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Photo Blog

February 2009
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Fun With Flickr

Posted by Calista Chandler Feb 24, 2009

As the most popular photo-sharing site on the web, Flickr has such a vast wealth of imagery that it’s impossible to look at everything. Luckily the people at Flickr make it possible for anyone with the interest and skill to create their own ways of displaying and discovering images. Some of the sites that people have come up with are truly stunning, and frankly make it a lot more fun to browse through images than it has ever been on the Flickr site itself. Below are a few of my personal favorites.

 

Multicolr

 

Idée Labs has come up with a strangely addicting way of browsing Flickr images based on nothing but color. Choose up to 10 colors and Multicolr will show you images that contain them, with fascinating results. Add and remove colors and see how your results change, but don’t get too carried away, which is easy to do!!

 

!http://www.travelmuse.com/community/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-1312-1295/Multicolr.jpg!

 

Related Tag Browser

 

Airtight Interactive’s beautiful and intuitive Flickr Related Tag Browser site lets you find Flickr images based on the tags, or keywords, their creators gave them. Start by entering any term you want, and see a batch of images with that tag. Related tags will appear in a circle around your first batch of images, and clicking on them will give you a new group of images to look at, and a new selection of tags to consider. Spend a few minutes on the site and discover some great Flickr photographers and their beautiful images.

 

 

Memry

 

Play the classic memory matching game with Flickr photos on a theme of your choice. Start with any keyword and Memry will create a custom memory board for you with photos from Flickr, some of which will seem to have nothing at all to do with what you entered!

 

 

Flicker Time

 

Great design meets interesting and dynamic content on Flicker Time The Momment. The site tells you the time with dozens of Flickr thumbnail images arranged to create the numbers on a digital clock. Every minute old images fall away and new ones jump in to create the updated time. Mouse over any of the images to see a larger size, and click to see the photographer’s page and more of their work. You can even customize the look of your clock with a couple of keywords. Time flies when you’re watching this clock!

 

 

Endless Interestingness

 

Endless Interestingness provides what is probably the simplest way to discover new images on Flickr. The page is a never-ending grid of popular and interesting images of all kinds, and is a good way to while away the hours or get inspired to go out and do some shooting yourself!.

 

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Our “Essence of Place” photography contest is going great! We’ve got lots of wonderful entries so far, and we just couldn’t resist sharing some of our favorites. These images really capture the essence of the places they show, it’s like they are transporting us there!

 

Don’t miss your chance to enter! There are only 11 days left! Get your favorite photos in to the TravelMuse Essence of Place February Photo Contest and you could be the lucky winner of a EyeFi Explore Card. Check out all the contest details on the TravelMuse Photo Blog, and happy shooting!

 

 

 

 

"Luis moving the clouds over the Fitz Roy" by alextorrenegra

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Shanghai by night" by http2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Heading to Horseshoe Bay" by Patrick Doheny

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ballooning over Cappadocia, Turkey" by wnl_lodger

 

 

 

(This image can't win the contest because it was taken by a TravelMuse employee, but I couldn't resist including it because it's definitely an image that captures the essence of Cappadocia!)

 

 

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If you’ve ever tried to take pictures after a snowstorm or on a ski trip, you probably noticed that your photos don’t come out quite right. Cameras on auto often underexpose snowy photos, turning your white snow a dull gray. This happens because your camera’s light meter thinks every photo you take should have the perfect balance of light and dark areas, to average out to a middle gray tone. When you shoot snow, there is a lot more white than black in your photo (or light colors than dark colors) so your light meter darkens the entire picture so the final photo will still average out to a medium gray.

 

Fixing Exposure

 

Some point-and-shoot cameras have ‘snow’ or ‘winter’ settings that will automatically adjust for these conditions, but even if your camera doesn’t, it’s easy to compensate for them with a couple of settings on your camera.

 

  • If you are shooting under a cloudy sky you’ll want to adjust the exposure compensation (EV) on your camera to +0.7 or          +1.0 stops.

  • Under sunny skies you’ll probably need to adjust the EV by up to +2.0 stops. Most digital cameras have an easy way to         do this, but if yours doesn’t, you can switch it into manual mode and adjust your shutter speed or aperture. Luckily, with         digital cameras, it’s easy to use trial and error to find the correct exposure.

 

Custom White Balance Settings

 

Snow can also confuse your camera when it comes to white balance. If you’re shooting snowy scenes under a sunny blue sky, your photos are likely to have a cool blue cast to them. The most reliable way to fix this is to make a custom white balance setting. Most cameras take a meter reading of a scene, and then use that reading when you take subsequent pictures.

 

  • When you’re creating a custom white balance setting for shooting snowy scenes, be sure to fill the frame with a clean,          well-lit patch of snow.

  • Avoid shadowy areas because they’ll bring that blue cast back into your shots.

 

Once you have your custom setting you should be able to shoot all day and get perfectly balanced images.

