webDotWizards: Blog

Talking about Talking about Photo Story 3 from Beginning to End (Updated May 18)

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:22:41 GMT

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Talking about Photo Story 3 from Beginning to End (Updated May 18)

Wondering how to get started with Photo Story? Here's the tutorial you've been looking for.
Photo Story is an easy-to-use tool to create movies from your photos. You can add all the whiz-band features you see on TV - transitions, panning, zooming and music.
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Photo Story 3 from Beginning to End (Updated May 18)

Do you have photos of holidays, family, sporting events or gardens stored away ? Do you have a creative streak in your body, waiting for a challenge. Do what I did, bring your pictures to life and make a musical video with them. You will surprised how easy it is to do. First you need the free download of Photo Story 3 for Windows, then just follow the instructions below.
Go to start, all programs, click on Photo Story 3 for Windows from the menu.

Welcome you are now ready to start your masterpiece. Good luck !!!!
Step 1 You can now begin a new story, edit a project or play a story.

Select Photos
Browse and select photos from Windows Live Photo Gallery, these can be fixed, cropped, red eye removed and colour adjusted, but this must be done before importing into Photo Story.
Import Photos
Think about your story carefully before you import your pictures, it is much easier if they are in order to start with or you will have to keep moving them so the story can be told. Heaps of fun. !!!!!    SAVE your project.

At the start of a project import 2 pictures the same, you can use Effect which will enhance the beginning by fading from one frame to another. You can also change your picture from colour to sepia, black and white, watercolour and there are other changes you can use.

Video sample of Effects.



Import and Arrange Pictures

It is important to remove black borders ( not a good look) and always SAVE your project

You can move your pictures back and forth using the arrows or drag and drop. Delete ones you decide not to use by clicking delete X, these are only deleted from Photo Story and not from the hard drive.
Name your project for example, Rushworth 1920 - 1960.   Click to SAVE your project

Add Titles
Add titles and dates if you wish, you can select from a variety of colours, text and size. I have tried different texts but find Lucinda Calligraphy my favourite, 10 or 12 for size. The text can be placed in a number of positions on your picture. Always SAVE
Text samples   Old English, Roman, M.T.Bold, Mistral, Lucinda Calligraphy and there are more.
Choose your font, colour and size of script, then click ok.

Bottom, centre, coloured text.

Centre, coloured text.

Customize Motion and Duration
This is a very interesting step of Photo Story, click on Customize Motion. It allows you to set the start and end of a frame. Duration can be set either automatically or you can nominate the number of seconds to display the picture.
If you do not want any panning and zooming Set end position to be the same as the start check box.
In the Start position box, to resize the rectangle, point to a corner of the rectangle and drag to the picture size you are looking to focus on.
When you have done this you can preview to see how the setting you have selected blends into your story.
Clicking the Reset button in the dialogue box discards all changes made to the selected picture on the Motion and Duration tab and Transitions tab.
You will see from the pictures below a focal point can be highlighted, it can be on a person or just something that appeals to you within that frame. It is a lot of trial and error but can make a big difference to the overall finish of your video. Save.

Transitions
Below click on the Transitions box. There are 34 of these, it is worth trying each one as they all give a different effect. You can try fading, flipping, curl, slide and wheel to name a few.
The important thing when working with transitions is not to overdo them, a small number spread out is more effective than too many close together. Spoils the whole effect !!!
If you want Photo Story to determine the number of seconds to display a transition, click the Set transition duration automatically check box. If you want to select your own time for the transition select the Number of seconds to display the transition option, then type or select a time.
Note the number of seconds that the transition displays between two pictures cannot be more than the shorter play time of one of the two pictures. Projects created by using Photo Story 3 for Windows must use a wp3 file, other wise Photo Story will not be able to open the file.
To preview your story with the panning and zooming effects and transitions, click Preview. If you are happy with what you have achieved, remember to Save.


