Archive for the 'Digital photography' category

This is easy to reduce a color photo to a B&W image (any photo software or any B&W photocopier can do it). But the reverse operation seems difficult at best, impossible in most cases. However, a team of French scientists from the French INRIA (Guillaume Charpiat, Matthias Hofmann et Bernhard Schölkopf) presented recently an algorithm that succeeds to rebuild the color information from a B&W photo. And with some success.

On the image on the left, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has been converted to black and white (A), using color data and textures from a similar image (B), the algorithm built a color image again (C) not too far from the original (D).

Analyzing this work, I’d say that part of the differences between the result (C) and the original (D) come from the quality of the conversion to Black & White which led to an image quite hard (a bit more contrast than needed).

Impressive result on photos, you can expect to see it applied to moving images (and movies).

Source: Futura-Science.

Found in the morning, this lionness had just kill a gnu (wildebeest). After eating most of it, she actually tried to hide the carcass in order to avoid seeing it stolen by others (hyenas or vultures, for example).

Lionness - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Lionness - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Lionness - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Lion (Panthera leo, Lion, León), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

In the coming days, I will post a number of images taken in Masai Mara National Park, Kenya, of various carnivore animals after or during lunch. Beware, it may be a little more disturbing than most subjects, for sensitive or young people. However, this is routine observation in the wild: Big cats are nice but they eat animals. Raw.

First, this is not a feline. A spotted hyena found in the morning, in a small water pool, after an early lunch.

Spotted hyena - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

It is easily forgotten in savanah folklore as recorded in our Northern countries, hyenas are not only carrion eaters stealing their prey from less powerful animals (like cheetahs), but also successful hunters who compensate for their slow running speed with a rather considerable endurance. They kill about half of their food.

Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta, Hyène tachetée). Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

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If you are interested, you can find some of my images about big cats (lions, leopards, cheetahs) on my new web site YLoveBigCats.com. As you certainly have noticed, some of these images come from my recent trip to Kenya (Masai Mara).

Lionness, Kenya (Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles)

Young black-backed jackal (Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles)

Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas, Chacal à chabraque, Chacal de lomo negro o chacal de gualdrapa). Kenya, Masai Mara, September 2008.

The Great Migration: This is the name of this major and annual animal move between Kenya and Tanzania. Between 1.5 and 2 million gnus (wildebeests), several hundred thousands of zebras and some more antelopes follow a wide triangular geographical pattern to find the lands with the best possible grass depending on the rains and the temperatures.

Since they have to cross rivers, this quickly becomes a difficult task. All the more because all kinds of predators know the locations and are waiting for them. The gnus strategy is simple: Overwhelm the predators. If a lion takes 1 gnu out of 10,000, it is better than 1 out of 10. So, they regroup themselves in enormous herds before rushing through the waters.

Gnu	Gnu
Gnu
Gnu's crossing (Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles)	Gnu's crossing (Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles)

The predators (lions, hyenas, crocodiles) are waiting. And they are taking a life toll on the herds.

Since this is quite graphic (Mother Nature is not often very nice with the weakest animals), the following images may be reached separately. But young and sensitive minds should avoid looking at the following depiction of a Nile crocodile attack on a swimming Burchell’s zebra (in the Mara river).
(more…)

The “Great migration” in Kenya and Tanzania is the move of gnus (wildebeests) but also of zebras. Usually, I have a tough time to find inspiration when shooting these animals. But in last September, I believe that I found how to draw a few good images of these zebras.

Zebras on the Musiara plains (Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles)
Burchell
Burchell	Burchell
Burchell

Burchell’s zebra (Equus burchellii, zèbre de Burchell, cebra de Burchell). Kenya, Masai Mara, September 2008.

All images: Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles (all rights reserved).

Two lions (Copyright 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles)

A few images of lion females on YLoveBigCats.com (Kenya 2008).

Before some big cats, here are some vultures again:

Vulture, in flight (Copyright 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles)

Lappet-faced vulture (Copyright 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles)

Giraffes, here is a weird animal. On of the real bizarre things in nature.

Giraffes - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

You can often see young males fighting:

Giraffes fighting - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

Giraffes fighting- Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

It seems that they are fighting in a very slow motion.
Despite that, it is a very aggressive behaviour and the males use that to decide hierarchies and access rights to the females.

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You can click on the thumbnail images to enlarge them.

All images are Copyright 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles (all rights reserved).