Picophoto wishes you a fantastic Christmas and start to 2009! Thanks for all your support and visit us again soon.

The Taylor quads from Edmonton in London bouncing along the road on their pogo sticks.

Photo by George Hales/Getty Image

Sara the walrus and her Russian trainer, Sergiy, perform during a show at the newly-opened Istanbul Dolphinarium in Istanbul, Turkey.

Four baby flying foxes who were separated from their mothers during fierce storms on Australia’s Gold Coast are being cared for by volunteers at a wildlife centre.

Photo by David Hardenberg/Getty Images

See some of the world’s most spectacular nature and wildlife at the Australian Museum.

Now in it’s 44th year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 exhibition features over eighty images taken by professionals, amateurs and children – even some as young as 10 years old.

The exhibition not only offers an extraordinary insight into the beauty, drama and diversity of the world’s amazing wildlife, it also raises awareness of conservation issues and the fragility of our natural world.

Image: “Night griffon © Safie Al Khaffaf / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008″

When: 9:30am – 5:00pm, 13 December – 8 March, 2009
Where: The Australian Museum, College Street, Sydney

Chances are you likely to remember your very first camera. Why? because there is something about photography that attracts our curiosity when we’re little. Photography is a great hobby for children to get into, and teaching them how to take pictures could lead to a life-long interest or career.

What Camera to Use

Cameras for Kids (J McNicols, zrecommends.com)

Forget pixel resolution or auto-focus! What you want in a kid’s camera is durability. This means the least number of detachable parts (like memory cards or hot-shoes), light-weight, and TOUGH. Looking at the range of kids cameras below, you’ll notice the common traits are plastic exterior, simplistic buttons, low resolution and small LCD screens (35mm and Polaroids are history now).

For a first camera, get something you don’t mind breaking in a short time. Giving them a high-end camera is only going to make you nervous, and your kid will probably be nervous holding it too. If if you think getting a digital kid’s camera like these are too technical, then consider giving them a cheap used model, or a disposable camera.

For some popular kids cameras, consider the Fisher & Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera, Polaroid Pixie, or VTech Kidizoom. Read ZRecommends on some great reviews on kid’s cameras.

What to Teach Your Child

Here are some simple tips you should share with your child with using a camera:

Holding the Camera. Keeping the camera strap on the neck and both hands on the camera are good practice for yourself and your child, who will learn by example.

Get in close. Show your child how by moving in or backing up a few steps the subject looks different.

Choose a point of interest. Have your child practice on various subjects of interest, and try different from different angles.

Hold the camera still. Get your child take while placing the camera on an object like table or chair if the camera is still wobbly to hold.

Hold the camera at eye level. You don’t want your child constantly falling onto things.

Structure their learning. Don’t just let them run wild with a new toy! Show them step by step what constitutes a good photo, and introduce new concepts such as composition and lighting as they become familiar with the camera. Occassionally print out photos to reinforce their confidence.

Tip for the Parents

Remember to take a photo of your child yourself!

Like the first suit or bicycle, taking photos of your child engaging in snapping photos can be a great source of enjoyment. Who knows those photos may be used again for the next Max Dupain!

Resources

Get more ideas from these resources too.

Teaching Photography to a 5-year-old
Teaching Kids to Take Good Pictures
Getting Kids Started in Digital Photography
13 Lessons to Teach Your Child About Photography

Life Magazine cover - one of many archived by Google

If you like a little nostalgia, Google has recently launched an online archive of Life magazine’s images, with 2 million out of 10 million or so photos already cataloged.

Google claims 97 percent of Life’s images have never been released to public.

According to BBC, you can download and print the photos without any repercussions as long as you don’t try to flog them as your own unique piece of history or make a dime in any other way!

So put on an old record and let’s go a’wandering.

See http://images.google.com/hosted/life

Every year without fail, the Christmas cards arrive. I love them because nothing says ‘I care’ than a warming Christmas Card. Then of course the next thing to do is clear a spot on the TV cabinet or dining room to place them (or the quintessential card-hanging string). The kids are going round the school yard exchanging ‘em. The corporates are busy handing them out too. It’s Christmas card heaven!

This Xmas, rather than focus on quantity, think quality! And most people will agree the best ever Christmas cards are the ones made personally by you. Make your own design with a favourite photo, add some words using a photo editor or Microsoft Paint, and order a set of greeting cards from Picophoto. There are even 3 sizes to choose from (4×6″, 4×8″ and 5×7″ landscape or portrait).

Step 1: Select your favourite photo

Step 2: Add words with an image editor such as Microsoft Paint

Step 3: Order Cards and Upload Photo to Picophoto.com.au

And presto! Personalised Greeting Cards

It’s quick, easy and it’s fun! Picophoto is offering a huge $7 off 20-pack of 5×7-inch greeting cards or $5.00 off 20-pack of 4×8-inch cards. Start designing one today.

