the ginkgo blog

The London 2012 Olympics logo is whilst being hideous, actually a representation of...

Maggie Simpson giving head...

Try getting that one out of your head next time you see it. Below is their first draft of the logo, but it was deemed far too obvious...

At least this one was honest...  I'm sure that there is a law against images like that!

Zack Aris for Scott Kelby hits the nail on the head... Transform.

Please get a glass of wine or coffee (depending on your time of day or inclination) and watch this. Well worth it in my opinion...

  

Zack Aris has quite litrally hit the nail on the head - Well worth a watch and a little digestion...

If ever you have tried, failed - tried again and then failed again - tried once more and yet again stumbled...

Watch this, listen - and I mean really listen - Zack has captured the mood that seems to catch so many of us at this time of year.

Cheers Chase for posting...

   

Air Sharing iPhone application - It's a seriously good bit of kit!

I found the Air Sharing application for the iPhone about a month ago - which was rather lucky as it was free then. And I have to say that it has been one of the most useful applications I have used on the iPhone to date.

Given that it is currently on sale for the holiday season - I'd highly recommend taking a look at it.

So what is it? How is it any good for a photographer? Read more after the jump - Go on, click the link, you know you want to...

Tiltshift movies with a 5d MKII - Let the revolution begin...

OK - For those who have not read my articles on the ‘Canon’ 5DMkII and the future plans for the ‘RED’ DSLR (or DSMC as they call it) - Please have a quick below and this one will make sense. If you can’t be bothered to read them, click the play buttons anyway as they are quite beautifully crafted clips. Artistic directorship 6/10, but visually pleasing 10/10...

I just love tilt shift when used creatively - Those who know me, or of me, know that I love seeing and portraying visuals from as different a point of view as possible. Giving the image the edge where the situation or brief allows. My current favorite is an essay called 20x24 - stunning! Worth hunting down - As and when I have a link I’ll post it.

Here, as you will obviously guess, is a time-lapse piece of video (well, even more obviously, three videos) - all shot on a Canon 5D MkII as far as I am aware, with a tilt-shift and resulting in something really quite stunning and mesmerizing footage...

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Bathtub II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Isn’t that cool! It’s always the simple things that impress ;-)

I’m so looking forward to seeing a whole lot more of video footage from the new range of HD DSLR’s, creatively produced by photographers - and of course, very much looking forward to doing some myself.

Exciting times if you’re up for it...

Thoughts, comments, opinions?

Freshly built 1DsMkiii for $10 (£6) - Time, patience and instructions from Canon are all that are required...

So you’ve been drooling and dreaming of getting your hands on your very own Canon 1DsMkiii, but the multi thousand price tag is just too much... 

  

  

Well now Canon have very kindly offered you an alternative solution to fulfilling those dreams - Make your own!

  

Canon have kindly provided step by step instructions along with construction tips and tricks as well as the tools you will require in order to build your own top end professional camera. 

Did I forget to mention that it’s made out of Balsa wood?

  

  

I’m guessing that this is just the process that they use for the creation of the ‘touchy-feely’ prototypes in the early design stages. And are now sharing it with us... I’m certainly going to have a go - and if it’s not too crap - I’ll share the results here. As whilst it may be completely pointless for our studio from a practical point. I think it will look great as an aesthetic addition to our studio offices. 

In fact, if it goes well, I may well even have a go at doing our Hasselblads too.

Click the pics to take you to the step by step process published on Canons web site - Personally, I think it’s a great little thing to have a go at doing. If you do have a go, any chance you can post your attempts here so we can all see that we are not alone in our not-so-hot modeling prowess.

DXO Film Pack 1.2 Review - Running on OS X Leopard...

The Film Pack comes in two flavours - Stand alone and as a Photoshop plugin. Both perform the same functionality and with the exceptions of a few bits that just won’t work correctly, are phenomenal tools and in my humble opinion, worth every penny.

So what do they actually do? Well, their description is:

‘DxO FilmPack gives digital images the style of the most celebrated conventional films: the colors – and the grain! – of over 20 film types including Kodachrome, Tri-X, Velvia have been analysed and reproduced so they can be applied to all your images with just one click. DxO FilmPack digitally simulates the vibrant colors of Kodachrome 64, the soft grain of Tri-X, or the gentle fleshtones of Astia.
DxO FilmPack also offers access to "tonings" to transform any digital image into an elegant toned print with ochre, bluish, or verdigris tints…’

And it actually does?... Exactly that - and from what I can tell based on my experience, extremely well!

To easily bring to your digital images the look and feel of your previously loved and favorite films is simply a gift. And with a little playing, the ability to gain the same effects that you used to be able to by cross-processing out of date colour film is there too and really pretty straight forward.

From my general use and playing around, the contrast settings are just pointless as it just totally wrecks your images in a very random and unpredictable way. And by totally, I mean a 3 year old could do a better drawing of your image than this. High contrast settings basically means a great big black portion where anything that isn’t a highlight and then a slapping of primary colours around the edges. This may just be an issue under OS X Leopard as it happens on all of our machines which are running the same configuration. Or it may actually be that it can’t handle certain types of images and I just don’t know as I haven’t read the instructions or the manual. This is no big issue and not something I would suggest should stop you buying it as a Photoshop plugin, as you can do all your contrast playing after you have applied the filter settings you want. It may even wind up that you won’t have any issues at all as you bothered to take the time to read the instructions and manual.

With the exception of the one annoyance of the contrast settings, this is simply an amazing piece of kit and as far as we are concerned here at Ginkgo, is highly recommended for both professional and personal use. And especially good considering the price - Included if you purchase DXO Optics Pro at the moment (I will do a quick review on that too at some point as that really is a special bit of kit)

Simply to have the power at my fingertips to use all my old favorite films plus the knowledge that when I am setting up for a shot I will have a whole arsenal of capture and developing media with at my disposal a few clicks when I get back is just great.

Nice one...

Image 1 - Normal : Image 2 - Kodachrome 64 : Image 3 - Ilford XP2