Android compatible remote controller, if you use Canon

If Android users have been feeling a bit left out by the dearth of remote controllers available for their cameras, that might be about to change. A Dutch company, Chainfire, has just released a beta dSLR controller app that needs only a USB cable to give you control over the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, metering, zooming, and loads of other things that you’d get bored if I listed. Only problem? As yet it’s only cmpatible with Canon Eos cameras. But, it is a start.

The app costs $8.51, but this is expected to increase once it comes out of beta. In fact, Chainfire wasn’t due to release it yet, but demand has been so high that they felt it was better to get the beta out there and work on the kinks than keep people waiting.

The developers have a huge wish-list of things that they’d like to introduce once things are running more smoothly, including but not limited to: video support, timelapse, scripting, and image review and transfer.

Want to know more? Head here.

(Headsup to TechCrunch)

News in brief: 150 million Instagrams

Yep, in just seven months 150 million photos have been uploaded to Instagram. (That’s about one every 15 seconds.) And all of those would have come from an iPhone because there’s no Instagram Android app and you can’t upload from your computer, either. Apparently, Instagram haven’t ruled out an Android app, but they are being super tight-lipped as to when one might appear. I can scarcely begin to imagine what will happen when Instagram hits the non-iOS collective. Is the world going to become one giant Instagram?

(Headsup to Engadget)

What is this? - In our NewsFlash section, we share interesting tidbits of news. Think of it as our extended twitter feed: When we find something that get our little hearts racing, we'll share it with you right here! Loving it? Great, we've got lots more News Flash articles - and, of course, we're still on Twitter as well, for even shorter news tidbits.

News in brief: Facebook in German hot water?

Facebook’s facial recognition doo-hickey is coming under a bit of pressure in Germany as the authorities there reckon that it violates both German and EU privacy laws. Facebook, naturally enough reckons that it isn’t doing anything wrong, but then as far as I can tell, Facebook wouldn’t think that selling your granny to the highest bidder to finance one orgiastic night of hookers and blow was wrong, either.

From the German perspective, Facebook is sitting on a massive pile of its users’ biometric data that it has gathered from images uploaded to the site. There might be an opt-out function, but they have the information regardless of whether someone consents to it or not. Facebook’s response is that this makes life easier for its users. And safer, too, apparently. I’d love to hear the reasoning behind that one.

Dr Johannes Caspar, Hamburg’s data protection officer, has requested that Facebook do something about it, pronto. If Facebook doesn’t, it could be fined up to €300,000. But let’s face it, that’s hardly a deterrent to multibillion dollar Facebook, is it?

What is this? - In our NewsFlash section, we share interesting tidbits of news. Think of it as our extended twitter feed: When we find something that get our little hearts racing, we'll share it with you right here! Loving it? Great, we've got lots more News Flash articles - and, of course, we're still on Twitter as well, for even shorter news tidbits.

July photo competition winner!

Ooh we have sunshine in London! And it’s not just sunshine, it’s actually verging on the warm. So help yourself to a sherbet, or a glass of Pimm’s if you’re that way inclined, as we have a competition winner to announce. July’s theme was red in honour of my new dress (although it could quite equally be the thermometer right now) and the lovely guys at Fracture have supplied the prize. There were some cracking entries and we had a bit of a ding-dong when settling on the winner. But we got there.

Bubble, by Ivo Vuk

Many congratulations to Ivo for his picture ‘Bubble’. Get in touch, and we’ll sort out your prize for you.

And, seeing as it’s our competition and everything, and thought that we’d give an honourable mention, too. That goes to Vereesh for Gimme-Red.

Gimme-Red by Vereesh

Thank you for your gorgeous entries. We really do enjoy seeing what you come up with every month. August’s competition will be announced soon!

Our August photo competition

We’ve done it! We’ve wracked our brains and thought of a theme for this month’s competition. It was terribly hard work, you should know. We’re looking for pictures on the theme of texture. It can be rough or smooth, you can do a macro of some fabric, you could capture the look of moss or lichen… we really don’t mind. We’re looking forward to seeing what you drop into the Flickr pool. Our winner gets a fabulous 12″ Fracture, too!

You’ve three weeks to submit a photo, so you have from today (Wednesday 3 August) until Wednesday 24 August. It’s only one photo per person, and they need to go in the Small Aperture Flickr pool.

If you’ve any questions, please be in touch. Otherwise, I’ve reproduced The Rules, just in case. Good luck and have fun!

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t have written for Small Aperture or be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Small Aperture.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

Why on earth would anyone do that to a Leica?

