ReBlog World

This is my handout for reblogworld. 

I will be talking about photos and social networking.  I have tried to put together resources so that those who are interested can learn more, or try some of the things I have been doing.  It is likely that I will continue to add to this page . . because that is how I am.  Please use the comment section for any additions you may have.

Photography skills are important but they are no what this is about.  It is about how to leverage photos on the internet, and what to take photos of, and when to take them.  I have also included some links to web sites and blogs that I have found to be helpful as I am interested in taking my own skills to the next level.

Flickr

Flickr loves you - I find flickr to be one of the best social networking sites in existence. Set up a free account, or a pro account.  The pro account costs $24.95 a year and is worth every penny.  Bloggers can use the site for photos storage but go one step further and use Flickr to get more exposure (LOL) and networking opportunities from each photo. 
Go to Flickr.com to sign up.

• How to get the most out of Flickr
• Free account Vs. Paid account.
• The best way to meet people in your community through Flickr is to join a group. You the search feature to find a group in your town or a special interest group.

Flickr badge for your blog, or website, or maybe photos of a property you have listed. Flickr badge  Dress up your flickr profile with the profile widget

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from tboard. Make your own badge here.

The world, brought to you by Flickr vision a map of the plant earth that shows the photos being loaded into flickr as they appear.  Watching Flickr vision is much more fun than television and there are no commercials.

What is a tag?  This is useful information for how to tag photos or any kind of user generated content. Why Tag?  Because the search engines love tags. You are uploading the photo anyway right?

Snaptweet - a great way to tag photos for an automatic tweet on twitter. Very cool, try it.

The flickr uploader, so you don't have to upload photos one at a time.

flump, great for backing up flickr accounts, allows users to download all photos from a flickr account.

There are so many things to do with photos, check out Flickr toys?  Make a collage, or a badge or a magazine cover.  Loads of marketing ideas on this page!

Where to get moo cards. I carry both business cards and Moo cards. The Moo cards are small and friendly and made from photos. They have my basic contact information on them too.

Photographs can also be made into books. Try Blurb, or shutterfly.

Tools for browsing photos and for social networking with photos.

These are my favorites and this is be no means an exhaustive list, feel free to add to it.  Viewing and searching photos and keeping up with contact photos on social networks is made much easier with these tools.

The Flock Browser - Keep track of your contacts and their photos.  Has a built in photo uploader and is designed for viewing photos.  It handles RSS feeds, and is optimized for social networking and packed with features.

Cooliris - formerly piclens, the firefox browser ad on offers an amazing way to search photos through search engines or on photo sharing sites.

Way cool ways to share photos . . even those taken with your phone.

Try a mobile blog, at blogger, it is free and very easy to set up. See mine at: www.AllTAllDay.com, fun and easy. I use MMS, which works for phones that don't have email capabilities. It works like the SMS used for text messaging but can be used to send photos or video.

Brighkite - location based social networking. It is very easy to send photos or messages to, and can be set up so that it posts to twitter.

Twitpic - share photos on twitter. They can be sent from a phone or uploaded from a computer. A tweet is sent out with each photo and others can comment on them.

Upload directly to flickr from your phone. Facebook too! Many of the photo sharing web sites offer this feature.

Free photo editing - Oh the things you will need to do to get the photo from your camera and share it.

There is photo editing software on most computers and digital camera's often have photo editing software with them. There are programs that can be purchased for $50, or $1000.  In general photos need to be taken from the camera, I highly recommend a card reader. Hooking a camera up to a computer is often a recipe for disaster.   With the card reader the photos go from the camera card to the computer. Very fast and simple.

Picnik - I discovered this when my daughter went to Europe and was afraid to load software onto her lap top.  It is all online.  It can be used to tweak photos, crop them, resize, email, frame, make collages, add text to them, or turn a photo into a work of art. It is free but also offers a paid membership for $24.95 a year, I highly recommend it, no software to download, the editing is all online.  Works very well with Flickr, facebook, photobucket, piccasa and others.

Photoshop online - another online editing program that does it all.

Picasa - free from Google, an organizer and editor.

Photoscape - also requires a download but it has a lot of features including the ability to convert photos from RAW to jpeg.

PhotoFiltre - A great free stand alone program.  For photo editing this one does it all.

Cameras

It really isn't about the camera it is about the person taking the picture.  With that in mind here are a few tips that I have found useful.

1. Buy a camera at a store where you can try it out first.
2. It isn't important to have every possible feature on a camera.  It is more important to have a camera you can use, and will use.
3. Size does matter.  There are numerous advantages in having a small point and shoot camera. It can go anywhere. Hard to take a photo without a camera. Photo opportunities come and go. Sometimes it is more important to have the first shot, or a shot than it is to have the best shot.
4. For Realtors - please use a camera with a wide angle lens for interior property shots.
5. Resolution is important but keep in mind that a 12 mega pixel picture can not be posted on most web sites, or emailed very easily.  They do make super huge prints though.
6. Mid range camera's seem to have the most to offer.  Expect to pay $150 to $400 for one.
7. Camera's with view finders are easier to use. Some camera's just have a screen on the back.
8. Make sure the screen on the back of the camera is big enough so that you can actually see the photos.

This site is a great resource for learning about camera features Retrevo  Use Flickr camera finder to see which are the most popular camera's

What kind of a camera do I use? Currently Canon digital rebel XT. It can take photos in "point and shoot" mode but I don't think that is much fun, and what would be the point of using a DSLR camera for that?  I take my pictures in manual mode, that way more of them are out of focus and . . never mind.   Camera's are important, but so are lenses.  My favorite is the 18-55 lens that came with the camera, but I also use a wide angle lens, mainly for interior property shots, and a small 50mm lens that I like to play with.

I also have a panasonic Lumix that I carry with me and a blackberry pearl with a built in camera.

Photography Tips - Book - Web sites

Kodak top ten tips - I can't do better than they did but would like to add a couple of my own:

1. Don't get to far away from the subject
2. Pay attention to what is in the background
3. The light should be behind you, don't shoot into it.
4. Interior property shots are very hard to take - consider hiring a pro.

One of the best ways to learn about photography is to look at great pictures. Try Flick Explore,
or pick an interest or hobby and go out and search for a photographer who has really great pictures. Join a Flickr group for new photographers and participate in the forums. 

Web Sites
My favorite for general information about photography The digital photography school. I also like Jeg magazine It is a great place to learn from others.

The best general digital photography book I have read: The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby, also see The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2   

Kelby's books are easy to read.  He provides great examples and "recipes" for photos that work with most any kind of camera.  He is also funny.

When I bought a camera that I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to use, I went to YouTube and found a ton of useful information. I learned how to actually use my camera by watching a video, and found several general videos

What to take pictures of

For real estate blogs, taking pictures of real estate works very well.  Houses, buildings, roads, rivers, bridges.  People love to see what an area looks like.  With listing photos include a nearby park or a landmark when ever possible. People love to look at photos of housing styles, and interior decor.  Food works well for photos and so do pets.

It is possible that what you see all day your blog readers have never seen, or if they have they might enjoy seeing it again.   Take pictures of the ordinary as you go about your day. Show your world, one picture at a time.

Looking for more ideas for photos for you blog?  Poke around my site.  I think I have 3000 pictures on it, some of them are OK.

Comments

[Susie Blackmon]

Oh T, this is better than a hot, gooey Cinnabon in the morning. You've added some sights to my arsenal. Many thanks.