• Droppin' science:
  • The Big Picture features some totally fascinating Mars pictures. [Via]
  • Check out this year's Olympus microscopy photo winners. (Many leave me nonplussed, but scroll down for the hero-flea.) [Via]

• History:
  • Have gas mask, will travel. Creepy stuff; recalls animations from The Wall.
  • On CreativePro, Gene Gable shows off the pioneering photo processing of Look Magazine (e.g. the Beatles shot by Richard Avedon). Lots of interesting pre-digital manipulations.
• This 12,000-photo time lapse is interesting even for Yankee-haters. [Via]
]]> http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/11/rt_photography_amazing_bird_photography.html http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/11/rt_photography_amazing_bird_photography.html From Twitter Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:22:48 -0800
• Scott Kelby offers a handy set of "10 Things I Would Tell New Lightroom Users."
• The Lightroom Lab shares Top Ten Lightroom Speed Tips.
• According to LR engineer Troy Gaul, "Lightroom 2.6, in addition to adding camera support, fixes a visual glitch on Snow Leopard in loupe when panning. [Via]
• Want a one-screen way to scan popular LR blogs? Check out http://lightroom.alltop.com/. [Via]

[Via]

Then there's BumpTop, which has been around for a few years & which is now available for download. It's cool, but as I've written previously, I have a hard time imagining it'll get widely adopted. Here's the demo:

[Via]

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon PowerShot G11
• Canon PowerShot S90
• Leaf Aptus II 5
• Mamiya DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
• Nikon D3s
• Olympus E-P2
• Pentax K-x
• Panasonic FZ38
• Sigma DP1s
• Sony A500
• Sony A550
• Sony A850

According to Camera Raw/Lightroom PM Tom Hogarty, "The Lightroom 3 beta has not been updated with this new camera support. If you're working with one of these newer cameras and the Lightroom 3 beta, please use the DNG Converter 5.6 Release Candidate to convert proprietary formats to DNG files that can be used in the Lightroom 3 beta."

Because this is a release candidate, we'd be glad to get your feedback via the Camera Raw User to User forum.

[Via]

Coincidentally, here's a cool tutorial on milk-drop typography using Photoshop.

Lightroom 3 Beta help topics include:

What's new in Lightroom 3 Beta

Importing photos into a catalog

Exporting using Publish Services

Create a copyright watermark

Simulate film grain

Update the process version

Apply a postcrop vignette

Export a video slide show

Custom print packages

For more info on multitouch, hardware decoding, etc., check out these interviews with the FP engineers. [Via]

Paul Nicklen gives new meaning to "stay frosty":

Amazing (even more so when viewed in high def). [Via]

To address these questions, the Library of Congress, working with ASMP, has just announced "dpBestflow" (Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow). Two years' worth of research have produced "real-world solutions for preserving the quality and integrity of digital images; proven best practices that have been shown to produce superior results; and guidelines for streamlined production workflows."

The site is loaded with resources, ranging from a quick reference sheet* to a detailed glossary. I haven't gotten to read the materials in detail, but the effort seems like a great response to persistent real-world issues. [Via project contributor Peter Krogh.]

* Nice to see this guidance: "Use DNG to archive raw file data... A DNG archive can be validated with a much higher level of certainty than any other image file format."

"Like a digital video puppet, the facial expressions of one person can be cloned in real time and mapped onto the digital face of another person. Barry-John Theobald, computer scientist at the University of East Anglia, explains the technique and Steven Boker, of the University of Virginia, explains what facial cloning can reveal about human nature."

Check it out:

[Update: The embedding code seems to be spazzing out at the moment, so I suggest watching the video on the SciFri site.]

[Via]

• Excellent pixelated Halloween costume ("Low Resolution"). [Via]