Okay, so Leicas are desirable because their optics are incredible and they’re beautifully made. But there is a great deal to be said for their understated design that oozes elegance. Not only do you know that you’re holding a serious piece of kit, but you know that you’re looking at something special. So why, oh Juno and Minerva, would anyone want to do something as hideous as this to something so gorgeous?

Apparently the people at Colorware think that having a choice of 21 different solid colours ranging from ‘cranberry’ to ‘frostbite’, 21 different metallic colours that take in shades of ‘candy apple’ to ‘sand’, and four different pearl finishes for the front, back, top, lens body, lens face, hotshoe insert, and port door of your Leica D-Lux 5 is entirely necessary.

Heavens-to-Betsy no! I do not need a $1,200 Leica D-Lux 5 that looks like this:

Yes, that really is possible.

And neither do I want to spend $400 having my existing Leica D-Lux 5 converted to something equally garish.

Ugh! Although I have to admit, it was quite good fun playing with the different colours.

(Headsup to Engadget)

Triggertrap is go!

Woo-hoo! After Haje launched his Kickstarter appeal to get the universally awesome universal camera trigger, Triggertrap, going, over 720 of them have been snapped up by gadget-hungry photographers the world over. Yep, that groovy little device that’ll let you control your camera by just about any means you can think of will hit production later this year.

How does it work?

The device comes with a light sensor built in, which doubles as a laser sensor: point a laser-pointer at the Triggertrap to trigger your camera, or set it up so the camera triggers when a laser beam is broken – much like the laser maze in Hollywood blockbuster Entrapment. It also has an audio sensor, enabling you to trigger the camera when it registers a sound – like clapping your hands, the sound of a bowling ball hitting the pins, or somebody slamming a door.

Triggertrap also has a built in time-lapse photography functionality. This means that you can take a series of photos over a long period of time. When these photos are shown in quick succession in a video, it makes events that normally take hours or days (such as a flower wilting, or the sun coming up) appear to happen in minutes.

In addition to normal time-lapse photography, Triggertrap has a nifty trick up its sleeve: non-linear time-lapses. Instead of, say, five minutes between every shot, the Triggertrap can be configured to increase or decrease the interval between the shots. When you play the resulting video, this makes it look as if the scene you are photographing speeds up or slows down.

The Auxiliary port on the Triggertrap makes it possible to trigger the camera using external sensors, paving the way for many other creative photography projects. Suggestions so far include mounting a camera in a car and triggering it when you press the car horn; placing a camera in the fridge and take a photo every time you open the fridge; automatically take a picture of everyone who walks down the red carpet at a movie premiere; or police completely automatically taking a photo of people coming and going at a suspicious address.

From idea to reality

It’s taken Haje 18 months to get Triggertrap this far, from the simple idea of a laser trigger, to a fully developed product, with the help of lots of the lovely photographers via the Kickstarter website.

The project was launched with a goal of US$25,000 on 29 June 2011. Three weeks later, with only a week left to go until the funding is complete, Triggertrap completely destroyed its funding goal: 708 fans have pledged more than $60,587 (£37,100), in return for more than 700 Triggertrap devices.

Dozens of e-mails with great customer suggestions have already arrived with the Triggertrap team. Functionality like using the Triggertrap with flashes instead of a camera; the ability to trigger when a sound stops (as opposed to when it starts), and a feature that lets the user trigger the camera manually are all the result of suggestions and feedback.

Because the Triggertrap is open-source and built on the Arduino platform, it is easy to implement additional functionality through a software update, even after the Triggertraps have shipped to the customers.

They’re shipping in October

The Triggertrap is shipping in October, and can be pre-ordered for $75 + $5 shipping via Kickstarter until 31 July 2011. After that, the price increases to $125.

For more information about Triggertrap see http://Triggertrap.com

Camera remote hacking

I've written this caption four times, but every time it comes out like a cheap sex joke.

You may have heard about a little project I've been working on the past few months; it's an universal camera trigger that lets your camera trigger based on events; a sound, light, lasers, time-lapse photography (even non-linear timelapse photography), and any number of other things you could dream up.

As a part of this project, I've been spending way more time than what's healthy looking at camera remote control cables, and I've done a few cool hacks to them. Among other things, I've looked at how you can make your own camera connection leads. Making your own is the quickest way to create leads (well, after buying them from us directly, of course), it’s not always the best way to go about it.

Reducing waste

Why? Well, the problem is that many cameras use rather obscure plugs, and you can’t turn to Maplins or Radioshack to buy them. So, Unless you’re Triggertrap Megacorp and able to order them by the hundreds, for most of us, the only way to actually get your hands on the right connector lead for your camera, is to go online and buy a cheap knock-off remote control for your camera on eBay.

