We’re at CES this week!

That stands for Consumer Electronics Show, a convention of the latest in gadgets of all kinds, but best of all: cameras.

You’ll find booths for everything from Hello Kitty to Nikon, Fuji, and Polaroid.

Because all the sensor sizes, f-stops and long-winded terminology* start to melt into a foggy photo haze, we rounded up and broke down the most noteworthy camera stories from CES!

*mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, anyone?

A Guide to the Latest in Digital Cameras

p.s. Our pals at the New York Institute of Photography want to help you become the best photographer ever. You can take their classes on your own time from just about anywhere!(...)
Read the rest of CES Mania — Our Roundup of the Raddest New Camera Releases! (910 words)

© lisbeth for Photojojo, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

The Holidays are over: all the eggnog has been drunk and the presents opened.

Some of you have already had coffee, grabbed your new camera and are ready for a photo challenge for the coming year.

Or maybe some of you are still in your jammies whilst Instagramming your new Angry Bird slippers.

Well, we’ve got some amazing photo projects to inspire and motivate you all!

From daily year-long endeavors to self-portraits and solargraphs, there’s a project that’ll suit your photo personality.

Photo Projects for a Snappy New Year

1. Photo Ideas for the Self-Portraitist

Are your self-portrait photos a daily habit, scheduled between having coffee & combing your hair? Or are you looking to start the habit? Well, here are some awesome examples of folks who’ve experimented with photographic self-portraiture.

• Take A Self-Portrait Everyday: Noah Kalina started taking a photo of himself since he was 19 back in 2000, and hasn’t stopped since! He posts them on his web site Noah K Everyday, and there’s also a video of all his portraits.

  If you’re wondering, “How the heck does he line himself up consistently for every picture?!” it’s cuz he uses a camera that has a flip screen to help him!



• Layer Your Self-Portraits: Who says you have to view your photos one portrait at a time?

  For part of his grad project, Tiemen Rapati took clickflashwhirr’s portraits and did some Photoshop layering magic that put all 500 portraits in one!

2. A Photo Project For the Family Guy or Gal

Got a fantastic family who’s pictures you just can’t snap enough?

Take photos of each family member once a year as a unique way to capture your family’s “growth” like photographer Diego Goldberg did in “The Arrow of Time.”

Mr. Goldberg has been taking a picture of his whole family once every June 17th since 1976!

See the full photographic family timeline here.

3. Daily Photo Ideas for the Camera-Shy

Perhaps you’re a photographer whose personality is like that of an eager yet timid woodland squirrel—you’re nuts about photography, but you quickly scurry away to hide whenever anybody tries to snap a pic of you.

Well, here are projects within your natural comfort zone!

• Take Daily Photos of Where You’re Standing: The hashtag for this photo group says it all— #fromwhereistand!

  Take a cue from Holly—aka the soupatraveler—and her own set of #fromwhereistand pictures, titled “Good Morning”!

  She made the photo-taking work with her daily morning habit, in which she enjoys a cup of coffee in her garden—a consistency that you’ll see in her set!



• Take Daily Photos of Your Favorite Lunch or Hang-out Spot: Have a place you like to lunch at or hang out on a daily or frequent basis?

  Take photos of the place or setting over a period of time & seasons, like Paul Octavius did in his “Same Hill, Different Day” series!

  This delightful project captures a hill in Chicago in different seasons, hosting a variety of activities, from kite festivals to Ghana soccer players at practice!

4. 365 for the iPhoneographer

Do you tote around an iPhone, or did you just get one for Christmas?

Get Photo365—this app makes it super easy to keep track of your first (or third!) photo 365 project!

The Photo365 app lets you take photos directly from your camera or your camera roll, and you get the option of seeing all your daily pics in a handy monthly view!

5. A DIY Project for the Patient, Film Enthusiast

Are the above photo project ideas just not hands-enough for ya?

Well then, we challenge you with capturing your own solargraph this year!

A solar-whaaaa?

A solargraph is basically the photo that results from a pinhole camera that’s designed for a six-month-long exposure!

Get the deets on how to make one yourself with Ilya’s handy tutorial here!

Solargraph featured was taken in Germany, a collaboration between Robert Fosbury & Tarja Trygg.

Take Your Year Further

• Starting your first 365 photo project and feeling a little iffy on commitment? Get some encouragement & helpful tips from Taylor Knight’s Project 365 post.
• The beautiful & touching photo collage featured above is from Karin Stack’s “Hair Stories,” in which she documents her hair growth following chemo.
• Hey parents! Keep a photographic track of your cute kid’s growth & make a great video from all the photos like JAMagicFilms did with Natalie!
• Check out “A History of the Sky”, a calming year-long time lapse video on the sky!
• Videos not your thing? Make a coffee table book from all of your photos using Blurb or Shutterfly. The Creative Mama has some neat tips on how to make your photos book-ready!

