Source: George Jardine on Lightroom and Digital Photography
Author: George Jardine

Amidst all the attention over the new 1.3 update, we forgot to post a link to another new Lightroom video tutorial by George Jardine. This one offers some more great tips on working with the Library module and some of the less well-know aspects of photo synching behavior in Lightroom.

“A new tutorial that covers the Sync command, and a few ins-and-outs of working with Lightroom’s selection logic.”

Photograph © 2006 George A. Jardine

In this tutorial I outline the basics of Lightroom’s Synchronize command. You’ll learn how to apply Develop settings across multiple photos, in both the Library and the Develop modules. I also cover some of the new selection logic in Lightroom that is required to make working with large numbers of files, well…. logical!”

Duration: 11:56

Read full story and download the video tutorial…

This is an opportunity to take a workshop with Jay in his own environment, a historic landmark bank building in Lower Manhattan.

This is a workshop about seeing and expanding your capability. It is not about performing or getting your ego stroked. It is definitely not about technical things and absolutely not about Photoshop. You will shoot, get critiques, look at Jay’s work and talk about photography all day long.

Source: DVD Talk

DVD Talk recently had a chance to sit down with some of the key talent behind Disney and Pixar’s Ratatouille [review] to see what they’ve cooked up for the film’s release on DVD and Blu-ray on November 6th. The visit kicked off with a set of roundtables with some of Pixar’s digital wizards at their headquarters in Emeryville, California:

A new attempt to provide a higher-end sequel to the ubiquitous JPEG image standard is officially under way.

Source: CNET
Written by Stephan Shankland

The multiple countries participating in the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the JPEG standard, have approved an effort to make Microsoft’s HD Photo format a standard called JPEG XR, said Bill Crow, who has led Microsoft’s HD Photo effort and who just took over the company’s Microsoft Live Labs Seadragon imaging project. XR stands for “extended range,” a reference to the format’s ability to show a wider and finer range of tonal gradations and a richer color palette.

“The country vote is done, and it passed,” Crow said. “That means the International JPEG committee has decided to go ahead and create the standard. Now it’s just a process of doing that work,” a process that will begin later this month in a meeting in Kobe, Japan.

Read entire article

Source: Chemistry World
Written by John Bonner

Researchers in the US have developed a technique that could allow neurologists to draw a detailed wiring plan of the mammalian brain by inserting genes coding for fluorescent proteins into mice. Dubbed ‘Brainbow’, the system reveals individual neurons within the nervous system in up to 90 different colours.

The delayed start of winter hours may–but may not–confuse digital equipment; here’s where to update just in case.

Source: PCWorld
Written by Tom Spring

Daylight-saving time arrives late this year–we gain an hour on November 4. You already know this, but does your electronic gear?

Source: CNET
Written by Stephan Shankland

For a computer, dealing with color is just another math problem. And Microsoft wants to change the way your PC counts.

The company has developed a color space–a way to encode colors as numbers a computer can process–called scRGB. If the company succeeds in getting it to catch on, the technology could help add depth and richness to photos taken with digital cameras and viewed on a computer or TV screen.

PixelGenius has posted their profiles for the new Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper due to be shipping in November, 2007. Working with Epson, PixelGenius members Andrew Rodney and Jeff Schewe (an Epson Sylus Pro member) have been testing the Exhibition Fiber Paper (EFP) over the summer. At the suggestion of Dan (Dano) Steinhardt from Epson, PixelGenius created ICC profiles for all of the current and new shipping Epson UltraChrome K3™ printers–including the Epson Stylus® Photo R2400 Printers.

Photoshop CS3 for Forensics Professionals: A Complete Digital Imaging Course for Investigators
Written by George Reis

Digital imaging technology has been used in forensics since at least 1992, yet until now there has been no practical instruction available to address the unique issues of image processing in an everyday forensic environment.

Press Release: MELVILLE, NY – From a background of blackness emerges a peaceful image of bright red and green – a double transgenic mouse embryo – this year’s winning entry in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. The image was captured by Gloria Kwon, a researcher at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, using widefield microscopy and red and green fluorescence.

If you are, you aren’t alone. There are several “known issues” that Adobe is working on and expects to address with a Photoshop CS3 update in the not too distant future.

For the time being, if you are interested in participating in helping test the solutions, you can apply for the position of “tester” by visiting John’s blog, reading the post and following the directions (note, it’s really important to follow the directions!) See: Fixes for Photoshop printing due soon

Source: The New York Times Blogs
Written by Mike Nizza

The world locked eyes with a suspected pedophile today after a lot of digital photo manipulation and an apparently unprecedented global appeal by Interpol to help find him. From Agence France-Presse:

“For years, images of this man sexually abusing children have been circulating on the Internet,” Interpol chief Ronald Noble said in a statement.

