The Future of Photography

Adrian has a problem - his new favourite photo was taken with a phone. It would have been challenging to capture with a dedicated camera. This is not just a landscape or selfie, it’s a candid portrait - a real decisive moment. WDTMFTFOP? Photography Highlight is the Nikon Z6. Picks of the week: Scanning instax, Minolta XD-7 (aka XD11 in the US)

Adrian is still on his summer break, but Chris, Eimear and Jeremiah are holding the fort with a discussion about the future of image presentation. They dive into electronic frames, LED screens, renewable paper, architectural skins, fabrics and even augmented reality. Links: Adam Savage at the Washington Mall (Apollo projection mapping), The Imago 1:1 takes one-of-a-kind life-size selfies on positive paper. A young film maker is born: The Hunting Trip ("..the possibilities are endless!")

Chris and Eimear take a closer look at their favorite mobile photo apps: Snapseed, Mextures, Hipstamatic, Focos, Diptic and SKRWT.

Face swapping has come a long way, from replacing a face in a still photo to expensive visual effects work to now being able to replace faces in movies using machine learning techniques. Chris and Jeremiah discuss the reality of photos and what opportunities for bad and good the new technologies present. Deepfake example 1, example 2, example 3, Cambridge University inoculates people against fake news, TechCrunch has an optimistic view on deepfakes, Apple will soon give you a fake gaze on Facetime.

Let us introduce you to the latest addition to this podcast. Eimear from Ireland joins us to reel us nerds in a bit. Her background in art and a life long love for photography makes this a great discussion about what the value in photography is. So everybody, say hi to our new team member!

What if Chris, Adrian and Jeremiah were granted a wish for the perfect camera? Listen to find out what each of them would go for. It becomes clear quite early in the episode that the answer isn't an easy one.

Not always the sexiest of areas in photography, nonetheless, managing your digital assets is important. Luminar and On1 Photo Raw have recently brought new DAMs to market to compete with established products like Lightroom and Capture One. But there is another way. Instead of big catalogues, automated cloud backup can make images available across all your devices. Apple Photos and Google Photos are just two examples aligned to users with multiple devices including phones. Do you have a favourite? Do you give a DAM?

Is the origin of an image as important as the subject of the image? As innovative camera technologies allow the image makers to go beyond "the decisive moment" enabling the capture of polygons, heat signatures, Infra Red, topographical information and more than the eye can see. As high performing VR cameras enable massive environmental capture - into which re-framing images moves us away from the here and now to a future where we can select and re-frame an image. As software like UnrealEngine, Unity and others enable creation of photorealistic environments and more. The artist has arrived at a moment in time in which a photograph can created out of the imagination. We instinctively experience those images as real. But darker forces loom as DEEP FAKES distributed by a robust social media network take cultural and political steps to a dangerous place.

The US now requires social media user names from visa applicants. (see also TFOP episode 82), Jasper Anderson uses projection mapping in his haunt kits. (see also TFOP episode 25), iOS 13 will be out in September and we talk about its new photography-related features.

Let's get you all up-to-speed on our casting results. On the last episode you have already heard Jeremiah, one new voice that we added to the show. But there will be another new voice soon: Eimar. So we are expanding this to four (!) voices in total. And we're very excited about it.