When Photoshop, GIMP or similar image editing programs aren't an option, there are more than a few online alternatives that will help make simple changes to your photos and images. No wacky morphing tools here; just the features journalists need.

1. Fotoflexer/Photobucket

Crop; resize; rotate; flip; hue/saturation/lightness; contrast; various Photoshop-like effects

2. Photoshop Express

Requires free registration; 2 GB storage; crop; rotate; resize; auto correct; exposure correction; red-eye removal; retouching; saturation; white balance; sharpen; color correction; various other effects

3. Picnik

"Auto-fix"; rotate; crop; resize; exposure correction; color correction; sharpen; red-eye correction

4. Pic Resize

Resize; crop; rotate; brightness/contrast; conversion; other effects

5. Snipshot

Resize; crop; enhancement features; exposure, contrast, saturation, hue and sharpness correction; rotate; grayscale

6. rsizr

For quick cropping and resizing

7. EasyCropper

For quick cropping and resizing

8. Pixenate

Enhancement features; crop; resize; rotate; color effects

9. Splashup

Requires free registration; Flash-based interface; resize; crop; layers; flip; sharpen; blur; color effects; special effects

10. FlauntR

Requires free registration; resize; rotate; crop; various effects



11 more imaging tools after the jump

11. LunaPic

Similar to Microsoft Paint; many features including crop, scale and rotate

12. Wiredness

Resize; crop; exposure correction; rotate; flip; color effects; brightness/contrast; sharpen; blur

13. 72photos

Requires free registration; 200 MB storage space; rotate; crop; effects including blur; picture enhancement

14. myImager.com

Resize; crop; rotate; flip; brightness/contrast, color adjustment; sharpen; blur; various effects; line drawing; border

15. Cellsea

Resize; crop; rotate; flip; blur; sharpen; color effects; various effects

16. VicImager

resize; flip; mirror; rotate; brightness/contrast, color adjustment; conversion; various effects

17. Onlinephototool.com

Similar to Microsoft Paint; many features including resize, crop, and filters

18. Online Image Editor

File conversion; crop; rotate; flip; color correction; border

19. Piccyfix

Rotate; flip; crop; colorize/tint; brightness; contrast; various effects; border; resize

20. pixer.us

Resize; crop; rotate; flip; brightness & contrast; saturation; color effects; blur, sharpen

21. FixPicture.org

Resize; crop; rotate; mirror effect; adjust brightness, contrast; various effects including sharpen and grayscale




Flickr photo by HailieJade used under Creative Commons license. Have a favorite non-Photoshop image correction tool? Share it in the comments.

Labels: photos

The internet is a great tool for creating innovative journalism, but has a disadvantage over newspaper broadsheet in that large photos often look better when displayed over wide sheets of paper, rather than small computer screens. Panoramic photos and video make up for this by taking advantage of the interactivity of the web to provide a better view of the world around us.

What better subjects to view in panorama than the new 7 wonders of the world? Panoramas.dk has full screen interactive views of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India and others. The awe-inspiring photographs or great for would-be travelers who don't the resources to explore the world in person.



One can also find beautiful 3D panoramic images of the Tower of David, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Mahaneh Yehuda Market and more virtual tours of Jerusalem at 3Disrael.com.

The United Kingdom, more than 2,000 miles away from Israel, can be seen in a matter of seconds just by clicking on this incredible panoramic shot of London. Unlike the aforementioned panoramas, this one is static and simply requires use of the scrollbar to see such sites like the London Eye and London Bridge in high resolution detail.

Everyscape has taken the power of the panoramic image and paired it with travel information to bring to life popular destinations around the world. The images are embedded with icons that point to Yelp reviews, Flickr photos and even advertising because when it all comes down to it, journalism is a business.



Panoramas are not only great for travel-related multimedia projects, but can also be used to illustrate crime scenes, display murals, or even photograph a neighborhood a la Google Street View. To create panoramic images, one can either use a 360° panoramic camera like those available at Panoscan or simply use a digital camera and "stitch" the photos using either free software or an online tool like MagToo.

Labels: photos

1. Track flight patterns


2. Document the reconstruction of a Katrina-ravaged home



3. Capture the excitement of a carnival



4. Watch a fire burn



5. Shorten a cross-country trip to four minutes



6. View the progress of a winter storm



7. Track the activity in a busy parking lot



8. Watch the sun set



9. Journey through the Panama Canal



10. Visualize 8 years of aging



11. View the wonders of underwater sea life



12. Roll out the fog of San Francisco

...and how to create time-lapse photography

• Most newer video camera models have interval recording built into the camera, a detailed rundown of which can be found at Photography Today. Those that don't can make use of SingleFramer, a free software that captures individual frames from DV cameras, either manually or automatically.