Related posts:

1. Project 1976: Making a Photo History of the Year You Were Born ~Have a cool photo product or site? Reach 270,000 photo...
2. Project 365: How to Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way People will often say that their whole lives flashed before...
3. World Photography Day — Ideas & Inspiration to Celebrate All Things Photo Do you remember the first time you held a camera?...

You’ve been good all year, and Santa recognized your dedication with a brand new camera!

We thought we’d help with some practical tips about taking care of your new baby.

Everything from how to clean your lens, what filters are what and what to do with the photos after you’ve played with your camera plenty.

It’s okay if Santa forgot to include a care guide. We got you covered.

Get Started With Your New Camera!

Protect Your Lens and Enhance Photos with Filters:

Your camera’s lens is fragile, vulnerable to scratches, dings, or cracks. You can give it a fighting chance with a plain UV filter.

If you happen to drop your lens, the filter will break first in most cases, saving you an expensive repair bill. The filters don’t have to be boring old glass though – there are lots of different types out there to play with! Here’s a short guide to filters:

Polarizing filter: If you do a lot of outdoor photography, a polarizing filter will help reduce glare and increase colour saturation. This means deep blue skies and lush trees!

Neutral density filter: If you’ve ever wanted to take a photo where water looks misty and smooth, a neutral density filter might be for you. This nifty filter lets you decrease your shutter speed much lower than the ambient light levels will normally allow.

Colour filters: There are a whole host of colour filters available on the market – every single colour of the rainbow. These can be use to warm up or cool down your images. You might want to try our handy keychain filters.

Make the Most of Your Shutter With a Tripod

Your new camera probably has a wide range of shutter speeds. While handshake on a quick shutter speed isn’t a problem, those low-light situations won’t let you get away with a single twitch. Blurry photos just won’t do!

Save yourself from this frustration by investing in a good tripod. When looking for a tripod, keep in mind the weight of the camera with the heaviest lens you own on it. A flimsy tripod won’t do you or your camera any good.

If a tripod isn’t in the budget at the moment, you can get away with some MacGyver-style tricks. Use tables or flat rocks to hold your camera and prop up the lens with a pair of socks, gloves, or anything else that fits well. Then, set your camera to open the delayed shutter release. This will prevent camera shake and keep the photo crisp.

Things to try with your new tripod:

• How to Paint Your Photos With Sparklers
• Ultimate Guide to Time Lapse Photography

Keep the Ins and Outs Clean and Spot-Free

You’re pretty adventurous with your photography, so your camera is bound to get dirty from time to time. Keep it clean with some simple tools and a little knowhow.

Keeping the lens clean is easy:

• Spray some lens cleaner onto a microfiber cloth. (It’s not a good idea to spray the camera directly!)
• Rub the cloth on the lens lightly to pick up the dirt.
• Turn the cloth over and buff the lens dry.

If you’re noticing little spots showing up on your photos (you’ll see them best on bright, solid colour backgrounds), then you might have dust on your sensor.

Cleaning a camera sensor can be tricky work, but luckily for you, we have a handy guide on how to do it efficiently and without damaging the sensor. Check it out here!

Turn Your Favourite Bag Into a Camera Bag

Your camera isn’t going to spend all its time inside your house, so protect it when you take it out for an adventure.

Depending on where you travel to, sometimes it’s not always the best idea to advertise that you’re carrying a camera. Brand-name camera bags can do just that.

If you have an old camera bag around, the liners usually lift out pretty easily. Then its simply a matter of sewing up the sides and sliding the insert into your favourite bag.

If you’re not into making your own bag or don’t have the materials to do so, check out our Any Bag Camera Insert. It’s inexpensive and makes it easy to repurpose any bag into a fashionable and discrete camera bag.

Turn Digital to Analogue by Printing Your Photos

It’s the digital age and most photographers are busily snapping away hundreds (or thousands!) of photos and posting them online or e-mailing them.

Your new camera will probably have you doing something similar! It’s important not to forget to print out your photos once in awhile.

Here are some ideas of what to do with your prints:

• Make a Wall of Achievement: You have photographs from trips, epic weekends, and that time you met your favourite celebrity. Dedicate a wall in your home with a framed display of all the cool things you’ve done so far in life. Mix and match frame styles for visual interest!
• Make a Journal: With the new year approaching, you might need a new journal to keep track of your ideas and memories. Try our tutorial!
• Make an Album: Instead of filling your coffee table with magazines and remote controls, put together a flip book of your photos for friends and family to look through.
• Stay Organized with a Photo Calendar: Last year, we showed you how to make a handy and beautiful photo calendar to keep your life organized. If your didn’t try it out last year, give it a shot for 2012!

