Welcome To The New Look TPB

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Welcome to the new look for The Photographer Blog, it’s a completely new design for the blog making it more of a ’site’ than just a blog on it’s own. Which will give me the opportunity to display more content easier, and allow me to add some new features as well.

It’s taken a while to choose the design and decide on how things were going to look, but I am very pleased with the result. There are still some tweaks to be made but I wanted to get it back online as soon as possible. Some of the new features to check out are:

A separate home page and blog page

There is now a Home Page where you will find some of the new features like the featured video. The TPB blog can now be found on the Blog Page. These can be easily found in the navigation at the top of the site.

A featured video on the home page

The home page now has a featured video about Digital Photography from You Tube, which will change on a regular basis.

The latest from my Flickr account on the home page

I now have a feed across the middle of the home page showing the latest images in my Flickr account.

RSS subscription still available from every page

If you would like to stay up-to-date with what is happening on The Photographer Blog then you can do that by subscribing to my RSS Feed. Either by choosing an option from the eNews and Updates on the top of the sidebar on the blog page, or by the white icons at the very top right of any page, or last but not least there’s also a subscribe page just in case you wanted another option!

I will be adding a newsletter and hopefully a gallery soon, so as the new features are added I will post an update about them.

But for now I hope you enjoy the site as much as I have building it, please feel free to have a look around and let me know what you think (or let me know what doesn’t work!).

Mandy

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TPB Monthly Round Up #5

This is the monthly round up for June. I think the service I have used the most this month and got the most out of is Flickr, I have learned so much about it and used it so much this month, that I want to share some of the information I found:

I have started using and being active in Flickr Groups this month, which I think are one of the best features of Flickr. The one that got me started was a new one called Learning Photography with Neil Creek which I am really enjoying. I’m meeting lots of like minded people who have a fantastic selection of photographs, and I’m having a great time getting to know them. I definitely recommend joining a group, I had followed Neil’s blog for some time though so I had an idea the group would be good!

The Flickr groups have been a great place to find other really good photography blogs. Here’s one I found through Neil’s group: Your Photo Tips which also has it’s own Flickr group. So I think the overall benefit I like the best about Flickr, is it’s fantastic networking opportunities.

All this talk about photographs has got me joining another photography project over at Adidap - All Day I Dream About Photography. This time the goal was to take a photograph or your bedroom or something that is in your bedroom (always). This was a bit challenging as the bedroom is quite a personal space, but I gave it a go anyway…

Mandy

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How to Easily GeoTag Your Photographs

I’ve had a comment on a recent photograph that I uploaded to my Flickr account, it was actually my Shoe Project photograph, and Neil Creek was asking me to Geotag it so he could see where it had been taken.

There was only one problem, I had no idea how to Geotag my photographs. I just never tried before because I thought you could only do it with special gear and a GPS, which I don’t have and I am not planning on getting.

What is Geotagging?

Simply put it is the process of adding geographical data to a photograph including longitude and latitude coordinates. Basically telling the world where you took that photo!

How do I do it?

So after this comment I decided I had to have a go. So that meant seeing what it was all about and how I could do it.

From what I can tell (on Flickr anyway) there’s two ways to Geotag photographs and I’m going to be looking at the second one, because I feel it’s the best method as anyone can use it:

1. Use a GPS device and associated kit adding it to the image file
2. Find the location manually on the Flickr map and add them yourself

Aah, so there is another way! And whats more it’s really easy to do with no special gear required. There’s even a handy video to show you how you can Geotag your photos by adding them to the map. It’s basically just a drag and drop in the Map tab in the Organiser.

I didn’t know I could do this with Flickr (or even that the help section was so good) so it just shows how good it can be to have a little look around sometimes.

Geotagging is great fun, and another way for people to find your photographs. Give it a go!

Mandy

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TPB Is Under New Construction?

The Photographer Blog is going to be undergoing some changes in the next couple of weeks. So I just wanted to let you know in case you notice some strange things happening, or you find it in maintenance mode!

And also because I am quite excited about these new changes, so keep a look out as they will be dramatic!

Here’s some of what you can look forward to:

• more how to articles
• free weekly newsletter
• new projects
• more camera info

and more…

If you take a look at my other blog, Build a Blog you’ll find I have been talking about it there. Build a Blog is the place where I talk about blogging and my experiences with it, and what I have learned.

Mandy

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TPB Monthly Round Up #4

This is the monthly round up for April, although a little late! It was a strange month April for me whether it was photography, blogging or life in general, I can’t put my finger on why, it was just a funny month. It just meant my timings are out a bit and I’m still playing catch up.

What I did find in April was some really good sites for education and learning more about this hobby of mine. They are great resources and if I’m not too careful I could lose myself in them for days.

I found a link to the first blog while reading another article, it’s called Pioneer Women (the blog that is) and they have a photography site that is full of information and tutorials. They keep it nice and simple which makes it easy to read, and brilliant for beginners as well as others brushing up on new skills.

I use Photoshop Elements for my editing needs and I have been looking for a site that covers it well. As well as the above site that cover editing I also found this site, Epic Edits by Brian Auer. As it says it is a great resource for the aspiring hobbyist (which I am), he blends his photography and teaching about editing well, so it’s not just a site full of tutorials and nothing else.

And finally if you’ve read the early posts on this blog you may remember that I have aspirations to get into stock photography in the future. Well actually microstock photography, but I don’t know very much about it. I’ve just found some sites selling microstock images that I’ve flicked through, but I don’t know much more than that.