I always thought it was a bit of a waste to take a perfectly good remote control, lop off the remote control part, and only use the cable. So, that got me thinking: Is there a way to leave the remote control intact, but add a 3.5mm socket to the casing, so you can use it as a normal remote control, but so you can also connect the Triggertrap to it when you want to use it?

Why? Well, the problem is that many cameras use rather obscure plugs, and you can’t turn to Maplins or Radioshack to buy them. So, Unless you’re Triggertrap Megacorp and able to order them by the hundreds, for most of us, the only way to actually get your hands on the right connector lead for your camera, is to go online and buy a cheap knock-off remote control for your camera on eBay.

I always thought it was a bit of a waste to take a perfectly good remote control, lop off the remote control part, and only use the cable. So, that got me thinking: Is there a way to leave the remote control intact, but add a 3.5mm socket to the casing, so you can use it as a normal remote control, but so you can also connect the Triggertrap to it when you want to use it?

So basically, we're adding a remote control to your remote control? Well that makes sense. Let's do it.

Before we get started; Here’s how you recognise what camera remote you need, and there’s a list of cameras and their corresponding remotes as well.

Step 1

First of all, you need to source a 3.5mm jack socket. Technically, it's known as a 'Screened Chassis Socket'. Try Maplins or Radioshack, but they also show up on eBay from time to time.

Step 2

Get a remote control that fits your camera. This one is a MC-30 camera for Nikon cameras; but you can adapt most remote controls quite easily.

Step 3

When you look at the insides of these things, you realise why they're so cheap: But it works, which is the important part. Also, its simplicity means that it's easy to adapt to our needs. See that little space at the end of the metal parts? That's where we'll be installing our socket.

Step 4

There's three wires. From the top, they are Ground, Focus, and Shutter. Wanna know how I know that? A multimeter may have helped a little bit.

Step 5

To get the socket to fit in the confined space, I had to take off the little rear wing

Step 6

I didn't have a drill or my Dremel handy, so I used my soldering iron to burn a hole in the side of the remote. Highly not recommended, I probably shaved about 2 years off my life by breathing those fumes. Anything for a good blog post, eh?

Step 7

Everything soldered in place and the socket installed. Because the hole is small enough that the threading on the socket grips properly, I didn't need to put the flange back on the end (besides, the remote's walls were too thick to make it fit anyway). I'll have to be careful when inserting the mini jack so I don't use too much force, but so far it works fine.

Step 8

Voila! It's hardly the most beautiful DIY job in the world, but it does the trick.

Step 9

Step 10 – Enjoy the spoils of your endeavours!

Well will you look at that! It works!

Changing Pace at the National Portrait Gallery

Today marks one year to go until the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games. The cost and the disruption often incite groans in people when you bring it up, but some people have been getting terribly excited about it, and that includes the National Portrait Gallery. Together with BT, it has undertaken the largest photographic project in its history to record both the seen and the unseen people behind the Games. This includes athletes, coaches, broadcasters, and organisers. Changing Pace, the second in the three part series, opened this week.

Emma Hardy and Finlay MacKay were the photographers commissioned for this project. Hardy focused on those responsible for staging the Olympics; MacKay took on the competitors and their coaches. Their approaches were remarkably different. Hardy’s portraits aren’t closely cropped, but they’re nothing compared to the sweeping panoramas produced by MacKay. And whilst I was struck by no one smiling, or at least looking vaguely happy, in any of Hardy’s pictures, I really struggled with a sense of unreality when looking at MacKay’s photographs.

Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed (right) by Finlay MacKay, 9 March 2011, Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, Caversham (copyright: Finlay MacKay - National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project)

Oh, they’re impressive, but I’m not sure I’d want them hanging on my wall. Perhaps that’s what makes them perfect for documenting a monumental project at a major art institution.

Michael Morpurgo and Greg Nugent, by Emma Hardy, 21 April 2011, Iddesleigh, Devon (copyright: Emma Hardy - National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project)

It’s free to wander around the exhibition, and if you happen to be passing, do drop in and take a look. It’s not something that I’d go out of my way for, though, and I’m someone who has at least a passing interest in just about any sport imaginable.

Changing Pace is showing at the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE until 25 Spetember 2011.

(Featured image: Khalid Yafai (left, sparring with Irfan Ali) and Frank O’Sullivan by Finlay MacKay, 26 November 2010, Birmingham City Boxing Club, Birmingham – copyright, Finlay MacKay – National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project)

Calloused feet and the Milky Way - our April competition winner's take on life

Do you remember the awesome shot of the rickshaw driver’s feet, which won our April photo competition? (If you don’t, there’s a pertinent reminder to your left.) I was thoroughly intrigued by the image, and where it came from, so I dropped an email to Sakshi, the competition winner, in the hope that she’d tell us a bit more about herself. Thankfully, she didn’t find me at all impertinent and gamely answered my roll of questions. Better yet, she said I could share.

