I Failed French Here (Credit : FlixelPix).

With the paranoia surrounding UK education teachers are now especially cautious of using cameras in the classroom. This was different, it was about pupils using cameras not the teacher so naturally I jumped and the next day an announcement appeared in the school notices that the first meeting of the photography club would be the following week. To my surprise (actually horror) sixty seven pupils turned up. In hindsight it was sad that with the throes of curriculum development we had missed an art form so many pupils were motivated to take part in.

I have decided to look at six areas where photography could be used as a learning tool without swaying too far from the curriculum remembering the infinite benefits of introducing students to such an accessible art form.

1. Mathematics

I am not a maths teacher so these are literally off the top of my head and there are probably a stack I have missed. There is symmetry, shutter speed fractions, Aperture and area of a circle, exposure calculations and finally frame rate when thinking of Moving Image.

2. Science / Physics

We probably all remember working with lens and light when we were at school. Photography if considered scientifically is understanding how light works. Curriculum wise we have lens, light, focal length calculations, refraction, spectrums and the list goes on.

3. History

This Christmas I received a number of photography books (including the “Genius of Photography” and the “Icons of Photography” it is amazing just how much history education uses photography.

Photographers such as George Rodger brought photography evidence of the horrors experienced in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as well as the Normandy Invasions. In fact some consider photography to offer the real documentary evidence of the horrors of World War II.

4. Journalism

Probably the easiest area of the curriculum to introduce the art of photography. From history through to modern day events we have relied on the photo to communicate much of life. In so many ways it is the photo that survives when the actual news story has long been lost. Take a look at these examples of 13 photos that changed the world, and there are many many more.

5. Moving Image Arts / Art

Photography is a stunning accessible art form and if a student is ever going to create a brilliant piece of Moving Image Art then they have to understand the art of still photography.

There really isn’t very much point to labour this point as these are the obvious curriculum areas where photography can be studied in detail from the history of art through to modern day photography techniques.

6. ICT

I was going to leave the list at just five subjects but I think it is important to acknowledge the transferable skills offered through the study of digital photography. Having taught Moving Image Arts for a number of years I am amazed at just how much a student’s ICT skills develop throughout the year perhaps even more than students who study ICT, different skills perhaps but essential ones.

From working with hardware (USB, Firewire) through to file compression, storage issues, file types there is an unseen learning process that takes place. I have one student in mind who had little ICT experience at the beginning of the course yet after two years was the proud owner of a Mac Book and was not only able to use the computer in her creative workflow but was also on her way to start a degree course in multimedia.

Conclusion :

This badly written, unedited and probably riddled with grammatical errors post (I’m too tired to proof read) has a single aim and that is to re-focus. Teachers are so tied to curriculum and have little time to develop and be creative yet often the creative opportunities can be right in front of us. With the expectation of a dozen photographers in the photography club sixty seven was a wakeup call.

The next challenge is to fund and offer opportunities students wouldn’t normally have at home such as access to Adobe Lightroom, or Apple Aperture…. we love challenges though.

Photo Credit : www.flixelpix.com used with permission.

Related:

• Flickr Comes to iPhone
• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Upgrades all Round
• The Perfect Photo Joby
• Easy Lightroom to Flickr

About the Author
Jerry is an Apple certified trainer and Adobe certified instructor with over 16 years experience in post production and training. He is a freelance trainer for video and motion graphics and is currently presenting on Propeller TV (Sky 195).

If you are new to Motion check out the Motion Templates website where you will find 6 more free templates that show the new features of Motion4. Also to keep up with the latest Motion news why not follow Jerry on Twitter.

Links:
Free Motion Templates

Related:

• Motion Tutorial : Reflections
• Apple Motion : Drop Zones
• Customising Apple Motion Templates
• Free Apple Motion Die
• Free Apple Motion Templates

The official application is completely free and allows you to take photos on your phone, upload to the Flickr website.

You can search Flickr, easily add comments. Personally I find it an easier way of watching the activity on your photostream with a full list with comment and favourited count. This is particularly useful if your photos (unlike mine) receive a lot of comments or favourites.

As well as supporting the ability to take photos directly from the iPhone camera it also supports video uploads on the iPhone 3Gs. Flickr introduced the ability to upload video a number of months ago but to me Flickr is for photos and Vimeo for video.

The interface is simple and easy to use, it offers the ability to comment, move to the next and previous photos as well as email a link to a particular photo to a friend.

Tags are also well supported on the iPhone app and clicking on a tag name displays a list of the relevant photos.

With Flickery for the desktop and now a brilliant iPhone client there is no excuse to have an up to date well managed photostream. The official Flickr iPhone application is available now via the Apple iTunes Apps store and is free.

I have uploaded a few more screen shots to a set within my Flickr account. View the full set of images here.

