Well, I don’t know if the artist used the tutorial for changing color photos to black and white, but this image looks great. There is so much emotion in a emotionless photo.

If you’d like your photo to be featured on FreeMacPhoto, just submit it to the FreeMacPhoto Flickr Group

Just a few days ago I mentioned that Flickr is offering geotagging on their pictures. With this feature, people can see exactly where photos are taken.

Well, today I saw a new site that takes advantage of this great new feature. Worldinpictures.org allows you to search an address or city or zip code, and returns pictures that were taken near that spot. I think this is great.

The results are pretty good with over a million pictures already tagged on Flickr. But, as more people tag the location, I think it will be really fun to play with the World In Pictures site. Be sure to tag all of your pictures to help the cause.

This morning on DPS Blog, they offered a nice reminder to mark your camera and your memory cards with your name.

One of the ways that was suggested was to take a picture of your business card or contact information. Once it is on your memory card, be sure to lock that image so it can not be erased by accident. That way, if someone finds your camera (or just the card full of images) the first one they’ll always see is how to get a hold of you.

I understand this won’t make a dishonest person honest, but it could give an honest person the ability to do something right. I’m going to do this today with all of my memory cards.

(Source)

When I was in college, I always tried to get a lot of fun photos of all the activities and parties. In my attempts to have good photo documentation of my college years, I learned a few things to help others who like to be the social photographer in their group of friends or at their family gatherings

1. Always have your camera. Not only does this insure that you get the good photos, but it always lets your friends and family get used to the idea of you having your camera. If the camera is always present, it will be less of a surprise when you do pull it out and people will be able to relax.
2. Find a way to distribute the pictures. If you can establish a pattern of distributing the pictures, people will be eager for your photography because they know they will be getting a copy of their own. I use Flickr.com. I’m sure to upload the full size of the image and make it available to download. This is important because people can grab the full file and be able to print a clear picture.
3. You should take the pictures because you enjoy it. Trying to make a buck off your friends or family is not a good idea. Have the pictures online and free for anyone to grab. If you want to make money eventually, just perfect your skills with these social settings and as people see your expertise, you may be asked to do wedding photography, engagement photos, or family portraits. That is where you can earn some money for your hard work.
4. Learn how to use the different feature of your camera. It is important to know how to take photos at different levels of light and in different situations. Learn about ISO levels, white balance, and shutter speeds. If you ruin a nice social setting with a big bright flash, you may not get to have the natural feeling in the room.
5. Buy a large memory card and an extra battery. Sometimes parties and trips can go late and last long. You want to be able to continue snapping photos without any worry of running out of room or battery. These items aren’t that expensive and they allow you to try all kinds of things.
6. Do not post embarrassing or ugly photos of people. This one may be the most important of all. As a social photographer, you can build a really good track record by making people look great in your photos. One bad photo to embarrass some one can ruin it. It will make people more hesitant to pose for you in the future. Go thru your pictures and be sure that you won’t embarrass anyone by posting them online. (Note: If the person was making an ugly face for the camera on purpose, that is ok.)
7. Get to know as many people in the setting as you can. Do this without the camera in front of your face. A good relationship with everyone in the room can go a long way.
8. Take plenty photos of everyone, not just your favorite niece or your closest friends. You can build good friendships with people as you photograph them and make them look good. You never know who is important to whom in a social gathering. Let everyone enjoy the memories by seeing themselves and their friends.

I am really glad that I took a lot of photos in college. I have a ton of good photos of all the fun things that we did. I still get emails from people asking me to send them a photo from these times. This acts as a great way to keep in touch with old friends. When they want photos, they’ll come find you and this gives you a chance to catch up.

(Are You a Digg User? Digg this article here.)

Recently I had a younger cousin ask me about Photoshop and how to use it. It made me think of he first time I fired up Photoshop and how intimidating it looked. Tools, Palettes and Settings. Oh my.

If you are just learning the different tools available in Photoshop (or constantly need to refresh your memory like I do), the Photoshop Toolbox Reference will be a good place to start. You can select any of the tools and watch a short clip on how to use it and what it does.

Google has released an interesting new game called “Image Labeler.” Basically, they pair you up with a random partner somewhere in the world. You and your partner both look at an image and think of as many descriptive words as you can. Once you both offer the same label, you are shown the next image. For each image you finish, you get one hundred points. You are shown the scores of other teams so you can see how you are doing.

Obviously, the reason they are doing this is so that their Image Search is more accurate. Basically, they are building on the fact that if two complete stranges say the same thing about the same photo, there is a pretty good chance that it is correct.

I played this game for a little bit today. First, it’s kind of fun. And second, in the long run it will help you find images when you need them.

Give it a try here. What’s your best score? (I could only get to 600.)

I took this photo in Oceanside, CA. As soon as the lens focused and his eyes pierced me, I jumped back just a bit.

If you’d like your photo to be featured on FreeMacPhoto, just submit it to the FreeMacPhoto Flickr Group

I love black and white photos. They succeed at pulling out details that you could have missed otherwise.

This morning I read a wonderful tutorial on the Digital Photography School Blog. This tutorial taught five different ways for you to create Black and White photos. The first one is using the in camera filter, which I tend to steer away from. The last four examples are post processing methods and all four offer good tips. Personally, I prefer the “Lab Color Method”, which is example number four.

If you’d like to learn the five techniques, you can read them here.