Video of sample Transitions



Narrate your Story
If you are really clever you can use your microphone and narrate your story, I have not tried this, but if you have the setup give it a go, you may be able to show me how, I have done some reading and hope these hints may help.
Configure your microphone to make sure you can record sounds, check microphone and speaker volumes are ok.
Make notes and decide where you want to use them, you can record up to 5 minutes on each picture in any order. If you are unhappy with what you have done, delete the narration and record again, deleting does not alter other changes, such as a transitions.
To begin recording click the picture, click the Record Narration button and then speak into your microphone, when you finish the narration for a picture, click the next picture button, then speak again. To stop narrating a picture, click the Stop Recording button. To preview your story, click Preview. Once again those two words, Save Project.

Select Music
You can select music from your files or use the Create Music available above. You must be very aware of copyright, alright for your own personal use but you cannot use for public viewing. Programs like Soapbox will not allow this.
You need to time your story and the music you decide to use so it will make your story complete. There are programs like Audacity- Lame ( Free downloads) which can help you edit the music, it really is fun. !!!    Ha Ha.
There are many create music options to choose from. Classical, Jazz, Funk, Country, Latin, New Age, Pop, Rock, Silence, Soundtrack and World. I am sure you will find something to suit you and your story.
To listen to your music during selection, you need either speakers or microphone, also a lot of time.

Sample Video, music selected from Create Music



Saving your Story
Now you can decide what you would like to do with your story. You can save your story to play back on your computer, send story in an email, Pocket PC or Smart phone with Windows Media Player.
Click which box you wish, type the path and file name for your story or click browse to find a particular folder or to replace an existing story.

Building your Story
Step 1 Building your story.       Step 2 Generating sound.
Step 3 Mixing audio.                Step 4 Generating video.

Well done !!!! Now all you have to do is view your story. I am sure you still have many more photos and other stories waiting to be told, so keep your camera handy.
Photo Story 3 is a great program which makes you think not only about the photos you take, but how they can be created into wonderful memories to show family and friends.

Talking about Images with Postcard Style

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:05:32 GMT

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Images with Postcard Style

Here are some scans of photos I took years ago, as you will notice if you have been along the Hume Highway North of Albury in the last few years.

Mirage Resort Port Douglas

Larry The Lobster - Kingston SA

Talking about Don: Money Coin Movie

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:00:47 GMT

Don does it again!

To create this movie, Don took a series of photos as he added more coins to the design.

In Photo Story, he reduced the display time for each photo down to half-a-second.

Also note that Don now has his own opening and closing graphics - he created these in Paint.NET.

Click the link below and enjoy Don's work of art.

Remember that there are plenty of movies that the webDotWizards have created on Soapbox - just do a search for Rushworth and 50 or 60 will be listed.

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Talking about Don: Money Con

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Don: Money Con

Video: Don: Money Con

Bills Horse troughs updated - more troughs found

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:01:21 GMT

George has found more troughs!

The new finds are in NSW and he's posted photos and maps on his Space (soon to be copied over to his main site at www.webdotwiz.com/billshorsetroughs/).

By the way - because George added these new blog entries to his Space using Windows Live Writer, he can quickly come back and grab the HTML code and paste it into Editpad to add to his NSW troughs page at www.webdotwiz.com/billshorsetroughs/.

Live Photo Gallery - using Table of Contents, Ratings

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:55:49 GMT

webDotWiz will be writing up a few hints on how to use Table of Contents and Ratings in Live Photo Gallery to you can browse through and organise your photos in a slightly different way.

So keep an eye out... (the easiest way, of course, to do that is to sign in to Messenger - as you normally would - then click the button on Messenger to go to your Live Space - the 3rd one - where you'll see the latest entries and photos from all your contacts).

A couple of Live Photo Gallery tips from He Who Knows (i.e. Kevin) (updated)

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:06:15 GMT

Some valuable hints from Kevin when you're using Windows Live Photo Gallery:

If you want to crop a photo, do that job first before doing the Fix using Auto Adjust.

When Fixing a photo, try the Auto Adjust option (the top one) first of all and see what happens. Kevin says you'll be more often than not amazed that your photo is improved far better than what you might be able to achieve had you edited it manually.
Use the Ratings option as another way to look at your photos. Yes, it'll take a bit of time to give your photos a rating (although, of course, you can do a bulk rating and then change them individually).

Technorati tags: Live Photo Gallery, hints, Windows Live, photography

Talking about Gadgetize your Space and Events

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:57:55 GMT

Here are some ideas to wiz up your Live Space. We'll try some in the New Year.

