Using your camera’s pop-up flash can produce harsh and unattractive results. For those of us who haven’t got the spare cash to splash out on a hotshoe mounted flashgun, a small diffuser is the next best thing. Raid the fridge for an empty plastic milk carton and dig out the scissors for some serious DIY flash-diffuser action.
1. Lotta bottleNext time you go to the shops, grab a six-pint carton of milk. The opaque plastic is the perfect gauge to diffuse the light just enough without losing too much power.
2. Cut it out Before it goes into the recycling box, cut out the carton’s handle section. The diameter is perfect for a snug fit, but leaves enough space for diffusing the light.
3. The slits To enable the diffuser to slip comfortably over the flash, cut a slit down the whole length of the handle (splitting it in half) before sliding it over your flash.
4. Trim it You’ll want to look cool on the streets and keep the size small enough to fit in your pocket so trim the plastic, leaving a centimetre each side for maximum effect.
See the results of your home-made flash diffuser…
The highlights are quite a bit stronger and the skin tones are less flattering.
The flash temperature is warmer and the highlights are less harsh.
By Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 23, 3:48 pm ET
TOKYO – A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband’s digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.
The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game “Maple Story” to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
“I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.
The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.
She has not yet been formally charged, but if convicted could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000.
Players in “Maple Story” raise and manipulate digital images called “avatars” that represent themselves, while engaging in relationships, social activities and fighting against monsters and other obstacles.
The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.
The woman was arrested Wednesday and was taken across the country, traveling 620 miles from her home in southern Miyazaki to be detained in Sappporo, where the man lives, the official said.
The police official said he did not know if she was married in the real world.
In recent years, virtual lives have had consequences in the real world. In August, a woman was charged in Delaware with plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through “Second Life,” another virtual interactive world.
In Tokyo, police arrested a 16-year-old boy on charges of swindling virtual currency worth $360,000 in an interactive role playing game by manipulating another player’s portfolio using a stolen ID and password.
Virtual games are popular in Japan, and “Second Life” has drawn a fair number of Japanese participants. They rank third by nationality among users, after Americans and Brazilians.
The photographer’s worst nightmare: being hauled out from behind the lens and forced to stand in front of a camera.
Why must people photograph us? Yes, photographers are adorable, and yes, we have unparalleled style. But we are shy, and we prefer to hide behind our cameras like frightened woodland creatures behind large trees.
Still, people do insist on taking our pictures. So, what to do when you can’t avoid being photographed? Stand tall and follow our tips for instant photogenicity.
There are approximately a kajillion tricks, tips and gimmicks that are supposed to make you look great when the shutter clicks. Having combed through most of those, we’ve condensed it to the ones that actually work.
1. Dress Nice
If you know you’re going to be photographed, don’t wear horizontal stripes or crazy patterns. Opt for neutral colors over bright ones unless you are one hundred percent certain that color looks great on you.
2. Check the Mirror
Do a last-minute check of your face: cover up any pimples, put drops in your eyes if they’re red, and make sure you don’t have food in your teeth.
3. Don’t Shine
If you’ve been sweating or if your face is greasy, make sure to wipe your face. Use oil-blotting papers if you wear makeup, or blot with a slightly damp paper towel.
In a pinch, wipe your face with your sleeve before venturing in front of the camera.
4. Stand Up Right
Slouching makes you look nonchalant, but it also makes you look short and/or dumpy.
Place one foot behind the other, and lean back just a little bit. You’ll still look relaxed, but you’ll also look tall.
5. Twist It Up
Stand facing slightly away from the camera, then twist at the waist to face the camera. Make it subtle- if you overdo it you’ll look like a stray from a beauty pageant.
6. Stretch Your Neck
Turn your head slightly away from the camera, extend your neck, then tilt your head down. Your face will look thinner and you won’t have a double chin.
7. Flee the Flash
Avoid the unforgiving bare flash at all costs. If you can’t get around it, search your pockets for a translucent candy or gum wrapper and put it over the flash to diffuse it.
8. Choose Your Light
If you can choose when and where you’ll be photographed, pick an outdoor shoot in the morning or late afternoon. The light is more flattering at those times.
If you have to be photographed in the middle of the day, stand in the shade.
9. Watch Where You Stand
An interesting background will make you look more interesting too. Choose a pretty outdoor scene to stand in front of, or look for a wall with interesting texture or colors. Avoid standing in front of plain or drab backgrounds.