Taking Your Photography to the Next Level

 
The world is full of moments for you to capture with your new camera. If you’re strapped for ideas though, Photojojo is always here for you! Be sure to check out our DIY and tags for fun projects. Our Tumblr is always full of inspiration from amazing photographers, too!

• Read your manual! Every camera has its own special talents. Find out what yours can do!
• Spend some time on photo sharing sites like Flickr and 500px. Communities there are pretty helpful and there are plenty of inspiring images!
• Make sure you bond with your camera – take it with you when you leave the house! You can’t take the photo if you don’t have your camera!
• Organize photo adventures with your fellow photo-loving friends! Day trip to national parks, the next town over, anywhere!

Related posts:

1. Play Nicely With Others: Games to Play With Your Camera     A recent major university double-blind study has concluded...
2. Photo Toys: Don’t Play with Your Food, Play with Your Photos Hurly proved an important point in Episode 9 when he...

Soon you’ll be launched into a food-nomming, photo-snapping, gift-searching frenzy.

Here to help: our roundup of delectable photo goodies. Wipe that drool off your mouth and dig into Photojojo’s Very Last Gift Guide!

Don’t forget, free priority shipping on orders over $50.

p.s. Not sure what to get the photog fanatic in your family? Check out our first ever Photojojo Present Picker!

For Christmas delivery, order by Fri Dec 16 by Priority Mail (FREE) or UPS Ground, Wed Dec 21 by UPS 2-Day*, and Thurs Dec 22 by UPS Next Day*. *Order by 1pm CST.

				SX-70 Polaroid Camera FREE SHIPPING! Fully functional, lovingly restored Polaroid cameras will have you shooting instant photos just like the good old days. These refurbished originals are a limited edition (only 100!), so don’t let them slip away into photo history without you! SX-70 Polaroid Camera $350-$400 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
35mm Movie Camera FREE SHIPPING! It looks like Super 8, it feels like Super 8, but it’s 35mm film made into movies! Load your finished movie in the included movie viewer, and hand crank it to watch your masterpiece old-school style. The Lomokino $99 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
				iPhone Carabiner Clip No more phone fishing! This Carabiner lets you securely attach your iPhone (aka your favorite camera) to your belt loop or camera bag so it’s always ready to shoot. iPhone Carabiner Clip $30 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
Click Click Camera Print Each of these camera-loving posters is printed by hand on a vintage letterpress. Hang one in your office, studio or bedroom. You’ll be inspired to go outside and “click!” Click Click Camera Print $35 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
				The Folding Tripod Here’s a tripod that folds up small enough to fit in your bag! When you’re ready to use it, just shake it, and the jointed legs spring into shape in seconds. The Folding Tripod $49 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
Sterling Lens Wrist Cuff FREE SHIPPING! A refined take on photo love. This aperture ring bracelet will grace your wrist with sterling silver precisely engraved with f-stops from f/2.8 to f/22. Sterling Lens Wrist Cuff $190 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
				Cloak Camera Bag FREE SHIPPING! After using this shoot-through camera bag, you’ll never go back. Why? Because you don’t have to take your camera out to use it! It protects your camera from bumps, rain and potential thieves while keeping your lens always ready to shoot. Cloak Camera Bag $69 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
iPhone Panorama Lens FREE SHIPPING! This iPhone lens shoots 360 degrees of footage using the magic of mirrors! The result is an interactive video that lets you capture more in one frame than you’ve ever been able to before. Dot iPhone Panorama Lens $79 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share

Related posts:

1. Photojojo’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide, Part 2! Remember that sleep deprived, sugar high, OMG-it’s-almost-the-Holidays excitement that you...
2. Photojojo’s Holiday Gift Guide 2011, Part 1! You calmly plug your ears at the first hint of...
3. Photojojo’s Gift Guide 2010, Part 3 It’s the holiday home stretch! This mid-December, may you stuff...

Superheroes were never paid for their humanitarian efforts. Come to think of it, they kinda just did all their do-goodin’ for free!

Maybe it’s because there’s something intrinsically awesome about helping others. It just makes you feel good.

On December 10th, you can take part in Help Portrait by giving a portrait to someone in need!

With the forthcoming Christmas tree installations and mall traffic, give a portrait to restore dignity, bring smiles and even remind people, many of whom have forgotten, how beautiful they are.

How to Give a Portrait to Someone in Need

Photo: Dallas, TX Help Portrait

Why Help?

Giving portraits, not just taking them. That’s the mantra behind a project like this.

The holidays can be a tough time for a lot people, especially those who don’t have family or are having financial hardship.

Giving someone a portrait reminds them that they matter, too!

The Help Portrait movement had its official beginning on December 12, 2009 when more than 3,400 photographers in 543 locations across 42 countries gave over 42,000 beautiful portraits to beautiful people… talk about a Justice League.

