tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54549762009-02-21T05:50:09.453-08:00diversified focusA collection of handy tidbits picked up about photography and general image making - both digital and film. From the eye of Matt Hobbs.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-61258091688360890052007-08-01T09:30:00.001-07:002007-08-01T09:30:21.777-07:00Photo Trip: 8th Avenue SculpturesSnake Sculpture @ 8th Ave Originally uploaded by ultrahi.If you're in New York and looking for something to take close up pictures of in low, crappy fluorescent light then check out Tom Otterness' sculptures at the 8th Avenue/14th Street subway stop. The cute little brass characters are integrated into various parts of the station all around, so you have the fun of hunting for them as well as theMatt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-29094189703273559432007-06-17T09:48:00.000-07:002007-06-17T09:49:34.557-07:00Ethereal PortraitsCheck out Ryan Pfluger's online portfolio - he has some great portraits of New York hipster types and others.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-14082237858559357732007-05-19T13:50:00.001-07:002007-05-19T13:50:47.828-07:0024 Hours of FlickrHunting Comics Originally uploaded by ultrahi.
A few weeks ago, well just before 5th May to be precise, Flickr started to prepare its members for their first '24 Hours of Flickr' event. This group had one simple goal - to take photos on 5th May, whatever you're doing, then to choose the best and add it to the group. Then the lovely folks over at Flickr make their picks and put them in a book Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-69963817772676153312007-05-04T08:04:00.000-07:002007-05-04T08:12:54.047-07:00Canon 20D: Lens Auto Focus Constantly Adjusting SolutionThe last few days I'd been having a 'problem' with my Canon 20D in that in the customizable modes (such as P/Tv/A/M) my Sigma lens would not auto focus properly. Every time I'd try and take a photo, the lens would constantly keep adjusting itself, jittering around and making a lot of whirring noises. Many of my photos were coming out unfocussed, so I ended up going to manual focus as I prepared Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-30191632342605444852007-04-26T05:24:00.001-07:002007-04-26T05:24:57.309-07:00Faithless @ Webster Hall: Gig PhotosFaithless @ Webster Hall: Over There Originally uploaded by ultrahi.My photos from last night's amazing Faithless gig at Webster Hall are up here as usual. They played an amazing show that drove the crowd wild and brought smiles to everyone's faces as we bounced around like loons.From a photography point of view though it wasn't as fun; the show is crazy backlit with lots of red light which Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-17694089755907315852007-04-23T06:12:00.001-07:002007-04-23T06:12:37.993-07:00Jarvis Cocker @ WebsterJarvis @ Webster: Originally uploaded by ultrahi.Last night Jarvis rocked it at Webster - I took a few pics which you can see here. If you haven't already, check out his latest self-titled album - smashing stuff.I took the photos with my Canon 20D and Signma 18-50 1:2.8 EX lens - a lens I chose for it's high aperture and hence reasonable low light performance. I found last night that although it Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-2580372557118334422007-04-02T08:35:00.000-07:002007-04-02T09:12:22.176-07:00Canon G7: To Buy Or Not To Buy?The new 10 mega pixel Canon G7 has caught my eye of late, and recently my friend Jemma visited and brought one along with her so I got a chance to play with it. Many people believed that Canon would cull the G line of prosumer cameras to push people towards either their entry level SLR cameras, or their smaller snappy devices, but instead Canon announced this new entry. Previously the G line has Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-74128771041329856172007-02-17T11:27:00.000-08:002007-02-17T11:47:18.836-08:00Taking Photos at Sidney'sCurrently over at Sidney Zion's house teaching blogging and taking photos.Ain't technology great!Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-47043512365368030112007-02-14T14:37:00.000-08:002007-02-14T14:39:14.243-08:002007 World Press Photo WinnersThe World Press Photo Winners for 2007 are up to see now, and there are some wonderful images in there. The pictures of the seals hunting in the antartic are particularly intense.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-65325295315314201502007-02-09T14:22:00.000-08:002007-02-08T08:37:08.257-08:00Zap! Pow! Pretty! Bang!Rosemary Fiore has created some amazing images by taking long exposures of old arcade games like Tempest. I used to be fascinated by the old games that were 'drawn' onto the screen directly by vector graphics rather than pixels. They had a glow to them that Fiore's captured beautifully. [From metafilter]Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-88734098421708027392007-02-08T08:32:00.000-08:002007-01-29T09:11:15.334-08:00Plagarising InspirationSlate has an interesting photo essay discussing the recent plagarism accusations over similar photos of the Nanpu Bridge. They compare and contrast the concepts of standing on the shoulders of giants, knowing nods to prior originators and the question of whether any new image is without inspiration from other artists. It's an interesting area for discussion, and with the increasing ability on theMatt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-54149326205165745392007-01-26T10:22:00.000-08:002007-01-26T10:24:21.205-08:00Hipsterin' up the PlaceJust found this article on Last Night's Party explaining http://www.lastnightsparty.com/2006/04/how_to_appear_in_a_hipster_pho_1.html. It's all true. Last Night's Party amazingly already have a book out full to the brim with drunk posing hipsters - I guess they have to launch it now, in two weeks it'll be out of date fashion wise.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-12527587462782879842006-12-18T13:18:00.000-08:002006-12-18T13:22:06.125-08:00Photographer's RightsHere's an interesting Wired Blog article written by 'Hawk' - in which he discusses the rights of a photographer to take photos when standing on public land: In summary - you can! Like many photographers I've had my brush in with security guards - late one night off 25th Street near Park Avenue, taking pictures of a lamp attached to a building. A guard came out, took a look at me and my friend Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1159902799748147832006-10-03T12:08:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:39.848-08:00Cleaning your Canon 20D - the Infrared WayThe other day I finally got my first kit to clean the dust off my Canon 20D - a Copper Hill Sensor Sweep kit and it worked pretty darn well. The large lumps of dust or whatever that had been there were fully gone after two sweeps, although there are still some slight specks that I suspect are moisture - so at some point I'll need to go to the next level and get the full alcohol kit.
