photo-lifestyle.com

Organizing Photos – Windows Movie Maker

If you love to take photos, one of the challenges is what to do with them after you take them. Organizing photos isn’t easy. In the good old days of film photography, we had armloads of photo envelopes from the developer after every trip or event. You could pretty much tell someone’s basic personality by where those prints ended up. Some people just left them in the envelope. Others had great boxes full of happy jumbles of family events and stunning scenery, and the meticulous ones, like my mother had huge albums that could double as an effective weapon in case a burglar broke in. Each one was laboriously labeled with the year and/or subject matter.

Now that we have entered the digital age, the danger is to upload the photos onto the computer to free up space in the camera, and never look at them again. Especially if they aren’t prize winners. Here’s one fun solution. I took a pleasant trip with my daughter to an area all covered with interesting rocks, and explored a cave there as well. None of the photos were that great, but as a set they showed the feeling of the place quite well.

I chose the best ones and uploaded them into Windows Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker makes it cut and paste simple to add effects, interesting fades from one photo to the next, and music as well. It took only about 10 min. to put together a quick movie that provides an experience much more like being there than one photo could have done. Next time you are ready to start organizing photos you might give Windows Movie Maker a try.

Light and Darkness

I took this with a small pocket Casio. Not too clear, but it serves my purpose of a background for web page. The page has a Christian mission theme, and I wanted to capture the idea of the world being a very dark place, with the light of God’s love just beginning to light the darkne

ss. There is a huge idol in Kurume that’s the same height as the Statue of Liberty and its base combined. It represents the original pagan religion established by Nimrod toward the beginning of the world in defiance of the True God, and as such is a classic symbol of inner darkness, so I took that as the theme.

The actual conditions looked something like this. I liked the reflection of the late afternoon sun in the water. Sometimes its an advantage to have a small pocket camera instead of a big professional model. I’m using a Casio Exelim 7.2, which has a lot of features, including a huge selection of preset style options. I chose “sunset mode” to see what would happen.

Here’s the result I got. Not bad, but I wanted to emphasize the idea, so I moved the shutter speed setting over just a bit to get the darkened effect, then cropped it to bring the idol closer to the center, arriving at the version above. I’m happy with the top photo. The contrast between light and darkness is pronounced, and I have ample black space to add some text. I could use this for a banner or title for the page as well.

Why Do We Take Pictures?

Why do we take pictures? What is the reason for having a photo lifestyle?

I already have several hundred versions of your basic sunset photo on file, and since I love to hike, a good share of them are framed in trees, much like this one I took yesterday evening. So why, when the clouds start to turn color do I whip out my camera and start to look for the optimum angle? Do I need another sunset photo for some project or job I’m doing? Absolutely not. I have plenty in my files to choose from. Is there someone who needs to see this particular sky? Not really. On the surface it’s just a habit – a photo lifestyle.

Why do we take pictures? Perhaps part of the answer is in the home page introduction to this blog. We want to cheat time. To somehow save the feelings and experiences of this moment to enjoy later. We can’t save the entire experience, but we can preserve part of the visual image we see. I was having a particularly contemplative moment when I took this sunset photo. I was wondering why we think a pink or orange sky is more beautiful or exciting than a blue one. Perhaps, I thought, the sky changes color more often in Heaven, so it makes us feel happy to see the sky change? It was uplifting to think about Heaven in such specific terms, and I think perhaps I wanted to remember that feeling of hope when I got home and continued my photo lifestyle by uploaded my photos for the day.

Then again, perhaps I’m looking for that elusive perfect sunset photo. Maybe, just maybe the sunset photo I take today will be better than all the rest. Perhaps it will win a contest and end up in a magazine or on someone’s wall. I just might be taking sunset photo after sunset photo for the same reason Monet filled hundreds of canvases with water lilies.

I think the main answer to the question, why do we take pictures? lies in our respect for diversity. God has made every flower just a little bit different. No two snowflakes are alike, and each sunset is a new version of God’s love bidding us a peaceful day’s end. We show our respect for the individuality of each representation of beauty that we see by wanting to record and catalog it for ourselves and others to enjoy later.

At any rate, I have one more sunset photo now for whatever reason. It could be simply another involuntary example of my photo lifestyle, but I do hope you enjoy this one.

Always Carry a Tripod – The Venus Jupiter Conjunction

You may have already noticed two bright planets in the evening sky. The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter has been striking throughout November.

Astronomical events were the farthest thing from my mind this evening, though. I had no idea the climax, or closest conjunction was to take place on December 1st. I had just been sharply reprimanded for asking an honest question, and was running late for another job across town. I raced around in something of a dither, gathering keys and supplies, and came bursting out of the front door planning to rush to the car.

The spectacular scene on the horizon was enough to completely overpower any thoughts of unjust reprimands or waiting students. I knew I had no time, but this moment called for a tripod. I just happened to have a miniature tripod in my purse that my mom had handed me a few days earlier. I quick screwed it on my little pocket casio, balanced it precariously on my daughter’s bike seat, set the camera to “city lights” mode and gingerly pushed the shutter.

The result was amazing. Venus to the left at magnitude -4 was clearly visible, and Jupiter to the right and a little higher in the sky at magnitude -2 was a definite little dot. The moon looks like a smile to complete a happy face.

My work was in an 11th floor condo close to the city center. It was only 15 minutes later, but the moon was already much thinner. I asked if I could take a shot from my students’ balcony before we began, and took this second shot from there. It’s hard to believe it could be possible to capture a conjunction with a pocket digital camera and a mini tripod. My photo lifestyle is definitely going to include carrying a tripod from now on. Hurray for technology!

Which Camera to Buy for Mom?

Here’s a question I received today regarding the photo lifestyle of older people.

My mom is 76 and takes pictures of anything. She has asked for a digital camera for Christmas, is there any tips you would give as I know nothing about this kind of stuff.

I’ve looked into several models and if you can find it, would definitely choose the Casio Exelim EX-277 7.2 mega pixels with a 3x optical zoom lens. It’s actually been rendered obsolete by the powers that be, and replaced with a 10 mega pixel model, so if you have to you can settle for the newer one.

The fact is, though there will probably be no occasion where mom would use 10 mega pixels. It would be far to big to upload easily on her computer screen, taking up at least 6 screens per picture, and isn’t necessary in the world of printing unless she plans to blow them up to poster size, so if you can find the older model, it will be easier on your pocketbook, and on mom’s memory chip.

But I digress. The reasons I would choose this camera are as follows:

It has the world’s brightest display screen, (at least so far) so you can see your picture easily even in bright sunlight. No shading the screen and squinting to see what you are taking a picture of.

Although it has more features than any other pocket camera out there, with dozens of automatic settings as well as the ability to adjust the lighting, speed, focus and flash settings manually, there is also an “easy” mode that changes the camera into a simple, yet super-intelligent point-and-shoot.

The anti-shake feature will actually enable her to take photos without a tripod even if she gets a little tipsy a few years down the road.

And it comes in a great rainbow of colors, all pleasantly brushed to not show fingerprints.

Cons? The battery only lasts for about a year, and then will have to be replaced for about $20. Since it is an older model, I would suggest buying an extra battery when you get the camera, and setting it aside for the inevitable event when the first one expires.

Also, the default settings are super clear and bright, to the point of seeming unnatural. If you go into the settings and change the sharpness, saturation and contrast to -1 instead of 0, you’ll get a more natural warm looking result.

I’ve been using this model for my portable take-everywhere camera for about a year and a half now, and am really very pleased with the results I get. It would definitely be a good choice for your mom regardless of her level of technical knowledge.