The Way of the Johnny

I love photo and video editing on my Mac. For photography, iPhoto is a wonderful application I use for casual photos and Aperture 3 is what I use for my serious, professional quality photography. For video, iMovie is easy to use and can give great results. But we also have a netbook in the house ( Asus EeePC ) which runs Windows XP and it gets a lot more use than the Mac does. Between my wife's iPod Touch and the EeePC , she doesn't even use the Mac anymore. She also takes a bunch of photos and videos with her Canon Powershot SD1000. So, to me, it makes a lot of sense to dedicate the EeePC to my wife's photos and videos. It has a fairly big 160GB hard drive and has a decent screen. The question that comes up is: What software can I use on this low powered netbook for editing Sophia's photos and video? More specifically, is there free software out there that can come close to doing the same job as iPhoto and iMovie do on the Mac? I'm happy to say ...

Being a new parent, I've found that I'm starting to take a lot more video. I consider myself a still photographer first, but I'm really starting to get into videography. Especially since I can take video on my Canon EOS Rebel T1i, I'm enjoying the ability to get shallow depth-of-field in both my stills and my videos. Smaller point-and-shoot cameras can even take HD video now. I was using my Canon Powershot SX110IS for video, but it was only capable of taking a maximum video resolution of 640x480. So I've upgraded to a SX200IS, which is capable of 720p, 30 fps video. This way video from both the SX200IS and T1i will be in HD. Getting a camcorder would be nice, but at this point I can't afford one and I don't feel a need to get one. However, camcorders are specially built for video, so they have features that are absent from most still cameras. This makes taking video using a still camera somewhat of a challenge in some situations. On the other hand,...

I've purchased a new point and shoot camera: a canon powershot sx 110is. I was getting frustrated with the lack of zoom range of my powershot 590is, so I decided to upgrade to canon's lowest "high end" point-and-shoot camera. A G11 would have been nice, or for that matter, one of the new micro 4/3 cameras, but I don't have the money right now to get one. And I don't need a powerful point-and-shoot anyway, just one that's small enough to be portable but has a zoom range that makes it flexible while still having manual controls. The sx 110is fit the bill. I was looking through some Flickr photos taken by users of the sx 110is and there were some comments about the camera that I found interesting. A lot of the users said the sx 110is was the closest camera they've come to having a DSLR . And others said they decided on the sx 110is as an alternative to a DSLR . I used to think this way. Before I got my Canon Rebel XT , I was considering a "...

I love my DSLR , which is a Canon EOS Rebel XT . It is the reason I've become an amateur photographer . But I also really enjoy using my smaller point-and-shoot camera, which is a Canon Powershot A590IS. The Powershot is not as fast or as flexible as the Rebel, but it has some real advantages over the Rebel. Namely, the Powershot is portable and light. The technical picture quality from the Powershot is not as high as the Rebel, which isn't surprising. But great pictures are still possible with the Powershot and with any small point-and-shoot camera. Here is a list of things you can do to greatly improve the photos from any point-and-shoot camera (with examples): 1. Don't use automatic mode. Automatic mode will only provide good pictures in lots of light and all the pictures will look the same. Instead, use the "scene" modes, which use camera settings optimal for the situation or environment. Use portrait mode if you're taking pictu...

FYI: I recently got an Asus Eee PC 4G and I like it a lot and wanted to write a brief review of it. There are a lot of reviews out there, so I wanted to present my review in a unique way. So, I got the idea to make my review in the form of a comic. I was heavily into comics in grade school and high school, so this lets me relive my adolescence to a certain extent. I took pictures of my favorite childhood stuffed animal Littlefoot (from the original Land Before Time animated movie, not the crappy sequels) with my Canon EOS Rebel XT and created the comic in Comic Life. I thought it turned out pretty well and I may just continue to do reviews and other articles in this fashion. Hope you liked it! Comic created with Comic Life from plasq - http://plasq.com