DP & the Internet

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23
Jan 08

Online Photo Editors

Basic photo editing no longer takes special software. You can now do some wonderful things with photos from any computer on almost any browser from anywhere in the world. Online photo editors allow you to edit photos simply by going to a special website.

Once fully loaded, these sites let you resize, adjust brightness and contrast, tweak color and even work with layers. While none of these editors are as robust as Photoshop Elements, they are great for doing basic adjustments especially when working on a computer that is not your own.

Splashup – an excellent photo editor that looks a lot like Photoshop Elements or Corel Paint Shop Pro. It is lacking in any real advanced features, but what it does have it does well. This is the best online editor for people who are used to working with commercial image editing software.

Picnik – an extremely simple image editor that is setup very well for people who are new to image editing. Picnik doesn’t do anything very fancy, but it loads fast and is great for quick tasks like making an image ligher or cropping a photo. 

FotoFlexer – touted as the world’s most advanced photo editor, this service appears to live up to its name. FotoFlexer offers the usual basic fixes but then adds on a dozen or more special effects that are likely not offered by any other single online editor. The Interface of FotoFlexer is also broken up into easy categories so finding the right tool is fairly simple given how complex the site is.

Google search for online editing – I found the above site and many more by searching for “online photo editor” in Google.

You can use any of these programs without setting up an account, but to get all of the features offered including online storage of works in progress. Setting up an account is simple for each of the reviewed programs. Typically all you need is a user name, password, email address and a secret question. 

 

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24
Jul 07

Shutterfly Studio – Online photo services

What good are digital photos if you can’t share them?

 Shutterfly.com is a great website for sharing your digital photos online, but where Shutterfly really shines is what you can do with them offline.

To get started with Shutterfly, you will need to setup a free account. It’s easy and takes less than five minutes. Once you have setup a free account, you can begin uploading your pictures into online albums. These albums will not only help you manage your photos, but you can also share them with anyone you wish.

Shutterfly began as an online develper. 4×6 prints are only $.12 each and they can print all the way up to 20×30″. 15 free prints are provided just for setting up an account. Usually, prints will arrive in the mail in less than a week.

In addition to ordering prints, Shutterfly provides dozens of other options. You can make calendars, Tshirts, coffee mugs, posters, aprons, gift boxes, etc. Two of our favorite photo products are collage posters and gift books.

Shutterfly Studio is a free program that walks you through creating a colllage poster as large as 20×30. The poster can include a single photo or hundreds of photos. Adding photos, moving photos and creating text boxes is extremely easy. A dozen or so layouts are also provided for a very professional looking product.

We also talked about CafePress at the meeting this month. CafePress is a site that allows you to sell photo items on your website. All  items have a base price and you can determine the markup. You keep anything over the base price.



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25
Jul 06

Photo Blogging

How to Create and Use a Photo Blog

What is a Blog?

A blog is an online journal. What you type in, email, or send via cell phone to your blog page automatically gets posted onto the web.

Sounds scary. Why would I want to do that?

Have you ever gone on a vacation and wanted to keep the folks at home posted on what you have been up to without having to send out a mass email or make a dozen phone calls?

Have you ever wanted to send a picture to everyone, but know that many people won't open the attachment?

Do you have a family newsletter?

Have you been wondering what a family member in college has been up to?

The blog is the ultimate answer for all of the above scenarios.

Setting up a blog:

In order to get an idea of how a blog works, here are three blogs that I am associated with:

Adam's Moblog

The Cochran Family Blog

Setting up a blog is simple and does not require any private information.

1. Go to www.Blogger.com

2. Click on the "Create Your Blog Now" arrow. (as seen below)

3. Create a user name and password. Provide a real email address.

4. Click continue and finish filling out the forms and wizard as demonstrated at the user group meeting.

Now that I have a blog, what can I do with it?

Using your blog you can post pictures, journal-like entries, family news, announcements, event information or anything else that you would like those you associate with to know.

Email is a great way to send information to one or two people, but if you want to get information out to a large group, create a blog that you can direct family, friends or other group members to.

After the meeting, I will post an address for our new user group blog. Those who attended the group will know how to post to it.

DP & the Internet — 1 Comment
25
Jul 06

Sharing Photos Via the Internet

Sharing Photos via the Internet

When you have a lot of photos that you would like to share with a lot of people, there are several great sites out there that let you share several photos at once with a simple link.

Sharing photos this way prevents you from having to send a large email to a lot of people. It also prevents people from having to download a large email to view your pictures.

RESIZE YOUR PHOTOS:

Before you send your pictures to one of these websites it is important to resize them. Photoshop Elements or another program that allows you to alter the dpi and viewing size of the photo.

In Photoshop Elements go to Image -> Resize – Image size.

Set your resolution to 72dpi and your document size to a reasonable measurement for the screen. See example below.

Note the above settings. The width is set at 9, the height is set at 7.333 and the resolution is set at 72. ALSO NOTICE: The constrain proportions box is checked. If it is not checked then you may skew or distort your image.

Once the file is resized – save it under a DIFFERENT NAME.

PHOTO SHARING SITES

There are two types of photo sharing sites, public and private.

Public sites are designed for people to showcase their work online. They can be password protected so that only those with a password can view the photos, but by default they are meant to be public galleries.

Private sites are designed so that no one can get into your photos unless you send them an email link. This is how most sites work.

COMMON PRIVATE SITE LINKS:

Ofoto

Club Photo
the one Rick uses

Shutterfly
the site my wife uses

Picturetrail

Snapfish

 

COMMON PUBLIC SITE LINKS:

Prices for these services are competitive and change often. Make sure to visit their site for further details.

pBase

Fotki

VISIT THIS SITE TO READ REVIEWS OF THESE SITES AND MORE!

Each of these sharing sites requires that you set up a basic account – with the exception of pBase, none of these sites cost anything for a basic account. pBase has an introductory offer, but you must eventually join to keep your pictures online.

Private sites make their money by selling prints and other goodies,

Public sites make their money from membership fees.

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25
Jul 06

How to Email Your Digital Photos

Emailing Your Digital Photos

A few things to remember:

  • Always save a copy of the ORIGINAL photo

  • You can always go down on resolution, but you can never go up.

  • 72 dpi for email and web – 300 dpi for printing

  • Never email more than 150k of attachments

  • Black & White takes up less space

How to do it:

 

Outlook Express

  1. Create a new email message.

  2. Click on the paperclip icon on the top toolbar.

  3. Browse for the file your photo is located in.

  4. Double click on that file.

Netscape

  1. Open Netscape Communicator.

  2. Create a new message.

  3. Click on the big paperclip "Attach"

  4. Select FILE.

  5. Navigate to the file you want to attach.

  6. Double click.

AOL

  1. Start your AOL program.
    Click on mail center.

  2. Go down menu to write mail.

  3. Open it with the left mouse button.

  4. In the lower left corner is an attach button. Click it.

  5. It will open an attach window.

  6. Click on the attach button.

  7. Another window will open and at the top you will see a look in box.

  8. Click on the arrow to the right and go to, C:\.

  9. Below that, in the larger window, select the My photos folder.

  10. Select it and click on open.

  11. Select the photo you wish to send and hit the open button.

  12. It will attach the photo, or photos, and take you back to the attach box.

  13. Click on okay and it will be added to your email.

  14. Once you have composed your message, just hit the send now button to complete.

DP & the Internet / Digital Photography — No Comments
11
May 06

Sharing Photos via the Internet

Sharing Photos via the Internet

When you have a lot of photos that you would like to share with a lot of people, there are several great sites out there that let you share several photos at once with a simple link.

Sharing photos this way prevents you from having to send a large email to a lot of people. It also prevents people from having to download a large email to view your pictures.

RESIZE YOUR PHOTOS:

Before you send your pictures to one of these websites it is important to resize them. Photoshop Elements or another program that allows you to alter the dpi and viewing size of the photo.

In Photoshop Elements go to Image -> Resize – Image size.

Set your resolution to 72dpi and your document size to a reasonable measurement for the screen. See example below.

Note the above settings. The width is set at 9, the height is set at 7.333 and the resolution is set at 72. ALSO NOTICE: The constrain proportions box is checked. If it is not checked then you may skew or distort your image.

Once the file is resized – save it under a DIFFERENT NAME.

PHOTO SHARING SITES

There are two types of photo sharing sites, public and private.

Public sites are designed for people to showcase their work online. They can be password protected so that only those with a password can view the photos, but by default they are meant to be public galleries.

Private sites are designed so that no one can get into your photos unless you send them an email link. This is how most sites work.

COMMON PRIVATE SITE LINKS:

Ofoto

Club Photo
the one Rick uses

Shutterfly
the site my wife uses

Picturetrail

Snapfish

 

COMMON PUBLIC SITE LINKS:

pBase $26/year for 100 megabytes

Fotki $30 for "unlimited" or Free for 10MB

VISIT THIS SITE TO READ REVIEWS OF THESE SITES AND MORE!

Each of these sharing sites requires that you set up a basic account – with the exception of pBase, none of these sites cost anything for a basic account. pBase has an introductory offer, but you must eventually join to keep your pictures online.

Private sites make their money by selling prints and other goodies,

Public sites make their money from membership fees.

DP & the Internet — No Comments
24
Jan 06

Digital Photography and the Internet


Digital Photography and the Internet

The Internet is a wonderful resource for all sorts of topics related to digital photography.

Here are a list of links and topics where you can learn more.

Researching equipment:

Digital Photography Review

Steves Digicams

Digital Photography News:

Imaging-Resource

Rob Galbraith Online

Popular Photography

Photoshop Stuff:

Photoshop Elements Techniques

Photoshop User magazine