized mockup built in a warehouse. That idea came from Mickey Drexler, CEO of Gap, who had joined Apple’s board of directors in 1999. Not surprisingly Apple and Gap stores share certain design similarities, but Apple Stores took retail minimalism to a new level, using just three materials. The materials were, as Apple Senior VP of Apple Retail Ron Johnson pointed out at the time, “glass, stainless steel, and wood.”

Much more importantly, the focus was not on products to the exclusion of all else. Organizing products around categories was perceived as a mistake, or as Steve Jobs put it, “we were like, ‘Oh, God, we’re screwed!’ But because it was a mockup, Apple was able to redesign the store, emphasizing Mac usage and related interests, like digital photography. That focus on developing relationships with customers, especially when compared to competitors like Best Buy, is an underrated part of the Apple Store’s success, and what an astonishing success it has been.

Present

Ten years later, there are 324 Apple Stores: 233 in the U.S., and 91 international locations. In terms of foot traffic, Apple saw its billionth retail visitor last month, with 71 million in the last quarter alone, up 51 percent year over year. The increasing number of visitors can be ascribed not only to the popularity of Apple products, but location of stores. In the U.S., the goal has always been to have 85 percent of the population within driving distance of an Apple Store, which has often meaning paying a premium for retail space. Bu it’s been a strategy that’s paid off.

For fiscal year 2010, just under billion in sales came from Apple Stores. Last quarter, revenue from Apple retail was .19 billion, up 90 percent year over year. That means Apple Stores accounted for 13 percent of the company’s revenue, an impressive figure that puts them far ahead of competitors like Best Buy when measured by metrics like sales per square foot.

Last quarter, Apple sold 797,000 Macs in Apple Stores, up 32 percent year over year. One of every five Macs sold now comes from an Apple Store, but even more important is who is buying them. Going back at least five years, about half of those buying Macs in Apple Stores are new to the platform. For the Mac, the Apple Store has contributed to the brand’s halo effect, boosting Macs sales by affinity just like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. It’s also been instrumental to the iPad’s success, according to CEO Steve Jobs, and can’t be underestimated in terms of its contribution to how well the iPhone’s done.

Looking at the numbers, it’s hard to argue the Apple Store has been anything but a huge success (and one made visually apparent in this infographic from last year), but perhaps not a flawless one. In 2004, Apple began experimenting with “mini-stores” in six locations. While it was rumored the concept would see expansion to as many as 50 locations, that never happened, likely for the obvious reason. The mini-stores are just too small to accommodate Apple Store traffic. The above mini-store in Palo Alto is relocating to a much larger space in the same mall, and other mini-stores can be expected to follow.

Future

Besides the mini-store experiment, it’s hard to fault Apple’s execution of its retail strategy over the last ten years. But what about the future? Here are five predictions for the next ten years at the Apple Store.

Apple Store International: Apple expects to open around 40 stores in 2011, with only one in four of those located in the U.S. Expect that trend to accelerate, likely with a focus on China. Apple will soon be opening its fifth store in China, the same number as in Germany and just one less than France. A decade from now, China will quite possibly have more Apple Stores than any country except the U.S. and possibly the UK, which currently has 29.
Personal Service: Last quarter Apple set up more than one million purchased products for people in stores for free, a service competitors like Best Buy often charge for. While not all concierge services have succeeded (Personal Shopper being a noteworthy exception), expect more attempts to create and nurture relationships with customers over products and services.
No Software: With the launch of the Mac App Store, and now the rumored digital distribution of OS X Lion, it’s only a matter of time before boxed software disappears from the Apple Store. Signing up Microsoft for Mac Office and Adobe for its Creative Suite in the App Store will likely by the key to finally clearing that shelf space.
Desktop Deprecation: You don’t need to wait to 2021 to see this one coming true. Just visit any Apple Store today and count the desktops and laptops. It’s not hard to imagine the only desktop Macs on the sales floor being iMacs in just a few years.
Apple Television: Despite razor-thin margins, turning Apple’s tiny black box “hobby” into a flat screen with functionality and ease of use built has potential as another source of serious revenue, and there’s plenty of wall space in Apple Stores. However, first Apple must extend the App Store to the current Apple TV 2, and with an emphasis on gaming.

We’ll likely find out by Monday what the company’s own plans for Apple retail’s immediate future. Whatever those plans are, now and going forward, one thing is for certain: No one will be predicting failure.