Go to www.picophoto.com.au to look at greeting cards.

Every year, the Walkley Awards celebrates the best in Australian journalism photography. The ACP is exhibiting over 90 works from the finalists of the 2008 Nikon Walkley Press Photo Exhibition.

The great thing about journalistic photography is that, like the article story itself, every photo tells a story, and almost always, the story is compelling and REAL.

ACP Gallery

Oxford St, Padding, NSW

Galleries 3 & 4

31 October - 15 November

www.acp.org.au

Memory Card Uses

Camera

Personal Computer

Mobile Phone

Many electronic devices we use require some form of memory, which is why digital memory is such an important part of everyday life. Manufacturers have gotten smart by making their memory cards standard and compatible across different device types, so you might find yourself using the same type of memory card on your digital camera, PDA, mobile phone and computer. It’s important you know which type of memory card is compatible across the devices you are likely to use.

Types of Memory Cards

Digital camera brands promote their own type of memory card or use an industry standard. Here are the most commons to watch out for.

CompactFlash

CompactFlash

CompactFlash are popular amongst high end cameras and DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex). It has a built-in controller chip which allows compatible cameras to achieve higher transfer rates. Many high-end cameras, but not all, take advantage of this feature.

CompactFlash is inexpensive and easy to find. However they are not commonly used in other mobile devices. They are larger in physical size (regardless of memory capacity), which on the other hand makes it easier to find in the house!

SD (Secure Digital)

SD Adapter, miniSD Adapter and microSD

SD cards are popular amongst digital cameras and DSLRs and are widely available. They are small and compact which makes them easy to store physically.

A nifty feature of SD is a write-protect switch. It’s handy if you want remind yourself not to overwrite the contents of certain SD cards.

SD has mini cousins called miniSD and microSD that are widely used in mobile phones. There are adapters available to insert an microSD card to turn it into a miniSD or SD card. This is incredibly handy if you need emergency storage on any of your SD-compatible devices.

You can get up to 32GB capacity (and increasing very quickly) with an SD card.

xD Cards

xD

xD is introduced by Olympus and Fuji and general not compatible with other brands of camera. The maximum capacity available is currently 2.0GB.

If you really fancy the features of an Olympus or Fuji camera, then by no means should the memory card hinder your choice. But consider that the card is unlikely to be compatible with other devices you may use.

Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo

Sony Memory Sticks

Memory Stick Pro Duo

Memory stick is another brand-specific card that works only with Sony devices. The difference being that because there are many other types of Sony electronics like Playstation 3, Sony TV, or Sony VAIO laptop , it can be useful to have Memory Sticks that are compatible in all these devices - just make sure you don’t get other brands in the future!

Memory Stick have shrunk along with the devices they work in and the most popular type of Memory Sticks now are called Memory Stick Pro Duo. Recently there is also a new generation of Memory Sticks called M2 that only works with Sony Ericsson phones. You can get adapters so they work like other types of Memory Sticks too.

The maximum capacity for Memory Stick is currently 16GB.

Memory Card Readers

Memory Card Reader

USB SD Reader

Card Readers allow you to transfer photos to your computer. Currently available card readers are inexpensive and connect many of the memory cards mentioned above to the PC through a USB or Firewire connection. You can also get memory card-specific readers that connect via USB, like the USB SD Reader shown.

To download photos from the card to your PC, all you have to do is insert the memory card into the reader, then connect the reader to your PC and the contents of the card should appear as a new ‘Drive’ icon on your computer desktop.

The transfer rates between a card reader and the PC tend to be better than if you connect your digital camera directly to your PC. Another reason why you might get a card reader is if you have many different types of memory cards in use.

Portable Media Storage

SmartDisk FlashTrax

Instead of carrying many memory cards for all those photos you take, a portable media storage is a great idea - to have one central location where you can transfer photos from your memory card on the go (without a computer or laptop). Their memory capacity is enormous so you will never run out of space, currently capacity can reach up to 80GB! Some come with a handy LCD screen so you can preview your images on the fly.

Most portable storage devices come with a cable to connect to the PC. They achieve higher transfer rates than a direct connection between a PC and digital camera.

What to Consider

When choosing a digital camera, most do not consider the type of memory card it uses. Memory cards have improved in quality and reliability so much in recent years, there really isn’t a need to compare quality or speed. It is still useful to consider how the memory cards can be used in other devices you have. In the long term, it will save you money and the headache of having a drawer-full of memory cards you can’t use.

I tend to prefer the SD card because it is widely available and popular in many devices. With an adapter and a memory card reader, and a preference for SD-compatible devices, I only need a couple of SD cards. SD storage capacity has expanded much faster (max 32GB now, and growing) than other types too.