The Savvy Boomer

Panoramic shot of Obama in Prague

This is a very cool picture from 360 Cities  of Obama in Prague that can be panned in all directions.  It isn't perfect because it's 75 shots stitched together, but it's still very impressive.  Thanks to Prague Bob for the Tweet.

Obama in Prague in Prague

Web site helps reunite lost cameras with owners

With the low price of digital cameras today, the worst thing about losing one is usually losing the pictures on the camera's card rather than the camera itself.  Unless you have incredibly unusual or stunning pictures on it, chances are no one is going to post them online and have them seen by millions of people.

Ifoundyourcamera is a blog where you can perhaps find your lost camera if: a) the finder knows about the site b)the finder is honest.  It's a long shot but it's also a great use of the web.

Life in Canada

I've received a few inquiries lately what life in Canada is like.  Mostly they are from Americans who I guess can't stand the thought of the Republicans forming another government, which, given the state of the Democrats infighting these days is beginning to seem like a clear possibility.

Rather than try to explain it, I thought I'd post a few photographs of common occurrences and every day life in Canada.  Below is an example of what you'll see if you click on the "Continue reading" link.  You'll also get a couple of tips on how to keep your beer cold.

Enhance your photos online

The beauty of digital photography is that you can often improve the quality of a picture.  The problem to that is that you must not only have the software to adjust it, you must also know how to use it. 

If you want a quick fix, you can use the online service at Improveyourimages.com.  While you have no control over the changes, it does improve the quality (before and after below) somewhat and you can download the improved photo.  If you have some pictures that don't look quite right, why not give the free service a try?

Eagle beneath a full moon= a sign?

When I got up about 6AM PST to see how the markets were doing, the first few minutes on both the TSE (Toronto) and the NYSE led by a 12% drop in Apple looked bad.  Trying to reassure myself, I made a quadruple latte and stood at my kitchen window staring at the full moon setting over the ocean wondering if maybe my post yesterday about  how things will always turn around in the market was a little hasty and perhaps even smug.

Charlie the cat looked kind of interesting in silhouette looking over the Vancouver mountains so I decided to snap a couple of pictures of him viewing his territory.  And then it happened.  A huge eagle streaked pass about 5 feet from the window scaring the crap out of both myself and Charlie who almost fell off his perch trying to duck.  While eagles are fairly common around here, I never tire of them and watched in awe as he flew quite some distance over the marsh on the ocean's edge and then as it turned towards the favorite viewing tree for eagles, it was directly underneath the moon.  I snapped the picture above which unfortunately because of time of day and distance is blurry, but that figure between the moon and its reflection on the ocean is the eagle and I hope you get the point of this majestic moment.  I watched him until he reached his perch at the top right of the tree (I took the picture below about an hour later after he had made a couple of hunting trips over the marsh.)

I turned back to the TV and the market was on a big upswing.  Was this a sign?  Probably not, because as I write this, the Dow is down about 200 again.  Oh well, it certainly was a great start to the day.

UPDATE:

Maybe it was a sign-the DOW closed up 298.

Photo sharing site that pays you to use it

There are plenty of sites out there where you can post your photos.  Shareapic is different in that it not only posts your pics for free but it actually pays you to post them when other people look at them.

It's a reasonably simple income model wherein they share part of their advertising revenue with their members as they explain in this example.

"If in month one Shareapic calculates to distribute $1,000 to our members, we will first tally up the total number of image views for that month. Using these two numbers we can determine the respective payouts for each user. If there were a total of 500,000 image views for the month, image views will equate to $0.002 each (1,000 divided by 500,000), or $2 per 1000 image views. If you’re posting lots of pics in forums, MySpace or eBay, you can see how easy it is to earn quite a bit of money!"

There is really no way of knowing how they calculate what amount is available to distribute but if you are posting pictures on the internet or just want a place to store your photos for friends or family to look at, why not at least have a chance to get paid for it?

 

Are they real or photoshopped?

AARP is running a contest to choose "The faces of 50+".  After looking at them, I've decided that at least 1/2 are photoshopped.   But that's just my opinion, I don't know it to be a fact.

I needed a photo taken for a faculty ID card when I was in Korea.  I guess the photographer decided that I needed to look a little younger because when I got the card I started laughing since I hadn't looked that young since I was in my mid 30s and now I was in my mid 50's.  Anyone I show it to is shocked at the fact it was just taken a couple of years ago.

I looked through the AARP contest rules and there is nothing about not retouching the photo.  OK, I know some people look a lot younger than they are but there is 1 person on there who is supposed to be 60+ and doesn't look a day over 35.  That's just impossible without incredible plastic surgery or the more likely scenario of a photoshop expert.  If AARP chooses some of these people they are in for a big surprise when they see them in person.

As an aside, do your best to avoid putting your photo on the internet and if you do, don't put your name with it.  Once it's there, you have lost all rights to it no matter what anyone says.  AARP is at least up front enough to tell the participants that they have no royalty rights to their own photos.  Also, in the wrong hands, your photo could be used in a variety of unpleasant ways.  Ask Tiger Wood's wife about that.

Look at the photo below to see the real power of photoshop in an expert's hands.  Can you tell which one is the orginal?  It's the one on the left. to see how this is done. 

So what do you think?

Thanks to The Boomer Chronicles for finding the contest.

An online program to enhance digital photos

I bought my first digital camera about 10 years ago.  Like the first personal computer, a lot of people didn't understand why they needed one but today they are everywhere and most boomers have at least one.  But with digital photography came a whole new art form, modifying the photos taken.  "Photoshopped" has even become a verb that means a digital picture was altered with the use of the Photoshop program. 

I have used Photoshop for years but still probably use less than 10% of its features.  I mainly use it for cropping, resizing, to try and make photos sharper or brighter or fix whatever needs fixing because I am not an accomplished photographer.  Occasionally I will also change, delete or add subjects or place text in a photo, usually for comic relief.

While a very powerful tool, Photoshop is not only difficult to learn but also costs a few hundred dollars.  Recognizing this, a few products have been introduced to try and offer a poor man's online version of the product.  The most recent entry comes from Fotoflexer.  I haven't spent much time with it, but it does do layers which is the key for altering photos and is recommended on TechCrunch which is usually a sound stamp of approval.