Technology Medley

NCTIES 2009 Conference Session – Photography

Leslie Fisher presented an entertaining and information session on digital photography. She discussed several of the top problems people have with digital photography.

Not Close Enough

• take photo, move in closer, take it again
• fill the frame
• your eyes will focus on the object, tend to forget the other stuff in the frame

Not in Focus

• usually a square that shows up in view finder that is the focus point
• press shutter down halfway to get a focus point

Camera Shake

• no focus point
• usually caused by lighting
• camera considers lighting and speed equal
• camera needs to expose the picture longer to take the image
• newer cameras have image stabilization
• when you hold down the shutter button, the sensor freezes in place
• put camera on tripod or stable object
• set a timer
• use night mode – tells camera lighting is low – will try to take picture more quickly

Boring Composition

• wander around and figure out a way to tell the story
• share the interesting ones, take thousands and share just a few
• change your location
• use the rule of thirds
  • PhotoShop – grid and ruler command
  • set up grid for rule of thirds
• squint your eyes – something will stand out
• look for lines (any diagonal, straight or repetitive lines will draw attention to the subject)
• space makes you think – have fun with open spaces
• shoot high / shoot low
  • scenery shots better shot low
  • people shots are better high
• shadow shots – use exposure compensation on camera

Ignoring the Background

• move things or wait for things or people to move
• colors in backgrounds can distract from subject
• wander around

Missing the Moment

• Sports Mode- tells camera to take fastest possible
• camera needs to compensate for the lighting/speed thing

Too Much Flash

• don’t need to use the flash every time
  • may not be as good of  quality
  • try with flash; then try again without flash
• need tripod  or set timer
• Look at the natural light and try without flash
• may need to use flash more during the day, especially middle of day
• use flash to fill light and get rid of shadows
• flash lasts 8 – 10 feet

Why Not Vertical?

• turn camera and it tells a different story
• follow the lines

Digital Zoom

• optical zoom is lens actually moving
• bigger camera for bigger zoom
• digital zoom just clicks on the photo, zooms in and crops
• no reason to have it turned on

Wrong Settings

• resolution set in camera – 72 or 200
• need to resample image for printing in PhotoShop
• uncheck resample, change resolution number
• more megs – uncheck resample, type in width and height you want to print
• never set camera settings on camera as small

Other Information

• a pixel is just a single dot
• number of pixels per inch is set in each camera and can’t change
• dpi (dots per inch)
• 72 dpi is perfect for web and ppt
• 180 minimum for printing
• if you need to crop, need to get as many megapixels as you can
• no cropping needed, smaller number of megs is fine
• look around the edges of your picture frame

Macro Focusing

• best to use w/tripod
• can get much closer
• flower icon on camera

Read the Manual!

Wow! If we all followed these suggestions, we could all take awesome pictures every day! Do you have any other suggestions for improving your digital photography?

More NCTIES Posts:

Opening Keynote
Photography Problems
Digital Tools for Digital Kids
Assessment with Technology
SmartBoard in Upper Elementary
Skype in the Classroom
More Than YouTube
Closing Keynote

Want to create a fun video that will make your fellow teachers envious of your editing skills? Head on over to Animoto.com and request an educator account. You can create 30 second videos with their regular free account, but these helpful folks provide free unlimited access to educators! You do have to request the account though and wait a few days for them to send you a link and instructions.

Once you have an account, simply upload pictures from your computer, select music from their library or upload your own, and wait for the magic to occur. They say that every video is different, so if you don’t like the way yours turns out, simply try again. This is such a fun site! Once you create a video, you can copy the embed code (I’ll show you how!) and then place the video on your own class web site to share with your students and their families.

Here’s an example of a video I just created from some pictures I had of South Salem’s 2008 beach party.

Sometimes, you just need to play! Dumpr.net is one of my favorite sites for playing around with digital images.  First, you select an effect and upload an image. After the image is transformed, you simply save it to your computer and use it whenever and however you wish.

This is the original image I used:

…and here are some examples of what you can do with this web site:

So, the next time you’re feeling creative or just need a fun way to share your digital images, head on over to Dumpr.net and start exploring. Then be sure to share your pictures on your web page or blog!

Need ideas for your Christmas pictures? Picnik.com has a feature called Fancy Collages. You can get there by clicking on the Library tab and then the Start button. Select Make a Fancy Collage, upload your pictures, and start playing. Once your pictures are in place, select the Customize button and then Save and Share.

