Slothrust at Ottobar, May 2025

-

 
















Popular posts from this blog

AI art thinks about biocybernetic AI - C&EN Bonus Content

-
I recently published an article for C&EN's Newscripts column titled: A tiny brain good only at video games, for now, and an elephant-trunk gripper arm . That article, available at the link, is about two research projects. In the first, an Australian team grew neuron clusters on computer I/O chips, and then taught those vivo-silico systems how to play Pong. In the second, unrelated project, a group in South Korea made a new gripping appendage for robot arms that combines suction and a pinch-grip.  It was a hoot to report, write, and especially illustrate. The Korean team supplied me with a wealth of great images and a hypnotizing video showing the gripper in action; C&EN's video team clipped the video down to a social-media-friendly 2-ish minutes.  For the Pong brain, I wanted to make the illustration using an image-generating AI. I have a subscription to Midjourney , so off I went on a long fun trek to make something that visually captured the story. There's a gatek...
Read more

Infrared - filters and color swaps

-
Image
What you're looking at below is four different color renditions of the same scene. Three out of the four were shot using an infrared camera and a 720nm filter. Development programs like Lightroom default to assuming the image data is in normal human color, rendering everything in red and not showing much of the color differences. It's just data. By giving the software different instructions about how to interpret the colors, we can get the color and tone separation we want.  Infrared - 720nm filter with colors straight from the camera But as IR photo expert Rob Shea says, color isn't real. The choice of what rendered color the program maps onto the image data is arbitrary. I can pick what looks good for the scene, the vibe I want to convey, the textures and shapes I want to explore.  Here's a normal-color shot of the same scene One that I've been liking recently is to take the wavelengths reflected by chlorophyl, coming off of plants that would be green in normal vi...
Read more

Snow lasers

-
Image
As I type this, Baltimore is getting its first big snowstorm of the year. As of noon, about 5 inches has accumulated. So far, I'm chickening out from going out to take photos. A handful of days earlier, we got a preview though, just a light dusting. The leadership of my church had a meeting, so a 10-block walk was in the cards anyway. I brought my most weatherproof camera configuration, a 5D Mark III with a 100-400mm L lens.  That lens was kind of a splurge at about $500, but it has been great for photographing my kid's soccer league and it is weather sealed. There may come a day when my photography is cash neutral or even profitable, but at this stage I'm underwater by about $1,500. Which isn't too bad, I suppose. Snowboarding, automobiles, even golf would add up much faster.  That said, six of my art prints have now sold through the Print Pact, which is exciting and validating. Six actual humans have seen my prints in among art for sale and decided, "That is art ...
Read more