Daniela: Where are you from, Sakshi?

Sakshi Kumar: I was born and bred in New Delhi, India. (And I’m 22, if anyone’s asking.)

DEB: When and how did you get involved in photography?

SK: My dad always loved to take my pictures. So even before I got into photography, I had the heart for it. My dad was my biggest inspiration though initially he didn’t support this decision of mine as he thought I was made for “bigger things.”

I took a degree in Journalism, which I followed with a postgrad in Photography. I also took an extra credit in photojournalism, which got me interested in opting for photography as a career option. Though I soon realized photojournalism is not my thing. I am too sensitive for that genre.

DEB: Photojournalism is definitely tough. So what sort of thing do you like to photograph?

SK: I mostly enjoyed landscapes, nature, wildlife, architecture, interiors and fashion. Astronomical photography is very intriguing and I’ve tried my hand at it, but not with much success up to now!

DEB: And the winning photograph? How did that come about?

SK: I was experimenting with portraiture. For me, portraits are more than pictures of pretty faces, they’re about someone’s character – a simple picture that could tell as much about a person’s life as her or his own words. So I went out on a shoot and started taking pictures of people’s feet in a more environmental setting. The winning picture was an outcome of it. The calloused feet belong to a rickshaw puller in a particularly poor part of Delhi. I think they express the hardships of his life.

DEB: Well, we definitely loved that picture! What’s your favourite photo that you’ve taken recently?

SK: Ah, this one! It’s a dog’s life!

It's a dog's life! (Sakshi Kumar)

DEB: And finally, if you could go anywhere and photography anything, where and what would it be?

SK: Ooh! That’s a hard one. I’d love to capture the Aurora Borealis, so maybe Alaska or Sweden for that. And Death Valley, just for the sheer beauty of its barrenness. Oh, and I’d love to get the Milky Way from Mount Teide. It’s mesmerising.

Many thanks so Sakshi for answering my questions. We hope that she’s enjoying her prize!

Don’t forget, the deadline for this month’s competition is tomorrow (Wednesday 27 July); the theme is red; Fracture are providing the awesome prize.

Behind the scenes at SceneThat

When you hear that the government is in talks with various groups, interested parties, and representatives from particular communities regarding this proposal or that law, you might wonder who these people are. For all we know, they could be wind-up dolls that officialdom wheels out for the purpose of nodding approval and not objecting.

I’m really pleased – and relieved – to report that when it comes to consulting on photographers’ rights, it’s not a dolls’ house of Barbies and Kens that Theresa May turns to. One of the organisations that talks with the Home Office is SceneThat. It was founded by former BBC-man Mark Singleton in 2008 and earlier this week I asked him a few questions to find out a bit more about him, his organisation, and his work for photographers’ rights.

It turns out that SceneThat came about through a life-changing, in fact a near life-ending, experience for Mark, as he explains: ‘During the early part of 2008, I had a brain attack. Literally. A blood vessel at the back of my head burst, and changed my world in a stroke.’

Okay, so it wasn’t the burst blood vessel that led to the foundation of SceneThat directly, more what happened to Mark during his convalescence when he couldn’t face watching daytime TV (I think we’re all with you there, Mark) but decided to get out on the streets of London with his camera and a tripod (sounds like a valid alternative to me).

You’ve probably guessed, the experience of being the man with the camera and tripod wasn’t a pleasant one. ‘I suddenly understood why the press was so full of horror stories about the treatment of photographers. Twenty years prior to that, as a member of BBC Newsgathering, I had “been there, done that, got the T-shirt”. It was fair to say that in my first month of wandering around with a camera as part of my “rehab”, I met more hostility than I had in a decade of covering everything from the Troubles in Northern Ireland to the widespread riots during 1984’s summer of discontent.’

Realising that it wasn’t just the police who didn’t understand fundamental laws in this country, but that photographers were doing themselves absolutely no favours with a very wishy-washy knowledge of what they could and couldn’t do, knowledge Mark likens to that which is rolled out at pub closing time, Mark decided to do something about it. As Mark put it, it’s all very well wanting to make the country a safer place, but it shouldn’t come at the price of abandoning our freedoms.

So, he spoke to a few photographer ‘buddies’, who happened to be high up in the legal world. They offered to keep him on the ‘straight and narrow’ as he strove to point photograhers in the right direction when it came to their rights, provided that he didn’t offer specific legal advice. You can land yourself in rather murky water if you start doing that. SceneThat helps photographers to find their own authoritative answers.

