16 megapixels

TransWorld SNOWboarding April 2011 Cover from TransWorld SNOWboarding on Vimeo.

Using the slopes of Bear Mountain, Transworld Snowboarding photographer Scott Serfas, put an exciting twist on snowboard photos. The video provides a behind the scenes look at how the impressive, final image was created which can be seen here.

It’s safe to say that carrying your DSLR around, pretending to know what you’re doing, and acting “professional” can have it’s benefits. You can get into random events masquerading as a newspaper photographer, or have people ask you whether or not you shoot for a paper (in which case you can say yes and they’ll say, “oh that’s nice”) but does having a DSLR out at a restaruant result in better service?

“The last thing employees want to see when they’re delivering a substandard product or service is a shutterbug. If they think you might take a snapshot, or a video, of their incompetent actions, they’re far likelier to do the right thing. The presence of a camera alone is often enough,” according to Christopher Elliott, writer from mintlife.com.

It would be interesting to try this out and see if the service is actually improved.

(via Petapixel)

Here’s a new feature making its way into digital cameras: beauty enhancements. The new Panasonic Lumix FX77 features what Panasonic calls “beauty retouch mode,” which allows the user to add makeup, ranging from foundation to eye shadow to teeth whitening according to Panasonic’s website. The FX77 also has “cosmetic mode” which allows for users to tweak their skin tones. Allowing one to look bronzed and ready for the beach.

Here’s an image from Panasonic to help give you an idea of what cosmetic mode does.

How cosmetic mode in the Panasonic FX77 works. Courtesy of Panasonic

According to Akiko Enoki, Panasonic product manager in charge of the camera’s development, there is a huge demand for such a feature. “According to data we’ve acquired, around 50 percent of our digital camera clients are not satisfied with the way their faces look in a photograph,” Enkoi said in an interview with Reuters. Hoping to change the game, Panasonic developed this feature to help tailor to a specific demographic: bloggers and social networkers.

“It’s very popular among people who use pictures in their blogs, or those taking just one commemorative photo that they need to be flawless,” said Hiromi Honma, a Bic Camera sales representative in an interview with Reuters.

(via Petapixel)

Do you find yourself in possession of a lot of small images. Google recently changed the way that Picasa stores its photos. Users can now store nearly unlimited photos. As long as their small.

Before, users were limited to 1GB storage and 1,000,000 photos split between 1,000 albums. Previously it would be difficult to hit the 1GB limit, but now Google does not count photos that are 800px wide and smaller towards the 1GB limit, according to a Google employee. Making Picasa a pretty sweet deal for those who have a lot of small pictures.

(via Petapixel)

Recently Fred Conrad, a photographer with the New York Times, attended the Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show.

That’s nothing new, photographers get sent to dog shows all the time.

What makes this photo assignment different is that Conrad photographed every breed at the show. That’s impressive, given the fact that he had limited gear. A ring light, white background and a soft box all helped Conrad capture the dogs looking their best so you can see them here at their online gallery.

(via Fstoppers)