Reduce Digital Noise in Digital Images

Posted on November 15, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

Photo.net has an interesting article on “Using Image Calibration to Reduce Noise in Digital Images” that is worth a read. While it is fairly dry, written more for academic purposes than get-to-the-point help, it still brings up some good tips and points worth understanding when using digital images.

I believe that understanding the sources of noise in digital sensors, and understanding how the noise changes under different conditions, and how the design of the camera might affect both of these things, will significantly increase the success rate when reducing noise in digital images using this calibration method. For that reason I’ve included a section on the theory and engineering considerations that impact these techniques. But if you don’t agree that knowing the theory is useful, you can just skip to the workflow. However, there is a lot that can go wrong during image calibration. Many photographers consider it to be an advanced technique that takes a lot of knowledge and skill to perform successfully. Calibration can fail in a very ugly way when something is done wrong – but it works when you know all the variables that can affect it, and attend to them.

Take digital photos from a kite

Posted on September 15, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

We do our best to bring you information related to the photography equipment and techniques you need to know when you take your camera on the road. And then we run across something like this which gives a whole new meaning to “camera on the road”. Actually, it’s “camera on a kite”.

Engadet’s how to on “Take digital photos from a kite” is part of an ongoing series of pushing the limits of what is possible with a point-and-shoot digital camera, and other camera equipment. In part one, Phillip Torrone disects an old digital camera “to one that takes a picture automatically every second until the memory card is full.” In part two, the digital camera is put on the kite and flown high above, taking a full memory card worth of pictures on high.

As I scrolled down part two of the series, somehow, I wasn’t at all surprised to find that the sky views were of Lake Union and downtown Seattle, taken from Gas Works Park, one of my absolute favorite kite flying spots. What a treat to see a bit of home on a website that just caught my eye for innovative use of camera equipment!!! Thanks!

The technique is not for the timid as it involves taking apart the digital camera and rewiring the innards, but I think it would be great to try with a wireless or infrared shutter release, testing the distance and range of such releases to the max. Though, a camera with such a feature might be too heavy to get up into the air on the kite.

The fun and gadgetry doesn’t stop with a kite. In other articles in their weekly “how to” series, “BlackBoxing” their car by tagging photos with GPS coordinates and time stamps, hacked an old digital camera to take a photo automatically as fast as it can until the memory card fills up or the battery dies using a $1.49 LM555 Timer Chip from RadioShack, and future articles are coming on how to hook your digital camera up to your pet to photograph their daily adventures – well, at least until the memory card filles up.

See, there is hope and life after obsolescence even with old digital cameras!

Digital Editing – Photo Journalist Frankly Discuss Ethics

Posted on September 2, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

It should have began when Ansel Adams and his predecessors in photography first learned how to manipulate film in the darkroom to enhance or change the reality recorded on film. I’m sure there were hot debates back then, but for the past 20 years, the debate over digital editing has torn whole groups apart. The idea of “purist” photography versus manipulated is a long debated issue. In a well written editorial, “Digital Editing: It’s Time to Tell All” by Karen Slattery and Erik Ugland in The Digital Journalist, they frankly discuss the issue as it stands today, and basically says, more can be done.

Probably the most robust debate among photojournalists over the past two decades has been over the uses of digital technology and the legitimacy of electronic image manipulation.

Scores of books, articles and symposia have addressed this issue with some clearly positive results for the profession.

But for all of these efforts, there is still far more that photographers and news organizations could be doing to minimize the risks of deception and to maintain credibility with audiences.

No matter where you stand on this issue, this is worth a read. It might change your opinion, and if it does, we’d like to know why. Digital photography, its potential and abuse, is with us. There is nothing we can do to stop it, but we need to talk about it so we know when to draw the line, whatever that line is. What do you think?

Digital Prose

Posted on September 1, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

The editorial writer used to be limited to newspapers, magazines, and books, but now the world of the Web has opened up to all things written. As one of the first nature photographers with an online column, I’ve seen the technology and arena for online writing expand and bloat. The bloat comes from the fact that ANYONE can now be “published”, and it seems that EVERYONE wants to be published, whether or not their information is worthy.

So much writing and photography is published online, it feels impossible to compete with all the “noise”. There is still a lot of room on the Internet for wonderful writing, and for selling your writing and photography. Set aside an hour or so of each week this month to search the Internet for sales opportunities for environmental and nature writing and images. There are “tons” of zines and online sites eager for your written wisdom, it just takes some looking.