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Gadgetize your Space and Events

Did you know that you can add stuff from the Web to your space or event without even knowing a tiny bit of code? They’re called gadgets, and thanks to some hard-working developers from around the world, there are now over 1,500 gadgets available worldwide for Windows Live Spaces and Windows Live Events.
I wanted to highlight a few specific gadgets. The gadgets listed below make keeping in touch with your friends and Messenger contacts more fun, finding content on your blog faster, and adding interesting content from MSN easier. So, check out and install the gadgets below and, as always, keep the comments coming!
-Chris
Product Manager, Windows Live Spaces

Windows Live Messenger Gadget
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=5da858b5-fa45-4730-89f8-380702da99cd&pl=5&bt=7

Search Gadgets

Search My Blog - Search box
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=94be978d-c62a-4640-b63f-a1d412afb337&pl=5&bt=7
Search My Blog - Tagcloud
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=ef195187-2cae-49b5-afe9-a50eb7ccb766&pl=5&bt=7

Silverlight Streaming Video Insertion
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=f55426a2-1d8d-4db7-8770-ea30cb393b2a&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Content

Encarta Quote of the Day
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=3c93e552-d8b2-4c51-9d65-83a6e6aa2cbb&pl=5&bt=7
Encarta RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=4ede7e47-c127-4a9f-9440-75825a4f3c57&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Autos RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=0774022b-0c3c-479e-abd1-a5ac3df09206&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Entertainment RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=a50310fb-fd34-4efe-843f-8bf6213104a8&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Homepage RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=b879476d-7e05-431a-9098-b669ada7a797&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Money RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=7f8d5a7d-23cf-4a3f-b019-ba25ccb0b73c&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Shopping RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=91f9a478-a692-4646-9a5f-7c29c1fa1f00&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Tech and Gadgets RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=2521aeaf-4ef6-43fa-87d5-2607e7bc4b61&pl=5&bt=7
MSN Video RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=3f64534a-5a96-4021-b600-674718355574&pl=5&bt=7
Sports News by Fox Sports RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=b01f65ba-7c3c-4871-a678-8bb8920ceec1&pl=5&bt=7
Sports Videos by Fox Sport RSS
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=c2d5cd3f-8424-4516-af4b-20cf5cbc33f0&pl=5&bt=7

      Web Messenger Gadget

          Search My Blog

     Encarta Quote of the Day

Sports Videos by Fox Sports

Technorati tags: Windows Live Gadgets, Windows Live Spaces, Gadgets, Widgets, Windows Live Events

Farewell Gillian

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:48:36 GMT

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Farewell Gillian

"Thank You" Gillian...we love you...
The Criterion Hotel is the venue for an Open House event on Thursday 20 December to say farewell to retiring coordinator at Rushworth Community House, Gillian Schoenborn.
Just come along any time from 6pm onwards for a drink, chat or a meal to acknowledge the eleven years that Gillian has been at the house.

left: Debbie Bish and Sue Barlow.
Drop into the Community House any day to say hello to our new coordinators.

Talking about VEIPP Drops 36 Terabytes before the Holiday Break

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:40:21 GMT

Here's some ready-made browsing for you... plenty of new and updated imagery. Full list below so scroll down and explore.

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VEIPP Drops 36 Terabytes before the Holiday Break

Just in time for Holiday surfing, the Image Processing pipeline team delivered 36 Terabytes of new and updated Oblique and Ortho imagery to Virtual Earth. Jason Willison, our Imagery PM, sent me the update list below. Nice job getting this done early this month - Ops and data center guys like to enjoy time off too :-)
Here are the highlights…

44 new hi-res orthos (aka aerials) from 3Di using the UltraCam
36 new US areas of Pictometry Bird’s Eye oblique scenes
26 new EU areas of BLOM Bird’s Eye scenes
5 areas of US orthos from GlobeXplorer
17 areas of orthos around the world from GeoEye
Updated orthos in England/Wales/Scotland from Getmapping.
Holland orthos from DKLN.

