When I was growing up oh so many years ago, I was lucky to have a toy that could think. I could turn it on and off when I felt the need to process some words or to listen to the dot matrix printer peck away on some paper. Waiting for the 64KB of RAM to load up with the familiar “Okay” signal meant anything and everything was about to happen. Well, so long as anything and everything fell into the category of simple noises from an internal PC speaker and about 16 different colors on the screen. Then Microsoft’s Windows came along.
I often wonder what it was like before everyone had a car or a phone or even a television, but that’s usually while I’m fast forwarding through commercials. I also wonder what children being born today may think about the GUI (Graphical User Interface) we’re all used to. A GUI has made the computer the most diverse tool for most if not all modern computer users. Clicking and dragging an object is such a common task that it’s hard to believe there once was another way of doing it. Plus, the idea that you’re allowed to undo just about any mistake you may have made? No longer do you need a daisy wheel and white out, you’re able to copy and paste entire documents with just a few clicks and ticks (I guess clocks don’t tick too much anymore).
What has offered me a rather entertaining 20 years or so is an idea that no matter how fast computers get, they need to be a bit quicker. After figuring out how to perform a specific task and realizing some part of the machine is slowing me down, I replace it. Something newer, beefier, faster. I then get bored with the same old process and figure out a new trick which then takes about the same amount of time to process. Something new is needed again. This cycle has pushed the home computer from being a simple step up from a typewriter mixed with a calculator to a multimedia powerhouse.
About Ian: Ian is a Photo Editor at ScanDigital and joined ScanDigital with more than 10 years of digital editing experience.Prior to joining ScanDigital, Ian worked as a digital editor of photography and video. He also was involved in production work for major motion pictures such as The Longest Yard, Span’glish and The Italian Job.
It has been about 2 months now that I have been working on posts for The Digital Insider. I am constantly scouring the internet for new and interesting topics and asking the team here at ScanDigital what they think our customers and readers would be interested in reading about. More often than not it is someone here on the team that has an interesting idea that lead to my posts, so I thought it was time to bring in other contributors and authors.
Our staff here is a group of highly trained individuals, with a diverse background within a variety of niches in the photography and digital photography field. For most of these people working with digital photos and technology is not just a job, its something they love. Outside of the office they are generally keeping up with the latest and greatest innovations which makes them ideal contributors to our blog. I’m excited for them to share their thoughts with you.
For a number years now cameras have had the ability to time and date stamp photos, soon another dimension will be added to your digital photos - geography. The practice of stamping images with a geographic location is known as “geotagging”. This is currently available to those who wish to do it manually through sites such as Flickr; however, the integration of digital photography technologies, online photo sharing systems and GPS tracking technologies are rapidly making it more feasible for the average shutterbug to geotag his/her images.
“Every photo was taken somewhere. That’s almost always part of the story of the photo,” said Stewart Butterfield, general manager and co-founder of Flickr, which now houses 36 million geotagged photos–roughly 3 percent of its total archive.
As the cost of integrating GPS chips with digital cameras decreases, more and more people will begin to not only have a chronological record of their images, but also a geographic record. Before the advent of digital photography people often invited guests to view their slideshows, but today in the era of photo sharing online many viewers lack an in-person guide. Geotagging is just one more way to provide a comprehensive story about someone’s photos. Imagine touring through the Alps or Italy and upon returning being able to pinpoint the exact location of a particular favorite restaurant or hotel and then recommend it to friends. Geotagging simply is an additional enhancement that increases the usefulness of your digital photos.
It is estimated that on a scale of 1 to 10, geotagging is only a 4 in terms of maturity. Clearly there are future advancements that are being developed to make geotagging a user friendly, simple experience. It will be very interesting to watch this new technology develop.
The image below demonstrates a set of geotagged images and their appearance on a map.
I came across this story earlier in the week and wanted to share it with everyone. It really demonstrates the power of digital photography and the internet to do good when used correctly. (Apologies to all my friends in Southern California that are die hard USC fans for writing a favorable article about the Buckeyes’ fans).
On September 1st, the Ohio State Buckeyes opened their season at home facing the Youngstown State Penguins. A long time Buckeye fan, Michelle Montgomery was thrilled to attend the home opener and witness her beloved Buckeyes dominate the Penguins, winning 38-6. On the way into the stadium before the game, Michelle found a digital camera in the parking lot. She viewed the pictures on the camera’s digital display and saw photos of a father and son meeting Brutus Buckeye, the OSU mascot. Reluctant to trust campus lost and found to find the camera’s rightful owner, Michelle decided to take matters into her own hands.
