Students in the Photography, Video Production and Television Production programs at Florida Panhandle Technical College in Chipley, Florida find themselves steeped in the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The process started within the last year, when AI has become mainstream.

The new technologies possible through AI have become a large component of standard programs such as the Adobe suite of programs inclusive of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, After Effects and more.

Instructor Paul Goulding says, ‘Incorporating AI into video production offers a multitude of advantages, however, the question arises as to how and when it should be employed, and whether copyright infringement becomes an issue’.

To provide some insight, here are several instances of utilizing AI within this context.

Photography: AI-based programs can now generate an unending supply of faces, in the form of portraits, headshots or full-body mannikins. OpenAI, or open-source AI programming allows this for free, while using the resident computer for the generation, instead of using an online-based module. 

Scriptwriting: Writing scripts can sometimes be challenging, particularly when faced with writer’s block and time constraints. In such situations, seeking assistance from ChatGPT, or one of the many ChatGPT clones, may prove beneficial.

While it may not generate entirely original concepts, it can provide a starting point to overcome creative stagnation.

Subtitles: Subtitle creation for videos is now effortless thanks to platforms like Descript and Peech, but also contained as an integral part of the Adobe programs.

These tools employ artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically transcribe the audio into text. After reviewing and making any necessary adjustments, you can obtain your finalized subtitles in under 24 hours.

Narration or Voiceover: If you need to audibly convey information in a video, but lack a suitable narrator, there is an alternative.

Platforms such as Speechify, Lovo, and Murf offer solutions. Simply select the desired voice, input your text, and let the technology do its magic. Although these AI-generated voices may not always sound as natural as human speakers, they are sufficient for functional purposes.

Animation: AI-based tools can assist in creating basic animations. For instance, Kaiber can generate an animation based on an image or reference video provided by the user.

The resulting animation adheres to the desired style. To illustrate this capability, refer to Linkin Park’s music video for “Lost,” which was entirely produced using Kaiber AI.

On the other hand, Deep Motion can transform a video of a person moving into an animation without requiring expensive motion capture equipment.

Video Editing: AI is revolutionizing post-production in videos, with innovative tools emerging continuously. Platforms such as Runway and Descript enable even novice users to execute smooth video edits.

Adobe Premiere Pro has incorporated AI-assisted video editing features to remain competitive in the market.

Video Production: Tools such as Synthesia, Elai, and D-ID empower you to produce ‘talking head’ videos for various purposes with ease.

By simply inputting your script, selecting an avatar, and refining details through a user-friendly interface, these platforms can generate hours of high-quality videos. They significantly reduce costs and time spent on localization and scaling processes.

Although artificial intelligence (AI) offers numerous benefits in video production, such as enhancing editing processes and boosting efficiency, it is not a substitute for human expertise. While AI can be valuable, its effectiveness depends on the involvement of skilled AI operators and production editors who possess extensive knowledge about the process.

One of the challenges associated with employing AI tools in real-life applications is their complexity. While these technologies can generate impressive outcomes, they often require significant refinement based on user input.

This iterative process may take time and practice to master. To effectively incorporate AI into your workflow, it is essential to gain experience in crafting suitable prompts that yield predictable and satisfactory results.

Florida Panhandle Technical College continues to push the envelope in innovation, constantly upgrading the array of production programs available, to satisfy the marketplace demand for drone pilots, film creators, cinematographers, television production technicians, audio engineers and content creators.

Call 850-638-1180 Extension 6317, stop by 757 Hoyt Street in Chipley or email paul.goulding@fptc.edu for more information about the Photography, Video Technology, Audio, Drone and Television Production Programs at Florida Panhandle Technical College, with financial aid available but limited seating.

Best of Kenya photography

Big Cats of the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Photography in masai mara national reserve

Kenya Ranked World’s Best Destination for Wildlife Photography

RUIRU TOWN, GREEC TOWERS, OFFICE NO D7 AND D8, KENYA, March 31, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Kenya is the best destination for wildlife spotting and photography globally, according to a new ranking released by Cape Town-based travel portal Go2Africa. Canada came in second, with Singapore, Australia, and Botswana securing the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions respectively. In Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, and South Africa also made it to the top ten list.

The study, which analysed almost 70 million photos uploaded by travellers on Flickr, showed that half of the images originated from African countries, with Kenya taking the lead. At least 20.69% of the analysed and tagged images labelled “wildlife” originated from Nairobi, the study said.

The study further found that Kenya’s wildlife scene was a cut above the rest, boasting over 25,000 animal species, 7,000 plant species, and 2,000 species of fungi and bacteria.

