Pixlr is a real godsend for internet marketers; it puts the basic features of popular editing software such as Photoshop in the hands of anyone with a computer – you no longer need to install anything, just navigate to www.pixlr.com/editor and away you go.  If you are setting up a Facebook page this video will show how you can use the online editor to create your own graphic to use on the page. They are usually 200×600 pixels and so our graphic is created to those dimensions. Hopefully those of you who are using the editor have better taste than I did when making this demonstration – I do not recommend blending purple and yellow together!

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I've just been playing about with Pixlr, a browser-based image editor. This tool is a real boon for anyone who wants to edit their photos or create a new graphic from scratch, but is either away from their regular computer with a software editor installed on it (such as Photoshop or the GIMP) or perhaps does not have an editor on the machine. This tool offers much of the familiarity of the Photoshop desktop, along with a tool palette with all the everyday options included, but is accessible from anywhere and is free, to boot.  You can edit an image either stored on your machine, or from a URL, or from an image saved in your Facebook, Picasa or Flickr galleries, and once you have finished editing it you can also save the finished image online.  The video shows a quick demonstration of Pixlr, I have used it to demonstrate that it can emulate layer masking in Photoshop, which means you can, for example change the colour of a car bonnet (as I have shown).

The video may be viewed in full-screen if desired – click the icon in the bottom right of the control bar to expand. 

The other use for this tool is of course the ability to make customised graphics; if for example you have a Facebook page and need to create a sidebar or another image for use on it, you can do so on this editor and upload it.  Network marketers will therefore find this to be a fabulous asset; a future video will show how the Pixlr tool can create a graphic in much the same way as would be done in Photoshop. 

There are also plugins for Firefox and for Google Chrome so that you can screen-grab any image or graphic from the web and edit it in Pixlr. 

Pixlr Screen Grabber for Firefox 

Pixlr Screen Grabber for Google Chrome

For more sophisticated image editing, of course, the free tool cannot match the vast amount of options and settings in the Adobe product but, for a free utility accessible from any computer (provided it is Flash-enabled and of a reasonable specification) Pixlr is a real game-changer for people who wish to get creative. I look forward to getting more familiar with this editor over the coming weeks.  

To try it out for yourself please follow the link below. 

www.pixlr.com

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I only took this picture earlier, as the light was fading:

Dream is a sculpture designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, it can be seen from the M62 as you approach Liverpool. It is sited on a former colliery, Sutton Manor near St Helens. Carved from dolomite, it can look very different depending on the time of day and the light which falls upon it. I was hoping for the sun to hit this statue as it was setting, but a late cloudover scuppered that idea. I’ve enhanced it a fair bit from the original, but basically this was how it looked to me as I got there.

At 20 metres tall, this sculpture certainly made an impression – a popular spot for photography fans already, I’m sure it’s something I’ll be returning to as the season changes!

Who is the silhouetted bloke?

It’s actually one of 100 cast iron statues created by artist Antony Gormley, best known for the ‘Angel of the North’ sculpture in Gateshead. They’re situated at Crosby beach, north of Liverpool, and are spread out over a two-mile stretch of the beach. With the incoming tide, some of the statues which are further out actually get submerged!
(The one you see here is much closer to the shore – I’m not that daft!)
The work was only intended to be sited there for a limited time; the original plan was for it to be relocated in 2006 but it was eventually agreed to keep the statues at Crosby permanently. (Presumably Gormley made some more for the intended exhibits elsewhere!) Having the metal men on the beach makes for fascinating picture opportunites; especially at sunset the effect of seeing these life-size figures across the beach is quite dramatic.

Another photo, from another place (pun intended!) soon!

It’s been a proper winter this year here in Britain, but it’s finally coming to an end. Here’s proof!
[caption id="attachment_230" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Snowdrop in March. Pic © Ronnie Soo"][/caption]
In previous years we’ve seen snowdrops as early as January but not this year, for once the seasons are in their proper places!
Spring is a nice time for photography with all the blossom, so I hope to be posting some nice pics on here in the coming weeks

This week I am visiting North Wales; somewhere I regularly travel to and while here I hope to get some nice photographs. The weather is colder than usual for this time of year, it’s actually been snowing this week!

As a result, I’ve not yet been out with the camera – apart from during the journey down. This picture was taken at Llyn Celyn, late afternoon with the low sun. This picture is straight off the camera, with no enhancement and the only thing I have done is reduce the resolution for the web. The late afternoon sun really makes for a dramatic scene I’m sure you’ll agree.

I hope to bring another photo from this week – if the conditions let up!

I took this picture today, down by the Liverpool Arena and Convention centre. They have just constructed a new Big Wheel in time for Valentine’s Day; it replaces the previous one which was in the nearby Liverpool ONE complex and which was dismantled at the end of last month. Many cities in this country have taken the idea of the London Eye and installed their own wheels, but at the time of writing this I do not know if this wheel is going to be a permanent fixture or a temporary one.

Anyway, it certainly cannot be missed – here’s my picture from earlier today (Friday 11 February)

Should I get the chance to go on it and get some pictures, they will appear here!

Today’s photo is from 2007, and was taken at Elterwater in the Lake District. The original picture came out a little bit ‘flat’ but with a bit of Photoshop magic it wasn’t too difficult to get more out of it. The colours are not changed, but it has essentially been boosted contrast-wise, so it now looks more like what I visualised when there. Autumn is mine, and many other amateur photographers’, favourite time of year. In Britain, you have to be lucky with the weather as well as the light in order to get the most of the colours at that time. On this day, we had a fine day so it was out with the camera and into the car! Another photo soon.

EDIT: Please note I have made this picture available as a desktop background; the image is available by clicking here

Here’s a picture I took from Portmeirion last summer. This time from ground level, and this was taken with my 17mm extreme wideangle lens. I mentioned in a previous posting that to buy such equipment for modern digital SLRs may be prohibitively expensive, and this was taken using a conventional 35mm SLR with the wideangle acquired from eBay for a nice price.

The extreme wideangle makes the lawn look much bigger than it actually is, as well as giving exaggerated ‘converging verticals’. For anyone who wants to broaden their scope and is put off by the cost of new digital lenses, do what I did – look on eBay or in your local stores, there are many people keen to offload all their conventional equipment now and there are bargains to be had. If you have not got an SLR camera at all, you can often pick up a whole kit for a good price now.

With the ability to have films ‘printed’ to a CD nowadays, you can still have a digital image to play with – so get scouring the classifieds!

There was a documentary on television tonight about Vegas, which is excuse enough to post a photo from there:

When I was there, it was for a conference, and although it was very rewarding and I learned a great deal, there was not that much time to go sightseeing. So I have made it a goal to revisit the place as a tourist, and get more photographs. Most of the ones I did take were done at night, and this one was taken on the last night I was there, once all our meetings were over. Having never visited the USA before, let alone Vegas, it was an amazing experience. From a photography standpoint, it is a Mecca. That’s why I want to go back!

This shot of the New York-New York complex was one of my favourites; I had only a pocket camera with me on this trip and nothing to steady it on, so a lot of the time it was ‘hope for the best’. This came out really well, and I just love the way they’ve compressed a Manhattan skyline into a corner of the Las Vegas strip. It is thanks to the conference I got the chance to go, and to meet many successful people, and it is because I joined this business I got to experience something I would never have had the chance to do otherwise. There is a link to the right of this post; for more details on the business itself, just fill the fields in!
Another photo soon, and again it will be something different!