Over the past three years individual ‘legal eagles’ have come and gone from the SceneThat, ehm, scene, but they’ve maintained their objective of providing pointers to the facts. As a result of his own improved knowledge Mark has campaigned on behalf of photographers; talking with politicians, police and anyone else who would listen!

Mark says that he’s often asked if things are really going to get better: ‘I can only answer by saying that in my experience, there is now a real desire to cull decades of “poorly-worded” laws, and replace them with less, fairer and more proportionate legislation.’

That really does sound positive, but he points out that we can’t afford to take our eye off of the ball and we have to ensure that these intentions are followed through.

And there is some movement, Mark says: ‘Continuing the top-down approach, Government is introducing changes to policing that delivers greater accountability coupled with better internal guidance and procedures.’ Mark was recently one of those ‘interested parties’ who met at the Home Office alongside some people who advise on training security guards – the aim was to cascade the message to every level of ‘officialdom’. We might not be there yet, but Mark is convinced that things are getting better. ‘Over-zealousness is being replaced with increasing levels of common sense. It is a slow process, but lasting change often requires that approach.’ No, big change doesn’t happen quickly, just as difficult problems don’t have easy solutions.

When I asked what still needs to be done, Mark told me that SceneThat will be keeping their eyes on officialdom to make sure that promised changes aren’t forgotten. ‘We’ll keep the pressure on our leaders and those who lead police and security officers to ensure that our safety doesn’t mean giving up our freedoms. As photographers, we’ll continue to think how the pursuit of our art and craft may be perceived by others – and we’ll help them to overcome their anxieties in the process. After all, photography is not a crime.’

Many thanks to Mark for chatting with me. If you are in search of legal advice regarding photographers’ rights, SceneThat is the perfect place to start. They’ll empower you to find out just what you need to know. And if you have a bad experience with a police officer or a security guard, let them know. The more knowledge that they have of people’s experiences, the more effective their campaigning can be.

Shiny new photography gallery at the V&A

Come the autumn there will be a shiny new photography gallery at the V&A so that its extensive collection of photographs – some dating back to 1839 – can be shown off in the fashion to which it should become accustomed. When we say that the museum’s collection is extensive, apparently it is one of the largest in the world, which I suppose is only to be expected for the world’s greatest museum of art and design. (As it calls itself.)

The idea behind the new gallery, which has been converted from a study-space, is to chronicle the development of photography from 1839 to the 1960s as well as provide in-depth themed exhibitions. The first of these ‘In Focus’ exhibitions will feature Victorian portrait photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The Brig, by Gustave Le Grey (1856) V&A images

The new gallery is due to open on 25 October, and it’ll be free to enter. Yippeedee!

The V&A is on the Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL.

(Featured image: Circe, by Julia Margaret Cameron (c.1865) V&A images.)

Warning of a new eBay fraud

As a good little gadget-fiend, I occasionally buy and sell equipment - whether that be camera equipment or other electronic dooh-dahs - online. Frequently, I'll use eBay - and as a result, I've seen all the tricks in the book: people have tried to defraud me in dozens of different ways and (unfortunately) have been successful a couple of times, too.

Anyway, I recently came across a brand new one that was a little sinister, because I could easily see someone falling for it, so I figured I'd like to share it you, my fellow photo-gadget-fiends.

In this case, the fraud started after I already sold an old iPhone. I then received an eBay message with the following:

"I lost my I phone in a cab on Friday July 14th and I clearly recognized it from the pictures you posted. I wanted to inform you that I saw the police this morning to file a record and printed your ad. Apple recognized the series number with my name and all the identification I also informed E bay about your case. We could try to solve this out the easy way if you restitute the phone to me or let the police get in touch with you for this fraud. I am looking forward for your answer to get the contact information from the person who bought the phone you sold - which can now be described as stolen and resold as the police qualified it. Cheers. "

Of course, there's several warning signals here:

a) It seems unlikely that someone could recognise an individual iPhone between the hundreds (actually, I just checked - On eBay UK alone, there's currently 1,328 iPhone 3Gs phones listed) of phones available on ebay

b) You don't file a record with the police. You report a crime.

c) Apple doesn't get involved in recognizing a 'series number'. Even if they did, it would be a 'serial number'. And even if that they got involved with that, phones are identified by their IMEI number.

d) "Restitute" a phone? I'm guessing I'm talking to a Frenchman here, confusing 'Restituer' (French for 'return') with, er, 'return'.

e) Police wouldn't qualify this as theft. Handling stolen goods, perhaps. Certainly not fraud, as my easily-confused friend stated here. Unless he was referring to his own attempt to defraud me, of course.

Finally, the most crushing pieces of evidence in my defence:

f) I've had the phone from new
and
g) He says he's lost the phone on the 14th, but my eBay auction started on the 5th of July. Whoops.