• Time-lapse software Flix is a great option for those projects that can be captured on a webcam (like the winter storm video above). The software is $10 after a trial period and also works with digital cameras.



• Instructables has a detailed description on how to use a graphing calculator to determine mathematically correct intervals to create time-lapse videos from photographs. An example of this method can be found at Digital Photography School.



• If calculators aren't your speed, the Pclix LT100 works with compatible photo cameras to shoot images at pre-determined intervals, anywhere from 1 second to 100 hours, according to the manufacturer. At $140 plus the cost of cables, the tiny device is a little more expensive than a graphing calculator, but its certainly better for the mathematically challenged.

For more on time-lapse photography, read this previous post or for more inspiration check out the Flickr "timelapse" pool.

Labels: photos, video

When it comes to photography, I'm nowhere near professional but I'd like to think I'm a step above amateur. Here is what I've learned in my quest to become a better photographer:


Have the camera ready and snap it quick

My number one frustration is not capturing a fleeting moment. If the opportunity for a great photo is imminent, have the camera powered up and ready before the moment has passed.

Don't be afraid to get down and dirty

Sometimes getting close to a subject may invade his or her personal space (or yours), but the result is often a better photo. Don't rely on the zoom to capture something from far away.

Switch up your angles

One of the first lessons I learned some years ago is photos don't have to be shot straight on all the time. Tilt the camera or find a different perspective that is interesting to the eye. (Thank you Valerie Soe, wherever you are.)

Look for the unusual

If a fire is happening, its easy to start taking pictures of just the flames, but the real story is what is happening around the fire. Find those interesting, human moments that tell the story behind the tragedy or triumph.


Here are some non-work related photos I took recently around my hometown. You be the judge:


         

         

         



Now let's hear from the professionals. These tips were culled from the web and I encourage you to visit each site for even more lessons on great photography:

From modemlooper's 7 Excellent Photography Tips:

Learn your camera's settings

Chances are you shoot most of your pictures utilizing your camera's "automatic" mode. This will get you average results. If you are striving for great shots, you'll need to learn about other modes too. Take the time to read your camera's manual to understand when to use each shooting mode.

Take more photos

Before going crazy buying the most expensive equipment right away, you had better take more photos because the more photos you take, the more you'll know about what kind of camera to get when it's time to upgrade. In other words, you can always delete the bad ones later.


From SEO Smarty's How To Optimize Images For Search Engines, Social Media and People

(Clean, clear) faces in an image get more eye fixation. (don't use abstract images too often).

Keep them relevant: images are not the first thing a visitor sees on a web page but they can compel him to stay


From Photojojo's Ten Legal Commandments of Photography

V. People can be photographed if they are in public (without their consent) unless they have secluded themselves and can expect a reasonable degree of privacy.

VII. Although "security" is often given as the reason somebody doesn't want you to take photos, it's rarely valid. Taking a photo of a publicly visible subject does not constitute terrorism, nor does it infringe on a company's trade secrets.

(BTW, Photojojo is an excellent blog for both aspiring and professional photographers.)


For examples of beautiful photography that we all can aspire to, check out Smashing Magazine's (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos.

Labels: photos

If you haven't already read yesterday's post on how journalists are using Twitter, check it out here

So you're twittering. Now what? It's time to take a look at sites that are making the most out of Twitter's ability to instantly transmit the news.

Instead of waiting for traffic updates online or via radio, some internet users are turning to Commuter Feed. The site lets Twitter users send updates about local traffic around the country directly to the site, where the feeds are searchable by city or metropolitan area.



Politweets tracks the political discussion happening in the Twitterverse by aggregating tweets about political candidates. The most recent tweets about Democratic candidates are on the left and Republicans are on the right. In the middle is a list of candidates positioned by how much they are being discussed (Barack Obama is currently at the top of the pile).

Because the web is all about citizen journalism, truemors is made up of news submitted by the average Joes and Janes of Twitter. It's kind of like a micro social news networking site that aggregates the content that people care about from a variety of news sources. Twemes is also a great way of indexing what people are talking about online. The site is useful for searching tagged tweets on any subject, like, for example, John McCain.

Twitterers are already discussing major news events, including Super Tuesday and Sunday's Academy Awards; it's just a matter of major news organizations grabbing the opportunity and creating their own news hubs.

