Last week I convinced myself I should buy iLife '09 which includes a new version of iPhoto. Apple added a new feature to iPhoto called Faces, which auto-detects faces in photos and lets you name them. I have to say, the feature is great, it's easy to add names to faces with keyboard shortcuts and it even auto suggests names for faces. After the first hour and a half, I commented via twitter that "going through the face-detection in iPhoto '09 and naming/confirming faces in photos is actually surprisingly fun and kind of addicting." But now, I am in hour 4 of face tagging and I have to say the joy and novelty is gone. And I'm only half way through my photos. I can see this having been a great tool if I used it from the beginning, but at the moment it feels like a chore. I suppose it will be worth it when I'm done when I can type a name in and see all the pictures that have that person's face in them. In closing, here's the funniest thing that's happened:  Labels: apple, photography, software
Over the weekend I got a new digital camera. It is a Casio Exilim S770. So far, I like it but am finding it quite different than my Canon SD-20. I loved my Canon, but I was coming to the end of my 3 year Service Plan and it had a few pixes out on the CCD, so I figured I would trade it in for a new model. They didn't even ask me what was wrong with the camera and let me spend up to the $350 that I originally paid for the SD-20. I highly recommend the Sharper Image service plan, it is so much more lax than Best Buy's. They didn't have any Canon's to replace it with, but they did have this Casio that Wired gave a great review to. The Casio is trying to take point-and-shoot to the limit with something like 40 custom "modes" for common situations (backlight, sports, night shot, etc.). The short of it is that it doesn't always do the best job, but it does a pretty good job. Unfortunately the noise in any picture is probably about 5 times as much as any picture I ever took on my Canon which is really unfortunate. One thing I have yet to find which is paramount is the ability to set the exposure time to do manual long-exposure shots (which you know I love to take). This is something I should have checked before I got this camera, but I know it will be an option, it has to be. "Well, slotted pig, these are standard issue." Labels: photography
I have owned my Digital camera for a little over two years now, and have loved having it on my person every day. I honestly believe that I have only not had it in my pocket a total of 14 days or so. I feel weird without it, it's like a watch. Unfortunately, and very unlike a watch, I am using it less and less. When I first got it, my mind was in this photography mode where I would frame everything in my mind, and think if it would make a good picture or not. The sad statistic, after glancing at my iPhoto sidebar, shows that in 2005 I took a total of 2,381 photos. In 2006, I took only 1,389. While 1,389 still sounds like a lot, that means I took almost 1,000 less photos this last year than the year before. I have certainly noted this and will be trying to take more pictures this year because it is something I honestly enjoy doing. Labels: photography
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