The results come as no surprise to seasoned photographers and wildlife enthusiasts who have long recognised Kenya as a wildlife haven. Home to some of the most expansive parks and landscapes in the world, Kenya boasts a rich, diversified collection of wildlife that safari tours from across the globe travel to view during a Kenyan safari.

The Masai Mara is the country’s most popular national park. Over 90 species of mammals and many more bird species call Masai Mara and the adjacent Great Mara ecosystem their home. Even the iconic “Big Five”- lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros–have made Masai Mara their permanent residence.

The annual Great Migration in Masai Mara is the icing on the cake. Each year, millions of wildebeests, zebras, and gazelles criss-cross the Mara plains in search of greener pastures. This awe-inspiring phenomenon attracts photographers worldwide and provides them with excellent chances of capturing breathtaking images.

At the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, lies the Amboseli National Park. Amboseli hosts large herds of free-ranging elephants against the spectacular backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, making photography in the region especially breathtaking. Augmenting the large concentration of elephants is an estimated 80 different species of African animals. Among them are lions, leopards, buffaloes, hippos, zebras, just to name a few.

In the Northern part of Kenya, Samburu National Reserve offers an abundance of unique species such as the Samburu special five–Grevy’s zebra, Beisa Oryx, Somali ostrich, gerenuk, and reticulated giraffe. Spotting the special five as they roam freely in the grasslands of the Samburu reserve is an experience like no other. It’s even better if you can catch the magnificent moments on camera.

Still, Kenya’s picturesque landscapes further solidify its position as the world’s best destination for wildlife photographers. From the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya to the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean coastline, the country offers a stunning backdrop for wildlife photography, adding variety and depth to any photographer’s portfolio.

Overall, it’s not by chance that Kenya takes the lead as the world’s best destination for wildlife viewing and photography. It deserves every bit of it, thanks to its rich biodiversity, diverse ecosystems, and warm, friendly locals to boot. Suffice it to say photographers seeking to embark on a memorable African safari will be hard-pressed to find a better place to visit than Kenya.

James Gatheru
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As photographers, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that the latest and greatest gear will instantly improve our skills and creativity. However, this mindset can often hold us back from truly growing as artists and honing our craft.

Coming to you from Andrea Livieri, this insightful video explores the concept of embracing creative constraints to unlock your full potential as a photographer. Livieri shares a personal story about his early days in photography, where a setback with purchasing new gear led him to focus on the creative process rather than the technical aspects. By working with the limitations of his equipment, he discovered that creativity thrives when we are forced to find solutions and workarounds.

Livieri emphasizes the importance of eliminating unnecessary gear and focusing on a select few lenses or camera bodies. By doing so, photographers can reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed and dedicate more mental energy to the creative aspects of their work. Furthermore, sticking with a limited set of equipment allows photographers to develop a deeper understanding of how their gear translates what they see, enabling them to make more thoughtful compositional decisions. Livieri also touches on the power of managing expectations, particularly when dealing with uncooperative weather conditions. By embracing the constraints presented by fog or other less-than-ideal situations, photographers can push themselves to experiment with different perspectives and find unique compositions that they may have otherwise overlooked. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Livieri.

To blur the boundaries of photography, a Gibsons-based artist learned to strip back the layers of a nostalgic form of image-making. 

For Allie Bartlett, whose show, Photographs and Footprints concluded this week at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery, the faint click of a vintage Polaroid camera is only the first step in a developing process. After the film reveals its image, she submerges the print in water and separates the emulsion from its chemical and cardboard layers. 

“You can pretty much put a Polaroid emulsion lift on anything that you can put into water,” said Bartlett.  

For Bartlett, the “anything” includes archival paper, pressed flowers, and even the flat face of a sawn-off birch log. 

Bartlett’s debut solo Sunshine Coast exhibition was hosted in the gallery’s newly opened Joe’s Lounge space (named for Gibsons bon vivant Joe Peters). It was her first solo appearance since a 2019 exhibit at the William Morris Hunt Memorial Library in Boston, where she obtained a degree in Fine Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. In 2022, she displayed a selection of her black-and-white floral prints alongside paintings by Olga Chnara at the Gibsons Public Market. 

After amassing a collection of four antique SX-70 Polaroid cameras, Bartlett saw a way to test their capabilities while indulging her love of the Sunshine Coast backcountry.  

“After a really long winter, I said I had to get outside every day,” she said. “As the flowers started blooming, it was a really good way to incentivize this, going hunting for flowers every day and testing out the four different cameras.” 

In May Flowers, Bartlett arranged traditional Polaroid prints in calendar formation. Portraits of rhododendrons, buttercups, lilacs, waterlilies and more are rendered in the medium’s subdued hues. Sometimes the film jammed and streaked the image, leaving only amorphous shapes and hints of colour. Polaroid chemicals are sensitive to temperature. In the field, some practitioners warm prints against their bodies to achieve pinker tones. 

