Photography

21.   www.digital-photography-school.com (Slide 8)– This is an excellent place to learn the basics of photography. There are articles and examples on just about every kind of photography in existence. If you want to get better at taking pictures of kids in your ministry and capturing those events well, this is where I’d go. I’d also recommend signing up for their weekly newsletter. It’s super helpful and is full of really great information.

22.   www.pixabay.com – Photos for your projects can be tough to find, especially if you want to keep it strictly legal and don’t want to spend a ton of money. Pixabay satisfies both of these needs and really offers an excellent selection of resources. If you need a background or an object for a flyer, check out their resources first.

23.   www.flickr.com (Demonstration)– Flickr is a massive repository of photos from all around the world. All you need to do is search for Creative Commons Commercial photos, and you will find photos that are completely legal to use in your next project (design project, Power Point background, etc.).

24.   www.morguefile.com – Every photo at morguefile.com is available for your use. I find the selection isn’t as good as Flickr, but it sometimes nail exactly what I need.

25.   images.google.com – Google’s Image search is also a great place to find photos, but not every photo is commercially available. You want to be careful not to use a photo or part of a photo that has a copyright being applied. To find the copyright free photos, search for a photo, click the Search Tools tab, and then click “Not filtered for license” and choose “Labeled for Reuse”. The photos that show up are copyright free and available for you to use.

26.   www.photosynth.net (Demonstration)– It’s become pretty easy to create panoramic photos on newer cameras and phones. Photosynth takes this ability to the next level. Take pictures from all around you, give them to Photosynth, and it will create a 3D space you can look around in. This could provide a great way to show potential new families your church facilities.

27.   picasa.google.com – Maybe you don’t need all the power and complexity of Photoshop. Maybe you just need to edit a photo, and move on with life. Picasa is the perfect program for this. Picasa allows you to organize your photos and make quick edits to your photos, like cropping, changing lighting and more. It’s super easy to use, and costs nothing.

28.   www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec (Slide 9)- Ah! I just took a ton of photos of kids at the AWANA grand prix, and now my SD card says it has an error, and there are no photos! What can I do? There are actually several great programs out there, but PhotoRec is the very best in my opinion. It is super lightweight, and has produced the best results in my own experience. It’s not the most user friendly option, but if you read how to use it for about three minutes, you should have a good chance of recovering your photos.