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Do You Know about Optical System in Digital Camera

techgeek — Sun, 08 May 2011 04:33:32 +0000

If you wish to master the digital photography by making use of digital camera, you have to know more about it especially for its amazing functions. One of many special features of the digital camera is the optical system. In the centre of every digital camera, no matter how it keeps its graphics, is surely an optical system. The optical system is essential in getting high standard image. For this reason, we will look at this special feature in this post. You may wish to know about Best SLR Camera and Cheap Digital SLR Camera too.

Most digital cameras come with 2 distinctive viewfinders which are an optical one and a digital one. Usually, the optical viewfinder consists of a glass or plastic lens that shows you your subject instantly that is just a plain eyeport that permits you to look through your camera to the other side.

Digital viewfinder is a large Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) that reproduces what the digital camera image sensor is actually seeing. Which one would you utilize? Just simply select any system that that suits you. You can obtain far better effects, although, in case you are aware of the distinction between the two. With a majority of cameras, you will not really find out precisely what the digital camera sees when you look through the optical viewfinder.

This is precisely why: Whenever capturing with a distance, the optical viewfinder and lens see basically the exact same thing. Close up to your subject, even though they clearly get 2 distinct things. Digital viewfinder, however, shows you precisely what the digital camera sees, and thus is an extremely reliable gauge of your potential photograph. You do not wish to use your digital viewfinder on a regular basis, though.

For beginners, it utilizes a large amount of power, and you could get more usage beyond batteries of your digital camera when using the optical viewfinder instead. Moreover, the LCD display can be very difficult to see in certain lighting conditions, such as outside in mid-afternoon.

Last but not least, without mastering the secrets about optical system, it is not possible for us to get the excellent shot by using digital camera. I really hope that you guys can actually get some ideas about optical system after reading this particular article.

Learn The Art Of Capturing Great Pictures With Digital Photography

techgeek — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:04:10 +0000

The local art center has a working artist as their gallery director. The Hempfield Township resident first discovered her talent in high school, majored in art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has been active in the local art club since 1970. It is a regular affair for the art center to showcase her work. She says she works in oils and pastels and does some silk screen printing.

A member of another art club recently invited the artist to demonstrate landscape pastel painting from a photograph. She says that for a beginner, working exclusively from photographs is not a wise choice. She recommends that those who are starting out should get out in the open to see the nuances of light and shadow. If you want more paintings resources visit custom painting canvas.

If the painter paints outside, he can absorb the details better, sketch the actual scene, take a photograph and refer to it later on. She normally does it like this. She uses several photographs to create a composite landscape. This technique becomes very useful when the customer asks for elements that aren’t present in just one photograph.

Photography is an art form too however when it is used as a reference for paintings, once can adjust the painting so as to not include anything that is not likable in the photo. You have to decide what to make the most important part of the painting. When a painting is completed how it would look would be decided by using a photograph.

For her model, she took a photo during the fall at the Slippery Rock and enlarged that photo to paint the pastel portrait. She says that she doesn’t draw all the way to the edges of the paper, so nothing is covered by the frame. She draws on the wrong side of a pastel paper because it is less textured, and works better for her technique in layering colors. To enjoy more quality paintings information make sure to visit custom painting photograph.

Reds and blues are used to evoke the logs and branches rising from the water. Her photographs are added with bits of red to enhance certain sections of her painting. She is careful in exploiting the characteristic of pastels being close to using pure pigment.

The color values should be stopped and thought about according to her. It is best not to use excess of light too soon. When painting with pastels one can always layer the lighter values over the darker ones without worrying about conserving the whit areas like in watercolors. Pastels just have to be felt by you.

The color range should be used carefully as per her. Without having to mix different shades, one can get the right color by using today’s wide range of colors. If we do not like the results achieved, we can wipe the color and start over again when painting with pastels. It’s a very easy going medium.

Buying DSLR Cameras – Nikon VS Canon DSLR

techgeek — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:06:43 +0000

Deciding on your first DSLR Camera or even upgrading later is of course fun, but it might be daunting. The choices are plentifold and the lists of features are wide. How do you decide on what camera choice to make? The primary decision is the brand choice… Nikon VS Canon DSLR, One of the Four Thirds brands?

This first DSLR Camera decision is perhaps the most important because it limits your future choices to the brand. From here on you should invest in lenses that will be compatible with your DLSR Camera choice.

If this is your subsequent DSLR Camera investment, your brand decision was probably made before and you most likely own a few lenses. Your choices will be limited to a model within the brand choice.