And here's the details...
Birds Eye (Obliques)
USA (Pictometry):

Kern, CA
Shasta, CA
El Paso, CO
Danbury, CT
City of East Haven, CT
Prince George, MD
Kalamazoo, MI
Kent, MI
St Louis, MO
Mississippi Metro
Mecklenberg Metro, NC
Raleigh, NC
Hunterdon Metro, NJ
Columbia, NY
Erie, NY
Nassau, NY
Niagara, NY
Orange, NY
Rensselaer, NY
Steuben, NY
Ulster, NY
Poughkeepie Metro, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Harrisburg Metro, PA
Greenville, SC
Spartanburg, SC
Loudon, TN
Knoxville, TN (parts 1 & 2)
McLennan, TX
Nueces, TX
PotterRandall, TX
Beaufort Metro, TX
Richmond, VA
Fairfax, VA
Skagit, WA
Dane, WI

Europe (BLOM):

Brussels, Belgium
Luzern, Switzerland
Winterthur, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
Frankfurt, Germany
Madrid, Spain
Zaragoza, Spain
Castleford, UK
Chester, UK
Crewe, UK
Darlington, UK
Dearne Valley Urban Area, UK
Harrogate/Knaresborough, UK
Hartlepool, UK
Leeds, UK
London, UK
Macclesfield/Pretsbury, UK
Middlesborough, UK
Milton Keynes, UK
Newcastle, UK
Reading/Workingham, UK
Scarborough, UK
Scunthorpe, UK
York, UK

Orthos
3Di Hi-res (15cm, unless indicated):

Allentown PA
Bridgeport CT
Cary NC
San Bernardino CA
Pasadena CA
Ogden UT
Manchester NH
Fontana CA
Corona CA
Chino CA
Gladstone MO
Newport News VA
Riverside CA
Salt Lake City UT
Stamford CT
Waterbury CT
West Valley City UT
Aurora CO
S tLouis MO
Kansas City KS
EauClaire WI
Cleveland OH
Quebec city (30cm)
Arvada CO
Boulder CO
Davenport IA
El Monte CA
Independence MO
Kansas City MO
Lakewood CO
Overland Park KS
Peoria IL
Salem OR
Topeka KS
Wichita KS
Calgary 2006 (30cm)
Eugene OR
Fargo ND
Green Bay WI
Medford OR
Nampa ID
Springfield IL
Tokyo JPN
Waukegan IL

GlobeXplorer (1ft):

Birmingham
Portland
Maryland, Northern Virgina, DC
Tampa Ft Myers
Sacramento Region

GeoEye (1m):

Valencia, Spain
Oporto, Spain
Thessaloniki (Salonica), Greece
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Goteborg, Sweden
Copenhagen, Denmark
Brussels, Belgium
Oslo, Norway
Grand Canaria/Las Palmas, Canary Islands
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Casablanca, Morocco
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tahiti, French Polynesia
Moscow, Russia
Christchurch, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand

GetMapping UK:

Wales
Scotland

Holland DKLN :

Many Areas :-)

Technorati tags: Virtual Earth, Birds Eye

Talking about 6000 Square miles of 3D cities added to VE. Fargo, Liverpool, Kansas City and many more...

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:03:06 GMT

These are the latest updates to 3D imagery on Live Maps. You'll be asked to download and install the 3D viewer if you explore any of the cities listed below.

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6000 Square miles of 3D cities added to VE. Fargo, Liverpool, Kansas City and many more...

Along with Yesterday's mega release of imagery, the 3D team has pushed out nearly 60 new textured cities into the virtual world. I love the look of older cities like Liverpool when modeled in 3D. Turn on a layer of geodata contributed by other users across the web (Collections -> Explore menu) and have fun.

CALIFORNIA

Chino (124 sq. mi.)
Corona (65.17 sq. mi.)
El Monte (129 sq. mi.)
Fontana (100 sq. mi.)
Fullerton (122 sq. mi.)
Ontario (99.43 sq. mi.)
Pasadena (108 sq. mi.)
Riverside (123 sq. mi.)
San Bernardino (126 sq. mi.)

COLORADO

Arvada (207 sq. mi.)
Aurora (237 sq. mi.)
Boulder (131 sq. mi.)
Lakewood (108 sq. mi.)

