photography

Watch Salvador Dalí Return to Life Through AI — from interestingengineering.com by
The Dalí Museum has created a deepfake of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí that brings him back to life.

Excerpt:

The Dalí Museum has created a deepfake of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí that brings him back to life. This life-size deepfake is set up to have interactive discussions with visitors.

The deepfake can produce 45 minutes of content and 190,512 possible combinations of phrases and decisions taken by the fake but realistic Dalí. The exhibition was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners using 6,000 frames of Dalí taken from historic footage and 1,000 hours of machine learning.

From DSC:
While on one hand, incredible work! Fantastic job! On the other hand, if this type of deepfake can be done, how can any video be trusted from here on out? What technology/app will be able to confirm that a video is actually that person, actually saying those words?

Will we get to a point that says, this is so and so, and I approved this video. Or will we have an electronic signature? Will a blockchain-based tech be used? I don’t know…there always seems to be pros and cons to any given technology. It’s how we use it. It can be a dream, or it can be a nightmare.

Exquisite underwater photos to make you love the ocean [Mallonee]

On 04/30/2019, in art, creativity, digital photography, faith, Geography / Geology, hearts -- matters of the heart, photography, by Daniel Christian

Exquisite underwater photos to make you love the ocean — from wired.com by Laura Mallonee

Job 12:7-10

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹Which of all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.”

Glory to GOD in the highest!

Adobe supercharges Photoshop’s content-aware fill so you have more options, fewer AI fails [Coldewey]

On 09/11/2018, in Adobe, creativity, digital photography, education technology, photography, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Adobe supercharges Photoshop’s content-aware fill so you have more options, fewer AI fails — from techcrunch.com by Devin Coldewey

Excerpt:

The most important difference is certainly the ability to choose which parts of the image the filling agent samples when it’s looking for stuff to put inside your lassoed area.
…
No need to be exact — the algorithm is smart enough to work without the handful of pixels that are casualties of overeager mousing. The improved algorithm also lets you tell the algo that it should be liberal with rotation and scaling of the elements it uses, or that it should mirror-image the content it finds to make it fit better.

I wonder what Vincent Van Gogh would think of this one!? Wow!!! | Some great art, creativity, photography — even some 15,000-piece dominoes setups!

On 09/08/2018, in 3D, art, creativity, digital photography, drama/theater, photography, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I wonder what Vincent Van Gogh would think of this one!? Wow!!!

“No Blue Without Yellow” by Artist Maciek Janicki — from booooooom.com

Excerpt:

San Francisco-based artist and animator Maciek Janicki takes us into the world of Vincent van Gogh with his latest short film. Created in partnership with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, “No Blue Without Yellow” offers an immersive 3D tour, constructed using sampled paintings from consequential times in the renowned artist’s life. Click here for previous posts of Janicki’s work. And watch “No Blue Without Yellow” below!

No Blue Without Yellow from Maciek Janicki on Vimeo.

“Milk & Honey” by Photographer Thomas Jordan — from booooooom.com

3 Ways to Bring together Drama, Dance, and the Visual Arts — from theartofed.com by Raymond Yang
If you’re interested in bringing together dance, drama, and the visual arts, I have some insight to share.

Photographer Spotlight: André Terras Alexandre — from booooooom.com

How a domino master builds (and destroys) 15,000-piece creations — from wired.com by Ryan Loughlin

How Does Calling Students Artists Impact Growth Mindset? — from theartofed.com

Excerpt:

In short, for students to develop a growth mindset they need to understand how to fail well. They need to believe through hard work they can improve. If students are artists the moment they walk into the art room, how does that impact their growth mindset?

Inside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of Cameras — from nytimes.com by Paul Mozur

Excerpts:

ZHENGZHOU, China — In the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, a police officer wearing facial recognition glasses spotted a heroin smuggler at a train station.

In Qingdao, a city famous for its German colonial heritage, cameras powered by artificial intelligence helped the police snatch two dozen criminal suspects in the midst of a big annual beer festival.

In Wuhu, a fugitive murder suspect was identified by a camera as he bought food from a street vendor.