Did you know Twitter isn't just for sending text? TwitPic and Twixtr both allow users to send photos either online or via mobile phone through Twitter. So instead of simply including links to new stories, anyone can add photos to accompany their tweets (and we know photos are a great visual attraction).

Twittervision combines Twitter and Google Maps to create a real-time visual idea of where tweets are coming from. The only requirement to appear on the site is a location and an image defined in your Twitter post. The 3D version is also worth a look, if only for the coolness factor.

Twittermap creates a visual display of geotagged tweets and can also be used to find Twitterers by location. Those familiar with data mashup editor Yahoo! Pipes can use geo twitter to get a geotagged feed of your Twitter posts, which can be displayed on a Yahoo or Google map.


Twitter draws a lot of comparison to Facebook's status updates (example on the right), so it make sense that Twitter also has its own Facebook application to keep friends and followers updated via the social network.

There are a lot of interesting and useful sites based on Twitter and with the Twitter API up for grabs, there is no reason that journalists can't be a part of the next evolution in news.

Labels: maps, photos, social networking, widgets

Congratulations to Albany and Schenectady, New York; Boise, Idaho; Juneau, Alaska; Kansas City, Missouri; Manchester, New Hampshire; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina; San Antonio, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah. You are the latest additions to Google Street View! These locales join the more than 20 other cities to be invaded by the Google street team.



Google Street View provides 360° panoramic, street-level views with just a click, but it isn't the only service on the block. Gigapan users can upload panoramic images using pricey equipment or just an ordinary digital camera and a whole lot of patience. There is some exceptional photography on the site, including this photo of Burning Man and this one of the Sonoma County, Calif. coast.



Liebenthal, Kansas photographed by Gigapan user Ron Schott.

Immersive Media is proving panorama doesn't always mean long, flat images. The combination of video and 360° lets users experience a ski race from every possible angle, join a whale watching expedition, or experience the big game as the players see it.

For tips on creating panoramic images, check out this previous post.

Labels: maps, photos

Thumbnails, those tiny images that usually link to a smaller images are the workhorse of any news website. In addition to making a page more visually interesting, thumbnails encourage the reader to click through to inside pages. Usually these thumbnails are created in Photoshop (which plans to launch an online version soon) or some other imaging program, but there are free, online applications that will resize your images quickly (and did I mention for free?)

    

Quick Thumbnail resizes images from your hard drive or from the internet to any size or scale you choose. It even adds filters like grayscale, sepia, or embossing upon request. PicResize also offers quick scaling and filters, but also has options to rotate the image or resize multiple images. It even has a nifty ruler to see how large the original image is. PicResize is a little more user-friendly and the quality of the end result is much better than its counterpart.

To create a screenshot of an entire page like this thumbnail of 10,000 words, use thumbalizr, a quick tool for which you only have to enter the web address. The site will then spit out a thumbnail which you can download at various sizes.

Labels: photos, site management

Time-lapse photography is a very visual way of illustrating change over long periods of time in a matter of minutes. Still photos taken at predetermined intervals create the illusion of something happening more rapidly than it actually is. Time-lapse can be used to show the change in a neighborhood or the evolution of a work of art. The technique, however, is rarely used in journalism because of the time commitment. But if you've got a spare camera, the internet is making it easier to learn how to become a time-lapse master.

EzineArticles has a tutorial on how to create a time-lapse video with your digital camera and Kinsman Physics Productions has a complete rundown of how the technology works. If you already have a set of photographs that you'd like to convert into a time-lapse video, try JPGVideo, which can also be used to string together any series of photos.

Here are a few more examples of how time-lapse photography can be applied to journalism:

The following video shows the construction of a single building over the course of a year


This video uses time lapse photography to document the change made to the Virginia Tech massacre Wikipedia article in the first 12 hours after the event.

Labels: photos, video

Interactive panoramic images are popping up all over the web. Some of the best, like this Google Street View of Miami, give users a 360° view of a particular area. In the past this required an expensive camera or a lot of time. Now all you need is a digital camera and a little bit of patience. The following instructions will help you build a panorama similar to this interactive panorama of the WEB DuBois Centre in Ghana.

Most digital cameras have a feature that allows the photographer to line up the viewfinder to create a series of photographs that eventually become a panorama. If your camera doesn't come with this feature you can either eyeball the area and merge the images in Photoshop or use AutoStitch to create the panorama.

Once you have the final image, follow the instructions at Kirupa.com to upload the image into Flash. Add a little ActionScript and voila! Panorama!

Labels: flash, photos