Of course, if you can’t find a pretty location, you can always stand next to someone ugly. You’ll look great by comparison. (Just kidding. Or are we?)
10. Meditate for a Moment
Ask the photographer to count to three before taking the picture. Close your eyes and breathe in. Then, just before the shutter clicks, breathe out, open your eyes and smile. Your face will look relaxed and your smile will be real.
Sure, you can press a button and take a mini motion picture.
But what about the well-loved, handheld, movie-in-your-pocket flip book? Our favorite form of animation, the flip book is the original, prehistoric movie. We’ve doodled thousands of stick figures in the corners of our notebooks. It’s time for photos.
We’ve made digital flip books. We’ve made stop-motion videos. We’ve even uploaded photos and purchased a flip book from FlipClips for 10 bucks or so.
We’re flippin’ out over the final product: a squat little choppy movie, our DIY photo flip book will make your thumbs sore from showing it off to all your photo-loving friends.
Cinema for your thumbs, flip books excite the curious kid in us. They remind us of how simple a moving picture can be and to appreciate the smaller, personal moments captured in quick video. They’re portable, interactive, always entertaining. Adding photos to the flip book experience is like peanut butter finding its jelly.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to take one of your favorite short videos, cut it up into 100 still frames, and then turn it into a simple, pocket-sized flip book.
What You’ll Need
You’ll find most of what you need in your garage/basement/office. For the screw posts, try your local craft or bookbinding store.
Photoshop CS3
Camera with video capabilities
Photo printer
Matte 4×6 photo paper
Pencil
Scissors
Drill
Various drill bits, the largest at 13/64″
C-clamp
Scrap of wood for drilling into
Mat board or stiff card stock
A couple rubber bands
Two 1″ screw posts (aluminum, brass, or steel)
Leather or fabric scrap (optional, for binding)
Step 1: Shoot the Video
You’ll want to shoot in standard mode, at a rate of 15 fps or 30 fps (both are common on point-and-shoots with video capability). The video can be any length, but keep it short and simple. You’ll be cutting it down to 3 or 6.6 seconds.
Also, when you bind the flip book, you’ll lose the left chunk of your your video’s frame. Keep your subject at the right half of your frame while shooting.
Step 2: Set Up Your Photoshop Work Area
Open Photoshop.
Open your video.
Under Image>Image Size, verify your video is 320 x 240 pixels. If not, resize to these specifications.
You’ll also want to open the Animation palette at the bottom of your screen (click Window>Animation). There are two modes in which you can view your video: Timeline and Frames. By clicking on the button at the bottom right of the animation palette, you can switch between the two modes. Timeline mode allows you to see the frames per second; Frame mode allows you to see the keyframes of the whole animation. We worked primarily in timeline mode.
Step 3: Cut Video
The ideal length for this sort of flip book (according to us, mind you) is about 100 individual clips/stills. That means, by shooting 15 fps, you’ll want about 6.6 seconds of video. If you shoot at 30 fps, you’ll need about 3 seconds.
In Photoshop, play with the sliders in the animation timeline palette to see which several seconds of your video you want to make into a flip book. Take a mental note of the start and stop points (we’ll address why in the next step).
Step 4: Turn Video Frames into Layers
In Photoshop, choose File>Import>Video Frames to Layers.
Choose your video. Click “Load.”
In the next dialog box, choose “Selected Range Only.” Hold down the shift key while moving the slider key under the preview of your video. This is where your mental note of your video’s start and stop points comes in handy as there are no time markers on this preview. Click “OK.”
Step 5: Verify Your Layers
If you selected your video’s range properly, you should now have around 100 layers in Photoshop. If you have more, delete some at the beginning or end, depending on what looks good to you. You can press the play button in the animation palette to get an idea of what your flip book will look like. Cool!
Step 6: Save the Layers as Files
Still in Photoshop, choose File>Scripts>Export Layers to Files. In the dialog box that pops up, you’ll want to select a destination for all the 100 individual stills and create a prefix for their file names. For the sake of organization, you might want to create a new file for all the stills. Don’t select “Visible Layers Only” unless, duh, you’ve made all your layers visible.
Click “Run.”
BE PATIENT. This takes a looooong time. Like multiple-halves-of-hours long.