Well I’ve come across Microstock Diaries by Lee Torrens who is a keen amateur photographer, and he talks about his experiences and exploits in the microstock industry. It’s great because he’s documenting his journey as a stock photographer, and he’s not an expert (yet) so I can relate to what he is saying without feeling overwhelmed, and that makes it feel achievable. Just what I was looking for!

Mandy

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Do You Use a Point and Shoot or a DSLR?

I found a new tool to try out on the blog - web polls. I thought it would be an interesting tool to use and interesting to see the different answers. I know I always like to take part in a good poll and see the results, so now I’m having a go at one myself. And it’s a pretty basic one to get started with!

Question: Seeing as I use a point and shoot camera, but I am also thinking about buying a DSLR. I thought it would be interesting to see what everybody else uses?

So here is my poll, and feel free to join in:

Opinion Polls & Market Research

 

I’ll also place it in the sidebar so it’s easy to find. Happy voting!

Mandy

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TPB News

Just a quick news post updating you on some new features.

You may have noticed a few changes to TPB (The Photographer Blog) recently, I have added a logo and favicon for the web browser that I created in Adobe Photoshop Elements 3. I’ve added them so I can make TPB easier to recognise and remember. Let me know what you think of it!

I’ve also changed the email RSS subscription form in the sidebar into a link that will take you to a sign up page instead.

I’m a little behind at the moment updating my flickr account with my project 365 photos, mainly because we are in the process of moving my son into his own bedroom (he was sharing with his sister). So I am having a little trouble finding my computer under all the obligatory mess that goes with decorating and moving furniture. The good news is we are nearly finished. Which will be brilliant for me because when my kids are happy then I can work in relative peace!

I have more planned that I’ll keep you updated with…

Mandy

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Would You Like a Nikon D60 DSLR?

Well you could win one on the Digital Photography School Forums this month. One lucky forum member will win the Nikon D60 at the end of the month for just participating (but NOT SPAMMING) in the forum this month, April 2008.

Find out more about winning a Nikon D60 DSLR camera

The Main rules are that you are a Digital Photography School Forum member and that you participate in the forums by adding value, asking or answering questions in April. Then a winner will be picked from random. The more posts you make the better chance you’ll have of winning.

I joined the forum a couple of months ago after reading the Digital Photography School blog. There is loads of information and sections to look at so I have been getting to grips with it recently, but this competition has given me a much needed boost to visit regularly this month.

Seeing as I am looking to buy a DSLR soon then this competition is extremely appealing to me. I know the chances are slim but if I don’t try then I will never be in the running! Even if I don’t win I bet I’ll know more about digital photography at the end of the month than I do now, after hanging around the forum for a full month…

Mandy

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TPB Monthly Round Up #3

Here’s the TPB monthly round up for March, doesn’t time fly!

I’ve found some really interesting information this month, so without waffling on too much about it here they are:

You may have heard me talking about the Photography 101 course that I am following on The Digital Photography School blog, well they are written by an Austrailian photographer called Neil Creek who has his own blog and is also part of the new fine art photoblog. Both sites are really good with some fantastic photographs, I could learn a lot from these guys.

I’ve also opened my first Flickr account this month for sharing my Photo 365 pictures, I knew nothing about Flickr before this month, and I’m finding it to be a really useful and easy to use photo management system. It’s full of features and I’m sure it will take a while for me to get acquainted with them. I’m hoping to set up my flickr photo stream on my blog, so we’ll see how long it takes me to figure that one out!

And last but not least I have discovered Squidoo, well I’ve known about it but I haven’t used it until this month. It’s a service where you can set up a web page or ‘lens’ for free to do with an interest or hobby or just about absolutely anything you fancy. So I have started some on photography, it’s a great way to promote a blog or site that you are involved with and would like more people to know about. You can make as many ‘lenses’ as you like and change them as often as you like so it’s nice and flexible.

Mandy

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Wirral Egg Run Photos 2008

Wirral Egg Run

The Wirral Egg Run is a charity event that is held every year the week before Easter. Bikers gather at New Brighton with their easter eggs or donations and then ride through the Wirral ending up a Clatterbridge Hospital, to drop their eggs off for children in hospital over the easter period. Donations are collected for the Jellybean children’s appeal raising money for children in hospital.

There’s always a good turnout, whether it’s bikers or spectators, and it’s said that it’s the largest event of it’s kind in Britain, if not Europe. It’s hard to keep track but it’s estimated to have around 5,000 bikes involved and raises 1,000’s of pounds for the jellybean appeal each year.

I first went on the Egg Run in 1998 and I haven’t missed too many since then (only when I had the kids), my husband rides a motorbike so I ride pillion on that. I really enjoy going on the Egg Run and it’s great to help out a charity and the children in this way. The rain held off this year as well which is always good. Ooh I’ve just noticed while writing this that it’s 10 years since I first went on the egg run, it doesn’t seem that long ago!

Photos

Below are some photos that I took on this years egg run. This is where it’s handy to have a point and shoot as there isn’t a lot of space on the back of the bike to carry anything else! It’s hard though to capture the huge amount of bikes that take part, you only get a glimpse from the photo’s of part of the long line of bikes that snakes it’s way around the sea front at New Brighton. And it can take over 2 hours to complete the route because of the volume of bikes.

Mandy

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