1 Adventure

World Famous Image "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange Was Retouched

Dorothea Lange's photo called "Migrant Mother" is one of the most well known among photos that came out of the Dust Bowl era. The photo was taken by Lange in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California of a migrant mother and her children. It's always been one of my favorite photos. The fact that is was so well "photoshopped" so long ago was another amazing feat.

What most people don't know is that it had a mystery thumb that was edited out before being released publicly. I recently pointed this out to someone when were looking at the photo and they didn't believe me until I pointed at it in the picture. So I decided to post it just for fun. See if you can find the thumb in the final image you have most likely seen before.

Final Image:

Mystery Thumb Comparison! Old School Photo Editing

Original Unretouched Image:

In this original image, you can see the thumb clearly in the lower right hand corner. Its much more distracting, so it was nice they did edit it out long ago.

Next time you see this image, ask your friends to see if they can find the thumb in the image. At first glance most people won't notice it, until you find it and then you see if every time you look at the image.

Library of Congress: Dorothea Lange Archive Photo Collection
Wikipedia: Dorothea Lange

Botox Loans - The Bizarre Reality of Lifestyle Loans

Seriously, what in the world is wrong with our society? You can now get loans for your botox treatment!?!?! I admit I laughed at first. Maybe it's a practical joke on people like me and the rest of us with enough common sense to know that loans for shots of toxic temporary facial treatments are pretty idiotic. American's obsession with cosmetic treatments has finally met our other obsession: personal debt. This may not be a new a new thing at all, but for Austin, Texas it seems to be. But how should I know? I have never asked my bank if they would give me a loan for a botox shot. I wonder what the qualifications are: fine lines, wrinkly skin, and a little crazy? This credit union should get a good public flogging by John Kelso at the Austin American Statesman I think.

Location of sign: Traveling south on North Lamar near Book People & REI

Why I Love The Kodak Dual Lens V570 Digital Camera

Finally! A digital camera that is supposed to do what it was intended to do. Create digital photos the way your eye wants to see them.

I got the Kodak V570 Dual Lens Digital Camera about two month ago, after very little research, but armed with the fact of its dual lens capability (good range) and 23mm wide angle merits I decided to throw caution in the wind and buy it. Boy was I glad I did. After some time working with the camera, its probably one of the easiest digital camera's I have used, period. It logical use and placement of buttons and menus is an innovation in itself. It's really refreshing when you buy something that actually works like you like want it to.

The V570 has two internal lenses, a 23mm ultra-wide angle, and a 39-117mm optical zoom. Both lenses have a 5 megapixel CCD image sensor. The range of the wide angle lense returns about 2-3x more image space per photo than a regular digital camera. Meaning you get all the elements you usually wish you could get.

The unique feature of the camera is it's ability to change lenses as you change the zoom of the frame. You can obtain about a 5x-20x (digital) level zoom with the camera. It has a niffy little left side bar that tells you when you are in "UW" for Ultra Wide, "W" for Wide, "T" and "D". Once you get in the realm of T to D, the break down of image quality expontentially rises due to the optical zoom. Remarkably the degradation is not noticeable unless you decide to zoom across a long distance such as a landscape shot or across a room on a single feature.

What I Like & Dislike About the Dual Lens V570

Like

- obviously the SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH C-VARIOGON ultra-wide angle 23mm lens
- 2.5 in. LCD screen
- sleek, attractive design
- true color high quality images
- placement of buttons
- ease of use menu system and operating software.
- automatic shutoff
- image quality
- review options (crop, pan, zoom)
- stitching panoramias (one of the best I have used, very neat and useful)
- size
- how impressive the camera looks when you turn it on, and it beeps and the lens cover flashes up James Bond high-tech like (silly I know, but its a lot of fun)

Dislike
- slow zoom
- the favorites sections and the plastic people demo pictures (do we really need those?)
- issue with saturation and light balance when camera is flipped vertically and horizontially. Quite a different photo (darker) is capable when camera is tilted on end (vertical), as opposite (lighter) to normal position. Why do I have this issue?
- focus response and strength can be improved if this camera is to be used in the field. It seems to have some issues, but is not a problem most of the time.
- Kodak, could you give us a custom fit camera case for this camera? That would another good incentive to buy this camera.
- flimsy battery and SD card flaps. (While they work for the design, they do come apart easily when in heavy use. The battery cover kept being a problem for me)
- screen looks like it can scratch easy. An easy tip to remedy this is to place a screen protector used for PDA's over the screen. Cut it out to match the space and stick it on the screen. Replace it when it gets too scratched.

Example of Wide Angle Lens In Use

Can you notice the beautiful display of the clouds and sky in the image. It really adds to the overall appeal and setting of the location. This image was taken last week, its current and un-edited. Used to illustrate what is capable.