Michelle took the camera home, downloaded the images to her computer and then emailed them to 14 of her closest friends and fellow Buckeye fans. She asked them to view the photos and if they did not recognize anyone to pass them along to other friends and Buckeye fans. Hundreds of emails later, John Montgomery opened his email, opened the photos only to recognize himself and his 10 year old son, Noah, posing with Brutus. He was estatic to learn that his camera was safe and Noah was thrilled as well to have the proof that he did meet Brutus Buckeye.
“It shows the power of the Internet, e-mail and the Buckeye network. It’s amazing how many Buckeye fans are out there,” said John, a 1986 Ohio State University graduate.
When I read this story I thought it really captured how good people combined with technology can achieve things that would have not been previously possible.
For the past few months now I have been reading an online newsletter called Photojojo. The newsletter is published twice and week and I would highly recommend everyone check it out. They are constantly profiling new and cool things you can do with your digital photos, whether they be taken on a digital camera or photos you had converted to digital format everyone can find something new to do with their photos at Photojojo. The idea for Photojojo was born when two friends Amit and Kara realized they both had a love for digital photography and knowledge of all sorts of fun things to do with digital photos, but no way to share this knowledge.
“You probably own a digital camera and you’ve probably taken a bajillion photos with it. You may have printed a few. Well, it turns out there’s a whole world of things you can do with your photos and with your camera that nobody ever told you about. We find the most kick-ass photo tips, DIY projects, and gear and bring them to you. Turn a photo into a mural at home in 5 minutes, print your friends’ faces onto cupcakes, or get a bottlecap that turns any soda bottle into a tripod… subscribe and we’ll show you how.”
Topics tend to run the full gambit of digital photography which is something I love about the newsletter. Just in the last week they have profiled such things as major photography exhibits around the U.S., a way to turn your digital photos into a music video and a guide to creating your own photo journal books. In addition to the newsletter articles, you can also visit the Photojojo store and purchase all sorts of great photography related products. The site is useful, but keeps a light fun tone.
One of the best parts of the site is the forum where readers can post and discuss a wide variety of digital photography topics. Congrats to Amit and Kara on a great idea and keep up the good work over at Photojojo!
Early in the planning stages of ScanDigital we knew that we wanted our entire operation to be run out of one central facility. As I have mentioned before, we place our customers and their experience at the center of every decision we make…and this was no different when it came to facility and its location. A well-located central facility is a key part of our business for a number of reasons. First, having all work take place under one roof means your materials are shipped to one location, processed and shipped back. Not only do they not leave the country, but they never even leave our facility. Secondly, from a management perspective, it allows us to keep our processing time down and provide the fastest turnaround time in the industry which is very highly valued by our customers. Finally, one well located facility allows us to draw from the most highly trained and talented professionals in the world of digital photography. I could not be more proud of the team and the high quality work they do on a day to day basis.
So a little about our facility…After looking at a number of locations with in the Los Angeles area, we all agreed that Downtown El Segundo was the ideal place to launch ScanDigital. Despite the fact that El Segundo is centrally located within the largest metropolitan area, many of the locals refer to the area as “Mayberry by the Sea” as it is truly a hidden gem within LA and has a nice, quaint small town feeling. Downtown El Segundo is easily accessible from many parts of LA. On a daily basis we have employees commuting in from Santa Monica to the North, Manhattan and Redondo Beach to the South and Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles and Central LA to the East. This has allowed us to attract and retain a highly qualified and well-trained team, without our well-located facility (and easy access from the 105 Freeway) this task would have been much more difficult. For our facility, we selected a fantastic historic brick building that has been entirely modernized to handle our high-end scanning and computer equipment while maintaining the historic charm. The building sits next to the original city hall site and was the third building ever constructed in El Segundo. Our physical location in many ways mirrors the service we provide: taking materials from generations past and modernizing them while preserving their original appeal.
Starting this weekend, we are now open 7 days a week, providing local customers the ability to drop off orders when it is most convenient to them. For any readers located within the LA area, I would invite you to come visit our facility sometime, we would be more than happy to give you a tour.
At ScanDigital I am constantly working with our customer service representatives to understand the questions our customers are frequently asking. One of the more common topics of conversation relates to the confusing world of resolution and how this is measured. Hopefully this post will shed some light on the topic. My apologies in advance for a somewhat technical post, but I promise the next one will be much lighter reading!
First, let’s start with the commonly used terms: DPI, PPI and Megapixels. These terms are not as confusing as they may sound. In the common vernacular (and even on our website) we refer to resolution in terms of DPI or “Dots Per Inch”. What we really mean when we refer to DPI when speaking about digital images is PPI or “Pixels Per Inch”. DPI’s origin lies with traditional print methods which use patterns of dots to render photographic images on a printed page. While pixels on a monitor are square and in contact with the adjacent pixels, printed dots have space between them to make white, or no space between them to make black.
