Category Archives: photography

The ‘Drawing Hands’ paradox

Education, Image cache, photography, , ,

Drawing Hands by Ben Gavette.  1948.  Lithograph.

I stumbled upon this image while studying the concept of autopoesis which literally means “auto (self)-creation” and revolves around the notions of structure and function.  Drawing Hands is a complex and intriguing illustration that centers itself on autopoeisis and begs the questions, which hand is the illustration and which hand is doing the illustrating?  Quite the paradox, eh?  American thinker Douglas Hofstadter called this a “strange loop” which arises when, by moving up or down through a hierarchical system, one finds oneself back where one started.  Boom.  Did I just blow your mind?

[Info. via Wiki]

Adobe Photoshop CS5 is on the way, new Content-Aware feature works like magic

photography, Technology, Video, , , , ,

Photoshop Labs is showing off a magical new tool called Content-Aware.  What it allows you to do is add, remove, move, or repair image elements in an extremely easy and fool-proof way.  Up to this point, one way to clean up images by removing certain elements from it was to use to the Healing tool.  Editing images this way can be nerve-racking, tedious, and time-consuming.  Content Aware does away with all that.  Watch the video above to witness the magic.  The Photoshopper starts out with small edits, like removing lens flairs and tiny trees from an image.  Then he moves onto bigger things like adding desert to a road and filling out a panoramic image with the click of a button.  Very impressive stuff.  Adobe Photoshop CS5 releases on April 12, and Adobe promises this feature in a “future version of Photoshop.”  (Whether that means it will be included in CS5 or in an update has not been addressed.)

[Via AdobeBlog; Gizmodo]

Papercraft Animation in stop motion

photography, Video, ,

AXA_EVOLUTION, created by Tronic Studio for French Insurance company AXA.

The spot highlights the rapid evolution of mankind by showcasing an origami man transforming himself into some of the most important inventions throughout history. Ending with a question mark and a resolve on the AXA logo, the spot informs the public that the future is uncertain…

[Via Likecool; Vimeo]

The Burj Dubai in 2.3 GIGApixels!

Architecture, Image cache, photography, Video, , , ,

As we inch closer to the official grand opening of the largest skyscraper in the world, the Burj Dubai, I share with you a 2.3 gigapixel photo of the massive 2,684 foot tall structure.  Well technically the image you see above is just the antenna that sticks out at the very top tip of the structure.  (But what detail!)  The image file is so large it would “break the Internet” if it were to be sent through the pipes.  In fact, if this image was printed out at 150 pixels per inch, it would be over 37 feet high!  Because of this, photographer Gerald Donovan has created a video “tour” of the photograph where he zooms in and out of detail:

The Burj Dubai opens January 4, 2010.

[Via Gizmodo]