tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post816812728881970084..comments2024-03-27T09:27:33.931+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: Cambrian SpecsMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-89646266258775438162017-12-21T12:25:30.499+00:002017-12-21T12:25:30.499+00:00Martyn,
Interesting... Though it does sound suspi...Martyn,<br /><br />Interesting... Though it does sound suspiciously like someone comparing the brain to an image processot like PhotoShop (cf. "unsharp mask")!<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-32454830979594581722017-12-21T11:40:56.565+00:002017-12-21T11:40:56.565+00:00The eye-brain combination is so much more than a c...The eye-brain combination is so much more than a camera, of course: take the Hermann grid illusion, where the brain constructs illusory grey patches at the intersections of a grid of white lines on a black background. The latest theory (I learnt this week from trying to help my daughter understand her psychology degree homework) is that the illusion is created by the way the brain enhances edges, making them appear more "contrasty": the white areas in the intersections don't benefit from this artificial boost in contrast and thus appear darker than the white areas nexrt to the straight edges.Martyn Cornellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16843357962176591317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-52082341290100370582017-12-09T13:58:44.606+00:002017-12-09T13:58:44.606+00:00Ahhhh....you're British...I should have known....Ahhhh....you're British...I should have known....no worry as a French (based in Germany), I am even worse : cynical... ;-)FRÉDÉRICKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07172027585241901547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-31741804824993552092017-12-09T13:54:11.231+00:002017-12-09T13:54:11.231+00:00No problem, Frederick, and thanks for taking the t...No problem, Frederick, and thanks for taking the trouble to comment! The overuse of irony is just one of the ways we British contrive to be misunderstood in this world...<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-20420999788364002642017-12-09T13:45:36.234+00:002017-12-09T13:45:36.234+00:00Mike, Sorry for misunderstanding then ! ;-) ahahah...Mike, Sorry for misunderstanding then ! ;-) ahahahaha. It seams that I am not that eloquent ! ;-)FRÉDÉRICKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07172027585241901547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-32286984129146079912017-12-09T11:57:35.712+00:002017-12-09T11:57:35.712+00:00Sorry, Frederick, I was being ironic. What I meant...Sorry, Frederick, I was being ironic. What I meant was, yes, of course excellent work is possible with the humblest kit (I am a strong advocate of that myself), but that "photography" of any kind *does* require the use of a camera, and is therefore by definition also about the tool. Self-evidently, a sketch made with a pencil is not a photograph.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-91631224677272978922017-12-09T11:45:19.027+00:002017-12-09T11:45:19.027+00:00Mike,
A compact camera is not a pencil ! ;-). Fro...Mike,<br /><br />A compact camera is not a pencil ! ;-). From the beginning, with my first serie shot in 1995/1996, I've learned to deal with the equipment I had to shoot with and to concentrate much more on the meaning of my photography. I've never touch a 4x5 inches camera (except for my exam at school), I managed to buy a 6x7 Mamiya more than 10 years after starting photography and now I shoot with this compact camera. And talking about pencil, I don't think that Victor Hugo needed expensive pen and notebook to be the good writer he was. In another field, the painter Séraphine de Senlis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpK_qugNHCM) who was a maid, had to paint with what she could find, being unable to buy proper paints. If Technics is important to know, you realize that you can do a lot with little without loosing quality. My only frustration would be that I cannot enlarge my pictures as big as I would like sometimes but here again, it's a question of ego. I don't need to do huge prints to be eloquent. :-)FRÉDÉRICKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07172027585241901547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-80567443410181335582017-12-09T09:55:53.404+00:002017-12-09T09:55:53.404+00:00Frederick,
I (think) I agree with the point you&#...Frederick,<br /><br />I (think) I agree with the point you're making, though I also think you'll find "photography" is hard to do with a pencil...<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-36115431242925186802017-12-09T09:45:15.878+00:002017-12-09T09:45:15.878+00:00I've been shooting for 3 years with a Canon EO...I've been shooting for 3 years with a Canon EOSM and a 22mm/2 lens. Because I can't afford to do more. Photography is not about the tool. You can have the most big expensive camera and the 20 lenses that go with it and still have nothing to say.FRÉDÉRICKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07172027585241901547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-74693029715167130322017-12-08T11:52:32.114+00:002017-12-08T11:52:32.114+00:00Andy,
Thanks for that Science Man intervention!
