Photos

This is a mobile, hanging inside the atrium of the National Science Foundation. Some of the educational outreach programs I manage are funded by the National Science Foundation. Periodically, someone associated with the program needs to attend meetings (in D.C., or at the NSF headquarters in Arlington, VA), to report on the progress of the grant. My eye was caught by this mobile (and a similar sculpture mounted into the floor of the atrium -- I'll post it tomorrow).

The only post-processing done on the image was to sharpen it and adjust the levels a little before reducing the size of the file.

Projects funded by NSF have often found their way into public use. Of particular interest to this group might be a new software, called Shadow Eliminator (because it gets rid of deep shadows in images). It was developed by Vladimir Brajovic, an expert in robot vision at Carnegie Mellon University. The optical device they developed operates more like an eye's retina than a standard imaging sensor. Plans are being developed to eventually market it commercially. (Disclaimer: I don't know Dr. Brajovic, and have no connection to his company). For now, you can see demos online, and even try it out on your own photographs at

http://www.shadowilluminator.org/.