To help you get started, check out the following:

Publishing Only One Magazine?

Here is a trade secret. Most magazine publishers don’t just publish one magazine. Prowling around on the website of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA ), I found that the United States hosts about 240 publishing firms with some 1,400 titles. Do the math. On average, most publishing firms have 5-6 publications.

What does this mean for you? When you sell to one editor, find out if the company produces other publications. If your article idea doesn’t work for one, it might work for one of the others.

But the secret doesn’t end there. Your editor might be freelance and NOT on the staff of that publication. Ah ha! The plot thickens. Therefore, he or she might also represent other magazines.

Find out about who you are working with and become “very nice” to them. You might find yourself with more doors opening than closing. In this industry, it really is who you know, not just what.

Know Before You Go: Store Digital Photographs on the Go

Posted on August 31, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

Today’s traveling photographer who has embraced the world of digital technology doesn’t need to worry about film going through airport security scanners or expiring. All they have to worry about is storage space.

That’s right, storage space. Once limited to 36-38 photographs on a roll of film, digital photographers can now take hundreds of pictures without “changing the roll” so to speak. The roll is the digital storage medium inside of the camera. While the number of photograph images you can take has increased dramatically, even a digital camera has its limits. It, too, can come to the “end of the roll”.

The current digital camera storage media consists of the Memory Stick, Compact Flash, SD Memory Card, Smart Media Card, XD-Memory and Multimedia Card, though others are coming out all the time. They come in a variety of storage sizes, from 32 megabytes to one or two gigabytes and soon even larger. Depending upon the image resolution and format choices you make, your image size may vary from 1 megabyte to tens of megabytes, or even larger. How many images you can fit on the storage media is part of the new math.

In theory, at 2 MB per image, a 512K storage card should hold 256 images. Ah, but it doesn’t. You don’t get the whole 512K of space. There are other files sitting on the storage media and then there is “space” between the files that adds to the numbers. In general, if you get 200-240 images on a 512K card, you did well. If you are a serious professional photographer selling your images, you will be shooting at higher resolutions, so each image may range from 4 MB to 15 MB or maybe larger. That same 512K card is looking pretty small now.

Even as we speak, the digital storage industry is coming out with smaller and larger storage media. Pretec Electronics Corp. has announced a 4GB Secure Digital card, considered the largest capacity of SD card in the world. Not all digital cameras will take take that size, but yours might. Still, the price is high and so the rest of us are using smaller formats until the prices come down.

So instead of changing rolls of film, you will need to either swap storage media or store your digital images while traveling. Which one will you choose?

Storing or Swamping Digital Media

Hooking your digital camera to your computer to transfer a load of pictures all the time can be a pain, as can the cost of lots of storage cards. Card readers are now available which allow you to remove the Memory Stick, Compact Flash, SD Memory Card, Smart Media Card, XD-Memory or Multimedia Card from the camera and insert it into the reader to transfer the files, dragging and dropping the picture files to your preferred folders. When you are ready, or when the reader is full, you can transfer the files to your computer.

Lexar Media makes card readers for both USB and Firewire ports. The Firewire reader transfers up to a fast 400 megabits of data per second. If you take a lot of digital pictures, the Firewire can save you time. The Lexar Media USB 2.0 8-in-1 Multi-Card Digital Film reader is a small but easy to use USB version. ScanDisk also offers USB readers which handle CompactFlash, SmartMedia cards, Memory Sticks, and MultiMediaCard/SD cards. PQI has developed a 7-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader which can read seven different types of flash storage media through a standard USB connection. It can hold up to one gig of data and accepts the new “xd picture card”. If you have a camera with a variety of cards, or you want a card that will work for your camera and PDA, consider getting all your bang in one place with one of the super card readers that will cover most of the cards out there. The 21-in-1 Blue Memory Card Reader With 3 USB2.0 Ports will cover just about all your needs for card readers.

Card readers with storage built in that can work in the field under battery power are becoming more affordable as well as readily available. For the serious photographer and traveler, the one-size fits all TangoPro MultiMedia Drive – Multi Card Reader / Photo Preview / 20GB USB 2.0 Storage/ MPEG Player / MP3 Player / Color LCD might be the ticket for you with a rechargeable battery and the ability to not only store your images on the run, but take a look at your photographs and listen to music, too.

