Posts Tagged ‘photography’

A New Way to Search Images: Google Swirl

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

12643~Dog-Labrador-PostersHow did I find the photo of the Labrador puppy to the left? I tried out the new Google Lab project called Google Swirl.

What are Google Labs? Believe it or not, they are are not pet dogs of Google employees. Google Labs is a website demonstrating new Google projects “that aren’t quite ready for prime time”. It serves as a testing ground for new services being developed. Gmail and Google Calendar were once Google Lab projects.

Google Swirl is another Google Lab project for searching images. It builds on new computer vision research to cluster similar images into representative groups in a fun, exploratory interface. For example, if you search on Image Swirl for labrador, you’ll see 12 image thumbnails including labs on white backgrounds, yellow labs, lab puppies, etc.

Picture 20 (more…)

Going Vintage

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Lately, I’ve been inspired by vintage photography. I love its naturally faded colors, vignettes, and soothing tones. I’ve been on the lookout for Photoshop tutorials that will add bit of that historical and airy elegance to my own projects. On my search I found two tutorials, one focusing on a vintage feel, and another recreating a Lomographic style that gives a blurry and colorful look that you often find in the original analog photography. Below are two examples using both tutorial techniques, one features a muted pink tone, while the other focuses on a more contrasting, blurred effect. If you would like to share any additional ways to achieve a vintage style, I’d love to hear it.

Vintage_Tutorial

fffflippin’ ffffantastic ffffind!

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

found_01.r2419If you haven’t found ffffound, you’re surely missing out. The ffffound web site lets you post (if you’re invited) and share images that others have discovered on the web. I’m not allowed to post, but I’d love to figure out how to get in! Though posting would be awesome, I really use ffffound as an inspiration tool for my own designs. Each time I visit the site, there are a variety of new images posted to the home page that include, but are not limited to, graphic design, typography, inspirational photography, illustration, fashion and interior design. I generally scroll until I find something that really grabs my attention, and this is truly where the fun begins. Ffffound dynamically recommends other photos based on your own tastes and interests, so when you click on that first image, ffffound suggests 10 other images that you might like. I can, for example, click on a photo of an interesting package design, and ffffound may show me more packaging from the same collection, different packaging from the same site that the original image was found on, and other images with a similar theme, color scheme, or feel. You can click on a new image from that suggested batch and receive a whole new suggestion list of wonderful (and sometimes odd) images. It’s addictive, trust me. Get ready for a trip, because you can definitely get lost in ffffound.