Links:
Flickr
Flixelpix

Related:

• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Easy Lightroom to Flickr
• 5 Point iPhoto Workflow
• 500D : The Communities
• 6 Reasons for Photography in Education

Over the last few months I have been using a mix of iPhoto and Adobe Lightroom 2 (read our lightroom tutorials) and I predict the more confident I get with Lightroom the less I will probably use iPhoto. Many of the photos I take end up on Flickr and although a stack of plugins exist for iPhoto and Lightroom (and useful they are too) none offer the ability to manage your Flickr library directly once the image is uploaded.

Welcome Flickery. Flickery, a flickr desktop client for Mac OS X, that offers you the combined power of the flickr photo-community and the ease-of-use of Mac OS X Leopard (and I have been using it today with Snow Leopard without issue).

Uploading photos is really easy as the application works in harmony with Leopard. Not only can you upload an image file via Finder you can also upload from your iPhoto or Aperture Libraries directly from the flickery interface.

Once uploaded you can edit the description, title and tags directly from the Flickery application even for photos you uploaded months previously. Actually if Flickery could handle stats (for pro accounts) you would never need to visit the Flickr site again.

Flickery allows you to organise photos in photosets or groups, and view them in full screen, flickery lets you do everything possible on the flickr website and that even includes working with your ‘favourited’ photos.  Adding photos to photosets or groups really is a matter of dragging and dropping the image on the appropriate group name on the sidebar.

One interesting feature is the ability to download a photo or add it to your iPhoto library (if the photo has been permitted for download on flickr that is).  The screen shot below shows just some of my latest favourite photos from other users :

You can manage your contacts directly from the application and better still you can blog and spread the word of your latest photo upload via blog, email and even twitter once you have entered your twitter username and password.

I would love to be able to view stats from the application or see a view count / comment count on the main interface (above). That said these are small negatives for a massively useful application.

Having recently started a little photoblog at www.flixel.net it is matter now of dragging the latest blogged image on to the flickery interface to include it in my flickr collection. Flickery makes flicker management quick and easy, especially if like me you have been stuck uploading photos by the flickr webpage uploader !

A demo of flickery is available from the developer’s website but if you have a Flickr account I very much think you will be compelled to buy. I love it.

DigMo! ★★★★

Links:
Flickery

Related:

• Easy Lightroom to Flickr
• iPhoto to Lightroom
• 5 Point iPhoto Workflow
• Flickr Comes to iPhone
• 500D : The Communities

This tutorial offers a first look at how to work with reflections.

About the Author
Jerry is an Apple certified trainer and Adobe certified instructor with over 16 years experience in post production and training. He is a freelance trainer for video and motion graphics and is currently presenting on Propeller TV (Sky 195). Jerry is presenting the IBC hands on training at the Rai in Amsterdam from the 11th to the 15th September and it’s all free. Jerry runs the brilliant Motion Template website.

If you are new to Motion check out the Motion Templates website where you will find 6 more free templates that show the new features of Motion4.

Links:
Free Motion Templates

Related:

• Apple Motion : 3D Shadows
• Apple Motion : Drop Zones
• Customising Apple Motion Templates
• Free Apple Motion Die
• Free Apple Motion Templates

Recent releases boast 15 megapixel sensors and high definition video all with the ability to interchange lenses offering endless possibilities for the budding photographer. Check out this macro hi-def video captured with Canon’s new 500D.

Over the last few days I have been playing with probably the best birthday / christmas present any photographer could receive, the Joby Gorillapod SLR. Yes I risked my prized 500D (mini review) so you don’t have to !
Initially I have to admit I was a little scared attaching what is a reasonably heavy camera to something as unusual as the Gorillapod but it was quick to see how strong and robust this mini tripod actually is. Balance the camera with the three very bendable legs and the Gorillapod will lock in that position perfectly.

Initially I used the tripod on fixed levels such as the floor or desktop  so that if it did fall I wasn’t taking too much of a risk but within a few hours I was discovering creative applications as to just where the camera could be located, most of them a little risky. (See the photos for a few examples).

Macro Photography

Having dabbled in a range of different photography techniques, for me the most enjoyable has to be macro photography. A little like the later example of animation I have been using my tripod to overlook a table on which the item being photographed is placed.

The annoyance comes with prime fixed focused lenses and actually getting in close enough to the item to actually photograph it properly.(The photo taken in the above setup is on flickr although it wasn’t the prime lens attached at the time which took this photo).

The Gorillapod offers a perfect solution. The flexible tripod can be easily slid along the surface of the table and locked into position for photographing via remote shutter release. The camera height and level can easily be easily adjusted my bending the legs of the Gorillapod, this is particularly relevant when shooting nature macro.

