7.31.2007

August Monthly Reader's Photo & New Mystery Picture Posted!

Thanks to P.C. from California for sending in this month's chosen Monthly Reader's Photo she titled "Perfect Vacation". This picture was taken on a beach in Puerto Rico! What a beautiful picture, perspective, and composition shown! Nevermind that inviting crystal clear water!!

Thanks again for reading and sending in your submission!

Also note, there is a NEW Mystery Picture posted... check out and send in your guesses!

Happy Captures!

7.25.2007

Creativity With Photos

I've always enjoyed using photo editing programs to make collages or alter pictures you've taken. There are so many options with today's applications that you can do just about anything.

Think about these:

  • Do you have an older picture that is starting to tear or discolor?
  • Do you have a picture that is priceless but it got scratched or damaged?
  • Perhaps you have several pictures that you just want to combine together.
  • Or maybe you have a picture and you want to take something/someone completely OUT of it.
These are all possible with a little photo editing experience. It's all about creativity and what you can come up with. Most digital cameras come with their own software to assist you with this but in the event it didn't, never fear! Here are a few links from a decent article about the Top 8 Windows programs - and yes.. they're FREE! If you're using Linux or Mac - there are similar programs as well, some by the same name.

Reference: Top 8 Free Photo Editors for Windows

Happy captures!

7.22.2007

August - Photo of the Month - Is it you?

August 1st is approaching quickly so now is the time to send in your picture for the photo of the month! Once a month, we select a reader's photo to be placed on our site. The only details we need is the title of the picture, the location with city/state it was taken, and your initials (first/last name).

If your photo is selected, you'll see it on the main page where the current one is.
Give it a shot and send in your favorite picture!

Thanks again to C.A. who sent in the wonderful picture from Waterford, CT of Harkness State Park!

7.21.2007

Megapixels, Megapixels, More Megapixels?

It's always been an interested subject when talking to people about their cameras. Some of the first questions that arise, almost in a boasting way, is 'How many megapixels does your camera have?', 'mine has blah blah blah...'

In today's world with such a technology hype, the mentality is bigger and faster is better. Well folks, in the megapixel world this isn't the case. When you have some time, do some research on the Megapixel Myth and your eyes will be opened. Here are a few reference links or simply pull up your favorite search engine and read away!

"Unfortunately, it's all a myth because the number of megapixels (MP) a camera has has very little to do with how the image looks. Even worse, plenty of lower MP cameras can make better images than poorer cameras with more MP."

"This gimmick is used by salespeople and manufacturers to you feel as if your current camera is inadequate and needs to be replaced even if the new cameras each year are only slightly better." - Ken Rockwell - Professional Photographer

"Consumer Reports recently tested 70 digital cameras and says the emphasis on megapixels is part of the game manufacturers play to get people to buy more expensive cameras."

References:
KenRockwell.com
The Truth About Digital Cameras
WBZTV.COM


Yes, it's actually a ploy by advertising and companies who sell digital cameras! *gasp* Yes! In fact, even in my own search for the truth on this subject, I have a few cameras and took several shots of the same subject with each ranging from a 2MP camera to a 6MP camera and the testing proved it even more. Let me know your thoughts and discoveries.

So what would one say to that question we had at the outset? Perhaps, 'it's good enough!'. :)

7.16.2007

Contest Deadline Bumped to August

I'm bumping the deadline date again to August to help assist those who are still interested. As of right now, I only received 3 contestants and I know there are more out there to make this more than 5.

Don't be shy! If you're interested, read the details here and send in those pictures. Five or more need to participate to make this a valid competition as stated in the beginning. Keep shooting and send them in!

7.13.2007

Sliding Rock - Northern Country II

Three hours total, across the middle of 200,000+ acres of wild life sanctuary, we made it gate-to-gate through Baxter State Park in Maine. The road was purposely kept dirt and very narrow and sometimes muddy and overrun by neighboring streams which stretched a little too far that day. By the time we were done with this adventurous trek, our vehicle were plastered with mud up to the center of the doors! It was like we went on a deep safari ... well in fact we did!

Amazingly though, about half way through the trek, there was a place called Sliding Rocks. It was a serene watering hole over very slippery rocks. Many enjoyed the area by sliding down them as if in a water slide amusement park. The laughs were heard above the trees as young and old a like joined in on this refreshing natural spring. The water was perfect and only waist high. What a treasure nestled miles within.

Reference: Official Baxter State Park Site

7.12.2007

Cell Phone Captures

I finally upgraded my cell phone from a few years ago to a newer model, the Motorola Razor, which has a built-in VGA 4x zoom camera. It’s actually not bad for quality even though it only supports low resolution settings up to 640x480.

Now with mobile computing and various wi-fi technologies, you can do quite a few things with these mini-gadgets. Give them a try when you don’t have your own camera.

Have you recently taken a picture with your own cell phone? If so, send them in. I’d like to make a post about Cell Phone Captures in the next couple weeks.