Step 1: Find Someone in Need

Reach out to the lonely, the sick, the troubled. Visit a nursing home, a hospital, boys and girls club, or a community center.

If you shoot on location, you’ll want to get permission and coordinate the event with the director or person who runs the facility.

(Don’t assume you can wander into the local nursing home with your lights and cameras.)

For a bigger event, set up shop at a local church, community center or warehouse. Hang up flyers and call around to local non-profits, mentoring programs or groups that serve the less fortunate and let them know what’s happening.

In the past, photographers have even rallied make-up artists and stylists!

Step 2: Take Their Portrait

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been shooting for a month or 20 years, you can use your camera to bring people together for fun and even some inner healing.

Here are some tips if this is your first time shooting portraits!

1. Smile… if you do, they’re likely too as well.
2. Start fresh… Don’t shoot with the settings you were using last week. Find the optimum ISO, aperture and shutter speed for today.
3. You can use any lens, but a good fast lens (f1.8 – f2.8) opened up will make for some beautiful bokeh (blurry backgroud).
4. Try shooting with a lens that has a focal length of 50mm or up for portraits. Wide angle lenses can distort people’s faces if you get too close!
5. Light! Make sure you have enough of it. If you are shooting indoors, you’ll probably want to have some kind of diffused, off-camera flash or set up near a window for pretty side light.

If you’re not ready to be the main shooter, Help Portrait can pair you with a photographer who is.

You’ll learn a whole bunch about lighting, exposure and composition and be able focus on the needs of your subjects.

Step 3: Print Their Portrait

You have two options for printing:

1. Think about having on-site printers and photo paper so you can grant your portrait subjects instant photo happiness!

Borrow the family photo printer for the day, or you might also have some luck getting a local business to donate or loan a printer.

2. The other option is to collect contact information from those having portraits made and to print the photos at a local lab after the event.

Step 4: Give The Portrait

Be sure to relish the moment when you hand over the portrait to your new friend.

Remind them of how amazing they look and what a privilege it was to shoot them. That personal connection is the best part of the whole experience!

We’ve heard tales of masked photographers in brightly colored spandex suits going as far as giving a CD of the images or even framing the photos!!

More Inspiration

• Check out the main Help Portrait page for organizing your own event and see their Community page for getting in touch with fellow photographers.
• Get inspired with this video all about the heart of Help Portrait. It doesn’t have to happen one day a year but can be ongoing!

David Braud is a photographer in Franklin, TN. He’s heading up Franklin’s Help-Portrait event this year.

Photos: David Braud & Help Portrait

Related posts:

1. A Family Portrait Project You Can Start Today If we could turn back time, we’d find a way...
2. A Dose of Fresh Portrait Perspective We’ve seen more than our share of portraits taken at...
3. How to Make a Difference with Photography: Post Your Portrait! The Banksy of the photo world wants you to be...

Holiday. Photo. Time.

Three innocent little words that when strung together can cause much anxiety in parents around the globe.

To reduce the stress and end up with photos that really capture the true spirit of your family, we nabbed professional kid photographer and author of Click!, Rachel Devine.

Rachel’s neatly rolled up her top notch advice in this guide that’ll last you straight through your eggnog supply and into next year!

Top 10 Tips for Photographing Kids

THINK!

The best way to avoid the tired old holiday portraits is to think about your shot and what the holiday truly means to your family.

Capture holiday traditions that are unique and make sure that your little family’s personalities are represented.

These are images of your kids, so show them how they really are. Tell their story.

Christmas Eve in Australia with my three kids looks Just. Like. This.

PREPARE!

Get things set up BEFORE* you bring the child into the photo session.

This is essential as children have extremely short expiration dates on their patience for picture taking. Don’t waste any time on getting your settings and exposure right.

*Never leave little kids alone in or around water…make sure your camera is with you before running the bath!

BREATHE!

The holidays can be chaotic. Don’t forget to breathe!

If the quest for a perfect holiday photo is stressing you out, forget the special posed portrait and go back through the last year’s worth of images and pull a few that represent how your children have grown and changed through the months.

Presenting the photos together in chronological order on the front of a card will be like a visual update for the year. Remember those annual Christmas letters from the long lost aunt? Like that, but in pictures.

SMILE!

Make your heart smile and hand the camera over to your kids.

Let them record what the holidays mean to them and get a different perspective of your world.

If you don’t want to actually put the fancy camera in their hands, let them direct the process and help come up with ideas for the outfits everyone is to wear and location.

Make sure you put a little note in there to say “Styled by Child’s Name and Age” so your friends don’t think you have completely lost your mind.

Research!

If you really want to do something with a holiday theme, look around your town for places that remind you of the season.

This Christmas tree farm was our little way of getting an “American Christmas” here in our new home in Australia.