Step 7: Create Contact Sheets
Now you’ll be making contact sheets with 4 stills on each printed 4×6 sheet of photo paper. Select File>Automate>Contact Sheet II.
In the dialog box, select the folder into which you saved all the stills. Specify the document size as 4×6 inches. The resolution should be set at 300 ppi. Select “Flatten All Layers.” In the “Thumbnails” box, you’ll want to arrange the stills in 2 columns and 2 rows and select the “Auto-Spacing” option. Be sure “Use Filename as Caption” is unchecked.
Click “OK” and wait a few minutes for this automation to run. All the contact sheets will be open on your screen. Save them.
Step 8: Print the Contact Sheets
Print out each of the 25 contact sheets on your 4×6 photo paper IN ORDER (from 1-25). As they print, you’ll want to mark the order on the back of each still. Photoshop places them in order, starting in the left upper corner and moving clockwise. They’ll look like the image at right.
Step 9: Cut the Stills from the Contact Sheets
This is also a time-consuming step… But you can speed things up if you have a paper guillotine (the big, sharp chop block thingamajig). Use scissors and cut exactly around each still, leaving a small white border on the left where the binding will go. Stack them in order, starting with 1 and ending with, of course, 100.
It’s fine if the edges aren’t perfect, so long as the right edge can be lined up square. This is where you’ll flip the book with your thumb.
Step 10: Make a Stack
Stack the stills so the right edge is neat and tidy. Place two pieces of your scrap board on the top and bottom. Use several rubber bands to hold the whole contraption in place.
Clamp the stack to a scrap piece of wood and then on top of something you don’t mind drilling into, should the drill keep going.
Mark two dots on the left edge where you want the screw posts to go.
Step 11: Drill!
Here’s where it gets tricky. Drill straight down at a high speed into the stack of card-paper-card-wood with a small drill bit to make a pilot hole. Then use your 13/64″ drill bit to make the final holes.
Keep the whole contraption tight, tight, tight so that your holes line up and the edges stay put. You might want to ask for help here–have a lovely assistant press the stack down while you drill.
Step 12: Insert the Screw Posts
Carefully, insert the 1″ screw posts through both sets of holes. Wind in the other end.
Step 13: Optional Fancy Binding
If the holes you drilled are less than perfect, you might want to spiffy up the binding a bit. Use a leather scrap or a piece of fabric and cut holes that line up with the screw posts. Wrap the material around the left edge, screw in the screw posts, voilà! You could also cut small pieces of cardboard to fit along the top and bottom left edges between the screw posts and the paper.
Handmade Vs. Web-Bought
The edges might be a little woozy, you might have a few fingerprints here and there. You might even mess up the order. But with the final product in your hands, the richness of the experience comes through.
Of course, you can always order your flip book online … And we’d never dis them, but really, who can turn away from the handmade object? Especially when it moves…
Flickr, Facebook, your blog… so many wonderful places to share your pictures.
And yet, such a giant pain in the butt to tag and organize and upload photos separately to every single site. Sometimes it’s almost not worth the effort.
Until now! (Cue burst of golden light and singing choir!)
Pixelpipe’s a new service that uploads all your pictures to all your favorite sites at once. Here’s how it works:
Choose all the destinations you usually send photos to (like Blogger, Picasa, YouTube and nearly 50 other sites).
Add titles, tags, and captions to your chosen photos or videos.
Click upload, and relax while Pixelpipe send all of your photos to their various destinations.
Easy, right? Also, did we mention that it’s free? And there are free software add-ons that let you upload straight from Picasa, and your mobile phone, and stuff like that.
So there you go: more sharing your photos, less pain in the keister.
Slouching makes you look nonchalant, but it also makes you look short and/or dumpy. 
Stand facing slightly away from the camera, then twist at the waist to face the camera. Make it subtle- if you overdo it you’ll look like a stray from a beauty pageant.
Turn your head slightly away from the camera, extend your neck, then tilt your head down. Your face will look thinner and you won’t have a double chin.
An interesting background will make you look more interesting too. Choose a pretty outdoor scene to stand in front of, or look for a wall with interesting texture or colors. Avoid standing in front of plain or drab backgrounds.
Ask the photographer to count to three before taking the picture. Close your eyes and breathe in. Then, just before the shutter clicks, breathe out, open your eyes and smile. Your face will look relaxed and your smile will be real.
