Whoops! At the end of my last post I said that we’d be starting our Web 2.0 help series this week. How could I have forgotten that I wanted to talk to you about free and fun digital photography stuff first?
Every few weeks Web2Go reviews some of the most wanted stuff on the web and this time around it’s a collection of the tips and tricks that’ll make your digital photos stand – or for some of us, sit ; ) – out from the crowd.
A few months ago I bought my dad a scanner that copies 35 mm slides into digital format. That means he can now put 2000+ steam train slides onto a DVD or on his computer’s hard drive and bore us all silly with them. He’s even threatening to revive that infamous 70′s tradition – the slide night.
If you’re just discovering the digital age, like my dad, you’ll be undoubtedly keen to learn about the free software and websites you can use to make yours a slide night to remember.
Of course there’s Microsoft PowerPoint which enables you to jazz up your photos with animations, fancy slide transitions, sounds and even videos taken from YouTube. (The free OpenOffice.org suite also includes a PowerPoint-like presentation program called ‘Impress’.)
Once you’ve taken your photos, you’ll probably also want to investigate some of the free and open-source image manipulation programs that I introduced you to in another Web2Go post a few weeks ago. (Also check out the other programs I mentioned in my post about digital storytelling.) These programs will help you to do everything from changing someone’s lipstick colour to removing un-photogenic red eyes.
These days, online photo albums are a very popular and quick way to share all of your happy snaps either privately with friends and family or with the whole world (the choice is yours).
Using an online photo album such as Google’s Picasa Web Albums or Flickr you upload photos to your cyber album, label and organise them and then email a web link to your friends which will allow them to view your digital moments from their computer’s desktop.
Free web-based Web2.0 inspired programs like animoto make it really easy for non-photographically inclined people, like me, to create slick, commercial-quality photo presentations in under ten minutes. You provide the photos and choose the music and animoto does its thing and weaves some impressive digital photo magic.
Probably the most fun you can have with your digital photos is to be found at BigHugeLabs. Let your creative side off the leash and create free calendars, jigsaw puzzles, movie posters and badges – among other things – with your own photos! What photo fun have you unearthed on the Web lately? Remember to share it with us!
Next week … (I promise) help is on the way! We begin a new series of posts to help you out of those technological sticky spots.
Jenny Kapp