CONNECTICUT

Hartford (89.32 sq. mi.)
New Haven (70.29 sq. mi.)
Waterbury (81.46 sq. mi.)

IOWA

Davenport (93.46 sq. mi.)

IDAHO

Nampa (103 sq. mi.)

ILLINOIS

Peoria (83.34 sq. mi.)
Springfield (79.38 sq. mi.)
Waukegan (77.33 sq. mi.)

KANSAS

Kansas City (53.21 sq. mi.)
Overland Park (168 sq. mi.)
Topeka (74.54 sq. mi.)
Wichita (97.86 sq. mi.)

MASSACHUSSETS

Lowell (85.32 sq. mi.)
Springfield (87.43 sq. mi.)
Worcester (54.55 sq. mi.)

MISSOURI

Gladstone (82.76 sq. mi.)
Independence (83.61 sq. mi.)
Kansas City (94.76 sq. mi.)
St Louis (129 sq. mi.)

NORTH CAROLINA

Cary (83.93 sq. mi.)
Charlotte (75.73 sq. mi.)
Durham (113 sq. mi.)
Fayetteville (99.34 sq. mi.)
Greensboro (91.59 sq. mi.)
Raleigh (104 sq. mi.)

NORTH DAKOTA

Fargo (86.02 sq. mi.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Manchester (88.08 sq. mi.)

OHIO

Cleveland (122 sq. mi.)

OREGON

Eugene (90.13 sq. mi.)
Gresham (148 sq. mi.)
Hillsboro (111 sq. mi.)
Salem (77.59 sq. mi.)

RHODE ISLAND

Providence (82.71 sq. mi.)

SOUTH DAKOTA

Rapid City (207 sq. mi.)
Sioux Falls (64.72 sq. mi.)

UTAH

Provo (79.74 sq. mi.)
Salt Lake City (99.66 sq. mi.)
West Valley City (95.8 sq. mi.)

VIRGINIA

Newport News (144 sq. mi.)
Norfolk (172 sq. mi.)
Richmond (99.76 sq. mi.)

WISCONSIN

Eau Claire (86.58 sq. mi.)
Green Bay (85.28 sq. mi.)

CANADA

Lachine (60.9 sq. mi.)

UNITED KINGDOM

Liverpool (43.04 sq. mi.)

Kansas City

Technorati Tags: Virtual Earth, VE3D, 3D Models

Talking about Live Photo Gallery - red-eye removal

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:10:18 GMT

Removing red-eye in Live Photo Gallery is a snazz...

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Live Photo Gallery - red-eye removal

Yonks ago Margaret (a found webDotWizard) had some photos which needed red-eye removal. At the time, Ifranview was the only tool available. After spending hours to get the red-eye neatly removed, we found Irfanview too awkward to use and we never really got the job done properly.

Calling up the same photos in Live Photo Gallery to remove red-eye is a breeze - and it works.

Choose the photo, click Fix on the top menu and then choose Red-Eye on the side pane. The instructions are there for you to follow. Zoom in on your photo and then draw the selection rectangle over the red-eye and whoosh!!

See Margaret's transformed photos here.

Updated webDotWizard and webDotWizard Webmaster sites

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:03:25 GMT

Here are some webDotWizard and webDotWizard Webmaster sites that have been updated recently:

George is always adding to his Bills Horse Trough collection - Description and photo of a horse trough outside Annandale Public School and here, too.
Carol's Mosaic Barn is alive and well (and seen updating her site at Rushworth Community House)
Design by Nature (Louise) has added some photo albums of recent work... and holiday snaps, too.
Don is always trying out new things with Photo Story
Kevin has more tips on how to bring an old photo back to life.
Ken (aka Poppy Ironbark fame) has an interesting photo album of working draft horses

Talking about Live Photo Gallery hints and tips - using tags

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:32:14 GMT

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Live Photo Gallery hints and tips - using tags
This post - with lots of screenshots - accompanies webDotWiz's Oct 4 article on webDotWiz Online (www.webdotwiz.com), Live Photo Gallery hints and tips which is also posted here on webDotWiz Online has a Space.
In the above article, webDotWiz used a folder called Holidays to illustrate how you might tag photos. Well, webDotWiz doesn't have such a folder but he does have a folder called Screenshots and none of the images in that folder had tags when he started the screenshots in this post. Now they all have tags .
webDotWiz began by loading Windows Live Photo Gallery and opening up his Screenshots folder - it contains about 150 images, and is a real mixture:

