Smartboard publicity pictures

Since my attention was drawn to SMARTboard technology via TV (see my ICT-blog 16 March 2007), I looked up some pictures via Google Images and ended up with two ranges of SMARTboard pictures: the amateur pictures from the users, showing the device as is, and those from the firm itself which are used for publicity...
This is a great example of how pictures can be manipulated for the use of publicity!
Here are some official pictures:

• From the Japanese site (happy multicultural kids (which is great!) but the shadow is false. It doesn't hide the projection completely as it does in reality!)
• From the Amphitheater schools. You can find reality pictures there too, but this is a manipulated picture: all shadows are false and the picture is over saturated to make it colourful.
• Yet another nice one from a Swedish site: the position of the projector (angle) can never correlate to the projection as shown. Since it is under our eye-line, the shadow of the arm should be on the upper part of the arm, ànd should be full, not half transparent.
• Magiboards site shows a picture on which the shadow is not correct. It is never semi-transparent, but should block the picture completely! However this would show the negative side of the technique so it must be manipulated!!!
• Yet another one: see for yourself.

And these are pictures taken by amateurs, showing you the reality.

• Rio del Mar Elementary Schoolin California: is this really practical?
• Bluefield college: from the picture it's not clear if it is really a smartboard, but the file name seems to confirm it. Another disadvantage becomes clear: if the projector shines from a higher angle, students constantly get the bulb-reflection.
• Worthschool: spherized letters on your body, shadow on the screen, and your eyes being bombed by 3000 ansi-lumen of light. How long can a history teacher keep smiling?
• U46: Pair work at the smartboard: even more shadows... less overview.
• Lorainschools: Plato and his cave anno 2007?
• More boards = less shadow? ;-)
• Yet another realistic picture.
• Happy students in Germany. With shadows and the very practical Gyro-mouse and keyboard.
• Finally a movie with shadow, reflection and a lot of jumping! ;-) (Take your time for download). This is a game in Wii tradition! Makes you move!!

Although I think a device like Smartboard can have its pros, potential customers shouldn't be manipulated by unreal pictures. It also shows that the salespeople are quite conscious of the downsides of the system...

Panorama Maker 4

For years the creation of panorama pictures was a tempting engagement, and some were really a success. Up to now I used the Canon PhotoStitch software that came with the digital camera. But I had three versions of it: the one that came with my Powershot Pro 750, one with the Canon EOS D30, and finally the one that came with my latest Canon EOS 350D. One point however: it's always the same version 3.1! Never was it upgraded by Canon.

So on my quest through the world of photo editing software, I ended up at the new Panorama Maker 4 by Arcsoft. Great stuff, I can tell you. Other software has always battled with ghosting or lining in the skies. No way in this program! It produces the cleanest stitched pictures I have ever seen. Here is an example:

First the one made with Panorama Maker 4

Then the one made with PhotoStitcher 3.1

I suppose the difference is clear! In the older programs you could still define some common pixels on the two merging pictures. Not so in Panorama Maker: all is done automatically. Even the hardest chore will be done well, or will not be done at all. In the latter case this means that merging is not possible.

Essential changes

Here is an older example I was working on last year and which, for some reason, popped up on my desktop this morning.
I love the "cut the (visual) crap" principle in photography and PS is a blessing for the creative photographer. The "pure" picture is very hard to make in one go. There are often elements that bother the viewer.

Take this example: What I loved on the spot (and the spot is the island Sifnos - Greece) was the weird perspective of the church combined with the subtle game of shadows. But I especially loved the combination of the huge building and the more traditional blue-topped church in the far background... That to me was the essence of the picture when I took it; that attracted me... I had taken the picture some years before, but for some reason or other it hadn't satisfied me...
But even now, I was bothered by some aspects:

• The tree has no function
• The wire disturbs the picture
• On the bottom-left you can see part of a wall. No way to get the combination of the two buildings without the wall...
• The door is an unnecessary eye catcher
• Is colour necessary in this picture? Does it add value?
  

So I changed a number of things:

• I "cloned away" the door and the wire
• I selected the floor and wall, and warped the whole until the wall had gone. The warping stretches the floor and makes the entire picture a bit more dynamic.
• I greyed-out the sky, changed the whole picture into grey tones, except for the blue dome which underlines the "Greek" spirit of place in this picture...