Push!

Force yourself out of the formal posed rut and aim to capture a beautiful moments that happen in daily life.

Here, the light in the guest room was so lovely that a simple game of wrestling came out gorgeous.

If you want it more controlled than daily life, but still relaxed, set the kids up on the bed with a favorite holiday story book and capture them reading it all together.

Look!

Try interesting angles and look at your subject from above, below, through and even under things in their environment.

PRACTICE!

Practice what you say, I mean.

If you say just one more photo, respect the kids and just take one more photo!

It is so important to keep the photo shoots with children happy and light. The energy you give out is what you will get back and what will be captured in your camera!

REFINE!

Did you get a great shot during the year, but the clothes did not match or the background was too busy?

Convert your color shots to black and white to simplify the look and unify all the mismatched details!

REACH!

Whether you are the crafty sort and can create your own cards, or choose from the multiple printing companies out there, don’t forget to share your memories with others.

This day and age, you can save some money and a trees by sending out digital cards to your loved ones.

Turning your photos into gifts, creating photo books, notebooks and even printing and framing will make someone smile.

Rachel Devine is a commercial kid photographer and American ex-pat based out of Australia. She runs a photo blog Sesame Ellis and teaches people how to take better photos in online classes and live workshops.

Check out her books: Click! How to Take Gorgeous Photos of Your Kids and Beyond Snapshots (coming in March 2012).

Related posts:

1. 10 Tips for Being a Greener Photographer   This Photojojo made possible by... Lensbabies are Frankenstein-esque lenses...
2. Halloween Photo Tips — Our Ghoulish Guide to Scary Snaps How can you not love a holiday that encourages you...
3. 9 Tips for Breaking into Photojournalism New in the Photojojo forum: One of you kids is...

You calmly plug your ears at the first hint of a Christmas carol and politely refuse your co-worker’s gingerbread cookies.

The Holidays, already?

Well cheer up scrooge! Here’s a darn good reason to end your holiday denial: The Photojojo Holiday Gift Guide Numero Uno.

We’ve been (really, really) pumped on these photo goodies all year. So without further ado:

				The iPhone Lens Dial FREE SHIPPING! A complete three-lens optical system for the iPhoneographer that’s got it all. Made from aircraft-grade aluminium and high quality glass, these Fisheye, Wide Angle and Telephoto Lenses are top notch. Just twist the dial to choose your lens of choice! The iPhone Lens Dial $249 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
Camera Tote & Pouch This tote bag and zipper pouch are decked out in awesome illustrations of vintage cameras. Both boast plenty of room for all your crafty photo tidbits. A bag that loves cameras as much as you? Makes sense to us. Camera Tote & Pouch $25 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
				The Light Paint Can Looks just like a spray paint can, but paints light instead of, erm, paint! This guy is equipped with a super strong LED for drawing with light when your camera is set on a long exposure. The Light Paint Can $39 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
Vintage Camera Mobile Vintage cameras are our favorite kind of eye candy. Handmade and intricately detailed, the Vintage Camera Mobile satisfies your old-school camera lust. Without costing you a pretty penny! Vintage Camera Mobile $35 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
				DIY Twin Lens Camera Put your expert camera knowledge to a test! Build your own camera with this DIY kit! You’ll learn all about how cameras work and have a brand new camera to play with. And hey, “learning new things” sounds like a great excuse to get a new camera to us! DIY Twin Lens Camera $20 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share
Lens Cap Strap Holder Isn’t it nice when really smart solutions are also really simple? Example: a lens cap holder that keeps the cap safely attached to your camera strap while you shoot. No more wandering lens caps. No more scratched lenses. No more ruined photos. Ahhh. Lens Cap Strap Holder $18 at the Photojojo Store  Tweet it!      Share

Related posts:

1. Photojojo’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide — Part 3! Soon you’ll be launched into a food-nomming, photo-snapping, gift-searching frenzy....
2. Photojojo’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide, Part 2! Remember that sleep deprived, sugar high, OMG-it’s-almost-the-Holidays excitement that you...
3. Photojojo’s Extra-Jolly Holiday Gift Guide — What to Buy and Why in 2007 Only 3 days left to order! Looking for a gift...

Do you remember the first time you held a camera?

Pushing on a button somehow procured a preserved rectangular memory that you could hold in your hand.

From that day on you never looked back…mostly because you were too busy looking into the viewfinder.

World Photography Day is tomorrow, August 19th, and it’s the perfect day to show your camera some love!

Whether your preferred camera is plastic, pinhole, or also known as your phone, we’ve collected the most inspiring ideas and even a photo themed mixtape to celebrate your very own photo day at home.

Hats off to you, Mr. Daguerre.

