Bergman's GigaPan inauguration image

Inauguration GigaPan © David Bergman

Photographer David Bergman was shooting pics during Obama's inauguration with a Canon G10 mounted to a Gigapan Imager. So what you say? Well, the prosumer Canon G10 weighs in at 14.7 megapixels and is no slouch in the high res department. (And on the list of things I would one day like to play with). But thats not the real story.

When mated to the Gigapan Imager the final rendered shot - composed of 220 single images, came out as a 1,474 megapixel image. Of course, according to Bergman compiling it on a MacBook Pro took 6.5 hours to come up with that 2GB sized .TIF image! And I get annoyed when a 120MB .TIF chokes my machine in CS3 for a couple of mins! :)

The Gigapan Imager is a robotic camera mount that lets photographers take multiple images and stitch them together in the way photo editing software stitches panoramas, with the end result being a huge image file.

Bergman has it on his blog (and it's currently on the Gigapan page too) in a way you can zoom in and around much like you can with GoogleMaps or GoogleEarth. And the image is spectacular. Start with the base image (above) and go tight on Obama (below) - or anyone even in the far distance - and you will be amazed. I think I saw this mega/giga sized imagery done once before on a neighbourhood in Europe and blogged about it on my old blog, but it was nothing like this. His most recent post talks more about the details of the day, how the image was shot and that:

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is not sleeping.
President Bush is not sending a text message.
Yes, Oprah Winfrey is blocked by a camera tower.
We’re still looking for Waldo.

detail of the Inauguration GigaPan © David Bergman

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

WTD 17: "Fly on the (Facebook) Wall"

Says it all really. from WhattheDuck.net.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Breakwaters and Sirens

A trim and athletic Mindy in black lingerie, wings and less and standing with a rusty iron breakwater in the background. Lake Huron, Ontario. Canada. September 2008. When will it be warm again? :)

Breakwater Mindy #5, 2008

Breakwater Mindy #4, 2008

Breakwater Mindy #5, 2008

Were Sirens Angels Too? , 2008

Dangerous Angel, 2008

At rest in the setting sun, 2008

Breakwater Mindy #8, 2008

Outline with Water, 2008

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

President Obama's official portrait

Barack Obama, © Pete Souza

Read on Change.gov today that the new official portrait for President Barack Obama, taken yesterday by Pete Souza (the newly announced official White House photographer) was shot with a digital camera. It is the first time that an official presidential portrait wasn't shot on film.

And it was a Canon. a 5D Mk II: 105mm, F 10, 1/125 sec, ISO 100.

So, while the CSI folks all use Nikons to shoot their fake crime scenes, Pete Souza will shoot the White House with Canon gear. I can deal with that trade off. ;)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

JPG Magazine Folds

I never got any of my images in the print issue though I tried a few times. But it is sad that the reader driven magazine - and the site- is folding. I know there is or was some blog chatter and such about politics behind the mag and its not the same as it was etc., but all I know is that it was a cool magazine to read with some great pics.

I got this in my email this morning:

Today is a particularly sad day for all of us at JPG and 8020 Media.

We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.

The one thing we've been the most proud of: your amazing talent. We feel honored and humbled to have been able to share jpgmag.com with such a dynamic, warm, and wonderful community of nearly 200,000 photographers. The photography on the website and in the magazine was adored by many, leaving no doubt that this community created work of the highest caliber. The kindness, generosity, and support shared among members made it a community in the truest sense of the word, and one that we have loved being a part of for these past two years.

We wish we could have found a way to leave the site running for the benefit of the amazing folks who have made JPG what it is, and we have spent sleepless nights trying to figure something out, all to no avail. Some things you may want to do before the site closes:

- Download the PDFs of back issues, outtakes, and photo challenge selections. We'll always have the memories! www.jpgmag.com/downloads/archives.html
- Make note of your favorite photographers. You may want to flip through your favorites list and jot down names and URLs of some of the people you'd like to stay in touch with. You may even want to cut and paste your contacts page into a personal record.
- Catch up with your fellow members. Our roots are in this humble flickr forum and we recommend going back to find fellow members, discuss the situation, or participate in another great photo community. www.flickr.com/groups/jpgmag/
- Keep in touch. This has always been much more than just a job to each of us, and we'll miss you guys! We'll be checking the account jpgletters@gmail.com in our free time going forward. We can't promise to reply to every email (since we'll be busy tuning up our resumes) but we'd love to hear from you.
- Stay posted. Although the magazine is ceasing publication, we'll be updating you on what's happening with your subscription early next week.

We're soggy-eyed messes, but it is what it is. At that, JPGers, we bid you goodbye, and good luck in 2009 and the future.

Laura Brunow Miner
Editor in Chief

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Happy 2K9

May the best ye've ever seen

Be the worst ye'll ever see
May a moose ne'er leave yer girnal
Wi' a tear drap in his e'e
May ye aye keep hale an' he'rty
Till ye're auld eneuch tae dee
May ye aye be jist as happy
As we wish ye aye tae be


Translated...

May the best you have ever seen
Be the worst you will ever see
May a mouse never leave your girnal
With a tear drop in his eye
May you always keep hale and hearty
Till you are old enough to die
May you always be just as happy
As we wish you always to be

A "girnal" is apparently a storage chest for meal (oats and the like) placed in the kitchen. :)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography