CleVR – Free and easy panoramic photo stitch...

Web 2.0 (using the Internet to do work instead of your computer) truly gets more powerful every day. CleVR is a free online application (actually uses the Adobe AIR platform) that lets you upload digital photos and then it automatically stitches them together into a panorama format. And it does it quickly! I did the one shown here in just a few moments. It also automatically creates an interactive version of your panorama...

New Canon Digital Rebel Review

For all you camera nuts out there, you might be interested in this review of the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. The Gizmodo crew posted lots of pictures of it, and pictures they took with it. Apparently it has many features of it’s $1500 brother and costs almost half as much. Here’s the link. Canon EOS Rebel T1i First Hands On: 50D’s Sensor, 1080p Vids, $899 (!!). ...

Digital Photography Basics – February 2009

Adam Cochran ran our Digital Photography Special Interest Group (DPSIG) for almost six years and all that great information he shared during that time is archived here at HelpMeRick.com. Make sure to use that information. In today’s class we covered the basics about digital photography divided into three quick, hard hitting segments: Using the camera Transferring the images Organizing and using the images (including...

Don’t buy a new computer yet

2009 is upon us and computer prices are incredibly low, but if you can wait a year to buy a new computer, I would highly recommend it. Why? Microsoft plans on releasing the next version of Windows either late in 2009 or early in 2010. All indications point to the earlier release since Microsoft is anxious to bury Vista. Last week, Microsoft extended the life of Windows XP for a fifth time! This indicates the continued...

Thwarted by online poker

Today marked my second Linux/Ubuntu casualty in almost 2 dozen attempts. As I’ve learned more about Ubuntu the past couple of years, I carefully selected clients who would have little problems dealing with a non-Microsoft operating system. You may have read my take on Ubuntu usage for the average computer user before, but here it is again to setup the rest of the story: I believe that any computer users who uses only...

What do you really do with your computer?

In my travels, it seems that most home computer users primarily use email. I would love to see 100-200 comments attached to this short article so you can tell me what you use your computer for from day-to-day. You don’t have to be statistically accurate or detailed, I’m just curious and this topic is too broad and detailed for a poll. Here’s how I use my main computer: Internet (web browsing, pay bills, web...

Backup your digital photos with iPhoto – Vid...

Macintosh users take digital photos too. And they also need to make sure their photos are backed up safely. Thankfully, the bright men and women at Apple computers have built in a great picture management software called iPhoto. Within iPhoto, you will find a straight forward method of backing up your photos. Here’s how: 1. Start iPhoto 2. Hold down the Command key on your keyboard and select which folders,...

More Linux success stories

I want to keep singing the praises of an operating system that I used to make fun of on our show; Linux. In partial defense of myself, Linux traditionally has been known as the geeks operating system, and a user needed to be permanently attached to a forum for help and have an affinity for the command prompt or as its known in Linux, the terminal. That started to change about 10 years ago or so with the advent of Graphical...

Great digital photography debate topics

Technology is no different than politics in that there are a variety of topics that people have opinions on. While you may not know much about these topics now, what you know about them can have a great impact on knowing who to listen to when it comes to learning more about digital photography and related topics. PC vs. Mac: The Mac people will tell you that Macs are better for graphics, easier to use more stable. PC...

Understanding exposure

Theory and Practice of Photography Aperture: Aperture is the setting of the iris of the camera lens. Just as your pupils in your eyes expand and contract to let in more or less light, you can do the same with your camera by setting the Aperture. The Aperture measurement is called F-stop. The higher the F-stop number, the smaller the iris is set in your camera. The trade-off: Each concept of photography seems to have a...

Avery website offers great way to make labels easi...

There are certain tasks that you would expect to be done simply on a computer. At the top of this list is making labels. In my opinion the number of label making programs on the market should rival the number of digital photography or antivirus programs on the market. For some mysterious reason, there are hardly any good label programs out there. They are either too simple and limited in features or they are too complex and...

Tips for better people pictures

Tips for taking better people pictures Here is a list of links that will help you with your pictures of people whether they be candid, portrait or group shots. 10 Tips for better portraits  5 tips for photographing couples 6 tips for perfect portrait composition 11 tips for better candid photos  Personally, I think that getting great people shots has more to do with the approach you take to getting the shots...

Where to buy a book manual for your computer

“Why didn’t my computer come with a manual?” One of the most common complaints we hear is about how new computers don’t come with manuals. I am here to explain why this is the case. The sad answer is that if the computer company came with a manual, it would weigh more than the computer. “But my old computers used to come with manuals…,” Is the next comment. Back in the old days...

I use a Mac, therefore I am

Ya, don’t ask me to elaborate too much on the title of this post, I didn’t mean anything too deep by it. I picked up my new/old Mac that a reader gave me. It is an older system, but It does a great job. It’s a dual 867mhz G4 with a gig of RAM, 10GB hard drive and Leopard OS. While it may seem a little dated by Mac standards, it is every bit as fast as my dual core Pentium that I typically run XP on. I...

Picasa class coming this Tuesday!

See below to pre-order my new Picasa tutorial CD. I will ship it out on Tuesday. Click on the "Buy Now" button and follow the directions. Note the link for non-PayPal users. After month’s of requests, I am finally doing an entire class on Picasa. On Tuesday, November 27 from 7-9pm in conjunction with our regular digital photography user group, I will be teaching about Picasa for the entire two hours. The class...