Even though all these images are in one folder, because they relate to all sorts of different contexts, using tags will enable webDotWiz to more easily find a certain image or a group of images that relates to a particular topic. For example, those Paint.NET images above should all be tagged accordingly.
So webDotWiz's first job was to select all the photos in the Screenshots folder and give them a tag called Screenshots. You can see he was trying to be organised before he started using Live Photo Gallery. So he went to File and chose Select all:

Now it's time to give all these images a tag called Screenshots (if the right-hand information pane is not visible in Live Photo Gallery, click on Info on the top menu to open it):

So click on Add Tags and type in your tag - webDotWiz entered Screenshots and pressed the ENTER key (or you can click the mouse):

Note how Live Photo Gallery picks up that webDotWiz has been a good lad and already tagged a few images in the 150 or so screenshots he's stored and which include all sorts of subjects. There'll be a later post on how you can use this feature to help you more quickly assign the same tag to groups of photos so you save time but get organised.
Now let's take a small group of these screenshot images and add another tag to organise ourselves a further step:
webDotWiz has picked a group of screenshots he used in a tutorial on how to add your own background image to your Live Space:

This group all deal with using Live Writer so webDotWiz will tag each one in the group accordingly:

And the group fits in with tutorials (like this one) that webDotWiz has written up so Tutorials is another handy tag:

At this stage webDotWiz can ask Live Photo Gallery to show all images tagged as Screenshots then narrow down the selection by getting images tagged as Tutorials on Live Writer (the third tag). But he wants to go one step further because he's got lots of tututorial screenshots about Live Writer so to be more specific he decides to use another tag Background image:

So now in the future webDotWiz can ask Live Photo Gallery to show all images that are tutorials about using a background image in Live Writer.

Once you've entered different tags and your list increases, you can save some typing by selecting a group of photos and dragging them onto the tag you want to apply to the group;
So webDotWiz selects all the screenshots he's made thus far for this tutorial - here's one:

The whole group is dragged onto Tutorials in the tag list to apply it to each image in the group:

While the group is still selected, webDotWiz applied a couple of more tags:

So now webDotWiz has a group of screenshot images that he can use (and add to) whenever he wants to write up a tutorial about tagging photos and images in Live Photo Gallery. He doesn't have to remember which folder these images are stored in under My Pictures - all he need do is click the appropriate tag from the list in Live Photo Gallery
Posted with Live Writer. Irfanview and OneNote were used to capture the screenshots.
Technorati tags: Windows Live Photo Gallery, tagging photos, tags

Doris' and Genie's Live Map collections

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:53:34 GMT

Doris continues to add more to her Live Map collection, The Early Families of Whroo.

As well, Genie has started a collection of her travels around New Zealand.

Posted with Live Writer.

Technorati tags: webDotWizards, Live Maps collections

Design by Nature and Mosaic Barn updated - lots of photos

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:12:49 GMT

Louise's Design by Nature has lots of new photos and albums at http://design-by-nature.spaces.live.com.

Carol has updated her Mosaic Barn site (http://mosaic-barn.spaces.live.com/) with info about the upcoming Open Garden day and new photos.

Talking about Live Photo Gallery - getting started - from camera to panorama

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:19:41 GMT

All about installing Windows Live Photo Gallery and using it for the first time to take some photos from your camera, adding tags, creating a panorama and uploading to an album on your Live Space. Easy as pie .

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Live Photo Gallery - getting started - from camera to panorama

Forget about the My Pictures and My Videos folders.
Once you've got Windows Live Photo Gallery installed, you'll be more than pleasantly surprised - and full of wonderment - at why we didn't have it sooner to get all our photos and images jobs done from one place.
Here are some screenshots to show you how easy it is to:

take some photos from your camera
organise them with tags (so they can be easily found in the future)
create a panorama, and
upload the photos to a new album to your Live Space.