...Andy,<br /><br />Thanks for that Science Man intervention!<br /><br />Teasing Jehovah's Witnesses is a moral duty, obviously, keep it up. But do keep one step back -- some of them are handy with their fists of divine retribution, I'm told, and you don't want to end up with a blackened light sensitive patch...<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-74597420035527364262017-12-08T11:18:11.088+00:002017-12-08T11:18:11.088+00:00Julian is right that whilst the eye is like a came...Julian is right that whilst the eye is like a camera in that it focuses an image on a screen the similarity ends there. In fact, as an optical instrument it's not particularly good but it is connected to a wonderful image processing system that seems to work by first of all guessing what's forming the image and then checking to see the differences between what information you'd expect to be coming in, if this guess was correct, and what actually is. In this way the initial guess is refined until it forms the best match that you brain can be bothered to make. i.e if you stir in the night you might well think there's someone in the room until, after a while, you realise that it's only clothes hanging on the back of a chair. They call this predictive processing.<br /><br />One of the things it means, however, is that as your knowledge of the world increases the guesses can become more subtle and you really do see the world in a different way.<br /><br />A few years back our doorbell rang during a particularly dull World Cup football match. It was a pair of Jehovah's witnesses. Not really letting them get a word in edgeways I discussed the design of digital cameras saying "You've got the sensor at the back and a load of wires that take the signal to the memory card. Now, if you wanted to make a really good camera would you put these wires in front of the sensor so that light had to pass through them before it could be detected?" "Of course not" they said, only for me to tease them by pointing out that this was precisely what went on in the eye. Design maybe, but not particularly intelligent.<br /><br />Starting with a patch of light sensitive cells, moving on through a cup of light sensitive cells, putting a clear membrane over the front to help focus an image etc. etc. each of these little incremental changes offer an advantage over the previous version and it's been estimated that you can easily get from the light sensitive patch to a fully functioning eye as we know it in fewer than 200,000 generations. <br /><br />Andy (Science Guy)Andy Sharphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08584940729037214702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-85096855869094245722017-12-08T08:58:00.706+00:002017-12-08T08:58:00.706+00:00Thanks, Julian, for this comment, which is both ap...Thanks, Julian, for this comment, which is both apposite and very encouraging -- it's always good when a regular reader break cover!<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-49245694870729190982017-12-08T01:31:56.962+00:002017-12-08T01:31:56.962+00:00"...eyes look great..."! That was a hidd..."...eyes look great..."! That was a hidden gem! I remember my 1st year psych course on vision, in which I learned that our vision system only vaguely resembles the functioning of a camera. Your interest in assembled images resonates with what I recall from that course, which was that our eyes scan all over, sending elements to our brain, which puts those together into what we think is a direct representation of reality. Actual scientists will hopefully correct me.<br /><br />I frequently read, greatly enjoy, and am enriched by your blog and pictures. Thanks!Julian Behrisch Elcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13157512068912787473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-18404852528729118692017-12-07T21:28:07.318+00:002017-12-07T21:28:07.318+00:00Thomas,
Go for the lens! No, wait, go for the pic...Thomas,<br /><br />Go for the lens! No, wait, go for the pictures!! ;)<br /><br />It's the dilemma of photography in a nutshell -- art medium, or enjoyable hobby for those with cash to spare? TOP is its perfect expression, and I don't mean to put Mike down for it.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-49798674942970259652017-12-07T20:40:11.302+00:002017-12-07T20:40:11.302+00:00I believe one should just regard photography as an...I believe one should just regard photography as another visual medium, along with drawing and painting. I agree that the latter two require far more mastership than photography, but if you don't know what to say with your pictures then the results will be nothing more than void exercises in technical proficiency, regardless of the medium. And this is my constant struggle with my projects: To distill something with the pictures, something for which I'm lacking the words. This is probably meant with "seeing" - more in terms of "I see" as in "I understand", or "I feel" than just visual perception. But probably I'm just lacking that perfect standard prime.<br /><br />Best, ThomasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com