Near everyone spends a lot of time carefully studying the Camera Body features and tend to focus too much on the obvious features such as the camera’s megapixel size. There are a lot of other, wider considerations to focuson. Most of such considerations go beyond the Camera body.

The ultimate aim surely is to take good photographs and to do this you need to look beyond the camera body. One needs to evaluate your investment in Lenses, investment in your own skills and when it comes to digital photography, photo editing is an essential part of the process. These extraneous issues are more important that the money you invest in the camera body.

The first is the lenses you will be using:

Today’s DSLR cameras are all state of the art and all will give you most of of the capability to take world class photographs.
Camera body technology advances very rapidly and more powerful models with more features become available every year.
These days it is easy to upgrade your camera body. If you take care of your DSLR and keep the packaging you can sell the camera on EBay for very close to the price you paid for it.
Over time you will probably spend significanly more money on lenses than the nearly fully compatible across the Canon Range. Nikon lens compatibility varies. Different Nikkor lenses are only compatible with some of the Nikon Cameras. Pentax, Sony, Minolta and others that have embraced the 4 thirds architecture and have lens compatibility across brands, but they also need careful studying.
Lenses stay around a lot longer and will be in your bag for much longer than the camera body.
Light weight vs. ruggedness of Camera and lens.

As a general rule of thumb, spend more time and more money on your lens choices. The lenses determine the brand you are going to live with. If necessary go for a lesser featured camera .The lenses will outlast the camera every time and you are likely to upgrade.

The second issue, beyond the camera body has to do with photography skills.

Taking good photographs takes more than the kit, even lenses. Too few people spend time and money on learning to operate their sophisticated equipment. Unfortunately you cannot buy skills like you can equipment. You can buy training, but if you do not invest in the training time it is money wasted. Fortunately experimenting on the guidance of a good course is time and money well spent once you commit yourself and it is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Another area where people typically under-invest is in Photo Editing technology.
This is where you can become very creative and turn ordinary shots into art. Spending money on software is less exciting than shiny Camera kit, but it does make an enormous difference to the end product… Making good photos Great!

In summary, when considering a DSLR Camera purchase, consider looking. Good photography in my view is 20% camera body, 20% lens choices, 20% photography skills. 20% post processing and 20% luck. The Camera body is only a small element in the mix

Learn To Know About Digital Photography

techgeek — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:37:23 +0000

Digital photography has become a trendy topic in the world. It has dramatically boosted up the fashion industry too. If we wish to be part of this trendy field, we should learn to know more about digital photography.

Firstly, this digital photography tutorial will start off with the regular parts and terms that we need to know when talking about digital camera. Those terms are important for us to know well about digital camera.

1. Pixel- means the tiniest part of the digital photo. A photo image is composed of combined millions of pixel.

2. Resolution- the overall quantity of pixels in a photo. Enhancing the resolution would make the image become sharper. Thus more pixels are needed to obtain a better photo image quality.

3. Mega pixel- a photo composed of three to four mega pixels will have a better quality that a photo with only one mega pixel.

4. Dots Per Inch (DPI) – this term is used to explain quality of the computer monitor and printer. Specifically, laser printers have more dpi resolution than monitors. Hence, higher the dpi resolution means better quality.

5. JPEG (joint photographic experts group) – it correspond to the format for saving images in the digital camera.

6. Memory Card- this is where the digital files will be stored. Memory cards consist of different sizes and capacity. A memory card with higher storage capacity would be more convenient to purchase.

7. LCD (liquid crystal display) – almost all digital cameras have this specification. The purpose of LCD is for the photographer to be able to view the scene first before capturing the photo.

After we learnt about the terms and basic parts of digital camera, we will move on to the second part which will show us the proper way of handling digital camera.

As we all know, it is important for us to know how to handle the digital camera in order to capture the top quality image by using it. A good photographer will maximize the function of the digital camera with a good skill in handling the camera.

As a beginner, we should master the methods of taking photos first. However, if we do not understand how a digital camera works, it is difficult for us to handle it. Moreover, we should learn how to take indoor and outdoor pictures too.

Below is the second part of the digital photography tutorial. These are good ideas to help beginner master the secrets of taking photos.

1. Pay attention to the subject

One of the most fundamental digital photography tips. You should be able to compose carefully by working on the frame. Play with your camera, and explore the different shots. Avoid positioning your object at the middle of the photo, as it may result to dead middle image.

2. Capture Close Up Photos

Take great images by capturing them in extreme close up. Close up photos add a little creativity and excitement to the photos. In addition, this feature is only of the different ways to enhance you photo.