A digital image is simply a certain dimension: “x” pixels wide by “y” pixels tall. If you divide each dimension by 300, you will have the size of the image at 300ppi. When a digital image is prepared for print the pixels are converted to dots. Dots have spaces between them. 300 pixels become 150 dots and spaces, so 300ppi becomes roughly 150dpi and 150dpi is the accepted standard for printing photographic quality images.
However, it is also important to remember that everything is relative to viewing distance. 150dpi (or 300ppi) is accepted as photo quality because the average person cannot see the “dots” at a few inches away. When you move the viewer further away from the printed material, lower dpi is acceptable. A huge billboard might be printed at only 40dpi but no one notices because everyone is 50 yards away from it.
When we talk about viewing images on a monitor 72 dpi is often discussed. Technically speaking, referring to 72dpi should really be 72ppi because it has nothing to do with printing. On a computer display, a 72 pixel by 72 pixel image should take up about one inch of space on the screen. (This of course varies based on the size of the monitor and what resolution it is set to.) As a result, whenever we are asked about resolution on a customer call it is important for us to understand the intended use of the digital files. If a customer is going to only use them for digital viewing on a monitor or television, then our higher resolution option is completely unnecessary and will not be at all noticeable on a monitor. However, if the customer wishes to order large reprints than the higher resolution scan may make a huge difference in the print quality.
So, what about megapixels?
Converting dpi or ppi into megapixels simply requires a little math. A megapixel is equal to 1 million pixels and is a measurement of area. So lets assume a customer has a bunch of slides or negatives that they want to convert to digital format. How many megapixels will the resulting image be? A 2000 ppi scan of a negative or slide results in an image with an approximate size of 1,900 x 2,840 pixels or 4.7 megapixels (a very high quality image).
I hope this helps explain some of the confusion surrounding these terms!
Yesterday marked anniversary of the original patent for the first roll-film camera and the registration of the name “Kodak”. The patent was awarded to George Eastman in 1888.
I was facinated to learn of Eastman’s story and what lead to the patent.
In his early 20s, Eastman was working as a bank clerk and purchased some photographic equipment for a vacation , but never made the vacation. He was instantly enamored with photography, though he was less enthusiastic about the cumbersome and limiting nature of wet-plate technology. So he set out to find a better solution. Eastman continued working at the bank while devoting his evenings to experimentation. By 1880 he had devised his own dry-plate formula and went into the photographic business full time. As he ran a young company struggling to survive, Eastman began looking for new exposure methods that could bring photography to the masses. Eastman kept experimenting until he hit on the solution: cellulose. It produced a clean image and was easily spooled onto a film roller, making it compact. As we know now, this was the birth of modern camera film. By 1888, he was ready to patent the first camera using that film.Another bit of interesting trivia is the background of the word Kodak, which has become one of the most recognizable brand names ever, there is no special meaning attached to it. Eastman explained its origin: “I devised the name myself. The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me — it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with ‘K.’ The word ‘Kodak’ is the result.”
I have been thinking a lot lately about the impact of digital photography on the development of the social web. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace for better and for worse allow people not only to create online profiles, but what have become full online personalities. These personalities are defined, in part, by what people are writing about themselves, but more often defined by the photos and images individuals are posting of themselves, friends, family and activities. While there is some negative impact that comes from this (college seniors being cut from job applicant pools based on inappropriate photos) for the most part I view the impact of digital photography’s involvement in the social web as a very positive one.
Groups of individuals can link and bond in ways that were never possible before. A couple of weeks ago I finally read Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, to me the social web really is creating the long tail of socialization. Allowing groups of individuals with very distinct tastes or interests to find each other and share their common bond. Digital photos only help to accelerate the speed at which these groups can develop, both by making it easier to identify new members with a common interest and also by facilitating better information sharing capabilities. This ability to share and community build allows these groups to truly capitalize on the long tail effect.
As the social web matures, it will be exciting and interesting to see the impact of these new social communities. Let me know your thoughts on the topic!
Along similar lines as yesterday’s post, I came across another project from a team at Carnegie Mellon. The team has created a project called fotowoosh which works to create a 3D image out of a 2 dimensional digital photography. The program attempts to recreate the way that humans extract information from a 2 dimensional photo, using our knowledge of the physical world to interpret the 3 dimensional nature of the photographed scene. We instinctually use our knowledge of the world to create a 3 dimensional view in our mind.
The team’s approach is to write a program which learns the structure of the world and the appearance of geometric surfaces from a large set of training images. The knowledge is then applied to other photos. If the program can determine where the vertical surfaces contact the ground in the image, the depth of generating a 3D model.
The video below demonstrates the power of this new program.
He was instantly enamored with photography, though he was less enthusiastic about the cumbersome and limiting nature of wet-plate technology. So he set out to find a better solution. Eastman continued working at the bank while devoting his evenings to experimentation. By 1880 he had devised his own 