With millions of cameras and billions of lines of code, China is building a high-tech authoritarian future. Beijing is embracing technologies like facial recognition and artificial intelligence to identify and track 1.4 billion people. It wants to assemble a vast and unprecedented national surveillance system, with crucial help from its thriving technology industry.

In some cities, cameras scan train stations for China’s most wanted. Billboard-size displays show the faces of jaywalkers and list the names of people who don’t pay their debts. Facial recognition scanners guard the entrances to housing complexes. Already, China has an estimated 200 million surveillance cameras — four times as many as the United States.

Such efforts supplement other systems that track internet use and communications, hotel stays, train and plane trips and even car travel in some places.

From DSC:
A veeeeery slippery slope here. The usage of this technology starts out as looking for criminals, but then what’s next? Jail time for people who disagree w/ a government official’s perspective on something? Persecution for people seen coming out of a certain place of worship?

Very troubling stuff here….

Some beautiful calligraphy, art, photography, & overall creativity!

On 07/04/2018, in art, creativity, digital photography, photography, by Daniel Christian

New Seb Lester Skillshare Class — Calligraphy Fundamentals: Letterforms and Flourishing — from booooooom.com by Jeff Hamada

Magic windmills by Albert Dros — from 500px.com

Vestrahorn in Bloom — from 500px.com by Iurie Belegurschi

Artist Spotlight: Daniel Mercadante — from booooooom.com

Artist Spotlight: Kathrin Longhurst — from booooooom.com

These amazing pictures of spectacular waves remind me of Psalm 93

On 06/21/2018, in art, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital photography, faith, photography, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 93 New International Version (NIV)

¹The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
    the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
    indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
²Your throne was established long ago;
    you are from all eternity.

³The seas have lifted up, Lord,
    the seas have lifted up their voice;
    the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
⁴Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
    mightier than the breakers of the sea—
    the Lord on high is mighty.

⁵Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.

Spectacular waves shot by Rachael Talibart — from fubiz.net

New Art Education Site Connects Teachers and Students

On 05/02/2018, in art, creativity, digital photography, photography, student-related, teachers, by Daniel Christian

New Art Education Site Connects Teachers and Students — with thanks to LaVonne Ewing, Managing Partner at ArtCantina.com for this resource (w/ emphasis from DSC)
Innovative Online Directory Opens for Registration

LOVELAND, CO – May 1, 2018 ArtCantina.com invites all teaching artists, workshop organizers, art schools, art centers and non-profit art groups to register in their free online directory for the visual arts. Art Cantina is a new site that connects students of all ages with art teachers and schools, classes and workshops.

“We believe hands-on creativity is important at any age. Our goal at ArtCantina.com is to make it easier to find art lessons by providing a much-needed, worldwide marketing platform for professionals,” says co-founder LaVonne Ewing.

Art Cantina disciplines include painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, collage and mosaics, ceramics and pottery, fiber arts and textiles, glass arts, jewelry and metalsmithing, paper arts, and photography.

Lori McNee, artist, author, and art business advisor, says, “What a great resource for both teachers and students to be able to connect for classes and workshops all in one place. Such a wonderful service. I’m excited to be a part of Art Cantina!”

It takes just a few minutes to create a free or premium profile in the online ArtEdu Directory. Listing categories include individuals and organizations who teach art (art teachers, mentors, art therapists, workshop organizers, art schools, art centers, non-profits), places that host art instruction (art galleries, art studios, community venues and more) as well as makers and distributors of art tools and supplies, how-to magazines and books.

Also available: Learn-The-Arts Calendar of Events is the place to promote upcoming art workshops, tours, on-going classes and all art-education events with specific dates.

ArtCantina.com is the brainchild of two entrepreneurs who met while volunteering at a fundraising art auction in Colorado. They share a passion for the visual arts and a conviction that art lessons should be much easier to find.

ArtCantina.com – Where Creativity Connects

Is this the kind of world we want? “China’s New Frontiers in Dystopian Tech” [Chun]

On 03/19/2018, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, algorithms, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, Asia, emerging technologies, ethics, ideas, intelligent systems, photography, platforms, society, the downsides of technology, tools, trends, by Daniel Christian

China’s New Frontiers in Dystopian Tech — from theatlantic.com by Rene Chun
Facial-recognition technologies are proliferating, from airports to bathrooms.