Anyway - it wouldn't surprise me if people try to pull scams like this when you try to sell camera gear on-line as well, so it's always a good idea to keep your eyes open for stuff that doesn't sound right.

So, of course, I've launched a lovely little fraud investigation myself: After all, it's a little bit ironic to get defrauded by someone who is claiming I'm guilty of fraud.

Staying safe when buying (or selling) online

If you're getting an iffy-sounding e-mail, put a phrase from it into Google. Chances are that it's a known scam. Also: eBay's own anti-scam reviews and guides are worth a read.

Stay safe and happy shopping!

Canon Powershot S95 replacement imminent

Canon seem to have stopped the factories, and the shops are running dry of Canon’s über-compact does-it-all wünderkind. (How many umlauts can I stick in a single sentence?) It has all gone very quiet from Canon, which can only mean one thing: Everybody’s favourite compact is getting an upgrade (or should I say üpgrade?)

It’s a bit of a long story involving mine and my brother’s annual jaunt to a music festival and needing some pictures for a book, but last week I was desperate to lay my grubby mitts on the aforementioned pocket-sized snapperbox capable of shooting in RAW. If I were borrowing one, I would’ve taken anything that was sent my way, but given that I was actually prepared to lay down about £350 on this, the Canon S95 was my camera of choice. What can I say? I’m a devoted Canon fangirl. (And as far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been a bad review of the S95 yet.)

Searching high and low

And so the hunt began. First stop, John Lewis, that glorious flagship of middle-class shopping extravaganza. The audio visual team at the Oxford Street store are awesome, and if everything goes mammaries-up, their aftersales is splendid. I looked online, no S95s in stock. Odd, but oh well. So I called them. The entire company doesn’t have a single S95 available. Not a one.

Onwards to Amazon.co.uk. They only have a single one available. Amazon.com still has a few, but they don’t ship to the UK, so that wasn’t going to happen either.

So, in the company of my long-suffering father, I trudged along the High Street in the town close to the Small Aperture country retreat. Did any one of the electrical retailers there have an S95? Nope. One shop checked its system for me and informed me that they’ve discontinued it and none of their stores has it in stock.

So what the blazes is going on with the Canon S95?

My immediate reaction was that perhaps Canon has been struggling in the aftermath of the horrible tsunami and the S95 has come unstuck because of it. But, being the inquisitive sod that I am, I asked Canon what the deal with the S95 is, and they are declining to get back to me with the full details.

Is there a something else going on here? A something that might be an S99 in the near future, perhaps?

Triggertrap prototype photos

Funding going well! See the rest of the photos for prototype pictures

So, by now you can't have missed that I've been working on a pretty huge project: A retail product called 'Triggertrap'. It's being crowd-funded via Kickstarter, and as I'm writing this, it has 16 days to go... and has been 177% funded: People have pledged nearly $45,000, even though I was aiming for $25,000. Pretty incredible stuff.

I'm up to my knees in prototyping, electronics, manufacturing, sourcing, drop-shipping, and all manner of other technology and terms I've barely heard of before. Between you and me, it's bloody bonkers.

Anyway, I figured it would be only fair if I shared some of the Work-In-Progress photos with you guys, because (obviously), I'm rather ridiculously excited about all of this.

Triggertrap has caused an absolute media storm, being covered in most of the big gadget- and photography blogs.

As you might have gathered, this is taking up a fair bit of my time, hence the slightly reduced number of posts here on Pixiq - but don't worry, I'll be back and posting as usual in a couple of weeks.

Get a 40% pre-order discount on the Triggertrap

The Triggertrap currently costs $75 (+$5 postage) over on Kickstarter - once the project funds at the end of the month, the price will jump to $125 - so here's your chance to get a 40% early bird discount.

Want to get involved? Find out more about which cameras are supported, what the Triggertrap does, and pledge to the project over on Kickstarter.

Stay awesome, everyone!

~ Haje

Don’t Be Scared of Studio Lighting

To clarify, this month’s Photography Concept on Friday is not a self-help guide for photoaugliaphobics ( people with a fear of glaring lights – of course I looked that up ) – it’ll centre more around the basics of studio lighting and the basic properties of light. If you’re interested in a bit of studio lighting but don’t know where to start, or would like to know at least a little before you begin, then this month’s PCoF is for you. 

Specular Highlights and Diffuse Value

Softboxes were placed very close to the model here, meaning there is very low contrast between the specular highlights and the diffuse value, giving flattering, evenly lit skin.

Now it’s very easy to go into too much detail too quickly with studio lighting. I am writing from the point of view that you have never seen or considered the principles of lighting before, so please don’t roll your eyes too far back into your head if any of this seems obvious. Everyone starts somewhere – I started to improve my studio lighting the moment I got these concepts into my head.