Photojojo’s Guide to World Photography Day

p.s. Our buddies at Easy Canvas Prints are giving 50% off + free shipping for Photojojoers (you!). They turn your photos into rad canvas prints!

Feature image: Sherman Geronimo-Tan

Get Nostalgic

So who the heck figured out the sophisticated science behind photography?

Some say the Frenchman Louis Daguerre inventor of the daguerrotype did while others are pretty sure William Fox Talbot inventor of the calotype did.

Whether you’re team Daguerre or team Talbot, both declared these two photographic techniques in 1839.

It was in that year that the French government announced photography on August 19th as “a gift to the free world.” And they were so right!

If you look to the right here, you can see one of Daguerre’s first photos which features a person standing on the sidewalk. Look closely. You’ll find him (or her?)!

Get inspired

One of the best ways to get yourself clicking is to read up on inspiring photographers.

Here are a just few to get you kickstarted:

• Pete Eckert: A blind photographer who didn’t give up on his camera despite losing his sense of sight.

• JR: The Banksy of the photo world, JR is the 2011 TED Prize Winner and a photographer activist who’s turned the world’s streets into a photo gallery.

• Yowayowa Camera Woman: Natsumi took the Project 365 concept one step further by capturing herself levitating in daily self portraits.

• Vivian Maeir: Most knew Vivian as a nanny, but since John Maloof accidentally discovered 30,000 of her negatives –which revealed an incredible body of work– she’ll now forever be remembered as a legendary street photographer.

Off the Wall Projects

Photographer’s block is real. The good thing about it is when you’re racking your brain for a new project you end up coming up with the wildest ideas.

• Launch a camera into the atmosphere. Try a remote control helicopter or a helium balloon or you can plain just toss your camera into the air. Here’s our how-to on camera-tossing (photo on the right).

• Stick your vintage camera underwater. For serious. If you’re worried about it getting damaged, you can wrap it in a plastic bag or use a broken camera. You only need the viewfinder on a TLR to work in order to do this project.

• Shoot a photo for 24 hours straight. Chris stayed up 24 hours to make a single photo! While 24 hours might be a wee bit extreme, see how long of an exposure you can make. We heard pinhole cameras, lightpainting, and time-lapses are good for that.

• Hack a disposable camera. 20 ways to smack, tape, and hack a disposable camera into making awesome photos.

• Attach a camera to a [fill in the blank]. People are trying all kinds of things these days. From sky divers to hula hoops to skateboards to seagulls and shark-braving poles. Or how about rigging your Hasselblad to your bike? If you don’t have a Go-Pro, try an old point-and-shoot and a cheap weather proof case.

Throw a party or stay in and read!

Whether you’re in the mood for a party or would rather curl up in your favorite living room nook, we’ve got solutions.

Party! Party! Party!

• Throw a photo movie party! And don’t forget the popcorn. Don’t know what to watch? Well, we conveniently threw together this ultimate movie roundup of 50 photo movies every photo fan should see.
• Three words: photo scavenger hunt. Make a list, pitch your friends against each other, and give away sweet photo prizes.

Or chill out at home…

• Read up! Here’s our guide to photography literature that’ll get you thinking.
• Lay back and listen to our photo themed mixtape. Part 1 of our photo mixtape and part 2.

Share your photos

Your photo spree was a success! Now what?

Share your photo talents with the world. The internet’s pretty good for that. Upload your photos to Flickr, and add them to the Photojojo Flickr group. Caption your photo with “World Photo Day” so we know you’re celebrating!

You can even take your photos into real life (!!!!) by printing them out and creating an impromptu living room gallery. Invite friends over and get swanky with some wine/grape juice and cheese.

Take Your Photo Obsession Further

• Go hardcore! Get a photo tattoo. We’ve seen apertures, props, and cameras.
• If you’re not into permanent ink, try one of Tatt.ly’s temporary photo tattoos.
• Take your camera with you to the photo lab in the sky. Paa Joe made a coffin that looks just like a Nikon camera.
• Show off your flowetry with a rap about your favorite camera, like Joey Lawrence did.

Photo credit: Sherman Geronimo-Tan for feature image, Louis Daguerre for daguerrotype, Natsumi Hayashi for floating photo, Sam DeLong for camera toss, Courtney Carmody reading girl, and Hillary Hartley for photo wall

Related posts:

1. Hold the Camera, Kid: Luring your Child into the World of Photography! Don’t miss our second San Francisco Photo Safari this Saturday!...
2. 12 Awesome Photography Business Card Ideas ~Have a cool photo product or site? Reach 260,000 photo...
3. A Healthy Dose of Photo Inspiration — George Lange’s 2006 Photo Flipbook Every so often, we run across photos that make us...

Like instant film and harem pants, GIFs are making quite the comeback.

They may have had an awkward start back in their earlier days, but now GIFs are easier to craft and looking better than ever thanks to lasers, smart phones, and good old fashioned creativity.

