Pic’in it
Taking pictures is fun. It is a nice way to remember things you have seen and done. Some experiences feel vaguely empty when there are no pictures accompanying them for posterity, or next month. Pictures can also give an artistic touch to otherwise mundane experiences. They can make buses and tuk tuks interesting, and can also make you look cooler on Facebook.
I’ve been taking pictures for a while now. I usually borrow that girl’s camera, but i just acquired a compact digital of my own. It is smaller than a card pack so carrying it is as easy as taking your mobile phone with you, although now essentially i will be carrying two mobile phone like objects. The camera is a Canon sd1200is, it gets good reviews on the internet and takes neat pictures. But haven’t got a chance to get my groove on with it yet cause i am yet to get a memory card for it.
In other news, I made a switch from Flickr to Picasa; mainly because Flickr is charging me $24 to continue uploading pictures, and I’m not ready to cash out to put my pictures up on the internet. Besides, I’m Sri Lankan and I like free things. Google offers 1Gb free space on Picasa, which is a whole lot of pictures as opposed to the paltry 200 pics you can upload for free on Flickr. Upgrading on Picasa is also much cheaper. The only, but significant, advantage with Flickr is the amount of people using it. It is easier to connect with friends who take pictures on Flickr because chances are that they are already on it.
Picasa has a great photo editing software that lets you edit your pictures easily, although it is not as techy as Photoshop, its perfect for when you just want to tweak your pics a little bit to make them look their best. Some interesting features include face recognition, mass tagging and easy uploading direct to your Picasa web account. Uploading is fast and as far as I can tell, better than the Flickr Uploader. Picasa also lets you map the locations of your pictures and geo tag them on Google Earth. These are some pics I tinkered with and uploaded to my new Picasa account.
Weber Stadium, Batticaloa
Dutch Fort, Batticaloa
Arugam Bay
Water Buffalo, Arugam Bay
I think Google’s strategy to take over the internet is great. They gererally put out great products and encourage people to use them for free and work on their advertising to bring in revenue. They’ve got everything from economists, neuro scientists, mathematicians and bus conductors working on improving their algorithm and products. If you’re on Picasa, add me up (http://picasaweb.google.com/halikazeez).
Abdul Khaleq 
v nice. i think there are some photography courses around too, which can help u with lighting composition ect…
Where?
I’m interested.
There was a ten week course conducted by the photographers assosiation at the wendt i saw sometime ago.
new course starts in jan 2010 (via dee) http://www.napsl.com/courses.html
hmm…dude this post make me wanna switch, i mite just do that also…but does picasa have all thos nifty widgets that flickr has, like embedding to a blog ect??
Not realy sure about the widgets, will let you know when i figure it out
Don’t be too quick to jump on the Google bandwagon. They’re clearly going the Microsoft way.
not really man, they are trying to monopolize, sure. but they are still free for users. Also, they are still open to competition.
yeah don’t use Google Chrome! 😛 😉
I really love the third shot. Naice.
Last two are cool. Particularly loved the last one.
Btw, I’ve been using Picasa from the beginning – I don’t know but for some reason I never really liked Flickr.
U peeps how do u like d last shot? Its me, your buffalo saint with some of my friends.
Purplesocks – thanks!
Sach – well add me up mate! i cant seem to find you
Halik – wow, what a good looking buffalo you are!
Oh I don’t think I have any public albums. Will add you up soon man. I’m returning to SL tomorrow, so when I get there…
We agree with you totally.
Picasa is great and the entire Google approach is what the world has needed.
We have embraced all Google has to offer for years and that is what has made our attempt to promote Arugam Bay possible.
Good luck and have fun with your new Canon!
http://www.arugam.info
You got a camera without a memory card :S?
lol, what N asked! 😀
loved the shots! I use Picasa too, much easier since all my blogger pics automatically get uploaded there… 🙂
Picasa is great..no doubt!
Hans – Thanks! The google approach is helping a lot of people out right now.
N – yeah. It says on the box; does not come with memory card
Chavie – brilliant, i’ll add u up
KP – yeah, as testified by your gazillion pics on it!
KPs gallery can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/Kirigalpoththa
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The camera photography tutorial at http://www.squidoo.com/digital_camera_photography_tutorial