Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Picture's Worth . . .

Aren't digital cameras wonderful? I love the fact that I can take tons of photos, trying different angles, different lighting, messing with settings on the camera, etc. and not have to pay a cent just to see how they turned out! Remember when we took pictures and had to wait 10 days to have them developed? I remember being disappointed so many times in the pictures that I took!
Thank goodness that has all changed! Now I'm amazed at the numerous tools we have available to enhance our photos! iPhoto on our Macs is one of those tools. In iPhoto you can easily edit your photos, removing red eye, straightening photos, changing the saturation, and much more. Within iPhoto, books, calendars, and cards can be published - either through Apple or on your printer!
There are many web-based applications that also provide more options for editing photos!
Take a look at Picnik. This is absolutely FREE and has lots of features to choose from. This photo was taken by Kathy E. at Dillon Nature Center and enhanced in iPhoto then embellished at Picnik.
Dumpr is another one of my favorites. I don't recommend putting students' photos and their names online. By using dumpr to change a photo to a pencil drawing, an avatar (computer representation of oneself) has been created. The avatar can then be used on classroom webpages, in VoiceThread, and other online settings. This is a great substitution for real photos of students.



This photo was edited with the celebrity paparazzi option.







How are you using digital images in your classroom? I have several ideas for you, but those will have to come in another blog post!

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