Is graffiti art? If it does not deface, but augment a wall, a sign, a pavement, why not? However, it would be great if the artists would use washable chalk instead of paint. Messing with street signs could pose a safety risk to drivers and pedestrians, but when done tastefully and carefully, makes us smile.

The following graffiti art is more than meets the eye and sometimes requires a second look to catch the full meaning behind it. There are pages and pages of it and we show only three of our favorites here, courtesy of the artist, Oakoak:

Guillaume Tell me...

UFO's atttack in the city...

Futurama: Bender...

See more graffiti art at our Featured Site: Oakoak.

source @allisonmack

"come bambini come fratelli" Courtesy copy; Mattia Trotta

Our Featured Site is that of artist Mattia Trotta. His study in industrial mechanical engineering, specializing in technology and industrial production, reflects his approach to the world of visual arts. He leverages his technical expertise and knowledge of materials, to shape iron wires into works of art.

Visit Our Featured Site: Mattia Trotta.

source amusingplanet

Featured Site: Moa Karlberg

Taking pictures of people in public is not illegal, but what if it’s taken behind a one-way mirror as they watch themselves in it — and they don’t know they are being photographed and will be published? It does not help that the pictures taken and published are not necessarily the most flattering either. Photographer Moa Karlberg wants to engage others in conversation and debate about this issue.

Visit Moa Karlberg.

source forbes

Featured Site: Stelen Camera Finder

If you lost your camera — as in someone stole it — what is the chance of getting it back? And how could you?

The idea behind our Featured Site, Stolen Camera Finder, is simple enough: upload a picture taken from the camera and the site will extract the camera’s serial number from the photo’s metadata (EXIF Info). No picture? That’s fine as long as you have the camera’s serial number. It then searches through its database to see if it can find a picture with the same serial number embedded in its metadata. If it does, you’ve found the person who’s now using your camera. If not, you can submit a stolen camera report and they’ll do a Web crawl to search for it.

There are a number of problems with this scheme:

1. Not every camera saves its serial number in the metadata
2. The thief may not upload any picture to the Web
3. The thief may upload processed pictures to the Web that may have had the metadata removed
4. The person who is now using your camera may have purchased it from someone else and is not necessarily your thief (though it’s still stolen goods and need to be returned)

I am not sure how well it works because I just dragged a picture from my latest camera review and, though it extracted the EXIF Info and serial number, it did not find this site displaying lots of other pictures taken from same camera. The search took a fraction of a second so I don’t believe it actually went and scoured the Web. I would guess the database is not extensive enough or up-to-date. The idea is great and I hope the author gets some venture capital backing to push this further. Sounds like something our friends over at Mountain View may be interested in?

source forbes

Click for GPS coordinates

” Where in the world was this picture taken?” Click on it to get the GPS coordinates and here for more details.

Well, wonder no more. Our Featured Site today is picaspot.com (“Pick A Spot”) where photographers worldwide can share their favorite spots for taking pictures and mark them with GPS coordinates and other pertinent information. Then readers get to vote on their favorite pictures.

It’s a great idea, especially when we see a great photo and have no idea where it was taken and from what position. Of course, this may unfortunately generate lots of great looking photos that look similar — and hopefully this will spur the search for new and original perspectives. Photographers visiting a new location might find the site invaluable.

Whether this site will be a success or not remains to be seen since any already popular photography sites such as Flickr can quickly incorporate this coordinates and search features (already there for the most part). Also, the number and quality of the pictures will determine its usefulness to photographers. It’s just starting out and the database is still sparse, so your best bet right now is to search by category.

Visit picaspot.com.

Featured Site: Stéphanie de Rougé

Why do we seem to have a certain fascination into peering into other people’s medecine cabinet, room or… fridge? In fact, if you have ever watched Cribs, you know that celebrities somehow feel obligated to show us the contents of their fridge, with everything impossibly neatly arranged on the shelves.

Photographer Stéphanie de Rougé takes a peek into New Yorkers’ room, then on their roof, finally into their fridge. In so doing, she seems to look right into their soul…

Lighting = Mostly Sunny, Distance = 7.5 ft, Focal Length = 43mm, ISO = 200

Our Featured Site today is “Learn Photography: Online SLR Camera Simulator!“.

This SLR Camera Simulator gives you a virtual viewfinder and allows you to change exposure controls such as ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.

source Steve’s Digicams

Here is a short tutorial I quickly wrote using the SLR Camera Simulator to demonstrate its usefulness. Let’s start with the following settings: Lighting = Mostly Sunny (slide the Lighting bar starting from the left and stop as soon as it reads Mostly Sunny), Distance = 7.5 ft, Focal Length = 43mm, ISO = 200.

SHUTTER SPEED

Set mode = Tv (Shutter-Priority).

Our camera shake rule of thumb tells us that we need to set a shutter speed of the reciprocal of the focal length (i.e. 1/43 sec. or faster) for a blur-free handheld shot.

Shutter speed is too slow for hand holding camera resulting in blurred photo

So go ahead, set the shutter speed to 1/20 sec. Notice how as you select the shutter speed, the camera automatically selects the aperture for a correctly exposed picture. Click Snap photo! Notice the photo is correctly exposed but slightly blurred. (If I select 1/30 sec., the picture is not blurred, so I assume the camera the author used to take those shots had image stabilization available.)

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These are not your father’s animated gifs that do funny things to make people laugh. In the hands of Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg, animated gifs have been elevated to ART.

© 2011 Courtesy of Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg

Granted, the problem with animated gifs still remain: when you first see it, it’s incredible, it’s like, Wow! After viewing it for the umpteenth time, you wished there was a stop button. And that is what I would recommend: do not set the animation to loop forever. Give it a number of loops, then shut it down. To see the effect again, the viewer would simply need to refresh the page.

Read an interview at: theAtlantic.

There’s movement in everything and by capturing that plus the great things about a still photograph you get to experience what a video has to offer without the time commitment a video requires. There’s something magical about a still photograph — a captured moment in time — that can simultaneously exist outside the fraction of a second the shutter captures.

See more animated gifs photos at our Featured Site: From Me To You.

source fastcodesign

In a way, street photography is all about catching strangers unawares in daily acts. Ideally, they should not know we are photographing them since they usually change their behavior when they know a camera is pointed at them.

However, Dariusz Majgier takes a totally different tact. He actually asks for their permission and snaps a photo in all of 5 short seconds, a sort of “guerilla photography.” You’d be surprised how many people will acquiese simply because they are flattered — and don’t have enough time to really think about it and say no. It’s a good idea to snap the picture, thank them with a nod of the head and a smile and quickly walk away before they change their mind.

Wandering among the streets I meet a lot of interesting people. For me, it does not matter how old they are; their status, origins, skin color or religion are of no importance to me. I want to remember them forever just as they are when I meet them. Often it is the only occasion in life to talk for a moment and hand in my card. Maybe one day I ask you as well to have a photosession.

Visit our Featured Site: Street Photography of Stragers.