Most of these card readers sell for under USD$100 and the technology is changing and improving even as you read this.

While the card readers are great, allowing you to store the information through them onto your laptop, the laptop itself can be a huge thing to lug around out in the field. Epson’s P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer is a portable storage device with an LCD screen that can allow you to hook up your digital camera and transfer, view, and store digital images from your camera onto it’s 40 GB hard drive. With built-in memory card slots, it can also transfer files without having to connect to a computer. There are a variety of portable storage devices that will store information from digital cards allowing you the freedom to store the images and reuse the card.

Another interesting device is made by Delkin Devices called the USB Bridge. Small enough to fit in the palm of your had, it connects digital cameras and Mp3 players, external hard drives, CD burners and memory card readers and flash drives together, creating a bridge between the devices without a computer. It allows you to transfer information from your digital camera to your iPod or Zen, treating it like a hard drive. Or to a USB flash drive, inexpensive and highly portable storage media. The versatility is great for a photographer, allowing multiple storage techniques and devices.

With all these devices you can either store images from the storage media to your laptop or portable storage devices, and then keep on shooting with the digital card back in your camera. But all these devices add up to weight, stuff, and cables to lug around. Depending upon your travels, all this stuff may save money in the long run, but it may break your back and interfere with your schedule. After all, you do have to find an electrical outlet and plug things in and wait while it “reloads”.

If you like to travel light, then consider investing in multiple storage cards instead. Pop them in and out and you are back to photographing again. Your time can be spent concentrating on the photography and what you are seeing rather than on the gizmos.

Back in the trailer, tent, or hotel room for the night, then pull out the gadgets and store the images to be ready with empty digital media for the next day’s photography.

Online Storage on the Go

If your travels keep you in touch via the Internet with wifi or broadband services, consider storing your images while traveling with one of the many online storage services.

Storage fees are based upon the size and length of contract. Some services even allow adding more storage space on the fly, so if you suddenly find yourself exceeding your limit, a few clicks and an additional fee to your credit card and you have more storage space online.

Online storage services allow you to upload your images via the Internet to your own “virtual hard drive”. You can access the files from the road or wait until you get home. Most online storage facilities will accept most types of common digital files, and many specialize in digital photographs.

Online storage takes up no space in your suitcase and allows access from anywhere 24 hours a day. The only issue is that you need to have access to the Internet, via your hand held, laptop, or a public computer. Upload speeds are only limited to the bandwidth of your connection, so transfer times may be variable.

If you are traveling with your computer and digital camera, and wifi or Internet connections are handy, this is a fast solution to image storage, lightweight, and easy to use.

More Digital Resources

To keep up with the new technology, check out some of these resources:

Digital Photography and Imaging Magazines

Posted on August 24, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

Getting into digital photography? Enjoy! There are a lot of magazines and resources coming up for digital photography. Even some of the traditional magazines like Popular Photography and Shutterbug are turning towards digital photography. Technology in digital photography and imaging is changing rapidly. Sometimes it hard to keep up with all the changes. Websites that deal in digital photography are great, but sometimes having the magazine there to read and refer back to later helps even more.

We are a big fan of magazines, besides writing for some of them, and here are some of the magazines we found are good for digital imaging and digital photography.

We have now made it easier for you to get these wonderful books through Amazon.com. If you don’t see the link or picture of the book, hit your REFRESH button or the F5 key to reload the page. If you have a favorite book you’d like to see recommended, please let us know in the comments below.

Digital camera sales in Asia surge to record 10.6 million units in 2004

Posted on June 20, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

According to a news report republished on Yahoo News, Digital camera sales in Asia surge to record 10.6 million units in 2004. The article states that outside of Japan, sales of digital cameras is up almost 40 percent from the previous year. It seems that the majority of the demand for digital cameras is mostly coming from China, Australia and South Korea. It goes on to say that “India and China are expected to be the fastest growing markets for digital cameras with compound annual growth rates of 50 percent and 26 percent, respectively, from 2005 to 2009.”

That’s a lot of photographers getting into digital cameras.

Taking Your Camera on the Road

with Lorelle and Brent VanFossen

Category Archives: Digital Photography