Top 10 Flickr Hacks

As you can probably tell, I am a fan of Flickr. You can tell this by the number of posts I make citing Flickr resources and "hacks." Well, Thomas Hawk has published a list of the Top 10 Flickr Hacks, in which he talks about 10 different uses of Flickr that aren't Flickr themselves. While I agree that some of these sites are "hacks," I was surprised to see another site I truely love, Tabblo on the list.

You see, unlike Flickrleech (#1 on the list, btw), which relies totally on Flickr to function, Tabblo enables you to upload your photos to its site. The Flickr integration is only a convenience and the site does not rely on Flickr to function. I think the Tabblo approach to this is genius too. They being a startup, much like Flickr was, have seen the success and the flock of people using Flickr. They aren't competing with Flickr and in fact they have a totally different product. But, they are able to capitalize on Flickr users, because afterall, who wants to maintain two photo collections on the web? Certainly not me.

Bill Sullivan Works

Bull Sullivan takes photos unbeknownst to his subjects in different scenarios. The results are compelling to say the least.

Morguefile Classroom

When I said earlier today that regular posting would resume soon, I didn't expect to find such a great resource within Morguefile's classroom. However, upon checking it out, I discovered Jodie Coston's 10 lesson course.

The course starts off talking about composition, proceeds through to basics and then tackles portraits, studio lighting and product photography. Great examples and illustrations provide you with the a visual guide to the topics being discussed, and to top it off there's a discussion board for each lesson, which I must admit I haven't tested and it seems to be fairly old (2004ish). However, even if the forums aren't active, or disabled the course is still good.

There's a great article about Flickr entitled "What Makes Flickr So Special Anyway".

Sorry for the lack of real updates. Things have been a bit busy for me as of late, but I will resume real posting habits soon.

Another great interface, again in creativeness.

Perhaps one of the greatest flash gallery interfaces ever.

Update: I should have stated that it's great in a creative sense, not necessarily a usability sense.

Out of Bounds

When I saw this technique, I was stumped thinking about where it could be used. This morning though, I was thinking about it a bit more and feel as though I've seen similar things on a few web sites as part of their layouts. So, perhaps this link isn't really photography related, except maybe the brief introduction the tutorial gives about layer masks in photoshop.

The Cute Project has a great gallery of cute animals. This is probably the cheesiest link I've posted thus far on Photub...

Digital Photography School's blog shows us 4 Ways to Make Your Photos Pop.

Digital Images Coming to 911

The New York Times is reporting that New York City's 911, and 311 (a non emergency line) will be getting support to handle incoming digital images, which can be used to further assess an emergency situation (or a 311 call).

“If you see a crime in progress or a dangerous building condition, you’ll be able to transmit images to 911, or online to nyc.gov,” the mayor said in his annual State of the City address. “And we’ll start extending the same technology to 311 to allow New Yorkers to step forward and document nonemergency quality of life concerns, holding city agencies accountable for correcting them quickly and efficiently.”

Though I think it's a great idea, I am a bit skeptical about how aspects of it, might affect the emergency call system. What happens if the picture makes the situation seem less important, or less serious?

Philip McClure, has written an article comparing The Gimp to Photoshop.

Photo Competitions for Learning

As someone who thinks about taking photos much more often than I actually take photos, I find myself interested in the idea of photography competitions. Not for the reasons of glory, or great prizes but for the aspect not always thought of, the learning.

Taking photos for a competition gives you some goal to focus your attention on. Take for instance the Staples Hometown View contest I recently posted about, where you are asked to "Upload a picture highlighting what you love about your hometown." This has a broad range, but it still starts to funnel your focus towards something. Many, right away will begin to think about particular topics that they might shoot for the contest. I thought of a few, and instantly started to think about how I would compose my shot, what time of day would add the most to my composition and what conditions would be perfect. This sort of behavior is essential to learning about anything. It's called thinking.