Save time and postage by emailing your creation to your friends and family. Have fun!

Did you know that you can edit your digital photos online? Here are brief descriptions of 3 sites which allow you to upload photos, make changes as you wish, and then save the revised photos wherever you choose. Each of these sites provide sample pictures to allow you to explore their features before uploading your own image. The pictures below were created using these samples.

Picnik

The first and probably the most well known site is Picnik. Most of the features on this site are completely free. After you upload an image, you can crop, edit, adjust colors, resize, etc. Then click on the create tab and add snow, frames, text, and shapes.

Once you are happy with your picture, click Save and Share. You may either save the picture back onto your computer, or you can send it to one of many photo sharing sites on the internet.

FlauntR

FlauntR is a fairly new entity on the web, and it is just amazing! Click on one of the styleR or editR buttons, log in as a guest, and start playing! The editR features are fairly typical, including cropping, resizing, redeye removal, etc. Also in the editR window, there is an effects tab with numerous effects such as colorizing, neon embossing, and a pencil sketch.

Then, as if that is not enough, click on the styleR button at the top of the main window. The choices that you have at this point can be overwhelming. You will need to make friends with the history button, because at this point, that is the only way you can undo previous selections. Be sure to check out the compositions and frames!

The textR button allows you to add text along with numerous shapes and clipart. You can save your images to your computer or to an album that is stored on the site. You can also upload them to several photo sharing sites.

FotoFlexer

Another new online editor that offers numerous creative options and is very user friendly is FotoFlexer. Along with the typical editing features such as resizing and cropping, FotoFlexer offers several special effects such as colorizing and popart choices. There is also a distort option that is fun to experiment with if you would like to create a more artistic version of your photograph.

Like the other sites, you can save your edited images to online storage sites, save them to your computer, or email them to a friend.

All three of these sites provide holiday specific options. For example, right now they are all featuring hearts for Valentine’s Day. So, go explore these cool photo editors, and have fun!

Occasionally, someone asks me where to find photographs that can be used for classroom projects or web sites.

Pics4Learning

My favorite site for classroom use is Pics4 Learning. Images on this site have been contributed by teachers and students specifically for use in education, so it is a safe site for students to use when searching for images for projects.

Flickr

Flickr.com is probably one of the most popular photo sharing sites on the Internet, but it should NOT be used by students because, unfortunately, there are folks who upload inappropriate images. That being said, if you go Flickr and search for Creative Commons, you will find millions of pictures that have been licensed to share. Read the license agreements on the right side of the page. Click on the “See More” links to go to a search page, then enter your desired topic. If you find a picture you want to use, right click on it and select Save Picture As. Be sure to follow the licensing requirements, such as giving the photographer credit someplace in your project.

Please let me know if you need help with projects using pictures from either of these sites.

If you would prefer to have a simple slideshow without the bells and whistles, then I would recommend trying out Kodak’s site. Once again, you set up a free account and upload pictures. Then you will have the ability to view your pictures as a slideshow. This site does not provide the open sharing capabilities of the others, so in order to share, you will need to send an email to those who would be interested in your pictures.

Some others that you might want to check out are:

DropShots

MyPhotoAlbum

SmugMug
This site costs $39.95 per year and is ad free. It has some cool themes and other nice features. Would you use it? We can use software money to pay for a subscription, but you need to let me know if you’d be interested in that. I don’t want to pay for something that will never be used. So, if you’d like for us to purchase a subscription for SmugMug, either leave a comment to this post or send me an email.

You have taken lots of wonderful digital pictures of your students and plan to take more as the year progresses. What can you do with those pictures other than print them? (Remember, printing photographs can take 4 times as much toner as printing words, and we just don’t have the budgets to continue buying toner as often as we might like to.)

So, how can you share those pictures with your students and their families if you don’t print them out? One of the easiest ways to share photos is by creating a slideshow in either MaxShow or PowerPoint and simply inserting a picture on each slide. If you’re feeling a bit more creative, put more than one picture on a slide, rotate pictures, add text, add clipart, and just have fun! You could also let your students each create their own slide and then combine them all into one slideshow. If you’d like to give that a try, I’ll be more than happy to help you out.

A slideshow for PTA Back to School Night is a great way for parents to “meet” your class. You could have the show running on your computer(s) as they are entering the classroom, or project it using your TV or LCD projector if you have one in your room.

There are several photo sharing sites on the internet that I’ll tell you more about in my next post. Let me know when you’re ready to create that PowerPoint from all of your great pictures!