General Photography

I generally take a bit of abuse from my family for lugging a camera around with us everywhere we go, “say cheese” is generally greeted with a “ack no more photos” (or worse) and that is on a good day. To suggest the idea of carrying a tripod with me would frankly invoke a riot, but a Gorillapod, well, that is a very different matter.

The mini tripod folds down small enough to fit into most camera bags and the screw in fixing (for the camera) is small enough to be left on at all times. In use the gorillapod can be fixed to just about anything.

I admit initially I was a little nervous hanging my prized 500D from large heights but within a few hours my confidence in the Gorillapod’s ability to look after my camera had me hanging it from all sorts of trees, fences and gates.

Even on those occasions when a tripod really isn’t necessary the gorillapod offers quite useful additional support and frees up both hands to work with the item being photographed or with additional equipment.

The fact that digital SLR cameras now offer the ability to record high definition video the gorillapod becomes even more an essential part of every photographers kit bag.

Animation & Education

In the education setting the Gorillapod range again offers a practical alternative to bulky tripods. The mobile version would be perfect for use with Flip video devices (read our review), we are using these more and more in the classroom situation as the perfect video solution.

Claymation (or stop motion) animation is a popular technique in Moving Image Arts education. Students painstakingly make sets and models and bring them to life frame by frame.

One of the biggest problems facing students is camera set access. Most of the animation work is produced using an Macbook Pro and the iStopmotion animation software. Students use external light sources to illuminate their set and to date the camera has been placed on a standard tripod overlooking the desk and set.

The Gorillapod is going to become an essential tool in the animation process in the years ahead. It offers close access within a production set as well as being fully adjustable to various height levels. The following photo shows the spirit level in use, a better view is available on Flick, click here).
The inbuilt spirit level offers additional guidance and the fact the Gorillapod remembers its shape really well so the daring animator could risk marking the feet locations and move the camera out of set between adjustments.

I think it is fair to say the device is going to have a very positive input into final claymation films and we will certainly be experimenting with the device for capturing traditional rostrum animation work.

Gorillapod isn’t just the realm of the SLR market, a number of other models exist for compact and even high end video cameras. Without doubt this is the best mini tripod we have used (and we have used quite a number).

At around £30 pounds for the digital SLR version, function, portability and ease of use make this as an essential as a camera bag when it comes to any photographers kit bag. There is even a dedicated Flickr group for photos taken with the support of a Gorillapod.

DigMo! ★★★★

The Gorillapod SLR is currently available at less than £27.

Related:

• 6 Reasons for Photography in Education
• Flickr Comes to iPhone
• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Upgrades all Round
• Gorillatorch Announced

It does everything from manage tags, to allocating photos to sets & Flickr groups.

The plugin is really easy to install. Download and extract the .zip file into the downloads folder of your Mac. In Lightroom click on the File Menu and select ‘plugins manager.

A window will appear listing the various plugins (if any) you have installed.  Now click the ‘Add’ button and locate the downloaded file.

Once installed you should see the following window outlining the terms of conditions of use and how the donation ware system works.

For security reasons all 3rd party flickr applications have to be authorised within your user account. This is a simple process. Probably the quickest way to authorise is to click on the photo you want to export to flickr and select ‘Export’ from the File Menu.

Initially I was a little confused as to where the flickr options but click on the top image that says “Export to disk” to display the various export options, including Flickr.

I was able to quickly upload this image to flickr, the Lightroom tags remained intact and I was able to add it to a ’set’ and ‘flickr groups’ all from within the Lightroom application.
If you use Lightroom and post photos to flickr this plugin is pretty much essential. Donations are set at around $15-$20

Note: The plugin still functions after the trial but is limited to uploading ten images at any one time. I think when you see just how powerful this plugin is you won’t hesitate to donate.

To download the plugin click here.

Related:

• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Flickr Comes to iPhone
• iPhoto to Lightroom
• 5 Point iPhoto Workflow
• 500D : The Communities

A number of photograph friends have cited this as a reason for using iPhoto or Aperture over Lightroom yet a solution is relatively simple.

It is possible to share the original photos (i.e. the ones straight from the camera imported into iPhoto) with Lightroom following this relatively simple process :

Show Contents

1. Access your Photos in iPhoto
Right click on your iPhoto library (users/photos/iphoto library) and select “show package contents” this will open a new finder window showing a series of folders.

The iPhoto icon is really a large folder containing your photos, meta information and revisions. You are not doing any damage to your photographs or even your iPhoto library by opening the package in this way.

2.Make Alias

Make Alias

Locate the ‘Contents’ folder, this should contain subfolders listing the various years for which you have photos. Right click on this folder and select “Make alias” you can call it whatever you want.

Now drag this alias file to your desktop or documents folder. We have to use the alias file as Lightroom is unable to open the iPhoto package.

As you will have to repeat the process if you add new photos to your iPhoto library it is worth keeping this alias file in your documents folder.