Excerpt:

China is rife with face-scanning technology worthy of Black Mirror. Don’t even think about jaywalking in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province. Last year, traffic-management authorities there started using facial recognition to crack down. When a camera mounted above one of 50 of the city’s busiest intersections detects a jaywalker, it snaps several photos and records a video of the violation. The photos appear on an overhead screen so the offender can see that he or she has been busted, then are cross-checked with the images in a regional police database. Within 20 minutes, snippets of the perp’s ID number and home address are displayed on the crosswalk screen. The offender can choose among three options: a 20-yuan fine (about $3), a half-hour course in traffic rules, or 20 minutes spent assisting police in controlling traffic. Police have also been known to post names and photos of jaywalkers on social media.

…

The technology’s veneer of convenience conceals a dark truth: Quietly and very rapidly, facial recognition has enabled China to become the world’s most advanced surveillance state. A hugely ambitious new government program called the “social credit system” aims to compile unprecedented data sets, including everything from bank-account numbers to court records to internet-search histories, for all Chinese citizens. Based on this information, each person could be assigned a numerical score, to which points might be added for good behavior like winning a community award, and deducted for bad actions like failure to pay a traffic fine. The goal of the program, as stated in government documents, is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”

Talk about displaying your students’ artwork throughout your hallways!!! (What about on your connected “TVs?”) Talk about discovering & displaying art masterpieces! Wow! Very cool.

On 01/03/2018, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, art, attention, colleges, community colleges, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital photography, education technology, engagement / engaging students, higher education, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, Lifelong learning, love of learning, Microlearning, multimedia, online media, passions, photography, platforms, smart classrooms, Smart/Connected TV, teachers, Technologies for your home, tools, tvOS-based apps, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

From Elliott Masie’s Learning TRENDS – January 3, 2018.
#986 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology Since 1997.

2. Curation in Action – Meural Picture Frame of Endless Art.
What a cool Curation Holiday Gift that arrived. The Meural Picture Frame is an amazing digital display, 30 inches by 20 inches, that will display any of over 10,000 classical or modern paintings or photos from the world’s best museums.

A few minutes of setup to the WiFi and my Meural became a highly personalized museum in the living room. I selected collections of an era, a specific artist, a theme or used someone else’s art “playlist”.

It is curation at its best! A personalized and individualized selection from an almost limitless collection. Check it out at http://www.meural.com

Also see:

From DSC:
As I understand it, you can upload your own artwork and photography into this platform. As such, couldn’t we put such devices/frames in schools?!

Wouldn’t it be great to have each classroom’s artwork available as a playlist?! And not just the current pieces, but archived pieces as well!

Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to walk down the hall and swish through a variety of pieces?

Wouldn’t such a dynamic, inspirational platform be a powerful source of creativity in our hallways? The frames could display the greatest works of art from around the world!

Wouldn’t such a platform give young/budding artists and photographers incentive to do their best work, knowing many others can see their creative works as a part of a playlist?

Wouldn’t it be cool to tap into such a service and treasure chest of artwork and photography via your Smart/Connected TV?

Here’s to creativity!

Smartwatches Deemed Least Valuable Technology in the Classroom — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly
In our second annual Teaching with Technology Survey, faculty revealed what technologies they use in the classroom, the devices they most value, what they wish for and more.

Excerpts:

Smartwatches may be one of the hottest gadgets in the consumer market — making up nearly a third of all wearables sales this year — but the climate in the classroom is noticeably cooler for the wrist-worn devices. In our 2017 Teaching with Technology Survey, smartwatches came in dead last in the list of technologies faculty consider essential or valuable for teaching and learning. Just 9 percent of faculty called the devices “valuable” (an increase from 5 percent in 2016), and not a one deemed them “essential.” What’s more, 9 percent of respondents considered smartwatches “detrimental.”

