Macro Photography 101

I love macro photography. For those who are unfamiliar, macro photography is "the art of taking pictures of things extremely close-up." It's a great way to see your subject in a whole new perspective. However, it's not exactly the easiest thing to do, especially if you don't have a dslr in your camera bag. Erin Manning has created a how-to for taking macro photos using just a regular point and shoot camera. Take a look and you'll be taking terrific close-up pictures in no time.

Tired of Your Usual Mostly Text Blogs? Scrapblog!

I've just discovered a great web app. Check out Scrapblog.com and I'm sure you guys will like it too. This isn't an endorsement and I'm not being paid to say this, but I really like Scrapblog's concept.

Instead of the usual text-based blog apps, Scrapblog allows you to create scrapbook-like flash blogs that almost literally pops out of the page. You can post pictures and text like you would on a scrapbook using an very intuitive interface.

They also have loads of templates to choose from. Or if you're really creative, you can create your own designs from scratch. You can even post your creations to your flickr accounts.

The only problem I have with it is that it's a tad slow on my dsl connection. I expected the web-based app to be a bit quicker that it actually is. I really don't know if it's their server or my internet connection but it seemed like I was staring at the screen waiting for it to render more often than I would have liked.

Despite this, I would still recommend this service. Try it!

Lifehacker's Master Your DSLR Camera Part 2

It's been a while, but finally, Lifehacker.com has posted the second installment of the Master Your DSLR Camera series. While the first installment tackles the program mode of your camera, part two talks about the manual mode and the priority modes.

The manual mode is especially useful if you want to be completely in control of your exposure. However, the priority modes are great shortcuts for great shots if you don't want to tinker with a lot of settings. Anyway, check out the article and prepare to do some more experimenting and hopefully pretty soon, you'll be shooting (almost) like a pro.

Link: [Lifehacker]

Lifehacker's Master Your DSLR Camera Part 1

Lifehacker's doing a great article series about getting the most out of your DSLR camera. Part 1 is all about the Program mode of your camera. This guide is very useful and informative especially for budding photographers. So if your DSLR's dial is permanently set to AUTO, you'll want to check this article out.

I'll be looking out for the rest of the articles in the series and I'll be posting updates for you guys as well. In the meantime, have fun and experiment!

Link: [Lifehacker]

Make Your iPhone Contacts Smooshed

Most phones, including the iPhone, allows you to take a picture of a person and assign it to a contact in your phonebook. It's not a new thing, this feature has probably been around for a couple of years now.

Stillframe thought of a fun twist to the usual contact photo you might take of your friend. It's easy too. Just stick your friend behind a pane of glass (maybe a glass door or glass window) and make them smoosh their face against it and click away to capture a "trapped in an iPhone" kinda look. This also makes great background pics for other phones.

Now I just have to persuade my friends to smoosh themselves against my glass door...

U U U

I Missed the Lunar Eclipse

lunar eclipse
Originally uploaded by Grzesiek:

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of if not actually witnessed the recent lunar eclipse last August 28, 2007. I missed it, and apparently it was a total lunar eclipse which meant that the moon turned red due to the refraction of the sun's rays. I can't believe I forgot to look out the window that night. To make up for it, I searched the net for the best pic I could find. This pic from a Flickr user is the absolute best I've seen so far. Amazing. Click the link to see a larger pic. I'm even more sorry I missed it.