OPEN PHOTO BRINGS OPEN SOURCE PHOTO SHARING TO IPHONE

Photo sharing apps for smartphones are a dime-a-dozen. Ever since Instagram achieved worldwide success — and was rewarded with a $1 billion dollar buyout by Facebook — many developers have tried to follow in their footsteps. That being said, finding a photo sharing app that stands out is rare, which is why the OpenPhoto app release this week struck a chord with us.

We first reported on OpenPhoto when it was still a lowly Kickstarter campaign back in June of 2011, and at the time it was touted as an open source Flickr killer (the source code of the projectis available on GitHub). Since then, the folks at OpenPhoto have been hard at work, finally releasing an iPhone app that at the time was only an “if we get enough funding” promise. If the web app was taking on the likes of Flickr, the iPhone app offers the same challenge to Instagram-like mobile apps.
Unlike those applications, OpenPhoto doesn’t tether you down to its own servers. Photos that you take using the app can be stored directly on your Dropbox account, Amazon S3 account, or any other cloud storage service. You can still share, comment on, and tag photos just like with any of its competitors; OpenPhoto simply gives you a choice regarding where you backup and store those pictures.
According to The Verge, the app still has a long way to go in the ares of editing and social networking; but the idea is there, and over time we may see OpenPhoto grow into a new breed of photo sharing mobile application. After all, it started as a web app and it’s already reached smartphones; who knows what’s next. ALSO, ANOTHER PHOTO APP. FOR IPHONE:



OpenPhoto for iPhone (via The Verge)

SIMPLE BUT NICE WITH IPHONE 3G & IPHOTO

I, RICK MILLER, take my dog Morry for walks on the beach here in Eureka, Ca. when I feel ok as age can make you feel < OK, I will sometimes take my iphone to shoot photos as they come up.I do this because Morry is big and a big camera and him won't work too well. The iphone 3G has a 2 megapixel camera on it and these photos don't look too bad. You can spend a lot for even "POINT AND SHOOT" cameras so just consider what you really need. I used the simple tools in IPHOTO but PICASA will also do this...for free. The truth is, I mix and match software. I do have LIGHTROOM and PHOTOSHOP 4-Ext. but most folks would not be able to tell the difference. Here is a slide show in HTML, I still do not know how to loop it so to restart use the re-start arrow on the last pic when it is done. If you want to see the pics website, go HERE Please Enjoy:

TURN SUNLIGHT INTO MOONLIGHT

This short video tutorial shows how you can shift the color balance of sunlight to create a blue background that looks like moonlight. I wanted a night time look to this 20′s scene. Shooting later was not an option. This was a way to give a night time look to the sunlight streaming in the window. This technique can be applied to all types of photography. I saw a wedding photographer using this technique by putting a small amount of warm gel on his strobe which allowed him to let the background behind the bride and groom go slightly blue. This adds depth and interest. I have used it in corporate portraiture to create a cool background out of what was a boring scene. The blue becomes a unifying layer that pulls a background together into one element. (via The Slanted Lens via NSOP) SLIDE SHOW:(TO REPLAY USE YOUR BROWSER'S RELOAD BUTTON)

"MOVE"!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

sosna sarna from jucho on Vimeo.
ALL SHOT WITH THE CANON 5D MARK ii

Tall Ships Visit Eureka California

TALL SHIPS "LADY WASHINGTON" and "HAWAIIAN CHIEFTAIN"

Built in the British Colony of Massachusetts in the 1750s, the original vessel carried freight between colonial ports until the American Revolutionary War, when she became an American privateer. In 1787, after the war, she was given a major refit to prepare her for a unprecedented trading voyage around Cape Horn. In 1788, she became the first American vessel to make landfall on the west coast of North America.A pioneer in Pan-Pacific trade, she was the first American ship to visit Honolulu, Hong Kong and Japan. Lady Washington opened the black pearl and sandalwood trade between Hawaii and the Orient when King Kamehameha became a partner in the ship.The modern Lady Washington was thoroughly researched by historians and constructed by skilled shipwrights. She was launched as part of the 1989 Washington State Centennial celebration. The new Lady Washington meets all of the U.S. Coast Guard safety requirements for a 21st-century ship.Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain are scheduled to arrive in Eureka on April 12 for six days of walk-on tours, educational programs for K-12 students, and public sailing excursions from the Adorni Center, 1011 Waterfront Drive, Eureka. The ships are nearing the end of their 2011-2012 California sailing season, and this stop will be one of only two North Coast visits this year. (The other will be Crescent City.)
BOTH OF THESE SHIPS USED IN HOLLYWOOD:

The world of make-believe pirates gets a boost this month when Walt Disney Pictures releases the fourth installment in the POTC series, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The movie premieres on Saturday May 7 in Hollywood; the general release is scheduled for May 20 across the country. The story reportedly pits Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and compatriot Barbarossa (Geoffrey Rush) againstBlackbeard (Ian McShane) on a quest for the Fountain of Youth. History purists tend to turn up their nose at the Disney-fied cutthroats of history, even suggesting that the theme-park-ification of thievery and murder desensitizes the public to the truly horrific acts of modern pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Straits of Malacca.

Capt. John Aydelotte of Port Townsend, Wash., plays Blackbeard the Pirate in a documentary airing this month.

Even so, institutions with missions to preserve history and educate the public about the past know an opportunity when they see one. On the day of POTC 4's general release, the Museum of London Docklands will open an exhibit on Capt. William Kydd, one of the archetypal New World pirates who terrified ships' masters in the late 17th century. His true story is at least as good as the fictional Jack Sparrow's; the exhibit will feature some of Kydd's actual letters.

On the small screen, look for all kinds of video material related to pirates this month, and one program has a bit of hidden movie trivia. On May 15 and 16, the Smithsonian Channel on satellite and cable networks will broadcast "The Real Story: Pirates of the Caribbean," an episode in the channel's "Real Story" series. The hour-long program looks behind the story of POTC to get at the "truth" about pirates. I have a small, but direct connection to the show: It was filmed aboard the tall ship Lady Washington, which is based in Aberdeen, Wash. Some of the actors are crew, friends and supporters of Lady Washington, including Capt. John Aydelotte of Port Townsend, who appears as Blackbeard. (Watch for the tall shipHawaiian Chieftain, which sails with Lady Washington. Hawaiian Chieftain is attacked by Lady Washington in "The Real Story.")

Here's the cocktail trivia: Lady Washington appeared in the first POTC film, "The Curse of the Black Pearl." Lady Washington played HMS Interceptor, a British warship captured by Jack Sparrow. So Lady Washington has appeared in two pirate flicks, one as a fictional character, and one as a stand-in for a "real" pirate ship in a show meant at explaining the rise and fall of the piracy that inspires today's make-believe pirates. If your cutlass can cut through that Gordian knot, let me know.

The 2012 Pulitzer Prize for PHOTOGRAPHY

Tarana Akbari, 12, screams in fear moments after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd at the Abul Fazel Shrine in Kabul on December 06, 2011. 'When I could stand up, I saw that everybody was around me on the ground, really bloody. I was really, really scared,' said the Tarana, whose name means 'melody' in English. Out of 17 women and children from her family who went to a riverside shrine in Kabul that day to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashura, seven died including her seven-year-old brother Shoaib. More than 70 people lost their lives in all, and at least nine other members of Tarana's family were wounded. The blasts has prompted fears that Afghanistan could see the sort of sectarian violence that has pitched Shiite against Sunni Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan. The attack was the deadliest strike on the capital in three years. President Hamid Karzai said this was the first time insurgents had struck on such an important religious day. The Taliban condemned the attack, which some official viewed as sectarian. On the same day, a second bomber attacked in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Karzai said on December 11 that a total of 80 people were killed in both attacks. Published December 7, 2011 BY Massoud Hossaini Massoud Hossaini is the first Afghan to win the Pulitzer Prize. His work captures the horror of violence in Afghanistan. He won the breaking news photography award for a picture he took after a suicide bombing in Kabul. His is also the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a photographer for the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. In the picture, a girl dressed in green stands among a crowd of dead and injured people. Blood runs down her face as she screams in shock. The scene was also shocking for the photographer. Hossaini captured the scene on 6 December 2011. It was the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura, the day Shias mourn for Imam Hossain, their third imam and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

UPDATE:http://www.petapixel.com/2012/04/17/2012-pulitzer-prize-winning-photos-focus-on-war-and-heartbreak/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29

In memoriam: Somber ceremony at sea marks 100 years since Titanic tragedy (PHOTOS)

BEAUTIFUL TIME-LAPSE FLOWERS