Celebrity photographers Dookie Ducay and Andrei Suleik took Smart Postpaid subscribers behind the lens recently at the SM Megamall leg of the Smart Postpaid Series to show how they harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the latest flagship device of the Korean tech giant.

AI tools for mobile photography

For Suleik, a photographer of the stars, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has made his work easier, especially when using the AI functions Generative Edit and Edit Suggestions. He shared that he was hesitant at first to edit photos on a smartphone because he was used to editing photos on his laptop.

“But now that it has Generative Edit and Edit Suggestions, it automatically analyzes the photos that you took and edits it in like two seconds,” he said. “It makes it vibrant; it gives it more life.

He also likes to use the Remaster feature. “From this one, it looks a bit pale,” Suleik said showing the original image. “But after remastering, now it looks vibrant. Actually, it looks like a painting to me!”

Ducay, who has made a mark in fashion photography and advertising, shared that his favorite AI feature on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the Live Translate. “When we went to Anilao [for a photo shoot], there were a lot of Japanese and I actually used it while chit-chatting with them,” he said.

He also demonstrated how easy it was to edit out people from the photo of a car he took, using the Object Eraser feature. “I’ll just pick the Object Eraser and then encircle the people I want out of the photo and then, for a few seconds, ayan, ‘diba, [they’re gone] – it’s seamless,” he said. Ducay also noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s processor is so fast, which is perfect for photographers on the go.

On the hardware side, he is fond of Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera lens with 5x optical zoom, which is close to what he uses in professional work.

Pro tips for mobile photography

But while AI in mobile photography has somewhat changed the game and made it easier for hobbyists, this serves as a tool to complement one’s eye for good images and skills in handling subjects.

“Top one is ‘capturing emotions’, second is ‘light your background’, third is the editing part,” Suleik said when asked for tips on how to get good photos. He added that one should just take as many photos as they can and “see what looks nice.”

“Don’t get pressured to take photos and try to be perfect. It will take time but it’s always up to you, whatever your style is,” he added.

Ducay echoed Suleik’s tip, “Shoot as many photos as you can because eventually it will train your eyes and you will get better.”

He also shared two practical tips for beginners: “Don’t stand. Try different angles, different views.”

“And if you’re shooting [photos of] people, make them feel beautiful, make them feel that they’re at their best,” Ducay added.

Powered by Smart 5G

Both Ducay and Suilek shared how reliable and strong Smart 5G was during their respective shoots in Batangas and Pangasinan, with the former saying he was uploading photos while en route to the event in Mandaluyong City from Pangasinan.

“With the AI technology of Samsung S24 Series plus the unlimited 5G Smart has, it’s going to be truly an impressive experience with the customers,” said Smart Postpaid Head Shing Dimagiba.

The Smart Postpaid Series is an initiative of the telco giant to teach its subscribers how to maximize AI on their phones, particularly the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The customers also got a chance to win raffle prizes and even enjoyed waffles in the Smart Store. The next Smart Postpaid Series will be held on March 16 in SM Davao.

At the first Smart Postpaid Series held at the Smart flagship store in SM Megamall last Feb. 10, the subscribers experienced first-hand how beneficial this partnership would be in their lives.

“I think Samsung S24 Ultra is one of the best, if not the best phone this year, [and now that it’s] tied up with Smart Postpaid, the downloading and uploading of files and data are so much faster,” Ducay said. “With the huge coverage of Smart, everything is seamless,” he added.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Ultra is the latest entry in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Series, best experienced with Smart Signature Plans+ 999, which comes with UNLI 5G for 12 months, 20 GB monthly data, Unli All-Net Calls and Texts, Unli Landline Calls, and a Netflix Mobile Plan.

Smart Infinity members, meanwhile, may also get the Samsung Galaxy S24 Series starting with Infinity Plan 3500, which comes with Unlimited Data, Unlimited Texts & Calls to all local networks & landline, and a host of exclusive privileges, such as access to a Personal Relationship Manager, a dedicated hotline for concerns, worldwide concierge, and specially curated perks and events. The 1TB variant of Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is also exclusively available with Smart Infinity.

Order the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra now with Smart Signature and Infinity at Smart Stores nationwide. To learn more about Smart Postpaid offers, visit https://smart.com.ph/Postpaid/GalaxyS24. – Rappler.com

PRESS RELEASE

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Last month, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing collaborated with Ghanaian visual artist and photographer Prince Gyasi for his first full menswear show since the pandemic. As part of the collaboration, some of Gyasi’s images were printed onto the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2024 ready-to-wear and accessories.