 

Custom settings on digital cameras can seem daunting but becoming familiar with them can really take your photography to a new level. Here are a few examples of great winter photography.

 

bryce by F.S.M., Birds in the wintertime by Stig Nygaard, Matanuska Glacier by jswieringa on Flickr.

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It’s time to start making memories in 2009! If your plan is to take more travel photos this year, it just got a little more doable. TravelMuse has teamed up with Eye-Fi to give away one Eye-Fi Explore card (valued at $130) for each of the next six months for the best photo on a given theme. So whether you took an amazing trip recently or are just hanging out closer to home, we’d love for you to share your shots with the TravelMuse community. What’s  more, we’re always on the lookout for great shots to feature on TravelMuse.com.

 

How to Enter

1.    Between February 5, 2009 and February 28, 2009, select your best digital photo that describes the theme “Essence of Place.” It could be an amazing shot of Alaska’s Hubbard Glacier at sunrise, or the kids playing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

 

2.    Show us! Next, join the “[TravelMuse Contests|http://www.flickr.com/groups/travelmuse-contests/]” Flickr group, share your favorite image by uploading it, and tag it with “travelmuse_Eyefi_0209.”

 

3. In the description section, write a brief paragraph telling us where your photo was taken and why you feel it captures the “Essence of Place” of your subject.

 

You can submit a maximum of three (3) entries per person. Winners will be announced in our issue on the second Friday of the month, with full details shared on the TravelMuse Photo Blog.

 

Tell Your Friends

Don’t keep all the good fortune for yourself—let your friends and family know! Click “ShareThis” on the bottom of this post to e-mail your friends and wish them luck!

 

About Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi wireless memory cards make it super-simple to upload and share your photos. Photos shouldn’t be trapped in your camera. Set them free effortlessly and wirelessly. The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless SD memory card for your digital camera. It stores pictures like a standard SD memory card, but also uses your Wi-Fi networks to automatically upload images from inside your camera to your PC or Mac, and to your favorite photo or social networking Web site for sharing or printing. No cables, no cradles, no fuss.

 

Key features include: unlimited geotagging, Wi-Fi hotspot access for one (1) year, unlimited WebShare service, wireless uploads to computer and 2GB of storage.

 

Eye-Fi Explore is for those who tag or organize; for those who blog or share in real-time; for those who need to upload here, there or somewhere else; and all the rest who are simply passionate about managing, sharing and saving their memories. For more details visit Eye-Fi.

 

Rules

• The TravelMuse February Photo Contest opens on February 5, 2009 and ends on February 28, 2009, at midnight Pacific  Standard Time (PST). By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees to the rules of the contest and states that they are 18 years old and older.

 

•    Professional photographers who earn more than half of their annual income from photography are not eligible. Entrants must be U.S. residents. Employees, vendors and partners of TravelMuse and their immediate families are not eligible to win.

 

•    Submit a maximum of three (3) entries around the theme “Essence of Place” — locations, people or activities in the United States and abroad that convey the theme.

 

•    Photographs must have been taken within the last three (3) years (since January 1, 2006).

 

•    All entries must be at least 300 dpi at 5x7 inches, so 1500x2100 (3 megapixel).

 

•    Photos cannot be manipulated or altered. Pieces of other photographs may not be added to your image, and major elements may not be removed. Acceptable alterations are adjustments to the contrast, brightness, dust spotting, cropping and slight adjustments to color. If our judges see that a photographer has obviously altered his or her photo, they reserve the right to move to Altered Images or to disqualify it.

 

•    Photos that have won any other contests or have been published in magazines and newspapers are not eligible. Photos that violate or infringe upon another person’s copyright are not eligible.

 

•    If people, especially children, in your photo are recognizable, you will need to provide a model release upon request by e-mail (marketing@travelmuse.com). If the photo was taken in another country, or there are strangers in the photo that you cannot get a model release from, please e-mail the photo to us along with a description of the circumstances of the photo, and we will review your entry.

 

•    By entering the contest, entrants grant TravelMuse the permission to publish your image in print or online, to use it for promoting and advertising on the site, and for commercial purposes. TravelMuse will not be required to pay any additional consideration or seek any additional approval in connection with such uses.

 

•    The winner will be selected by a judging panel comprised of TravelMuse photo editors and other employees. The winner will be published in the TravelMuse issue of March 13, 2009. Decisions of the judges will be final.

 

•    The contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law. TravelMuse reserves the right to cancel the contest or modify these rules at its discretion. Decisions of TravelMuse will be final.

 

•    The winner will receive one Eye-Fi Explore card (value $130).

 

•    No substitutions, including for cash, are permitted, except that TravelMuse reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize.

 

•    The winner must sign an affidavit and license and will be responsible for paying any taxes that they owe on the prize.

 

•    Winners must claim their prize within seven (7) business days after the notification of the win, or the prize will be considered forfeited and an alternate winner will be awarded.

 

If you have any questions please contact: marketing@travelmuse.com.

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