In terms of form, the author diverges from a documentary style and its affected neutrality, still adopting some frontality. The image is organized in horizontal strata, like in an archeological section. From the sidewalk to the building, the grounds are positioned at intervals and allow different urban temporalities to coexist: the everyday life, the ephemeral, the unceasing move of the passers-by, and the great transformations, building sites and new towers. Beyond the balance of these compositions, the author breaks the rules of the documentary genre, playing with the edit and the color to present us a type of “augmented reality”, bringing into light the paradoxes of the most dynamic city of China.

One of the marquee features of Sony’s new Alpha and NEX cameras, which by the way look excellent, is the new electronic viewfinder. I’ve never been particularly attracted to these things, preferring the mirror-based optical viewfinder on DSLRs or simply the large, bright LCDs on the back of most cameras. But Fujifilm’s X100 (despite its flaws) changed my mind about the usefulness of the EVF, and I’m ready to accept a camera that’s all EVF, all the time. And it helps that Sony’s new screen is a miracle of miniaturization.

Tech-On has obtained some information about the bite-sized OLED panel being used in the new cameras, and seeing the device itself in its tiny glory is a reminder of how advanced our imaging devices have become:

Sony’s previous EVF was 800×600 (I believe) and a traditional LCD. The new one is not only more high-resolution at 1024×768, but it’s an OLED panel instead of backlit LCD, giving it ten times the contrast of its predecessor, according to Sony. The ~2.4 million dots making up the panel are all white diodes with red, green, or blue filters; color diodes are not quite ready for prime time yet.

The display is wholly owned and manufactured by Sony Mobile Display Corp, and it confirms that Sony is deeply into the whole OLED thing. And by combining their display business with Toshiba’s and Hitachi’s, they’re looking like the company to beat for next-generation displays. Right now the world’s most famous displays are probably the iPhone 4 and iPad displays, and if the high-res iPad 3 rumors are correct, that could continue. But the charms of OLEDs are many and various, and Sony knows it. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more impressive tech like this amazing little EVF over the next year or two.

As it turns out… not too exciting, since the real magic is in the detection of movement and calculation of counter-movement. The little springs and servos hidden in the lens are just the last step in the process.

[via PetaPixel]

Mark Mawson latest series is called “Aqueous II”. He drops of coloured paint into a tank of water and captures the results on camera. “My favourites in the series are the blue toadstools. It was from my first session in the new series and reminds me of a world in a Dr. Seuss book,” said Mark .

In 2008, Sandra Critelli shot this excellent photo of Golden Rays off the Mexican coast:

She said: “It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.

“It’s hard to say exactly how many there were but in the range of a few thousand.

“We were surrounded by them without seeing the edge of the school and we could see many under the water surface too.

Golden Rays grow up to seven feet across and migrate within the Caribbean.

Photo Link and Article Link via reddit

Oh spring, come quick! It’s a lifelong dream of mine to be in Holland during tulip season which is now just seconds away. The countryside all swathed in color as far as the eye can see, the air thick with the scent of spring. And then, all of a sudden it’s harvest time and they’re all cut down, packed up and exported worldwide. My Dad tried to go see them once and he was a day too late, he said it was a like floral massacre, bereft of color, the fields barren with random decapitated tulip heads & bulbs left behind. Oops, sadface Daddio. Nice try, better luck next time!

Image credits: 1, 2, 3, 4.

This harness keeps large-lensed cameras (full sized SLR's) tight to your body as you go through rough country. It prevents the camera from swinging wildly in a bag or around your neck.

I also use it when I am expecting to have a camera around my neck for a 10 or 12 hour day. I shoot locations for films. I have used it for about two months, and the reason for its superiority is that it keeps the camera tight to your body and quickly makes your camera accessible. Also comes as a two camera system. Great for long fashion shoots as well, I'm sure.

Cotton Carrier Single Camera System
$136

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Cotton Carrier

Photos by Lars van de Goor

The source quotes some dimensions that appear to put the new lens at a much larger size than the existing one, a move I think is unlikely, so let’s take this with a grain of salt. The new lens appears to have the same number of elements, but fewer groups, which could improve optical qualities. Beyond that I’m not sure.

Hopefully we’ll find out more soon. Of course, I can’t afford this thing anyway; it’d likely debut above the 24-70′s present price, so somewhere around $1500, perhaps?

[via Canon Rumors]

IKEA has released a new book called Homemade is Best, created by design agency Forsman & Bodenfors. Inside the book are 30 classic Swedish baking recipes for everything from small biscuits to large cakes — all using pictures. Inspired by high fashion and Japanese minimalism, the 140-page book is stylized with the ingredients getting just as much attention as the end result. Very interesting and eyecandy-licious (and delicious too, I’m sure!).

Client: IKEA, Joel Idén
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Art Director: Staffan Lamm, Christoffer Persson
Copywriter: Fredrik Jansson, Anders Hegerfors
Account Director: Susanna Fagring
Account Manager: Ewa Edlund
Planner: Tobias Nordström
Photographer: Carl Kleiner / Agent Bauer
Retouch: F&B Factory, Henrik Lagerberg
Stylist: Evelina Bratell

I was searching for a simple and free application to do folder synchronization on my computer.  I wanted a tool with a little more flexibility than having to manually “select all”, “copy”, “paste”, and then pick and choose what should be over-written, copied as new, etc.  In my search I came across a free tool from Microsoft called “Sync Toy”. 

Sync Toy is tucked away on Microsoft’s site under “professional photography downloads” and a simple application for copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files between folders and computers (particularly photographs).  There are many options that let you decide which folder acts as the source and which acts as the recipient (you can create just about any combination that suites your needs).  Basically you create a paring between the “left” and the “right” folder, and then define the type of “relationship” that they should have to one another.  When you want to sync, just pick the pair from the list and hit “run”. 

Sync Toy is a very powerful little tool and the only trace that it leaves behind is a hidden text file called “SyncToyDirectoryId.txt” in both of the paired directories.  It is free so try it out.

Stable v1.4 Release: Here

Beta v2.0 Release: Here