“I don’t like to waste too much and obviously with some of this older equipment you do have to decide if you want to be a technically perfect photographer,” Bartlett said, “or if you’re going to lean more into being creative with some different flaws, which I do really enjoy doing.” 

With works where she has extracted the emulsion from the rigid Polaroid frame — like her Bonniebrook series and Horizon —, the translucent images can be stacked atop each other, or blended into one contiguous landscape. In Pebbles, three frames are superimposed, presenting a form of time travel where the viewer experiences three moments simultaneously. 

Bartlett collects miniature samples of foliage which she dries and presses for up to a year in thick books (“I’ve heard that you can quickly do some stuff with a microwave,” she said, “but I had no luck doing that”). Natural elements — like fern fronds or peony petals — each adorn a paper-mounted emulsion print that depicts their original location. The sublimely delicate composites are rooted in Bartlett’s first-hand knowledge of Coast geography. 

“Based on people’s questions, you can learn a bit about them as well,” she said. “Some people will recognize all the different waterfalls, and some people will say, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen that on the Coast.’ But [these places] are all our hidden gems around here.” 

Select samples of Bartlett’s photography and emulsion lifts can be viewed on her Instagram channel at @alliesgallery.

On Wednesday, March 27, 2024, the Photography and Television Production Programs at Florida Panhandle Technical College Photography in Chipley received a donation from local resident John Ehlert of Sunny Hills.

Ehlert was an avid photographer, and recently decided to clean out a lot of older and outdated camera equipment. Discovering the Photography, Video and Television Production programs at Florida Panhandle Technical College, Ehlert contacted Instructor Paul Goulding to inquire if his Photography programs would benefit from the donation.

‘This is old, analog equipment’, said Goulding, ‘without much actual financial value, but with a lot of historical value. This equipment serves to allow students a glimpse at what preceded their newer, digital equipment, and will be well-used by the program, for it’s historic value, in our ever-evolving museum’.

Ehlert spent some time with Goulding and his students, sharing stories of the ‘old days’ of film photography and learning about the offerings of Florida Panhandle Technical College.

Speaking to the students, Ehlert said, ‘This program will obviously provide a basis for your career in the ever-changing world of photography, video and audio production. You are very fortunate to have the availability of this resource right here in your community’.

Goulding recently announced the availability of several open seats in the Digital Photography, Video Technology and Television Production Technology programs at the college, starting in April 2024, with financial aid available for qualified students, willing to put in the effort to succeed. 850-638-1180 Extension 6317 or email paul.goulding@fptc.edu.

The Grand Prize of the World Nature Photographer Awards (WNPA) this year has been awarded to British photographer Tracey Lund for her image of two underwater gannets fighting for a fish off the coast of the Shetland Islands.

The overall and category winners were chosen from a pool of thousands of entries fielded from all corners of the globe. The winner pockets $1,000.

From the tender image of a mother elephant and her baby to the terrifying moment a cheetah captures a zebra’s foal as his mother tries in vain to defend him, the winning photos show spectacular moment of life on our precious and endangered planet.

The World Nature Photography Awards were founded in the belief that we can all make small efforts to shape the future of our planet in a positive way and that photography can influence people to see the world from a different perspective and change their own habits for the good of the planet.

“We believe in the power of photography to put a spotlight on the majesty and wonder of the natural world around us, reminding us to take action now to secure a better tomorrow for us all,” the award organizers write. “The mission of the World Nature Photography Awards is to celebrate the world’s best nature photographers whilst showcasing nature’s beauty to a wider audience.”

This year, for the first time, a selection of the winning images from both this year’s and previous years’ winners is available to purchase as wall art and for every piece sold the WNPA will plant a tree.

Call for entries for 2025 awards is already open.

Mammals and Birds behavior

Those tragic last seconds of a young zebra’s life were recorded by Alexander Brackx. “That morning, we decided to follow four cheetahs on the hunt,” he recounts. “We followed them for hours. We passed herds of topis, gazelles, and zebras. We knew something was going to happen. When, five hours later, our Maasai guide whispered, ‘they are going for the zebras,’ I was convinced they would attack the topis or gazelles dotted across the valley.

Seconds later, the cheetahs burst into a small group of zebras. One cheetah ran towards us, clinging onto a foal. In those seconds, I took this picture of the mother zebra launching a last attempt to push her foal away from the attacking cheetah. She failed. I will remember those last seconds for the rest of my life.”

Animal Portraits

“I was aware of this black anglerfish living in a reef where I regularly dive and had in mind a portrait that would emphasize the character of this ambushed predator,” said Nicols Remy.