“I never thought I’d have the opportunity to express myself in that way,” Gyasi says.

Gyasi is part of a new wave of African creatives shaping luxury fashion in and around the continent, which includes South Africa’s Trevor Stuurman, Nigeria’s Stephen Tayo, Kenya’s Barbara Minishi, British-Ghanaian Campbell Addy and Senegal’s Malick Bodian. From collaborations to campaigns, this new generation is working with local brands as well as major luxury houses to broaden people’s perception of African fashion, tap into the diaspora and allow brands to authentically draw inspiration from the continent without causing offence.

Backstage at Balmain AW 2024 show.

Photo: Acielle/Styledumonde

After previously collaborating with Balmain for its autumn 2022 campaign, Gyasi saw an opportunity to deepen his relationship with the fashion house beyond shooting content. It was unknown how this second collaboration would manifest, but Gyasi was keen to partner with Balmain and create “wearable art” — what that looked like exactly, he wasn’t initially sure. “I was like if I’m ever going to work with this brand again, I don’t want to just do campaigns because that is what’s expected of me. I wanted to go into fashion, like wearable art. I wanted to create collectibles,” he says.

Gyasi was heavily involved in the making of this collection for Balmain, Rousteing tells Vogue Business. “We truly created these pieces together. From day one when we were sketching, to the day of the show. He was there to witness his work come to life and see how we were honouring his art,” he says. “He is as much a part of this collection as me.”

In the sprawling web of global creativity, a single photograph titled ‘A Colourful Dream’ has emerged as a beacon of artistic expression, clinching the National Awards 1st Place in the Sony World Photography Awards 2024. Behind the lens is Bibek Kunwar, whose spontaneous moment captured during a documentary shoot in a felt ball factory has garnered international acclaim. With 395,000 submissions from over 220 countries, the competition highlights the vast tapestry of human experience and the planet’s natural beauty. The revelation of Kunwar’s victory comes ahead of the eagerly anticipated overall winners’ announcement on April 18, 2024, setting the stage for an exhibition at Somerset House, London, that promises to be a feast for the senses.

A Spontaneous Moment Captures Global Attention

It was amidst the vibrant chaos of a felt ball factory that Bibek Kunwar’s lens found its muse—a young girl enveloped in a sea of colorful felt balls. The image, which Kunwar titled ‘A Colourful Dream,’ depicts the girl as if she is asleep, lost in a dream woven from the very fabric of her surroundings. This serendipitous shot was not a part of the day’s planned documentary shoot but a fleeting moment captured during a break. Kunwar, seizing the ethereal beauty of the scene, asked the girl to close her eyes, thus immortalizing a moment of pure, unscripted magic.

The Journey to the Sony World Photography Awards

Entering the Sony World Photography Awards is a rite of passage for many photographers, symbolizing a moment of significant personal and professional achievement. For Bibek Kunwar, submitting ‘A Colourful Dream’ to the competition was a leap of faith—a hope that his work would resonate on a global scale. The photograph’s victory in the National Awards category is not just a personal triumph for Kunwar but a testament to the power of photography to transcend cultural and geographical boundaries. With over 395,000 submissions flooding in from more than 220 countries, Kunwar’s work stood out as a narrative not only of artistic skill but of the universal human capacity for wonder and imagination.

Ahead of the Curve: What’s Next for Kunwar and the World of Photography

As the photography community and enthusiasts worldwide await the announcement of the overall winners on April 18, 2024, Bibek Kunwar’s journey is a reminder of the unexpected paths to recognition and success in the arts. The upcoming exhibition at Somerset House, London, will not only showcase ‘A Colourful Dream’ but also offer a platform for the diverse range of subjects and perspectives that define our current era. Kunwar’s achievement is a beacon for aspiring photographers everywhere, proving that moments of spontaneous beauty can indeed capture the world’s heart.

In a world increasingly defined by fleeting moments and the relentless pace of change, ‘A Colourful Dream’ stands as a reminder of the enduring power of still images to evoke emotion, tell stories, and connect us across the vast expanse of human experience. Bibek Kunwar’s victory in the National Awards of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 is a celebration of creativity, perseverance, and the unexpected moments of beauty that light up our lives.