We found the raddest and baddest ways to make and show off GIFs from real-life GIF zoetropes to making your phone’s background animated.

Creepy dancing Ally McBeal baby, step aside. There are new GIFs in town.

How to Kick Your GIFs Up a Notch

Main image credit: GIF Shop

1. History of the GIF

Short for Graphics Interchange Format, the GIF came out in the late eighties as a bitmap image format that was able to support animation.

Like the adolescent years, many of the earlier GIFs were animated awkwardly and sometimes spastically.

Yet their ability to capture animation captured our own beating hearts by providing us the means to make a more dynamic kind of photo or illustration.

Like Batman. With kittens. Awww.

GIF via this isn’t happiness.

2. Hey iPhone, you GIF?

Your iPhone can GIF thanks to some neat apps, like:

• GIF Shop – Lets you edit and loop your GIFS with neat features like onion skinning, which helps you line up different shots.

• Giffer – Has a cool photo picker that lets you select more than one photo at a time.

• Loopcam – This one’s free! It’s a stripped-down app that lets you make GIFs from photos quick and easy.

• Figgif – Lets you make a GIF from video you record on your phone.

Android users: As of now, we haven’t found stellar GIF apps for Android, but we’ll update here if any better ones pop up!

3. The Cinemagraph: The Glorified GIF

If early GIFs are comparable to the awkward adolescent years, then cinemagraphs are GIFs in their most golden age—sleek and très chic.

First introduced by the talented team of photographer Jaime Beck and motion designer Kevin Burg, these sophisticated GIFs took the web world by storm, eliciting oooo’s and aah’s from fascinated viewers.

Get inspired by Beck and Burg’s cinematic creations, and then get right into making your with our cinemagraph tutorial!

4. GIF up your iPhone screen!

For you iRebels rockin’ jailbroken iPhones, show off more of that dissident spirit by GIF-ing up your lockscreen.

With some patience and this custom lockscreen tutorial, an animated iPhone lockscreen will soon be yours to rock and roll.

Warning to tech n00bs—this requires quite some tinkering to work, so proceed with caution and extra patience!

5. The Real World: GIF edition

Wait, you mean, GIFs aren’t limited to viewing just on the computer screen?

Nope—thanks to Greg Borenstein & Scott Wayne Indiana, the creative folks who make GIF zoetropes at Physical GIFs!

Physical GIFs are based on the persistence of vision: when a series of frames moving quickly is perceived as one moving image by your eyes and brain.

Each frame of a GIF is carved by lasers out of plexiglass, and then the frames are animated with the use of a spinning disc and a strobe light. See one in action in this video!

They’ve recently reached their fundraising goal on Kickstarter, so expect to see some real-time GIFs proudly displayed on some lucky coffee tables soon!

6. Turn Videos into GIFs!

Wanna make a GIF from a section of your favorite YouTube video, or your own video files? GIF ‘em right up with the following converter sites:

• GIFsoup – The chicken soup for your digital soul, GIFsoup basically helps you turn your own YouTube videos into a GIF!
• Bender Converter – This nifty converter can make GIFs from a plethora of sites, including YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook!

GIF created from video featuring Raoul Ortega and filmed by David McClymonds.

GIF me more

• Have Photoshop or Gimp but never GIF-ed before? Learn how to make ‘em in Photoshop and in Gimp.
• No Photoshop? No worries! GIFninja is here to save the day. As is Picasion and Gickr! These are just three examples of free GIF makers available for you to use on the interwebz.
• Not only can your GIFs move, they can wiggle and look 3D, too. Make your own wiggle 3D GIF—like David Fitzsimmon’s GIF above!
• Fruits can get their GIF on, too—check out these amazing animated MRI fruit scans created by MRI technologist Andy Ellison!
• Made an awesome GIF and dying to share it to the world? Upload your pixel-moving masterpieces to your own blog, or have ‘em join the GIF party! Did your cat star in your GIF? There’s a page to showcase your cat’s animated antics, too!

Thanks to David Fitzsimmon’s for the Wiggle 3D photo! Check out his rad animal photo book Curious Critters, too!

Related posts:

1. 10 Totally New Ways to Play with Instagram Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3. Instagram is your...
2. The Ultimate Guide to Photo Shadow Play: 30 Ways to Show Shadows Some Love Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3  In Photo 101...
3. Photo Toys: Don’t Play with Your Food, Play with Your Photos Hurly proved an important point in Episode 9 when he...

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3, 4.

It’s that time of the year again…

…Polaroid Week!

Also Known As: A magical week when photographers around the world celebrate all things instant and make photos like crazy.

We’re already having a blast celebrating,
and want you to join us!

Because we ♥ you, we’ve rounded up our favorite projects, tips, & inspiration to get your instant ideas developing! (See what we did there? har har.)

