pholistic.com

2010 is going the be the year of the tablet.
Pumped by the success of the Kindle and the expanding market of EBooks, manufacturers are scrambling to flood the market with tablets. Its only the first month of the new year and the blogosphere is already clogged with tablets, couriers and slates. Steve Balmer recently unveiled the HP Slate and wednesday Apple is expected to announce their much awaited ISlate. Android tablets are hatching left and right, and rumor has it that Microsoft has another device, the “courier” slated for release in the near futuer.

I am photography addict, but I have been following these developments with great enthusiasm. Why? Simple. The tablets are going to be a super portable device, running atleast in the case of the HP Slate a full blown operating system (windows 7), quite possibly with USB ports and the ability to install 3rd party software.

Imagine tethering your camera to a 10inch portable lcd screen with a built in processor. You won’t have to care about a built in articulating screen, or a separate wireless module. It will take using live view to take a photo to a different level. A 10x zoom on a 10 inch screen will let you focus spot on. Macro photographers will love being able to shoot tethered with a tablet, it will at the very least be much easier on their back. No more hunching over while taking pics of little critters.

Timelapses, timed shooting will no longer require additional hardware, the tablet can do those minor time based calculations without breaking a sweat. The hard drive on these will probably not be too large, but it will be enough to backup those critical few photos on the field.

Laptops have been around for decades and netbooks for the last few years, both devices capable of doing anything that the tablet can possibly do, so why will this device be any different. Simple, it will be more convenient to take on the field and it will have a better battery life than a netbook or a laptop. It will be easier to slip into your bag than a netbook and I am hoping as they want to tread into the E-Reader market with these devices, that their visibility in bright sunlight will be much better than traditional LCDs.

All the rumors, atleast from Apple’s end will come to and end when they make the official announcement on Wednesday, and I am anticipating the year of the tablets with great hope!

Timelapse is a great way to pack in large amounts of visual information in a really effective manner. Its often used to document construction projects and display star trails. Then you have certain people who take this simple technique to a whole new level. Check out Christoph Rehage’s awesome documentation of his inspiring trip through China.

Below our some previously featured timelapse videos:

• Tilt Shift Timelapse
• Collection of Timelapses by Timescapes

The Falcon – SOOC, originally uploaded by Exploring Earth.

There are somethings you can’t fake in a studio. For all those who doubt the moon landing, try and fake this!
According to Exploring Earth (the photographer)

” I Was crouched and he flew right over my head with this snake!! I was walking into the baylands to test out the 70-300mm and I spot this falcon on the ground. I creep up to within about 20 feet and start clickin off shots. He’s just kinda sittin there lookin at me. As I move in closer he takes off so I pan frantically through the viewfinder and start snapping shots and OMG this is what he had in his talon! ”