When we asked faculty what computing devices were most valuable for teaching and learning, laptops came out on top, considered “essential” by 54 percent of respondents (up from 49 percent in 2016). Workstations (defined as higher-end computers with faster processors, more RAM, more storage and dedicated graphics cards) came in second, followed by all-in-one computers, traditional desktops and detachable tablets. (The lineup was similar last year.)

Learn the skills and resources you need to master virtual reality [Mark Metry, Tee Jia Hen, & Krill Karev]

On 08/15/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, computer science, digital photography, Media/film, photography, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual reality / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Learn the skills and resources you need to master virtual reality — from vudream.com by Mark Metry

Excerpt:

[From] Tee Jia Hen, CEO of VRcollab
In my opinion, there are 4 specializations for the VR content professional.

VR native app development
Cinematic VR creation
Photogrammetry
VR web development

Also see:

Getting Started with WebVR –– from virtualrealitypop.com by Michael Hazani

Excerpt:

This is not a tutorial or a comprehensive, thorough technical guide?—?many of those already exist?—?but rather a way to think about WebVR and acquaint yourself with what it is, exactly, and how best to approach it from scratch. If you’ve been doing WebVR or 3D programming for a while, this article is most certainly not for you. If you’ve been curious about that stuff and want to know how to join the party— read on!

Google is turning Street View imagery into pro-level landscape photographs using AI [Maggio]

On 07/21/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, digital photography, emerging technologies, Google, photography, platforms, tools, by Daniel Christian

Google is turning Street View imagery into pro-level landscape photographs using artificial intelligence — from businessinsider.com by Edoardo Maggio

Excerpt:

A new experiment from Google is turning imagery from the company’s Street View service into impressive digital photographs using nothing but artificial intelligence (AI).

Google is using machine learning algorithms to train a deep neural network to roam around places such as Canada’s and California’s national parks, look for potentially suitable landscape images, and then work on them with special post-processing techniques.

The idea is to “mimic the workflow of a professional photographer,” and to do so Google is relying on so-called generative adversarial networks (GAN), which essentially pit two neural networks against one another.

See also:

Using Deep Learning to Create Professional-Level Photographs — from research.googleblog.com by Hui Fang, Software Engineer, Machine Perception

Looking to build a home? A learning space? Or move into an apartment across the country? How about a VR-based look around first.

On 04/06/2017, in business, design, emerging technologies, ideas, immersion, innovation, learning spaces, photography, platforms, society, Technologies for your home, trends, Uncategorized, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual reality / worlds / learning, visualizing information, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The use of virtual reality in industries such as architecture, construction, and real estate is growing. Below are some articles that speak to this trend.

In the future, it’s highly likely we’ll be able to get a nice VR-based tour of a space before building it, or renting it, or moving into it. Schools and universities will benefit from this as well, as they can use VR to refine the vision for a space with the appropriate stakeholders and donors.

Coming Soon: A Virtual Reality Revolution — from builderonline.com by Jennifer Goodman
American consumers will soon expect homes to be viewable before they are built. Are you ready?

Excerpt:

In what ways are builders using VR today?
There are two primary uses of the panoramic style VR that I mentioned above being used: 1) photography based experiences and 2) computer generated (CG) experiences. The former is getting quite a bit of traction right now through technologies like Matterport. They are what I consider a modern version of iPix, using a camera to photograph an existing environment and special software to move through the space. But it is limited to real world environments. The CG experiences don’t require the environments to be built which gives builders a huge advantage to pre-market their properties. And since it is computer generated, there is a tremendous amount of flexibility in what is presented, such as various structural options or cabinet selections. And not only homes! Developers are using the technology to market the amenities of a new master planned community.

Local builders step further into virtual reality — from richmondbizsense.com by Jonathan Spiers

Excerpt:

While 3D modeling and online virtual tours have become more commonplace in the home design industry, at least one local builder is taking the custom home building and buying process into a new dimension.

At a recent preview event for this year’s Homearama, an annual home design showcase to be held this May at Chesterfield County’s NewMarket Estates, Midlothian-based Lifestyle Home Builders let attendees virtually walk through and look around a completed version of the house it is building – while standing within the same unfinished home under construction.