All this Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1158778640039956942006-09-20T11:55:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:39.718-08:00Cute little cards from your FlickrMoo and Flickr have teamed up to produce these cute little half business card width prints of your flickr photos. The aspect ratio is interestingly skinny and cinematic, which makes it a bit hard to choose suitable photos, but the interface is great. Oh, and at the moment they're giving Flickr Pro users 10 free cards to try it out! I'll let you know what mine are like when they turn up. Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1158595622620486072006-09-18T09:05:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:39.365-08:00Slim on Real FeaturesHP have announced this new feature on some of their cameras a 'slimming' effect. It's simple really, you just take a photo of a person and then adjust a slider to say how slim you want them to look. Genius. Or at least genius for those folks who want to delude themselves in the same way as mirrors in clothing stores already do but in the comfort of their own home.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1157298865607924052006-09-03T08:52:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:39.209-08:00Katrina Portraits from Clayton CubittCheck out these lovely portraits of people affected by Katrina from Clayton Cubitt. [From BoingBoing]Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1153659030277350412006-07-23T05:48:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:38.683-08:00Remove people from your photosBoing boing has this great post about a service that lets you remove other people from your photos. Handy for tourist shots of busy places. They also gave a link to a Talbot photo of Nelson's column under construction. Wonder what Talbot would have thought of flickr?Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1153134586749187832006-07-17T04:08:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:38.566-08:00Brooklynites Photo EssayAnthony LaSala & Seth Kushner have put together this great long photo essay on the people who make Brooklyn what it is.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1150998969601262772006-06-22T10:27:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:38.400-08:00Have Camera, Will TravelMy friend Jon, whose latest book Invisible Armies is out soon and a great read (buy it!), just called to ask my opinion on the Canon PowerShot A700, as his S30 had died and I'd expressed some concerns over my recent upgrade to the S70.
Having not used the A700 I can't speak to how it handles, but it raised a few points that are relevant in general as Jon is a regular world traveller and althoughMatt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1145826598644592552006-04-23T14:09:00.000-07:002006-11-13T12:18:38.290-08:00How not to do business: dotPhotoJust found out that apparently all my albums have been deleted from the dotPhoto server. Sorry if anyone was trying to find my older photos from there.
Looking at the dotPhoto FAQ I see there is now a policy on free accounts that if you do not log in every 90 days you just delete the albums so I assume that is what happened. So those months when you happen to be busy and don't log in - bam. Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1142780323257590622006-03-19T06:57:00.000-08:002006-11-13T12:18:38.129-08:00Found 70s Artist PhotosSharpeworld has an amazing set of found photos of 70s artists that he's posted to Flickr along with a back story. [From metafilter]Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1140733209042843942006-02-23T14:18:00.000-08:002006-11-13T12:18:37.970-08:00New York PanoramicsSome great New York panoramics from Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao. He took the photos seperately then photoshopped them together.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1139624934081539252006-02-10T18:27:00.000-08:002006-11-13T12:18:37.866-08:00Daily beauty at ChromasiaAt Chromasia, photographer David Nightingale presents a single daily image of outstanding beauty. Simple, but effective - and stunning.Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454976.post-1139586317992503172006-02-10T07:42:00.000-08:002006-11-13T12:18:37.693-08:00World Press Photo's 2006 WinnersThe World Press Photo's 206 winners of news related images is now up - go check it out. There are some stunning images in there, although I always find myself wondering how staged they might be - or how much 'artistic merit' is being applied in other words. The famous image of firefighters raising a flag at Ground Zero springs to mind. It's a great image that brought hope to a nation at a dark Matt Hobbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160003809176018030noreply@blogger.com