What will they look like?

Have you ever sat back and just dreamed a little on what the future camera could look like? Will the SLR still use a mirror box by the year 2015 or will most “SLR’s” use a live view system similar to the Micro Four Thirds from Olympus and Panasonic?

My guess is that only the most exclusive will continue to use the mirror box and that all entry level SLR’s will use an EVF like seen with current micro 4/3  cameras.

Do you think we will still think in terms of aperture versus shutter speed, ISO setting to up the shutter speed and depth of field dependent on the f-stop or aperture setting of the lens. Do you think art filters was just a crazy thought Olympus had?

I have always been a loyal supporter of Photoshop Elements and I enjoyed or still enjoy almost every version that was launched over the years. Today I still have version 6, 7 and 8 installed, PSE6 on my office PC, PSE7 on a older Windows PC which I also use to develop this site with and finally I have PSE8 installed on a Mac Mini I bought at the end of last year. I therefor use both the Windows plus the Mac version of Elements.

I know it is not the most powerful editor out there but at the same time I also know that most folk will never manage to even use the full power or functionality available in Elements, so why complain? All my life I used Windows and its only recently I added a Mac PC to my home office. Its the Mac version of PSE8 I find so exciting and that is the one I like to briefly discuss here.

I like to start off saying that I finally decided that I just do not like the organizer found in the Windows version of Photoshop Elements. I know there are many people using it and many like it. I briefly tested the editing software from Apple, called Aperture and though the editor is great, again I just do not like the organizer or the way it functions. That said I do like the iPhoto organizer and yes it looks and feel similar to that of Aperture.

The iPhone has become a real alternative to entry level compacts. The unique camera applications and filters has grown into a totally new market. Art filters in the PEN allows the user in a similar way to the iPhone to present images in a unique and different way.

On the iPhone one can buy an old film type camera or “App”, Thereafter it is possible to build up a complete system type kit. The kit could include all the special type lenses found in old film cameras, different type film rolls, filters and flash units. I wonder what this will all look like in 5 to 10 years?

Other new technologies we witness today are new and advanced panorama software. Sony call it “Sweep Panorama Technology”. No longer does the photographer require a special Panorama head for his tripod, its now all calculated in the camera.

As little as 18 months ago dynamic range was a daily topic on forums. Today its possible to buy a camera that will take multiple pictures when the shutter is pressed and the end result is a picture with extended DR.

The ISO performance of cameras are improving month after month, noise is becoming a sought after “art filter” in Nikon cameras and I will not be surprised if we will use totally different terms to discuss depth of field, background blur, focus, 3D and much more in the near future.

As I started this short column I like to repeat my question..... What will they look like?

Siegfried

I have a interesting application on my iPhone called 365 days. This application lets you add a picture a day and at the end of the year you will have 365 different pictures. Have you thought of something like this before? One thing is sure, after the third week you do not know what next to take a picture off. That is when you start looking at your surroundings a little differently

I have installed this application on my iPhone and I like it. I like to invite you to try it plus if you like we could even talk about ways to discuss and show this as a project to our friends.

With both these pictures I used a simplified HDR method to change the original picture to what you see now. In the original picture, the tree in the above picture was nearly black with no detail and the village on the right was under exposed.

In both cases I duplicated the background layer and selected a “Screen” blend mode. This “increased” the average exposure by one or two stops. Next I applied a mask to the top layer and with the brush tool I painted (in black) the now “over exposed” parts to look like prior applying the screen blend mode. Left was a picture with a more ”balanced” exposure.

I have decided to start a new section in the Photoshop area that will discuss layers in more detail. You can find more detail in the “Layers Articles” page in the Photoshop section.

A different way of Editing

In the Photoshop section of this website you will find several articles and short training videos with information on basic picture editing techniques.

I have been using these basic techniques for years and had much fun editing and improving pictures. Later I started experimenting with HDR photography and that has had a large influence on my own style and the way I edit pictures.

At a early stage I learned the basics of working with layers and it was only recently that I starting learning more advanced layers techniques. I like to share a few of these layer techniques with you in a series of short articles over the next few months.