Grab your camera, feed it some film, and read on to learn how to use instant photos to decorate, stay organized, make hand-made photograms, and even see-through instant prints!

Tips, DIY Projects and Where to Get Film

p.s. Wanna win the smartest & comfiest camera strap your shoulder’s ever met? Follow @Photojojo and tweet this for a chance to win a Split Strap!! *squeeeee!*

First & Foremost: Find Instant Film!

Is your instant camera hungry for film?

Worry not, we’ve got ya covered.

Have a Polaroid 600-series or SX-70 camera?

• Find color & black/white instant film made by The Impossible Project at the Photojojo shop!
• Impossible Project also sells their own special edition instant films. (In beautiful custom packaging to boot!)
• Original (now expired) Polaroid 600 film can still be found on sites like eBay and Craigslist, but usually at a hefty price.

Have a Polaroid Spectra camera?

• You can find Impossible Project’s spectra film in color & black/white on their site, as well as the original expired Polaroid brand variety.

Have a Fuji Instax camera?

• We’ve got your instant film right here! Pick your format: Instax Mini or Instax Wide.

Looking for a a Polaroid camera to call your own? Yep, you guessed it.. Impossible Project‘s got those too.

The Pola-Wall

Ah, the Pola wall. Perhaps our favorite way to decorate with ‘roids.

Simple, fun to make, and impressive to see.

It’ll double your wall’s self-esteem in 3 steps:

1. Grab as many instant prints you can.
   (About 200 are shown here.)
2. Arrange by format/color/date. Or don’t.
3. Attach to your wall in a grid pattern with artist tape, poster putty, and/or fotoclips. (Other tapes, like scotch tape, will fall off your wall.)

*Note: We also recommend using a level to keep your grid straight as you go along.

Instant Photo Noteboards

You can use instant photos as mini dry-erase boards!

The plastic coating on Polaroid and Instax films allows you to write & erase on their surface with dry-erase markers.

• How to use instant photos as reusable noteboards.

Leave messages, write to-do lists, …or just draw a sweet ‘stache on your best friend!

Pola-Calendar

Polaroids and Instax prints can be used to make a perpetual photo calendar you can change every month!

You’ll need:
1. 44 Instant prints.
2. Magnets, tacks, or Fotoclips
3. To be ready to answer tons of questions you’ll get about your amazing new calendar.

Read our perpetual photo wall calendar tutorial for more on how to construct it once you’ve picked out the prints you want to use.

Film Pack Frames

Don’t throw away your empty instant film cartridges when you’re done shooting.

They can be used as frames to display the prints!

Here’s how:
1. Look for springy metal or black plastic sheet inside the empty cartridge.
2. Hold down the sheet, insert photo into small slit opening on the bottom of the cartridge.
3. Depending on the film type, you may want to tape the photo in place.

They look great standing freely on a desk or shelf, but can also be easily attached to your wall with thumb tacks!

Experiments & Special Films

Certain Impossible Project films can be used to do extra special things:

• Using PX Black Frame film, you can turn your instant prints into see-through photos in under 5 minutes!
• You can turn any PX instant film into a watercolor image transfer!

You can also make old-school photograms with your instant film:

• How to: hand-made exposures & photograms using any instant film!.

Different film types and brands all react differently to experiments, so why not try some of your own as well? (Just remember: Always wear gloves if you’re going to touch instant film chemicals!)

Even more ways to celebrate the best week ever!

• Sign up for the ‘Roid Week 2011 group on flickr. You’ll find a heap of information on Polaroid week itself, prizes for participating, and a growing gorgeous collection of instant photos that were all taken this week.
• Check out this amazing video of how Impossible Project instant films are made (with an inside look at their factory!)
• Don’t have an instant camera? Get inspired by Homemade Polaroid, a collection of adorable Polaroid illustrations.
• Two is better than one: Join two Instant photos together for a great looking diptych. (Check out some great ones from our pal Heather Champ)
• Love a special print despite it being a ‘mistake’? Other photogs are right there with ya in the Polaroid Mishap group on flickr.
• Make a self-portrait! Join the Polaroid Self-Portraits group on flickr & upload your photo to a gallery of over 2,5000 Polaroid portraits!
• Want to make your regular photo prints look like Polaroids? We’ve got some lovely Magnetic Polaroid Frames in our shop that’ll do just the trick.

Related posts:

1. Polaroid-a-palooza: Ten Ways to Love Polaroid Before The Film Runs Out   Make a Polaroid photo wall with Fotoclips. One-hundred-and-ten clips...
2. Polaroid Manipulation: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask This Photojojo brought to you by... ~Have a cool photo...
3. How To Make Photo Transparencies with Impossible Project Instant Film! Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3, 4 If you...