3 Days Left - July Contest!

3 Days left for the July Water Reflection Contest! Send in your entries if you haven't already.

Click Here for Contest Details

7.08.2007

QFR: What is the best way to back up your digital pictures?

QUESTION FROM READER (QFR):
What is the best way to back up your digital pictures?

This is an extremely important question and I'm glad J.S. took the time to send it in. Data management, regardless if it's your pictures, checking account files, spreadsheets, documents, and even emails, should be a part of your computing procedures. Backing up data is easy, you just have to know what to do.

After thinking about it, here are 10 Kick-Start Tips that come to mind and should be considered. If you do all these, you'll be in a VERY good position for safe backups.

1. Make The Backups: Yes, actually doing the first step is important! Don't think that your computer will never crash or you don't need a simple plan because when it happens, you'll be in trouble! Now don't get me wrong, there are ways to get back data regardless of the state of it, but this is most likely sending your hard drive out to a company that provides data recovery services. Oh, and it'll cost you some serious dollars.

2. Schedule The Backups: make a time when you do the backups depending upon how much activity on the data you have. For example: If you are making changes daily, you should backup daily whereas if you're only making changes to the data on your computer once a month, perhaps monthly backups will suffice.

3. ALWAYS Make Multiple Copies: Sometimes backed up data on media goes bad. This is why it's important to backup your information multiple times in the event one of them goes back you have a back up.

4. ALWAYS Make Copies on Different Media: The life of media, or how long it can be used without having failures and restore problems, depends on what you're using. Recordable CDs and DVDs are very cheap now if your computer supports it. The shelf life on these is around 10 years. If not, you could simply upgrade and purchase a CD/DVD burner for ~$30-50 dollars. You could also use external USB hard drives or even free online solutions. DO NOT make backups on floppy disks anymore! Go to a solution that is more reliable.

6. Store Backups Appropriately: No matter what kind of media you use, if you don't properly store the media in an appropriate place, you'll lose the information. Example: Even if you take a DVD you recorded on which typically lasts 10 years and place it on the back windshield of your car, you'll lose the information. The sun will damage it for sure and probably make you a nice melted silicone wafer sculpture. Media should be backed up at room temperature or less and in some cases even in a colder environment (read media details for information on best storage conditions).

Free online references:
Mozy Online Backup - http://mozy.com (2Gigs free)
XDrive - http://www.xdrive.com (5Gigs free)
IDrive-E - http://www.idrive.com (2Gigs free)
Backup Review - http://www.backupreview.info (This site has a wealth of information on online storage and data backup. Thanks to the person who sent in the anonymous comment to this post! Note the 10 Ten Providers and reviews available.)

7. VERIFY Your Data's Integrity: This ensures that not only your data has been backed up properly, but it has backed up intact and fully usable. I assisted some folks with this awhile back for their business and they were backing up the information according to their procedures but when I audited their procedure and verified the data, NOTHING was there. They were basically going through the motions for months and not actually backing anything. As you can probably imagine, this would've been devastating if a recovery was needed.

8. NEVER Work From Your Originals: Kind of photography specific, but extremely important when working with your photos. ALWAYS make a copy of the original and work off the copy. The original should be backed up on multiple medias with multiple copies and only used when you need another working copy.

9. Data Retention: How long you keep your data is up to you. Keep in mind that backed up data on media doesn't last forever. It's a good idea to go back through your copies and ensure they're still good. You can do data integrity checks as mentioned in Tip # 7 above.

10. Offsite Storage: Always make sure at least one or two of your multiple copies are stored at an offsite location. This could be at a trusted neighbors house, a family member, a post office box or consider the online storage mentioned in Tip # 6 above. This is important if you accidentally have a disaster in your house or where you use this information. (like a fire, flood, etc).

Thanks for the question and hopefully this answers it and provides you with some solid guidance. If there are additional questions, please send them in.

QFR submitted by: J.S. (CT)

7.07.2007

Traveling to Northern Country

Over the last few days, I enjoyed a trip to Maine with the family. Of course the camera was with us during our entire journey. I'll be posting a few of the several hundred shots I took traveling through Baxter State Park and various roads in northern country!

Here is a picture of just ONE of the 46 mountain peaks viewable through this 3 hour trek in the wild!

Remember, no matter where you go, bring along your camera! There is always something to capture and save for memories.

7.01.2007

OUR READERS TAKE PICTURES WITH...

I thought it would be interesting to see the variety of cameras our readers our currently shooting with. As you'll see, I'm starting a list on the left side of camera makes/models. If you'd like to contribute to this list, simply email me the make/model of your camera and I'll add it. The list will be alphabetical and no names will be placed next to them.

This will really show the diversity of cameras used today and how regardless of the camera make/model, fine quality pictures are captured.

Send me your camera's make/model #.
(see the list for examples)

New Monthly Reader's Photo for July!

WELCOME TO JULY!!

Thanks to C.A. for submitting the monthly reader's photo for July! This is a beautiful black and white photo from Harkness State Park in Waterford, CT. Look at those trees!!