3. Import
Back in Lightroom click on the File Menu and import and then locate this alias file.

Lightroom will take you through the next steps. I opted to keep the photos in their current location to avoid duplications wasting disk space.

This can take some time depending on the number of photos in your iPhoto library. Note that the two applications don’t work together i.e. adjustments you make in Lightroom will not appear in your iPhoto library.

Related:

• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Easy Lightroom to Flickr
• 5 Point iPhoto Workflow
• 6 Reasons for Photography in Education
• Flickr Comes to iPhone

The workflow tends not to change regardless of the type of photos being taken. iPhoto is great for the home user with dozens of holiday or  family photos. Grouping photos by events is brilliant and the face recognition function is growing in its usefulness as it learns the faces in my photos.

My five step workflow is relatively simple. Most of the photos I end up sharing with the world end up on Flickr. Some family photos are shared via MobileMe with other family members, both sharing methods are effortless.

1. Crop

Generally no photo is perfectly framed more often than not I have stray artifacts that have to be removed before a photo is even close to being presentable. Cropping in iPhoto is easy (click the edit button to reveal the full range of editing functions available. The crop function can also be restricted to the popular photo sizes. Drag the cropping frame over the area you want to be the final masterpiece, hit enter and you are done.

Cropping in iPhoto

2. Retouch

The retouch tool is possible the most useful tool I have come across in any photo application. Click on a blemish and it is gone. The tool is particularly useful for family photographs if children have the remains of their lunch on their face although in this photo I was able to remove tiny grains of sand on the insect in a few seconds. Keep the retouch circle as small as you can (obviously slightly larger than the blemish, click and it is gone.

Retouch in seconds

3. Enhance

Hidden under the bonnet of the iPhoto interface is a pretty sophisticated ehanced control panel. Click the ‘Adjust’ button to reveal the advanced control. You can see from the screen shot I have just tweaked the image slightly increasing the saturation and tint a little.

Too much adjustment can make a photo look completely fake but a bit of a tweak can transform a photo. Remember if you feel iPhoto doesn’t offer enough editing power you can set your editing to be performed by an external application (such as Photoshop) in the iPhoto Preferences.

Tweaking the Saturation

4. Tag

It can be a bit of a pain at the time but tagging your photos can make life alot easier later on. I tend to use a maximum of three tags per photo, Macro, Insect etc. This means I can quicky find photos from my library that contain insects, a family member, a location etc.

This is really useful as your library grows. Recently a photography competition was launched based on a local location, I was able to locate all the photos I had taken of this area in seconds and to be honest I had forgotten many of them.

Tagged Images

5. Export

Exporting to MobileMe is a breeze, select the photos you want to share and click the MobileMe button along the bottom of the iPhoto interface. iPhoto offers direct share capabilities for MobileMe, Facebook and Flickr, that said I don’t really like the way iPhoto exports to Flickr.

Each export is listed along the side panel of iPhoto and although it can be handy to be able to delete from Flickr directly from iPhoto I prefer to be able to put a photo on iPhoto and forget about it.

I tend to use the export option (file, export) and export the photos I want to share on Flickr and upload these via either Flickr’s web upload interface or more recently use the brilliant Dropzone application (read our review).

To see the final version of this insect photo shared on Flickr click here.   Constructive comments are always appreciated as I am complete novice photographer trying to learn.

If you like this article why not subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow us on Twitter ?

Related:

• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Flickr Comes to iPhone
• Easy Lightroom to Flickr
• iPhoto to Lightroom
• 500D : The Communities

1. 500D Vimeo Channel
This channel features amazing high definition video produced using the digital SLR’s video settings. Upload your video and tag it 500D and the moderators will ensure it makes its way into the channel. The channel can be found here.

2. 500D Vimeo Group
A little different to a channel the group offers the ability to discuss video productions and tips on how to create the best video output directly from the camera. I have gained from the group on learning about suggested lenses etc. Join the group here.

3. 500D Flickr Group
A Flickr pool featuring only images created using the Canon 500D camera. Submit your best photos, view and comment on photos taken by others and even ask questions in the group forum.  There are just under 200 members who are all keen to share and learn. Click here to view the group.

4. MyBestPic
Having posted what I think is my best photo to Twitter, fellow twitter user José Picardo suggested the idea of a hash tag and allow other Twitter users to submit the best ever photos. The hash tag is #mybestpic and we have also created a flickr group so users have a permanent gallery of those submitted. The group is here.

It is certainly a fantastic camera and we would love to see your photos in the MyBestPics group. If you are still at the temptation stage then buy the camera at a bit less than I did !

Related:

• Flickr Comes to iPhone
• Flickery : Flickr Made Easy
• Easy Lightroom to Flickr
• 5 Point iPhoto Workflow
• Death of the Camcorder?