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Oct 2nd

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Animation
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When CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) meets Reality

Mr. Head by Chris Jones (play video below)

 Mr Head – by Chris Jones 

I have been doing some research on the future direction of photography and the developments in CGI (computer generated imagery). There have been incredible developments in this field in the last five years. Take a look at your IKEA catalogue, over 75% of it’s images are now produced 100% by computer. Many (if not all) of the showrooms in the photos and the products are all digital and never existed in reality and you cannot tell that they are CGI they are so photorealistic.

For product companies it is a more cost effective way to promote their products in marketing material. Car companies have been doing this for several years. Most commercials and brochures of new cars are typically 100% CGI generated dropped into a landscape photo (and in some cases the landscapes are created from CGI also). All of this can be produced with software on a laptop similar to the one I am typing this blog post on. Don’t believe me ? Take a l0ok at the following link from one of the companies who develop that software to make this possible ( Keyshot ) and keep pinching yourself to remind you that these are not photographs.

One of the holy grails of CGI is achieving the accuracy of the human face and it’s motions (particularly the physics of it, our eyes are incredibly adept at identifying movements that are not natural, Pixar and other companies creating animation movies have spent years developing and evolving this capability). I came across the video above from Chris Jones, an Australian animator and experienced CGI producer. The head in this video is 100% computer generated (there is a guest appearance by a CGI hand also!). It is mind blowing in terms of being photorealistic.

I have no doubt there were many many hours spent putting this model together, but inevitably the time and cost to produce models like this will reduce. Think about this for a minute. Digital worlds will be created that are indistinguishable from reality, cameras for movie making and photography will be replaced by software for a lot of purposes (of course, recording of reality is always going to rely on an optical recorder of some sort).

It is not unreasonable to think that at some point in the future most commercial photography and video required for marketing and advertising purposes (and any other purposes where we are not concerned with recording real situations) could be produced in this manner by software, the photographer and the videographer replaced by the CGI specialist. This is already happening in many cases and when you see the capability in the video above, that future is not too far away.

Sep 23rd

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Landscapes
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Why Connemara is great for Landscape Photographers

Early Sunday afternoon I drove out west to Connemara to capture the evening light and stay overnight in my trusty ‘Disco’ (that’s deserving of a story and a separate post which I’ll reserve for another day) to catch sunrise. We are having an amazing “Indian Summer” here in Ireland this year with little to no […]

Sep 18th

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Landscapes
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Keem Beach, Achill & Back From Photokina Fully Inspired!

Today’s image is one that I took on my recent trip to Achill Island. Keem beach is a beautiful secluded beach at the west end of the island where the road ends. It was taken early in the morning however the light wasn’t playing ball with me that morning with too much low cloud. This […]

Sep 16th

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Photography
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Photokina – a pulse on the Industry

I’m at Photokina in Cologne, Germany, today and tomorrow. This is my first visit to the show and the scale of it is vast. It occupies several very large halls (a number of them have two levels) in the Koelnmesse. Comfortable walking shoes are a must, however, because of it’s scale it is not crowded […]

Sep 11th

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Creativity
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First Steps On My New Venture

On the way home from a trip to the Cavan Burren early this morning I stopped by Lough Oughter and came across this scene. The plucky little plant growing against the rock, fragile but determined to make it despite the odds, resonated with me. Increasingly over the past twelve years photography has played an important […]

Aug 31st

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Landscapes
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Cavan Burren & The Response to Beauty Workshop

Yesterday I attended a workshop facilitated by artist Heather Brett in the Market House in Blacklion. The workshop was part of the “Response to Beauty” initiative facilitated by Heather to bring artists from the region together to generate an artistic response to the Cavan Burren and the wider Geopark. Elena Duff, a contemporary visual artist, […]

Apr 29th

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Landscapes
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Old Head of Kinsale

The good weather on a recent trip to Cork over the Easter weekend yielded some nice results. This is the Old Head of Kinsale, an infamous golf course in Cork jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. It is an extraordinary course with magnificent scenery (on a clear day at least!). Taken just before sunset I […]

Mar 22nd

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Landscapes
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The Apprentice

Our five year old son, Ben, often asks about where I have been taking photographs with a curiosity you could only expect from a kid his age. Several weeks ago I promised I would take him up the mountains where I have been taking photographs recently. With nothing fixed on the agenda this morning and […]

Mar 13th

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Travel
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Dublin’s Fair City

The Custom House, Dublin on the north quay of the river Liffey. A government building built in the 18th century. It is an iconic building in the city and even more striking in the afternoon sun with a clear blue sky as a backdrop. Taken at a low angle (16mm) gave a pleasing perspective and […]

Mar 2nd

2014

Author By Richard
CategoryPosted in Nature
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Scouting Locations

This morning’s forecast didn’t look great when I looked at it last night. Rain spreading from the west in the morning and clearing in the afternoon. I thought I might get an hour or two at 7am this morning before the rain arrived but unfortunately by the time I got to my destination it had […]

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