that Google has quietly added basic facial recognition features to their image search. There is no user-interface for it yet and it can currently only be accessed by appending &imgType=face to an image search. Here’s an example (I’m on page 2):
Still in the experimental stages, this would obviously be a killer feature to add to Picasa and Picasa Web Albums, Google’s photo management application. It would be huge to be able to identify people in just a few photos in your collection and then be able to search for all photos with those same people. has had something like this for a while with its “People” tab.
Google’s addition of this feature is a shot across the bow of every other photo sharing service out there. I can only speculate that Flickr, Smug Mug, and other photo sharing services are working on similar features. They’d better be because this is the sort of thing that will make sorting through thousands of photos of people much easier than it has ever been before. I for one would love to be able to sort out pictures of just my kids, for example, in all of my untagged photos.
I’ve just launched a photo news site addition to Photodoto: . It is a news aggregator (inspired by ) but with a focus exclusively on photography. News and information is updated frequently from 17 different sources to create a photography news “dashboard” that gives you an at-a-glance view of the world of photography.
If you’re old-skool like us, you remember hurrying home from school, heading straight for your room, and hunching over your keyboard to log into your favorite , slay dragons, and find treasure.
It was a simpler time. A time when computers didn’t have fancy graphics and candy-colored buttons, and if they wanted to show you a cranky green ogre, they didn’t use CG. They used our friends “|”, “\”, “/”, and “.”
Miss it? Well pop in an Air Supply cassette and surf over to Photo2text. Upload a photo and shiny metal robots turn it into in-stant ASCII. Retro-spiff.
High-contrast photos work best, and your file has to be smaller than 200K. Make a few high-tech adjustments, then take it low-fi at Photo2text.
p.s. Want more ASCII art? Check out , featuring the always-popular “” section [Maybe not safe for work.. but people, it’s ASCII!] And don’t miss the or ASCII art. If that last page doesn’t take you back, nothing will. It uses java!!
Talk about a long exposure! I’m not sure I believe it but they say this is an airbrushed painting representing 70 hours of work—not a photograph. If it is genuine, I am at once amazed by his talent and amused that he didn’t just pick up a camera. Is photography art? Is art imitating photography art?
Most of us like our photographs, or we’d stop taking them. Yet often we will see someone else’s picture and stare in awe. “How did the photographer do that?” we may wonder. Often, the leap between that person’s work and our own seems vast.
Physician and photographer has posted a series of online essays that may help answer that question. “Taking Your Photography to the Next Level” provides details about a host of factors that combine to create impact–or lack of it–in an image.
Remember those shoulder-mounted VHS camcorders dad used to haul out at soccer games once a year, “for posterity”? Shrink it down to 1/20th the size, 1/10th the cost, and make it run for a couple hours on a pair of AAs, and you’d have the Flip Video.
When technology works, it’s a wonderful thing.
This critter packs a built-in flip-out USB port for downloading 640×480 MPEG4 at 30 frames-per-second (geek-speak for “pretty decent quality”) to your PC or Mac, a small LCD to review what you’ve recorded, a cable to watch videos on your TV in seconds, and a friendly user interface that requires no manual. (Really, truly!)
Cinema-quality video it is not, but surprisingly clear and bright for its size and cost, it is. We’ve been having a blast using this guy this past week!
We think the Flip Video is perfect for anyone who wants to capture video without hassle, or a rugged camera for little hands.
Currently , on Amazon
p.s. Batteries included!
Hey you, yeah you. If you’re not subscribed to , you’re missing out! You guys recently suggested more , and asked us .
A while back , an online photo backup service. In the past few months I’ve received a few emails and some comments on the original post indicating that some people have had a few problems. Protect My Photos worked fine in my testing and there are inevitably people who have problems with any product. However, in my experience, for every person who complains there are 100 others who just cancel their service without saying anything.
If you’re interested in online photo backup there are a .
As Doc Brown and Hiro Nakamura will tell you, sending a message to yourself in the the past is a tricky matter.
Fortunately, sending a message to a future you is far less error-prone, and requires neither flux capacitor nor fantastic genetic mutation.
Our friend recently opened an envelope he sent himself 21 years ago, with instructions to add a photobooth self-portrait to the one contained within it. The similarities two decades later are striking.
Inspired by his example, we’ve compiled a short list of ideas for creating your own ongoing photo time capsule — an easy, fun photo project you can do anytime.
p.s. Yo, we’re on Facebook. Climb aboard the new group!
p.p.s. Anyone know of a reliable way (non e-mail) to send a letter or package to yourself years in the future? Please !
Whether you’re heading to or , the travel gurus at Fodor’s have some travel photography tips for you before you embark on your summer adventures.
Pick up nearly 100 pointers, from how to shoot churches, castles, and canyons, to the nitty-gritty of shooting on mountaintops, in city streets, or at the aquarium. Their guide is written with film cameras in mind, but the basics hold true for digital.
Among their tips:
For clear campfire shots, let your camera take its exposure readings from a well-lit face. Fire in the frame will throw off your camera’s calculations.
Research your destination and plan a “shooting itinerary” so you don’t miss any great shots. (But remember that some of the best photographs are made when you stray from the beaten path.)
In wild caves, put your camera shutter in the B position and fire your flash multiple times to paint the room with light.
Underwater, colors will photograph naturally to a depth of about 10 feet but fade away quickly beyond that. Use flash.
Before you hit the road kick it on over to Fodor’s for the full list.
And hey, while you’re out there, take Yogi Berra’s advice: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
p.s. Some fun city names we came across while researching this piece that we couldn’t help but share: , , , , and . ( enough already.)
If you’re old-skool like us, you remember hurrying home from school, heading straight for your room, and hunching over your keyboard to log into your favorite , slay dragons, and find treasure.
Talk about a long exposure! I’m not sure I believe it but they say this is an airbrushed painting representing 70 hours of work—not a photograph. If it is genuine, I am at once amazed by his talent and amused that he didn’t just pick up a camera. Is photography art? Is art imitating photography art? 
Remember those shoulder-mounted VHS camcorders dad used to haul out at soccer games once a year, “for posterity”? Shrink it down to 1/20th the size, 1/10th the cost, and make it run for a couple hours on a pair of AAs, and you’d have the Flip Video.
As Doc Brown and Hiro Nakamura will tell you, sending a message to yourself in the the past is a tricky matter.
Whether you’re heading to or , the travel gurus at Fodor’s have some travel photography tips for you before you embark on your summer adventures.