Polka Dot Robot

Photography for blogging

At my office we have a drop-down door in the back and I am always taking photos in front of it because I think it is cool. I was trying to make it look like there is graffiti on the door. ha!

As I start to blog more and find my true blogging voice, I have learned that good photos matter. I love photography and I find it hard to look through someone's blog that has bad photos. This is sad because a person could have a really good idea, but because of the photos, could lose traffic to his/her blog or website. In this post, I want to share a few tips that I've learned about using good photos in your blog posts.

Take the time to edit your photos. Editing is a great way to bring your photos to life. Every photo that gets put on my blog, I have edited in some way or another. Photos are an important part of blogging and I think taking the extra time to edit your photos is wroth it and will make your blog look 10x better. 

This falls in the category of editing, but cropping is a really great way to take a photo from an ok photo to a good photo. 

Saving photos for the Web

To change the image size of your photo, you will need to click "image" in your top tool bar and click "image size." Once you clicked image size a dialog box will appear. 

The first thing that we are going to look at it the resolution. The maxim pixel a computer monitor can read is 72 (remember this number.) For great high resolution photos for printing the maxim pixel is 300 (remember this number too.)

The fist thing you want to do is un-check "resample image" in the lower left side of the dialog box. This is going to allow you to change the image resolution while leaving your pixels the same. We will talk about pixels in a minute.

To-Do-List For Vivs

It's been awhile since I (we) have really blogged here. I feel like I am reuniting with a good friend. I am happy to be back blogging on PDR.  

Today, I have a simple post for you-- my to-do-list.

1. Update my calendar: this is never ending because I always forget to add my events to my google calendar. Then I try and remember what I have done or whats to come. I guess, I really don't need to add the stuff that has happened already, but I love it when my calendar makes me look really busy.

2. Look for a new bag: If you follow me on Oh Shoot, than you know that I have been have a lot of neck pain. I have been looking for a backpack for the past two days. I think I am going to go ahead and buy this one.

3. Buy glasses: (I just did this one) I have been wanting to get new glasses for a few months because I am tired of wearing contacts. I like to give my eyes a rest every few years or so. These are the glasses that I just bought. 

4. Update my tumbler: Passport to Style. I started this tumbler back in February, but have not added anything to since the second day I had it :( I really like the idea, but sometimes I feel I have to many things to update. 

5. Photography: I have decided that I was to be a self-portrait photographer (as a hobby.) Most of the photos of me that I post are taken by me. I am learning new thing in photoshop as well. Like cloning...

6. Finish unpacking: I have been living at my new place since the middle of February and still am not unpacked. By the time I get home from work unpacking is that last thing on my mind. 

7. New Reader page: I was to add a new reader page to the PDR blog. I want to make it easy for people who are stopping by for the first time to see what we have blogged about.

9. Smile: Today I will smile more. Not only is it healthy, but it feels good too ;) 

Here is one of my favorite photos that I have taken in March. This is my little cousin Sidnee :) 

Have a lovely day!

xoxo,

vivs

Project 365

One of my big goals this year is to finish Project 365. If you follow me on my personal blog then you know that I am been doing a good job so far. Yay me!!!

Here are 5 of my favorite photos from January.

You can follow my progress here and here. 

One Life online photo class

My lovely friend Kim is teaching an online photo class.

In this class, we'll be playing around with both Film and Digital, and making our own rules for capturing your beautiful life the way you see it.

The nitty gritty details:
-Starts on the 16th of July and runs for 3 weeks (ending about Aug 6th).
-Cost: $40. Sign up here.
-It will be held on a private blog, and there will be new posts at least 5 times a week. You will have access for over a year after.
 
-We will cover 3 basic sections of taking pretty photos,
1. The cameras/film and what you can DO with them!
2. The 'Basics' that have changed my life, like camera settings, how to use ISO properly, flash (friend or foe!). AND shooting tips- how to capture your life the beautiful way it is (low lighting, locations, being sneeky etc).
3. Storing tips/my go-to photoshop techniques and my experiences with prints vs scans.
 
-In between advice (from the 6+ years I've been taking pictures everyday) I will be sharing experiences that will hopefully save you some heartache plus examples of what is a 'mistake' and what's a GOOD mistake. 
- 3 Chats with me, and an extra week after the class finishes to ASK ME ANYTHING you want to know.
-A group on Flickr to share your photos with me&your classmates.
-Some ideas to get you shooting.

This class would be great for you if:
-You don't feel like you have a good handle on your SLR for everyday shooting.
-You don't have enough pictures of your real life!
-You feel awkward taking your camera out and always regret not doing it.
-You've got a film camera(or want one!) but are too scared to use it.
-You like Lomography.
-You always think 'i wish i could do that' when you look at my photos.
-You want to HAVE FUN with photography!  

What you need:

-A keen eye and a camera (doesn't matter what kind, but here are the cameras I use.)

 

The class has already started, but you can still sign-up

 

(click the image to sign-up)

All images and wording belong to Kim Smith

I want to fall in love with you all over again

I was over at my lovely friend Jeremy's blog "Just me" yesterday morning and he had a post about falling in love with Flickr all over again. Ever since WeHeartIt has blown up Flickr has become second choice for most people to find inspiration. Even though I like WeHeartIt there are things that I don't like about the site. 1. Most of the time you can't find the original source of the photo. 2. It runs really slow.

I want to fall in love all over again with my camera and Flickr

Here are a few of my Flickr favorites

1. Untitled, 2. 124/365, 3. Untitled, 4. tuesday*, 5. I love to travel, 6. My First Love, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. [123/365], 10. Untitled, 11. f l o r a, 12. [ ttv - yashica mat-124 g ] :: week fourteen

MegPie: When I was...a classically trained singer!

Now for a little back story on MegPie...

I'm going to tell you guys about when I was a classically trained singer! (Still am, just not much of a practicing one!)

I went to school in SF studying English and Music, and came out a singing playwright, as well as a crafter. For the four years I was in college, I was working towards my English thesis (which ended up being a full length play) and my Senior Recital. Here are some samplings from my recital!

Download 12 She Moved Through the Fair

Download 04 Porgi amor

I was taking it seriously for a little bit (and plan to in the future) hence why I got some schmancy headshots like this one: 

and this one:

Now I keep my singing habits in a little piano bar in the city called Martuni's, which will suffice for now.

That's all for me! Go PDR! 500 blog posts! Woo!

-MegPie

Holga

1. my first ever Holga shot, 2. Holga Scooter, 3. Holga Puppy and Friend, 4. Holga 200710 C 002-05a, 5. albert bridge 02, 6. endless summer, 7. Untitled, 8. Family, 9. Carrot Hopscotch in Washington Square Park, 10. rusty bus, 11. rusty bug, 12. all the fun of holga

This weekend  Laurel and I went to the photo lab to pick up some 120 film for my Holga

I am really excited about having film for my Holga because this is the first time I am really using my camera. My goal is to only use my Holga for one month.

Learning Photoshop

Photoshop is a MONSTER! I set a goal every year to learn more things in Photoshop, but every year I get overwhelmed and give up :( 

I want to learn more about my camera and Photoshop. There are a lot of good tutorials out there- I just need to take the time an play around.

Last year Elsie blogged about fake TTV and today I wanted to try it out. It is really easy and satisfying.

  Meg-Pie will be back latter today for "Meet Me on Thursday"

Don't forget to enter the giveaway in the post below.