Participants were invited to wear virtual reality (VR) headsets for a full immersion, 360-degree experience, or they could navigate the finished product via a virtual tour on a computer screen. LifeStyle is using the technology, which it adapted from building information modeling (BIM) and off-the-shelf software, to allow homebuyers a chance to see their custom home before it is built and make any changes prior to construction starting.

How Virtual Reality Could Revolutionize The Real Estate Industry — from forbes.com by Azad Abbasi

Excerpt:

Consider the top two hurdles of the average real estate agent:

Agents have to manage the time it takes to go from one visit to the other, dealing with traffic among other elements out of their control.
The most commonly heard phrase in real estate is, “It doesn’t look like the pictures.”

Virtual reality can help immediately resolve both of these issues. It offers the possibility to virtually visit a lot more homes in a lot less time. This will naturally increase sales efficiency, as well as allow the ability to see more potential buyers.

Here are three different options you can explore using virtual reality to heighten real estate experiences:

The New Media Consortium (NMC) has released Digital Literacy: An NMC Horizon Project Strategic Brief in conjunction with the 2016 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference.
…
In analyzing the progress and gaps in this area, the NMC’s report has identified a need for higher education leaders and technology companies to prioritize students as makers, learning through the act of content creation rather than mere consumption. Additionally, the publication recommends that colleges and universities establish productive collaborations with industry, government, and libraries to provide students with access to the latest technologies and tools.
…
Based on the variety and complexity of these results, NMC cannot identify just one model of digital literacy. Instead three different digital literacies are now evident, each with distinct standards, potential curriculum, and implications for creative educators.

The aim of this publication is to establish a shared vision of digital literacy for higher education leaders by illuminating key definitions and models along with best practices and recommendations for implementing successful digital literacy initiatives.

To be digitally literate, you need to be:
fluent at critical thinking, collaborating,
being creative, and problem-solving in
digital environments.

Computer science and digital media classes can instruct on everything from office productivity applications to programming and video editing, for example. Sociology courses can teach interpersonal actions online, such as the ethics and politics of social network interaction, while psychology and business classes can focus on computer-mediated human interaction. Government and political science classes are clearly well equipped to explore the intersection of digital technology and citizenship mentioned above. Communication, writing, and literature classes have the capacity to instruct students on producing digital content in the form of stories, arguments, personal expression, posters, and more.

From DSC:
If faculty members aren’t asking students to create multimedia in their assignments and/or take part in online/digitally-based means of communications and learning, the vast majority of the students won’t (and don’t) care about digital literacy…it’s simply not relevant to them: “Whatever gets me the grade, that’s what I’ll do. But no more.”

This type of situation/perspective is quite costly. Because once students graduate from college, had they built up some solid digital literacy — especially the “creative literacy” mentioned above — they would be in much better shape to get solid jobs, and prosper at those jobs. They would be much better able to craft powerful communications — and reach a global audience in doing so. They would have honed their creativity, something increasingly important as the onward march of AI, robotics, algorithms, automation, and such continues to eat away at many types of jobs (that don’t really need creative people working in them).

This is an important topic, especially as digitally-based means of communication continue to grow in their usage and impact.

Part of digital literacy is not just understanding how a tool works but also why it is useful in the real world and when to use it.

Learning Ecosystems

Check out this deepfake — incredible, and yet alarming.

Exquisite underwater photos to make you love the ocean [Mallonee]

Adobe supercharges Photoshop’s content-aware fill so you have more options, fewer AI fails [Coldewey]

I wonder what Vincent Van Gogh would think of this one!? Wow!!! | Some great art, creativity, photography — even some 15,000-piece dominoes setups!

DC: A veeeerrry slippery slope here. “Inside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame & Lots of Cameras”

Some beautiful calligraphy, art, photography, & overall creativity!

These amazing pictures of spectacular waves remind me of Psalm 93

Is this the kind of world we want? “China’s New Frontiers in Dystopian Tech” [Chun]

Learn the skills and resources you need to master virtual reality [Mark Metry, Tee Jia Hen, & Krill Karev]

Google is turning Street View imagery into pro-level landscape photographs using AI [Maggio]

Looking to build a home? A learning space? Or move into an apartment across the country? How about a VR-based look around first.

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