Specularity refers to an object’s shininess. If you imagine a snooker ball in a pub (or snooker hall, if you’re a more reputable sort than myself), the bright white spot on that ball is the specular highlight of the ball.

Diffusity refers to how evenly spread out light is across an object. The more diffuse the light, the less contrast there is. This is represented by a more gradual transition from light to dark across an object. An object with a strong specular highlight has a higher contrast value around that highlight, as the brightness of the object changes much more suddenly.

In Short – Specular Highlights mean more contrast, Diffuse Lighting leads to less contrast.

Now, let’s look at a situation where we control the light source- we’ll ignore the different properties surfaces can have for now, to keep it simple (a snooker ball is a lot more reflective than human skin, for example. If your skin is as reflective as a snooker ball, see a doctor).

Controlling Light

There are two factors we should keep in mind for basic control of lighting. These are the size of your light source and the distance of your light source from the object being lit.

Size of Light Source

The size of your light source determines how it lights the object in question. Assuming the distance is the same, let’s look at the difference between a torch and a softbox (which look like this).

A torch has a very focused, directional beam – the light isn’t very diffuse. When you use a torch in the dark, it only lights the small area you point the torch at. On our imagined snooker ball, this creates a strong specular highlight, giving high contrast to the ball. If we replace this with a softbox, a much larger light source, we create a light source with more diffuse, spread out quality. This will lessen the contrast on our snooker ball, and light it more evenly than the torch will.

In Short – The larger the light source, the more diffuse the lighting, giving us less contrast. The smaller the light source, the more focused the lighting is on one point, giving us greater contrast.

As an extra point if you’re not confused yet – the more diffuse the light, the darker it is, due to the light available from the light source being spread more thinly.

Distance of Light Source

Due to the Afro of Doom in this pic, I had to move the light sources much farther away. This has led to a greater contrast between the specular highlight and the diffuse, which is why we see the stronger highlights on the bridge of the nose, for example. To combat this, I used my large light source for the face and brought the smaller one in for the hair.

The distance of the light source shares many qualities with the size of the light source, seeing as they are almost exactly the same thing as far as your camera is concerned. The closer the light source is to your subject, the larger it is and the further away it is, the smaller it is. Therefore, all the qualities pertaining to size of light source apply here also. There are two differences, however.

The first, most obvious difference is that the closer the light source, the less far the light has to travel, meaning the light is stronger.

The second, less obvious difference, is the difference between the specular highlight (high contrast area) and the diffuse value (low contrast area). The closer you place the light source, the less difference there is between the specular highlight and the diffuse value. The farther away you place the light source, the greater the difference there is between the specular highlight and the diffuse value.

In Short / To Simplify – All you really need to keep in your head here is that the farther away you place the light, the more contrast you will have between the shiny bit and the non-shiny bit. As you put the light closer, the difference between the two will be lessened, allowing for much more even lighting. So, for even lighting, put your light source closer. For higher contrast, move it back.

Oh Sweet Lord My Brain What Have You Done?

Essentially, explaining the basics of lighting is the equivalent of explaining the offside rule in football – it’s actually fairly simple but once you start trying to explain it, it sounds horribly complicated. It’s really not. What I suggest to you is, take this mini guide, go and rent some portable studio lighting (when I rented mine a few years ago, it only cost me £40 for a week), find some unsuspecting victims (or snooker balls) and try this stuff out. It’s not nearly as daunting as you might think. Go on, get some studio lights and try it yourself, it’s fun!

In the future, I’ll do some more lighting write ups, if people have found this useful. Just remember, if you’re still having trouble with the difference between size of light source and distance of light source, use this handy, cow based reference.

Exploding water balloons and patient girlfriends - a chat with June's competition winner

We loved the winning photo from June’s photo competition so much that we got in touch with Lindsay Stott – the muchly-talented photographer behind it – to ask him how he did it. He very kindly let us in on the secret of burst water balloons and patient girlfriends so that we can all enjoy our own Dainty Rasengen moment. And seeing as it would be a bit mean to just pick his brains and share his knowledge without getting to know him a bit better, we asked a few questions about him and his photography, too.

Daniela: Hi Lindsay. Would you like to start by telling me a bit about yourself?

Lindsay: Sure! I’m from the sunny town of Montrose, but was fleetingly in Dundee, having been born there.

DEB: When and how did you get into photography?

LS: I’ve always tried to be arty, but my wants never translated to talent. I sucked at painting, my drawings looked as if I’d done them left-handed (I’m right-handed), and the only sculptures I could do was carving my name into trees. I was better at the scientific side of life with a fair amount of talent in physics and maths. Stubborn to the end, along came photography: something that physics blended into and was arty.