I like to tell myself a little white lie: we’re returning to the old ways in photography because we’re realizing that they’re best. The truth, of course, is a deeper conversation around a lack of originality and self-rediscovery. And so the work of photographer Frank Ockenfels is enough to make any portrait photographer searching for ideas and inspiration want to dive into the darkroom. Photographers these days yearn for more than just the cold digital experience. There are sensory needs greatly missing from digital photography that make us an eye floating in space with no other senses to give us information about the world. At Fotografiska, NY, photographers will experience the crazy conversation that photography has with itself. And for only a little while longer, you can dive into some very difficult questions about photography.

The exhibit showcases mixed media, an idea that art buyers tried to bring back a few years ago, only to die to online algorithms. So, I like to think of the exhibit of Ockenfels not as a resurrection of this idea but as a reanimation. The idea is dead — and we’re just playing with it like a puppet and plaything. We are Frankenstein — and like Ockenfels, we’re picking and choosing the best parts for our creation until we give it life. And once it has life, it needs to be treated with the kindness that every being deserves.

Those ideas are given life in the exhibit as we see notes that Ockenfels wrote to himself originally and later incorporated into his final pieces.

Ockenfels’s work, I believe, brings up a very important conversation about photography today. The following questions were ever present in my mind while visiting the exhibit:

• What is a photograph?
• How do we make a photograph?
• What is the difference between an image, a snapshot, and a photograph?
• Can AI make a photograph if so many made collages before us and called them photographs?
• Are composites photographs? If so, then does it really matter if they’re made by a human or not?
• Do labels matter in a world where photographers have been fighting for so long to be recognized as artists?

Looking at much of Frank’s work, one wouldn’t think they’re photographs. Instead, they’re mixed media composites done in the darkroom manually, with every painstaking part done by a human. In the darkroom, one couldn’t summon the force of AI in the cloud to magically put a leopard into a photo of the jungle. One also needed to find ways to blend the lighting together through exact toning. None of these things were done automatically — they were all done by hand. To that end, the technology has reached its peak in the analog world.

For the creation of his work, Frank has an entirely different conversation around gear. It’s not about the cameras, the sharpness of the lenses, etc. Instead, it’s all about the paper, working with peel-apart Polaroids, alternative processes, and compositing the photos together.

All of this brings up an even bigger question: does the process matter? If an AI can make all these things within an image, why are we saying that what it’s doing is not a photograph? If a person makes the entire thing by themselves digitally, does that make it a photograph? Are all the composites of star trails on social media put over random night scenes to be labeled as composites or photographs? Does doing this digitally in a day when all this work can be quickly done for us make the process less artistic? How can we find evidence in images made with authentic artistic intent against those made with a few clicks of a button?

I think the idea of the artistic struggle is common among so many photographers. Authentic photography often falls into two segments: creating or documenting. When creating, there is often some sort of artistic struggle being put forth in the making of the images. The artistic struggle can be a beautiful process that merges the artistic and creative minds together while the two try to converse in a second language.

These are thoughts that I believe every self-respecting artist who calls themselves a photographer should be asking themselves when visiting the exhibit at Fotografiska NY. More importantly, Frank Ockenfels might have the answers to what might separate us from AI.