However, too much thinking can also lead to bad shots. There is some sort of balance that as an amateur I have yet to figure out. Yesterday, for instance, I attended a technical talk on software patents and brought my camera. The conditions weren't perfect, but I had planned out how to take the photo I wanted of the speaker on stage. Waiting for just the right moment, I was rushed to focus, compose and shoot. My exposure was nearly on point, but my focus was off and the photo didn't turn out so well. And, because I was picky about the shot and over thought about everything, I only had one chance and I blew it.

My experience yesterday taught me to be more aggressive while taking photos, but still plan for my shots. If I had fired off 100 shots yesterday, not only would it have been annoying for members of the audience and the speaker, I would have missed the reason I was there to begin with. But, had I been a bit more aggressive and readapted my plan as conditions changed, I would have been able to obtain a few more shots while still being a good audience member. They may have suffered the same "badness," but nevertheless I could have made sure to fix what didn't work before.

Unless you are an expert photographer, you are not going to be able to see the outcome of all situations. Likewise, in order to become an expert you have to think about what the outcome will be for all of the situations you photograph. This is because in order to learn from your photography, you must compare your perceived results with your actual results. Trial and error so to speak, but without planning you'll have way too many perceived results to maintain and to analyze afterwards.

So take a look at Photography Competitions, a site where you can see a number of current contests around the internet and plan to take photos for them. Plan your shots before you pick up your camera and adjust your composition and your original thoughts on location a few times. Does your original idea still make sense now that you are at the location? Look through the viewfinder and think about your composition before firing the shot. And of course, after you take the shots go back and look at them. What worked? What didn't work? Can any of the shots be readjusted to make it better and maybe be entered in the competition (assuming you can go back to the location)?

Photography Competitions don't have to be about winning or losing or even entering a photo. Often times, you might get the benefit of critique from other contestents or judges, but the ideas that they present to be photographed are the true beauty of them.

The High Cost of Keeping Clean

A Wal-Mart in Taylors, SC is filthy, as shown by Flickr user "Filthy Wal-Mart". Without getting into political bashing of Wal-Mart, I must say I'm not surprised that this could happen at a Wal-Mart, given the apparent mistreatment of it's employees.

100 Photographs that Changed the World

Not to be outdone by some random blog with 13 Photographs that Changed the World, Life Magazine has published a gallery with, count them, 100 Photographs that Changed the World.

If you ask me, the 13 Photographs is a much better read, since it's descriptions are much more insightful.

Not really instructions, but a visual howto for building a remote for a Canon 300D.

Jason King's photography is beautiful.

Camera Armor

When I first read about Camera Armor in an article about Photokina, I nearly laughed. Then I thought about the real uses of it, and how for a bunch of people it's probably a savior. I then found Lens Armor, which just might be the greatest thing yet. I'm constantly banging my lens against things and with even cheaper glass it's scary to think about break something. In fact, I started using a rubber hood on some of my lenses for just that reason. What Camera Armor has here is a great thing, and despite its mech like appearance, I think it'll catch on with lots of different types of people.

Running From Camera

Running From Camera is a photo blog in which the photographer runs as fast as he can from his camera, before the 2 second self-timer captures him.

His other blog, though less unique is equally interesting.

Scrapblog

Today is definitely the day we're talking about putting your photos online. If you're still looking for ways to do this after the article I published earlier today, then maybe Scrapblog can help you. From their site:

"If you love sharing photos like we do, you'll love Scrapblog. With Scrapblog, you can easily create stunning multimedia scrapbooks featuring your photos, videos, audio and a bunch of creative elements. We made Scrapblog drag-and-drop-easy so that everyone can tell their stories and share them online or turn them into high-quality photo books and DVDs. Best of all, it's free and there's nothing to download."

Update: Of course, it'd be helpful if I helped you get to Scrapblog. Link fixed.

New Photub Updates

As some of you have probably noticed, I've been playing around with the sidebar navigation. I've moved the main navigation obviously to the top of the site, etc... What you probably didn't realize is that a new article was also posted. This article is about How To Put Your Photos on the Web.

Cleaning Digital Cameras

Not having experience with cleaning cameras, I don't think I'd allow myself at this point to clean my digital camera, but if you are inclined, Cleaning Digital Cameras is probably a resource you can use.