Black and white

Said Richard Li: “In a hidden shelter in Kenya, I patiently waited until late into the night to capture the graceful moment when a leopard approached the pond, elegantly turning around.”

In April, Ospreys return to Finland, but most lakes are still frozen. That creates a lot of action at places with open water. This photo was taken against the rising sun from a low-level photo hide maintained by the Finnish Osprey Foundation. The backlit water drops make this photo stand, but what is more difficult to see is that the osprey actually caught two fish on this dive.

Animals Behavior

Nubian Ibex battle on the edge of the cliff with the beautiful backdrop of the Zin Desert mountains. During the rut, males fur becomes darker in areas such as front chest and legs, the neck muscles thicken and they fight for the right to breed.

The battle usually begins with a display of horns while tilting the head to the sides. In the second stage, if a fight develops, the males push each other as they both turn their heads and the base of their horns towards each other. If the opponents are equal, more vigorous fighting ensues as the males stand on their hind legs and strike each other. In this mode, the collision of the horns make a loud sound that can be heard far and wide.

Despite these violent fights, there is no damage to the skull, although sometimes horns get broken. Courting males seldom feed and expend much energy on fighting or mating, sometimes resulting in severe deterioration of their physical condition.

“I envisioned and dreamed about such kind of a image for many years since I started following and photographing the Nubian Ibex herd that live in this stunning environment,” explained Amit Eshel. “I have never had a chance to do it until that special morning when I spotted these adults males just after sunrise on the cliff above me as they just started battling. I wanted to include the Zin valley and mountains in the image so I made my way up the cliff In a careful detour not to spook them and slowly positioned myself closer and closer to achieve the composition and angle of sunlight I envisioned in my mind.”

“I took this image during a trip to the Galápagos Islands,” said John Seager. “The islands are full of iconic marine iguanas and lava lizards. This was the only time I saw a lizard basking on the head of an iguana, both obviously enjoying the occasion with beatific smiles.”

It was late afternoon in Puerto Egas, Santiago Island, Galapagos, and the colorful Sally Light Foot Crabs were returning to the lava-rock-encrusted shoreline. “I knew that when a wave came in, the crabs would lock down, holding on tight so they did not get washed away,” said Bill Klipp.

“This little beauty is the cuckoo wasp, also called an emerald wasp,” said Kevin Blackwell. “These incredible animals are not much bigger than a small grain of rice. It’s always amazing to see the detail in these tiny creatures every time I photograph them.”

Underwater

A female orca splits a herring bait ball while diving through it in this photo shot from underneath while free-diving.

Every winter, enormous schools of herring migrate from the open ocean into the fjords of Northern Norway and attract large numbers of big predators such as orcas and humpback whales.

Witnessing orcas feeding on herring using the so-called carousel feeding technique is very exciting but not easy to capture due to various factors: limited light and visibility, fast-paced action plus cold surface and water temperature. “Being able to free-dive and capture the action on an ongoing feeding frenzy in these conditions is difficult but I managed to create a series of photos I had never dreamt of capturing,” said a grateful Andy Schmid.

This arresting image was taken in the splendid location of Capo Noli in Italy’s Savona province. Jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca is also called light jellyfish.

Nature as art

Icy blue watery veins, shimmering glacial braids and glistening golden sediment come together to provide a delightful mirage for the human eye. Is it a beautiful elephant with a flowing lion’s mane? Or a lion’s head with luxurious flowing braids? It’s up to you and your imagination. This is the gift of Iceland’s magical topography.

Every autumn, the aspen trees in the Rocky Mountains put on a brilliant display of color for a few short but dazzling weeks. This grove, just outside their namesake town of Aspen, Colorado, is especially dense and vibrant.

People and nature

Traditional stilt fishermen try their luck with the changing tide at sunset in Koggala, Sri Lanka. It showcases the water movement in contrast to the stillness of the fishermen. Traditional, artisanal fishing methods like these, used for subsistence, do not pose significant threats to the ocean’s natural resources and, on the contrary, convert local communities into stakeholders of the ocean’s health.

Plants and Fungi

A photographer whom I respected took me to Doi Hua Mot Mountain, Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary, Tak Province, Thailand, to meet a kind of living organism with a strange shape that looked like an owl,” said Chatree Lertsintanakorn.

Urban Wild Life

A nest built on a half-broken dragon mobile hangs on the porch of a house, constantly moving in all directions by the wind.

“I watched for hours as the male and female flew in turns to add a twig, feather, hair and even clothes tags that they collected nearby to build this perfectly shaped nest that can hold several eggs,” said Roy Wiesner. “They flew back and forth for days, mission driven, unfazed by the humans sitting nearby. Finally, the female was content and agreed to pose at the entrance to her new home.”

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