Dave Story shows off a multi-lens array.
(Credit: Audioblog.fr)

Source: CNET
Written by Stephen Shankland

Today, if you want to trim all the distracting background out of a picture–say, the crowd behind your daughter playing soccer–you have to do a lot of artful selection with high-powered software such as Photoshop. But what if your computer understood the depth of the image, just as you did when you took the picture, and could be told to just erase everything that’s a certain distance behind your kid?

New Fiber-Based Technology Delivers Look and Feel of Revered Darkroom Paper with the Creative Benefits Epson Ink Jet Printers Offer in Both Color and Black-and-White

Press Release: LONG BEACH, Calif. – Oct. 8, 2007 – Epson America Inc. today announced what many professional photographers are saying is the perfect blend of revered darkroom papers with the limitless creative control of ink jet printing with the introduction of its Signature Worthy™ Exhibition Fiber Paper. The paper will be available in 25-sheet packages of 8.5”x 11,” 13”x 19,” 17”x 22,” and 24”x 30” cut sheets.

PHOTOGRAPHY: FIRST PLACE (TIE)
What Lies Behind Our Nose?
Kai-hung Fung,*

Source: Science Magazine

Written by Jeff Nesbit, Director, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, NSF
Monica Bradford, Executive Editor, Science

Scientific data are the currency of science, but they often buy little understanding outside science itself–or even outside the narrow confines of a single scientific discipline. But when data are brought to life through images, illustrations, computer graphics, and animations, they can stimulate excitement, awe, new ways of looking at things, and, above all, a broad appreciation of even the most esoteric scientific information.

New DxO Optics Pro v5 Software Featuring a Breakthrough RAW Engine Leads the Way in Image Quality for Demanding Photographers

Press Release: Paris, France – October 1st, 2007 – DxO Labs today announced DxO Optics Pro v5, the latest version of its award-winning flagship software application for automatic image quality enhancement for Digital SLR camera users. Due to be released later in the fall, DxO Optics Pro v5 sets a new standard for image quality with its new RAW conversion engine. All purchasers of DxO Optics Pro v4.5 on or after August 1st, 2007 are eligible for a free upgrade to DxO Optics Pro v5.

Source: BBC News

The growing problem of accessing old digital file formats is a “ticking time bomb”, the chief executive of the UK National Archives has warned.

Natalie Ceeney said society faced the possibility of “losing years of critical knowledge” because modern PCs could not always open old file formats.

Some people were taken by surprise by Photoshop CS3’s new Print dialog. Some weren’t pleased by the new behavior. So, John Nack asked Dave to say a few words on John’s Adobe Blog. Click here to read the entire post.

Source: The New York Times
Written by Ian Austen

GATINEAU, Quebec–THE preservation center at Canada’s national archive here might have the last word when it comes to keeping the color in color photography.

A four-story concrete building, which is enclosed within a second protective building, holds two warehouse-size vaults where negatives, prints and film are kept in the dark at 0 degrees and 25 percent relative humidity.

Before anything in the collection can be examined, technicians must put it into an acclimatization chamber that resembles an oversize stainless-steel refrigerator, where it is warmed up over a 24- to 48-hour period.

Concerned with color consistency?

Adobe just posted a new color management module (CMM) on Adobe.com as a free download at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/. The move is the latest in Adobe’s effort to advance open, vendor-neutral color management systems.

Source: CNET
Written by Greg Sandoval, CNET News.com

Digital photographers on Monday were debating whether a retailer can also offer professional camera reviews without creating the perception that the opinions are biased.

Source: CNET
Written by Caroline McCarthy

Amazon.com announced on Monday that it has acquired Digital Photography Review, also known as Dpreview.com, a London-based site that specializes in reviews, information, news and discussion forums pertaining to the digital-camera market. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Read entire article

Adobe has taken some heat from users for what they claim is its lukewarm support for Windows Vista.

Source: InformationWeek
Written by Paul McDougall

Adobe Systems(ADBE) on Monday said it plans to release a Windows Vista-compatible driver for printers that use its PostScript page description language in July — a full six months after Microsoft’s new operating system was released for general sale.

ImageReady is dead; long live ImageReady.

From John Nack’s Adobe blog comes this bit of advice and explanation regarding the end of ImageReady in CS3.

OVER 500 LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS PARTICIPATE AT MORE THAN 200 VENUES ACROSS THE GTA.

TORONTO — CONTACT, Toronto’s premier annual photography festival, is launching for it’s 11th year and taking over the GTA. From May 1 – 31, 2007, the work of professional, emerging and established photographers will transform Toronto into a huge art gallery as restaurants, government buildings, public spaces, street corners, hotels, schools, museums and galleries become the backdrop for their work.