Plogger for Photo Albums

Plogger is an open source gallery system that runs on top of MySQL and PHP. It looks to be a serious contender for those looking for a photo album online.

Fred Parker's Ultimate Exposure Computer is a guide for nature photographers (but works in general... ) for computing exposures.

An Insider's Look at Food Photography

An old article, but of course still relevant has a look at Food Photography, and provides insights and tips for producing quality work.

As a side note, "There is a law in the U.S.A. regarding truth in advertising. It requires that advertisements about food show the actual food item that a consumer would be able to buy and eat. " I don't know about the rest of you, but that fast food burger looked a bit better on the menu than my tray.

Once Again Reminded

Once again, I am reminded that you don't need a pricey equpiment to make beautiful images. This flash based gallery of Polaroid images by Grant Hamilton starts out slow (and by slow I mean, you think "eh.. nothing amazing"), but trust me a few pages in, you'll be impressed by the great composition and use of patterns.

Eliminating Noise in the Ricoh at ISO 1600

I've discussed the Ricoh GR Digital here before, and found a great little photo tip for those of you struggling with the noise levels at ISO 1600. "The best way to set the camera up is to have the lowest saturation you can set and the highest contrast."

Hometown Views Photo Contest

Staples is sponsoring a photo contest. The Hometown Views Photo Contest, is looking for pictures that highlight what you love about your hometown. One Grand Prize Winner will receive a 5-day/4-night photography adventure for two to Reykjavik, Iceland and a chance to make $5000 in comission from selling prints in Staple's stores nationwide. 40 Finalists also get a chance to make $5000 and for everyone's efforts, you'll get a free 12"x18" print of one of your photos.

The Hometown Views Photo Contest will accept entries until March 15th, and is limited to 1 entry per person.

You've got a ton of time and nothing to lose, so start snapping pictures now. I propose we tag entries/potential entries on Flickr with 'hometownview'. I wanna see what people come up with.

Perhaps one of the ridiculous, yet totally awesome piece of photography equipment ever. It even has telescopic folding action!

I wouldn't do this with any camera I loved, but if I had a camera laying around I didn't care about...

I am NOT responsible for broken cameras as a result of tossing.

Take a Cue From Movies

Watch Movies talks about the similarity in shooting a major Hollywood Production and shooting a wedding. The following quote sums it up quite nicely (though the rest of the article is well worth reading):

"Some people think that one of the most important differences between good professional photographers and good amateurs is that the pros have a picture in mind before they take one and get it because they know how to; the amateurs get a shot more by accident."

I guess this makes me an amateur, but it seems only a matter of time before a good amateur begins to see the good shots and allows for planning of them. Likewise, like any artistic medium, it takes a while to truely master it. Professionals are professionals because they are able to create the shots they want by looking to previous shots they've taken and combining the experiences from them. They understand that blurring occurs with slow shutter speeds not because of theory, but because they've taken shots of hummingbirds with a shutter speed that was just a bit too slow. They've learned from their previous photography and because of this they can see new images. Want to get paid to take photos? Become a master by learning everything you can and by practicing. Shoot everyday, even if it's in your living room and study your results.

For the record, I'm not a professional. I haven't developed all of the skills it takes to become a professional, and without true dedication to photography, I may never become a professional. I do hope to some day become the step just below professional--the step where I make images like described in the quote above.

Leica M8 Impressions

As someone who's always dreamed of playing with a high end rangefinder (too expensive for my bank account), the announcement of the Leica M8 last year, and then the delivery of it was exciting. How would a digital version of these rangefinders work out? Well, there's been some problems, which Leica is in the process of fixing, but this review gives a nice impression. Aside from the technical problems with the camera at this point, is the Leica M8 really necessary? Have we surpassed the need for high quality range finders in favor of fast autofocus and insane resolution sensors found in modern DSLRs?

Makes me wish I had finished adding comments to the blog this past weekend :/.

13 Photographs That Changed the World

Be sure to check out Neatorama's article entitled 13 Photographs That Changed the World. Truely inspiring, especially the thought that someday perhaps a photo you've taken could be described as "Changing the World," I guess you just have to be there.

I support Open RAW, do you?