Photos and Slideshows

Some things aren't what they appear to be at first glance.

Best Optical Illusions - The most popular videos are here

Here's an amusing video I think you will enjoy.

While the use of digital cameras has made it easier for photographers to quickly check whether or not they like the shot they have taken, there are still often flaws that need to be touched up or minor adjustments to be made. Because of this, an image editor may be necessary to produce your desired results.

While image editors that come with your computer’s operating system can do basic editing, more advance users will likely want a more sophisticated program.

There are a number of good image editors out there that are popular among both photographers and web designers. Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular.

Ever since it's release in 1990, it has become an industry standard in the image editing industry. There’s also Corel PHOTO-PAINT of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. This program specifically targets photographers who wish to edit their images by means of their computer.

Another photo editing software is GIMP which stands for GNU Image Manipulation. The good thing about this photo editor is that you can use it on a variety of operating systems.

For those who are used to the Photoshop interface, there is the GIMPshop developed by Scott Moschella.

Google has also developed Picasa which is a basic photo editing and organizing software which can be useful to photographers who only need to crop, fix red eye, and adjust the hues on their photos.

There is no lack of possible solutions for your photo editing needs. Take the time to research the possible alternatives. Many programs are either free or have a free trial version or lite version that can be upgraded later. Whatever your editing needs, you will likely be able to find a practical solution.

Waterhouse is one of my favorite painters.

I love the northern lights. These pictures are beautiful.

Do you have boxes of old family photographs on slides cluttering up your closet? If you do, you're not alone. They were great at the time. Now they seem to be an unnecessary source of clutter and an impractical media format. The good news is that they can be easily converted to convenient digital photographs.

There are numerous services on the Internet that will convert your slides for you. It's also likely that there is a service near your home. This may be the best choice if you don't have too many. Otherwise, at twenty to thirty cents or more per slide, you might prefer to do it yourself.

There are numerous slide copiers and scanners on the market. If you have thousands of slides, this might be the best option. It's even possible that you could make some money copying slides for others. Here's an inexpensive slide copying instructions document and here are a few links for slide copiers from Amazon.com.

If you enjoy digital photography, like I do, you probably have already come across several different file formats used by digital cameras.

Regardless of whether you are an amateur or a professional, you will have to deal with image formats when you are taking pictures and transferring them to your computer and editing them.

Which image format is best for you? Much of it depends on the results that you want and how much control you need to have over editing your images. Below are some of the most common image formats used in use today.

JPEG

This is perhaps the most popular image format. It is used in both digital photography and in web design. This is an advantage because you can be sure that you can open your file using any computer and without the need for special
software.

There is a downside, however. JPEG is considered a lossy format, which means that a lot of details are lost due to compression.

TIFF

The answer to JPEG’s lossy quality is the TIFF format. This means that more details are saved for a better image quality.

The main disadvantage is that TIFF files ar much larger and therefore require more storage space.

RAW

Among the three, RAW could be considered as the file that shows images in their most raw form. RAW images are unprocessed which gives photographers more control in
editing them later on.

The choice you make depends largely on your specific needs. The good news is that there are many different alternatives to choose from.

I really like the cave in the second picture. Look for the footprint a little later on.

Sometimes I wonder if we have it too easy, with all our modern technological gadgets. I don't think so. I like easy. Still, it is best to not entirely forget our past and the simple pleasures it provided. Cameras are a good example. I like modern digital cameras and their ease of use. I especially like the way digital photographs can be stored, processed and shared electronically. I'm a bit spoiled and don't really know much about the cameras and photographers that preceded me. I decided to remedy this situation by doing an online search about old cameras and camera collecting. Here are some links I found useful.

Collecting and Using Old Cameras: This site features photo galleries of collectible cameras. Detailed descriptions and usage tips are provided.

Camera Collecting and Restoration: Here you will find detailed information about many old cameras and how they can be repaired so you can actually use them. He makes the point that many older cameras can be purchased inexpensively, yet take better pictures than many of the far more expensive cameras on the market today.

Antique and Nineteenth Century Cameras: It's kind of fun to browse through all these photographs of antique cameras. This site also features information and links for the camera collector.

Here's a beautiful, relaxing video. A very large, finely tuned set of windchimes is being played by hand. It's great music to listen to while browsing through photos.

I enjoy making wind chimes and tuning wind chimes that have been purchased elsewhere. Here is an ebook on making and tuning wind chimes that can be useful for those who would like to learn about that hobby. You might also enjoy this blog about microtonal music for general and free information about tuning.

I especially enjoy the pictures of the mountain tops among the clouds.

Putting a slideshow together isn't very difficult. I use Open Office software. It's free and relatively easy to use. It's also useful for much more than slideshows. It can also be used for text documents, spreadsheets and databases. It's good to know that you can insert clickable links into your slideshow. This is useful for promoting websites that have similar content.

Finished slideshows can be uploaded to SlideShare. This is a great way to share it with the world. It's an active community, so you will likely get comments on your production and meet people who post their own slideshows for you and others to enjoy.

This is kind of cool, an entire photography magazine in an embedded Scribd document.

American PHOTO 2009-06

I love the elephant on slide nine.

If you are interested in underwater photography or just enjoy cool pictures, check out this magazine.

Underwater Photography

Underwater Photography Links:

Underwater Photography Magazine
Ocean Photos

I got this image from PD Photo and believe it is in the public domain. Please do your own research by checking the source page for this image to verify its copyright status and find out other details about this photograph.

An ice storm at a garden can result in unexpected beauty.

I believe this picture of the Grand Canyon is in the Public Domain. If you want to use this image, please verify its copyright status by checking this page at PD Photo.

Landscape photography is a real artform that can produce breathtaking results. If you are interested in landscape photography, you might enjoy checking out The Science of Great Landscape Photography.

This image appears to be in the public domain. Please see this page at PD Photo to confirm its copyright status for your own use. See also this collection of public domain ocean images.

There are a lot of pictures of distorted clocks in this slideshow. It's pretty cool and a fitting tribute to Salvador Dali's imagination.

I have decided to start including some public domain picture on this site. Public domain pictures are free for the public to use. Nobody owns the copyright on them. See this Wikipedia article about public domain. They are useful for adding to your website or for making slideshows or videos. You can click on the Public Domain Pictures label link to see what I have so far. (As time goes on, I will add Public Domain Pictures 2 and so on. Check the labels in the sidebar to access all the pictures.)

Wikimedia commons is a great place to find public domain pictures and other media types that are in the public domain. I usually use a search term like sunsets public domain to weed out the results that may be free to use, but still have some kind of copyright restrictions. It is still a good idea to check the information on the file to ensure that it is really in the public domain. Sometimes, it will be requested that you include an attribution on the picture, especially if it is from a government agency. I will be including links on the picture posts so you can check for yourself the status of the pictures.

Here are some other other sites I like that have good quality public domain pictures.

PD Photo
Gimp Savvy
US Fish and Wildlife Digital Library System
NASA Images

Bonsai is a fascinating hobby, but it can be difficult to find the information you need. You might want to try this ebook on Bonsai Gardening Secrets: The Insider Secrets to Creating Beautiful Bonsai. You can also sign up for a free bonsai gardening newsletter at that site.

This image is believed to be in the public domain. Check this link for information on the file, including it's licensing status.

See also The Countries of the World for a collection of videos and slideshows from individual countries.

I believe this image is in the public domain. Visit this link to confirm it's licensing status and to gain additional information about this picture file.