3. Use a tripod

Oftentimes digital cameras results to blurry photographs if your hands quiver a little. Getting a tripod will surely save your effort from taking low quality photos, and preserve otherwise great photos.

4. Be active

Try creative shots. Take photos from the top of a hill, or off the side of a yacht. Go outside and explore your environment. You’ll surely have fun taking those once in a lifetime photo shots.

5. Join a photography class

On the other hand, we can also learn from an expert instead of learning by ourselves. We can learn from their experience in digital photography. This can help in our learning process.

In conclusion, it is tough to become a good digital photographer. We need to keep on learning to polish our techniques and skills.

If you want to know more about digital camera, you may read Top Digital Cameras and Easy To Use Digital Camera.

Digital Camera Boost Up The Fashion Industry

techgeek — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 08:10:16 +0000

As we all know, the digital photography is advancing fast currently. The advancement of digital photography especially for the digital camera has enabled many people to take many top quality images no matter you are beginners or professional photographers. It is convenient for us to edit the photo ourselves too. Such improvement has boosted up the fashion industry globally.

Digital photography has also been a huge plus for many online and offline businesses. A stock or image is used by a photographer to purchase images. These stocks are then purchased on different prices, depending on the license. But since they are digital, and they can be acquired outright from different companies, they can be modified, manipulated and edited using sophisticated editing software.

Today, digital photography is known to boost the fashion industry. Digital fashion photography far off different from doing television footages and taking photos on films. For digital photographers, it is a more challenging field to work on.

The final purpose of digital fashion photography is to capture every detail in the ramp. It will focus on the figures of the stunning ladies, in their most fancy, magnificent and extreme fashion outfits. Digital fashion photography will capture the many outlooks essential to gratify the acceptance in worldwide fashion trends.

While digital fashion photography is a meticulous field, a photographer should be creative enough to know the hottest craze each year.

Like fashion designers, digital fashion photographers should also work in high end ease, filed with beauty and glamour. The latter should really come up with the great photos.

Here are few points to consider on digital fashion photography

Keep focused
Create good impact that you are giving information on your audience
Envision on how could come up with a creative and interesting pictures
Organize your subject
Make use of various distance and angles for each shot

A digital photographer should also be conscious that whatever output he provides will uncover the care, readiness and awareness of the many essential points to remember in taking pictures.

Requirements for a Flourishing Digital Fashion Photography
1. Proper Lighting- The photographer should use curtains and reflectors. Use a tripod and set light to either left or right side of the object at an angle of 45 degree. As much as possible, avoid bright lights, or else use polarizing filters. And lastly, never underexpose parts or expose the whole photo; never expose the entire photograph, underexpose other parts.
2. Good Color Harmony- Photographers can make use of backdrop materials to give emphasis on tint and color. Use reflectors, filters, see-thru transparency, and diffusers to neutralize colors. It is recommended to use gray and white backgrounds.
3. The Artistic view of a photographer. As a professional photographer, your audience may not see what you see in the picture. People pay value to the subject and not on the background. It should connect each other.

In summary, there are a lot of requirements in order to become a digital fashion photographer. The truth is, the fashion industry is a great potential field for you to involve. Give it a try!

If you want to know more about digital camera, you may read Digital Cameras Best Buy and Cheap Digital Camera For Sale.

Canon Uv Filter 58MM -dell Reviews

shaun — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 04:25:43 +0000

Canon Uv Filter 58MM -dell

Glass lens filter
Fits most lenses with 58mm thread diameter
Protects lens from bumps, scratches and dust
Absorbs UV light in outdoor photos

The Canon 58mm UV filter is a multi-purpose, fine-weather filter that is designed to optimize your photography experience. Used by many photographers to protect the front element of their lens from abrasions, dust, and moisture.UV filters, absorb ultraviolet rays that often make outdoor photographs hazy and indistinct. They should be constantly fitted to a lens to provide improved clarity and color balance, as well as to provide additional protection to your lens. UV filters are perfect for digital photography and traditional 35mm SLR applications, including black and white photography. They also have a very subtle warming effect, which can be useful to counter the “cool” colors you sometimes get in bright sun or in shade. Key Features:
? Fits 58mm lenses
? Includes Filter case
? Absorbs ultraviolet rays to produce crisp, clear photographs
? Ideal for protecting your valuable lens from scratches and dust
? Natural light pictures will be sharper, crisper and b

Rating: (out of 17 reviews)

List Price:

Price: $ 9.75

Mediabridge – Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Extension Cable – A-Male to A-Female – 10ft

shaun — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 13:25:36 +0000

Mediabridge – Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Extension Cable – A-Male to A-Female – 10ft

Compatible With Printers & Other USB 1.0 / 2.0 Devices
Transmits Hi-Speed Data Up To 480 Mbps With Error-Free, High-Speed Performance
Supports Up To 127 Devices On A Daisy-Chain Configurations
Gold Plated Inner Contacts
Heavy Gauge Cable

Mediabridge High-Speed USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable

* Full 480-Mbps Transmission Speed of The USB 2.0 Standard
* Foil and Braid Shielding
* Gold-Plated Copper Inner Contacts
* Limited Lifetime Warranty

This cable comes with Gold-Plated Copper Inner Contacts which give you full performance with all your USB devices. Because USB 2.0 is widely used in connecting devices such as external hard drives, printers, digital-photography devices, and more, this Certified High-Speed USB 2.0 cable helps you maximize performance for your peripherals.

USB Connection for Convenience
The Mediabridge USB 2.0 Cable supports the full 480-Mbps transmission speed and transfer of power of the USB 2.0 standard. Devices that use USB for power don’t need a separate power supply, conserving space and keeping outlets free.
This Mediabridge USB 2.0 Cable has a Male A connection on one end and a Female A connection on the other. This cable is ideal for ex

Rating: (out of 4 reviews)

List Price: $ 17.95

Price: $ 4.99

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5 Camera And Camera Backdrop Tips And Hints To Get Good At Digital Picture Taking

techgeek — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:12:28 +0000

After you’ve discovered how to avoid the famous “red-eye” syndrome, there are still several techniques to generate enhanced images, camera backdrop, composition, exposure controls, and so on… taking photographs is really a never ending, exciting journey.

Maybe you have been taking photography you KNOW ought to have worked out a good bit better than they do? It happens to all of us – even the expert photographers.

Listed here are five photo and camera backdrop tricks that will help you to progress from newbie to absolute mastery of film or digital photography, it doesn’t matter what sort of camera you work with.

1. Compose With Care

Certainly one of the most elementary of digital photography strategies is to pay attention to what is contained in the frame of your viewfinder. Your complete frame. (It truly is shocking how few people do!) Take note of all 4 corners, look for stuff that will seem like “Horns” sticking out of the subjects head and destroy the photo!

Fill the frame with the subject!

Be aware of the camera backdrop! Nothing but blue sky, for instance, to the rear of a single model throws off the color balance of the picture and reduces visual interest.

Watch the innate form of the subject matter. Does it appear more horizontal? Shoot it that way… Afterward test out a small experiment… twist the camera sideways to see whether a vertical photo may have more effect than a horizontal shot of exactly the same subject.

Attempt capturing a vertical model – horizontally! Who knows? It may turn out astounding!

You can also try positioning the model off towards the side, and not in the middle of the photograph.

2. Shoot Terrific Close up Photographs

If the lens or the camera includes a “macro mode” – visualize it as a big magnifying glass. An extreme close up of something such as flower petals is able to show textures you never knew were there, and much more notably will add excitement to your pictures. Play employing this feature, you will find dozens of ways to utilize it to boost the photos.

3. Buy a Tripod

Hazy images result if your hands shake even a little bit. One way to fix it is to avoid slow shutter speeds. Quicker speeds “freeze” the subject.

However, any time you stay away from slow shutter speeds, you will be cutting out a massive part of the inventive choices! What to do? Purchase a tripod.

Use one which is lightweight and easily transportable. If you become sick of carrying it around, you will begin leaving it (as well as most of the imaginative options) in your vehicle.

4. Get Creative

Stop taking pictures of everything at eye level!

Get up high, down low, make your shot from the top of a teeter-totter, swinging on a tire, over the side of the ship, at the same time as turning in circles!

Thoughts out of the box can certainly pay off in unpredicted ways. You can truthfully make once in a lifetime shots by means of adding a bit of resourcefulness to your thoughts.

5. Employ a pro camera backdrop

Certainly one of the biggest differences involving novice and professional quality photography may be the camera backdrop. Working with a pro camera backdrop often is the fastest and easiest way to instantaneously move your photography, to a complete new degree.

For the fundamentals, you’ll want a pure black, pure white and several assorted “Old Masters” style camera backdrop. The commercially made, pro quality camera backdrop can cost hundreds of dollars… however they really are easy to make yourself so save your money.

And no, you need not be a pro photographer to work with a pro camera backdrop. However, you WILL appear like you’re a pro!