So load Photo Gallery:

Now go to the File menu and choose Import from camera or scanner. If you haven't got your camera plugged in or turned on, you'll see this:

So plug in your camera and/or turn it on and click Refresh so it's highlighted:

Click Import which brings up the following:

The two thumbnail photos in the above screenshot are the first and latest photos which Photo Gallery found on webDotWiz's camera.
To be organised, choose Review, organise and group items to import. If you choose the second option, it's back to the bad, old days of simply saving photos on your computer and not being able to find them again.
So click Next and you'll see this:

Photo Gallery works out that the second group of photos have already been taken from the camera so that group is not ticked and only the first group needs taking from the camera.
That second group was taken off the camera and given a name of August 26 2007 (that's when the photos were taken) and tags such as grass, house, dry, and aloe vera were entered so all photos with those tags can later be found when searching:

Sidenote: after webDotWiz copied this group of photos from his camera, he got into his camera's settings and fixed up the date and time. Photo Gallery grouups photos into groups based on the date and time taken. Notice the Adjust groups slider at the bottom right? Using this enables you to narrow or widen the time span into which Photo Gallery will put your photos into groups (or folders, if you want to use that term).
After clicking Import, photos are copied from the camera and placed in their group (folder) which is named August 26 2007 (as shown in the screenshot above):

After getting the above job done with the aloe vera photos, it was time to try the panorama stitching function. So off for a short walk and snap a few shots across the Waranga Basin. Oh, and do a check that the camera's date and time setting was current.

These are some of the seven photos that are to be used for the panorama. Note they're all selected. Then a click on the Make button to get Create panoramic photo... starts the conversion process:

It can take a few minutes to get the job done so be patient. Then you're asked for a name (the simplest is to accept the one which Photo Gallery gives) and save:

After saving, Photo Gallery displays your panorama in all its glory (downsized for this post; the original was saved at 1092 x 387):

A couple of things you'll notice: the tops don't make one continuous line because webDotWiz was unable to line up his camera at the same angle for each shot and yes, it is truly panoramic with all those trees moved away to achieve a curved look.
The final job that webDotWiz wanted to do was load all his seven photos and the panorama to a new album on his Space so he chose Publish from Photo Gallery's menu and firstly had to sign in (he could have signed in after he started Photo Gallery from the button at the top right):

Then he was offered the option to create a new album for his photos or add them to a current album on his space - he chose a new album which Photo Gallery helpfully named Waranga Basin Sep 08 2007 (you can view it; click through to Full Screen view to get a good look at the panoram):

After clicking Publish and waiting for a while, Photo Gallery popped up to say All Done:

Once you've run through getting your first group of photos off your camera and uploaded to your Live Space, you'll start seeing the advantages of being able to carry out all photo tasks from within Live Photo Gallery. Oh, by the way, you can manage your videos too and publish them to Soapbox.
Posted with Live Writer.
Technorati tags: Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Spaces, photos, videos, panorama

Live Spaces photos - normal resolution or high resolution

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 01:07:48 GMT

The Live Photos upload tool now has an option to upload your photo in a higher resultion (1600 by 1600, 85% quality) than the resolution we've been using for a couple of years.

To use this new feature, tick the box at the top of the upload tool which says Upload photos for printing. As yet, Australia doesn't have the option to send off photos to Snapfish for printing but it'll appear some time soon.

Be careful, however, that you don't upload all your photos in the higher resultion otherwise visitors t your site with a slow internet connection could become frustrated.

If you've got photos you want to show off in the old, normal, low resolution, then make an album as normal and make a separate album for your high resolution uploads.

For example, see Kevin's Pixel Bits - this is the link to some shots of kangaroos in normal, low resolution and here's the link to the same photos uploaded in high resolutiion. To see the difference, use the full screen slideshow view.

Live Maps updates: Canberra, Newcastle, Uluru

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:07:06 GMT

Live Maps has been updated with lots more aerial and hybrid imagery - see this link for the full list of cities around the world.

So now enjoy viewing Canberra, Newcastle and Uluru.

From a quick view over Canberra, webDotWiz thinks the imagery was taken before the January 2003 Canberra fires (but he could be wrong; check out the area around Duffy, for example, and see what you think).