DEB: Any exciting photographic projects on the go at the moment?

LS: I have a huge project going on just now, that is taking up a lot of my time. I am currently opening a photography studio with my business partner Steven Bedford, under the name of Mnemonic Photography (shameless plug). We are busy snapping away images of anyone we can get our hands on with our new studio kit and the surrounding area as it’s quite scenic.

DEB: Ooh! Good luck with that! But now it’s time to spill the beans. How did you capture that amazing bursting water balloon?

LS: Sure thing! I got the idea from a magazine or website a long time ago and always wanted to try it. When your competition came, I thought it would make a strong entry for the theme. Convincing my lovely girlfriend to get drenched for it was another matter entirely.

Dainty Rasengan, by Lindsay Stott

Anyway, this is the how. I placed said lovely girlfriend in a shower, made her hold a water balloon and a pin. I zoomed in close so that I had filled the frame full of face and balloon.

The exposure was set so that the ambient was darkness and my flash strong enough to bounce off the ceiling and all around the white shower tiles to give me a nice exposure at f/9. The flash is what will freeze the action here and not the shutter speed.

We did an ‘on three’ thing, with me counting and Ella, the lovely girlfriend, boldly applying ample pressure to the water balloon with the pointy needle to make it explode all over her. The balloon contracts far quicker that the water falls – tension vs gravity or some such nonsense – and you get a lovely little ball of water on her finger tips, only for a moment.

You then take the image into Photoshop, play around with the white balance, exposure, colour hues, vibrance and tonal curve until you are happy and your model is dry. Taa-dah!

DEB: That’s rather awesome. Thank you! And now finally, is there anywhere you’d especially like to take pictures, given half a chance?

LS: I actually have the privilege of going to China this year, with hopes to photograph the Terracotta Army. I can’t wait to flash ‘em!

Many thanks to Lindsay for the chat. Don’t forget to check out Mnemonic Photography!

News in brief: Copy Instagrams with Copygram

Instagrammers, if you’re looking for an easy means to download all your Instagrams, upload them to FaceBook or Google+, or even print them out (with SnapFish), you might want to take a look at Copygram. Non-Instagrammers, if you’re wondering what all the Instagram fuss is about, you can check out people’s public Instagram streams on Copygram.

In the nine days since Copygram has been going, 163,138 instagrams have been copied. So that’s just a few then.

It’s definitely worth noting that if your Instagram feed is public, anyone can download your images and have them printed off through Copygram. There is a note telling you that Instagram photos belong to the original photographer, but I doubt that’ll stop anyone, will it?

What is this? - In our NewsFlash section, we share interesting tidbits of news. Think of it as our extended twitter feed: When we find something that get our little hearts racing, we'll share it with you right here! Loving it? Great, we've got lots more News Flash articles - and, of course, we're still on Twitter as well, for even shorter news tidbits.

Amazon's killer deal on hard drives

I know I keep rambling on about the importance of backing up your photos (I did an extensive article on the topic earlier this year, which discusses the 'how' and 'when' in detail), but one of the main reasons people don't do proper backups is that external drives are perceived to be so expensive.

Today, I stumbled across a deal that is so bloody awesome I simply have to share it with you guys; Amazon's doing a 3TB external USB 2.0 drive by Western Digital for under $130, or you could opt for a slightly cheaper less-capacity version of the same drive.

Here's a crazy thought experiment: I used to pay 12 Norwegian kroner ($2.22 in today's exchange rate) for a 1.44mb floppy disk. If this drive had cost the same per megabyte as what I used to pay for floppies, it would cost more than 4.6 million dollars... And they still say 'everything used to be better'!

Remember: It's always a good idea to replace your back-up drives every year. I've ordered mine already, so what are you waiting for?

Competition: Win a copy of my most recent book

I wrote this. I'm proud of it. Now you can win one of 5 copies!

So it turns out that my most recent book, Focus on Photographing People, has sold 7,000 copies in under two months. That, ladies in gentlemen, is reason enough to celebrate, so I've just jacked open a bottle of bubbly.

Then I decided I wanted to share the celebrations with you lot: With a competition!

If you want a chance of winning one of five copies of my, simply fill in this Google form. The winner will be drawn on midday GMT, Monday 25 July, and announced in the bottom of this post on that date.

Competition details

What: 5 copies of Focus on Photographing People, written by yours truly, published by Focal Press.

Why: 'Cos I wrote it, and I'm proud of it selling well.

Where: Enter the competition here!

Who: You have to live on Earth and have a valid mailing address to take part in this competition. You also have to be over 13 years old (or else I can't collect your e-mail address).

When: Before noon GMT on Monday 25 July, 2011.