Sharjah [UAE], February 19 (ANI/WAM): The Sharjah Museums Authority (SMA) announces the opening of its latest exhibition, “The Art of Architectural Ornamentations in the Emirate of Sharjah – A Photography Exhibition,” hosted at Bait Al Naboodah.
Inaugurated by Aisha Rashid Deemas, Director General of SMA in the presence of the exhibition participants, the exhibition opens its doors to visitors from February 17, 2024, and aims to inspire audiences for a period of six months.
The choice of Bait Al Naboodah as the venue is attributed to its rich historical significance, central location in Sharjah, and stunning architectural design.
The house features wooden columns influenced by Roman architecture and a unique backdrop of designs sourced from India by Obaid Al Naboodah, adding to its cultural richness.
Its architecture, adorned with intricate wooden and plaster decorations inspired by Islamic art–including floral motifs, geometric shapes, and calligraphy–enhances its historical and aesthetic value.
The Director General of SMA highlighted that the exhibition showcases a fusion of beauty and heritage through various architectural styles, aligning with Sharjah’s renewed identity as a beacon of creativity and heritage, encapsulating the Emirate’s historical narrative.
“This event is a significant platform to showcase Sharjah’s dedicated efforts in preserving its cultural and architectural heritage,” she said.
“It mirrors the emirate’s creative essence through its distinctive architectural styles that blend history with modernity, showcased in iconic structures like beautiful mosque domes and other cultural landmarks.”
The exhibition features creative photographs from three talented photographers selected from 85 contestants in a competition organized by the Authority for individuals aged 15 and above between September and November last year where a panel of experts from the Emirates Photography Society evaluated and shortlisted the outstanding images for display.
Ten works were chosen for display, narrating through their unique perspectives the story of Islamic art and the contemporary essence of the vibrant emirate.
These images capture the unique architectural narratives of Sharjah, incorporating Islamic elements like floral patterns, geometric designs, and calligraphy, offering a special experience for photography enthusiasts, professionals, and architectural aficionados to delve into the beauty of architectural decorations and discover the unique characteristics of Sharjah’s buildings.
Among the featured photographs is the entrance to Bait Al Naboodah Majlis, depicting traditional Emirati door designs and heritage floral decorations, and an image of Bank Street showcasing a graffiti mural, a visual spectacle on a building’s wall.
Additionally, the exhibition includes images of Sharjah Mosque, the largest in the emirate, celebrated for its intricate architectural decorations, as well as the Central Souk, an iconic structure printed on the UAE five-dirham note, known for its beautiful domes, distinctive, blue-coloured walls, arches, and geometric decorations.
The University City Hall, illuminated during the Sharjah Light Festival, also features, highlighting its elegant architectural elements inspired by Arab culture.
Accompanying the exhibition, the Authority has organized workshops aligned with the event’s goals, including the “Basic Principles of Photography” workshop in collaboration with the Emirates Photography Society and photographer Tahani Al-Arsali.
Additionally, a “Traditional Ornamentations” workshop, starting Sunday, February 18, and running until August 18, offers participants a chance to explore the architectural beauty of Bait Al Naboodah, enriching their appreciation of Sharjah’s cultural legacy. (ANI/WAM)

||| FROM LENA KASSA for ORCAS SENIOR CENTER |||

Visit Orcas Senior Center Monday through Friday, 9 am to 3 pm through April 19, to immerse yourself in the stunning photography of Julia Summers. This captivating exhibition will grace our walls throughout the months of January and February.

Julia’s artistic passion ignited at the age of eight when an art teacher, recognizing her unique perspective due to an eye patch and limited vision, handed her a camera with the encouragement to “show the world how you see it.” This marked the inception of her illustrious career as a photographer.

From overcoming adversity in school to making a profound impact on the world, Julia Summers has contributed her talent to renowned organizations such as the National Geographic, National Wildlife Federation, and the United Nations. Join us in celebrating her extraordinary vision and accomplishments at Orcas Senior Center.

TL;DR: Drones allow you to see the world in an entirely new way. Get in on this unique hobby now and buy the Ninja Dragon Phantom K Pro — which comes with a free (yes, free!) Blade X Pro — for just $149.99. Considering it usually costs $369, it’s an incredible price drop!

There are just so many views we can’t see from down here on the ground. Drones, however, let us soar through the air and get a literal birds eye perspective. And while this kind of tech sounds fancy and pricey, there are affordable ways to break into this hobby.

Consider this astonishing deal: When you buy the Ninja Dragon Phantom K Pro, you also get a Free Blade X Pro. That’s two drones for the price of one!  It’s a deal you can usually only snag for $369, but right now you can get these two drones for just $149.99, no coupons needed.

Of course, these drones aren’t just a must-buy because they’re on sale. The Ninja Dragon Drone stands out from other similar tools thanks to its sleek size, powerful battery life, and high-definition camera. Here’s what to expect:

• You can bring it with you anywhere, as it’s slim and foldable (toss it in any bag!)
• The 4K HD Camera delivers astonishingly crisp and vivid photos and videos
• It has WiFi capabilities, so you can actually check out that imagery in real time
• This drone can soar up to 12 minutes in the air
• When you’re done using it, you can use the One Key Return button, which brings the drone flying right back to you. It couldn’t be simpler to use

These drones are great for people who want to participate in a new kind of aerial hobby, capture unusual photographs, or tackle surveillance-related tasks. Regardless of your motivation, the drones will help you achieve your goal!

So, if you want to see the world in a different way, get the Ninja Dragon Phantom K Pro (along with a free Blade X Pro) now for just $149.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change.