What webDotWizards are doing

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:30:46 GMT

Here's some of the things that the webDotWizards have been doing:

Carol's Mosaic Barn has some news about updates to the barn and new photos
Kevin is experimenting with his new camera and has an album of test photos
Margaret's Moora Road has some photos she took at Port Arthur in Tasmania
Don has added photos of the art work on display at Mitchelton Winery Gallery - see The House Gallery and Don's Probe Art site
Ray has been working on a movie of renovating a trailer
Jean has been delving into the inner workings of Photo Story and is producing Photo Story movies faster than Hollywood
The Murchison webDotWizards are working on various projects - visit the Murchison Historical Society's new site for starters.
George has been mentioned on ABC Radio and is putting together a movie of his Bills Horse Troughs as well as keeping the Rushworth Museum site up to date with news snippets.

Murchison Neighbourhood House webDotWizards' sites

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:02:09 GMT

Here are links to people over at Murchison who have recently started their Live Spaces.

Browse their sites and invite them to join your friends list so everybody can share their interests and keep in touch.

Angelo's space: http://angelodhur.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
Bronwyn's space: http://bronwynclrk.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
John's space: http://jbmurch.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
Neil's space: http://njhmur.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

Technorati tags: webDotWizards, Live Spaces

Mosaic Barn updated

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:37:39 GMT

The Mosaic Barn site at www.webdotwiz.com/mosaicbarn/ has had a makeover and Carol has also put up more photos on her Live Space (mosaic-barn.spaces.live.com).

Talking about Red Centre 2 Northern Territory (Movie)

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:28:54 GMT

Kevin (the master photographer - make sure you visit his Live Space for some examples of what you can do with your photos) has been scanning photos and creating movies with Photo Story - this is his latest version of his visit to the Northern Territory.

Quote

Red Centre 2

Video: Red Centre 2

Talking about Northern Terrority Vagabond Tours (Movie)

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:22:04 GMT

The webDotWizards have been hard at work scanning photos and creating movies using Photo Story. Here's the latest from GenieChene.

Quote

Northern Terrority Vagabond Tours

Video: Northern Terrority Vagabond Tours

Updates to some webDotWizard sites

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:07:23 GMT

Here are some updates that webDotWizards have made to their sites:

George and his intrepid team have discovered more Bills Horse Troughs - http://billshorsetroughs.spaces.live.com
The Mosaic Barn has had its roof raised - http://mosaic-barn.spaces.live.com
Design by Nature has photos of a completed garden design -- http://design-by-nature.spaces.live.com
Kevin is showing off some photos he's taken with his Canon macro lens - http://kevplew.spaces.live.com
Doris has lots more locations on her Whroo Family History map - http://whroohistory.spaces.live.com

Kevin's and Doris' Live Map collections

Tue, 29 May 2007 02:38:47 GMT

Two extensive Live Maps collections are underway:

Well worth keeping an eye on these to projects.

George has already done one to locate many of his Bills Horse Troughs - you can see the result here and here and is continuing to work on adding more locations. Firstly, though, he's organising his photos that he can use for each map location.

Microsoft Popfly - you need to look at this

Mon, 21 May 2007 00:29:51 GMT

Popfly, www.popfly.ms, is the place to go to create add-on gadgets for your Live Space, your web site (webDotWizard Web Masters will love it) or you can make a whole new web site.

You work online and interactively with Popfly to use pre-built "blocks" to create your gadget or site. E.g., to show your photos from Live Spaces on a map, you'd use a block that accesses your Live Space photo albums and connect it to a Live Maps/Virtual Earth block that does the display for you.

The best way to get an idea of the potential offered by Popfly is to look at the screencast (link is also available from this page on the Virtual Earth Space).

To start with, have a look at the Popfly Overview.

Currently Popfly is limited to invite-only and is still in early testing but you can sign in and wait in the queue for an invite (see the right-hand side of the Overview page).

webDotWiz will be talking about the possibilities of Popfly till the cows come home so acquaint yourself with it and start thinking about what you can do to add to your Live Space and/or web site.

Both Live Maps/Virtual Earth and The Space Craft have announcements, especially The Space Craft because Popfly integrates directly with our Live Spaces.