About two and a half years ago I picked up my first stand alone camera since I had got a smartphone. I wanted something more professional and with interchangeable lenses so I could take “professional” quality photos. While it’s certainly true that you can take professional pictures with an iPhone or Android phone now, you do still have some limits based on the technology. And even with features like the new Fokeh (fake bokeh) in the iPhone 7 Plus’s portrait mode, a standalone camera has merits. I did my research and decided to buy and Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera. It is a great camera but over time I have learnt that some of the factors I prioritized weren’t as important as I thought, and other factors I didn’t think were important were actually more important.
A Season of Christmas Caring: Chris Wilson
Have you ever had a Christmas that just didn’t make sense? Well last year I had my first Christmas not in the UK and instead in Poland. In Poland, Christmas Eve is the day/night of the big meal and Christmas day is a very low key and laid back affair. Compared to helping out with the church Worship team on Christmas day for the busiest Sunday (after Easter) of the year at the church I grew up in…this was a big mind-shift.
Of course, the reason for the season (as they say) didn’t change and although I was left waiting for…something special the whole day, the fact of the matter is that it always was special, even if there weren’t any obvious signs to the outside world.
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How to Set Up a Photo Booth for a Church Service
Last Saturday (the 11th of December 2016 in case you’re reading in the future) our church had it’s Christmas service. I know this might seem strange as it is so far before Christmas, but as we are an international church in a University town, many of our congregation go home from their studies early and aren’t around closer to Christmas. As such, the 11th it was.
As we were coming up with ideas for what we could do in our church service, we listed the usual ideas.
- Christmas songs
- Gospel presentation
- cakes from around the world (turns out, Malaysia has a green cake)
- and some games
During our brainstorming, I thought about those photo booths at events that are becoming more and more popular. I knew it could be great fun, help create a memory that lasted a bit longer, and potentially lead to people entering more conversations and showing their fun with other people. Especially as I had heard good reports from people in the US over times they had used them at Easter. I knew I’d need to grab a piece of new camera kit to run this, but I had 90% of what I needed. So here is what I used, how I set it up and how you can set up your own too.
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Do Your Facebook Likes Reveal More Than You Know? [Video]
This week I came across a TED Talk which really stuck with me and made me go to my room and put my tin foil hat on. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an over exaggeration but still it made me stop and think and I suspect it will make you do the same. It’s a bit long at 9 minutes, but if I told you that you might be revealing how much you trust the people around you just by clicking on a Facebook page about a completely unconnected topic…maybe you’ll think it’s worth watching.
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Action Helps Bring Clarity
About two and a half years ago I picked up my first stand alone camera since I had got a smartphone. I wanted something more professional and with interchangeable lenses so I could take “professional” quality photos. While it’s certainly true that you can take professional pictures with an iPhone or Android phone now, you do still have some limits based on the technology. And even with features like the new Fokeh (fake bokeh) in the iPhone 7 Plus’s portrait mode, a standalone camera has merits. I did my research and decided to buy an Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera. It is a great camera, but over time, I have learned that some of the factors I prioritized weren’t as important as I thought, and other factors I didn’t think were important were actually more important.
I could never have known this before I bought my camera and started to use it. It was only through using it that I realized some things were important and other things weren’t. In the end, I now have a different camera which I use a lot more because it fits my needs better than that original purchase. However, I don’t regret that initial purchase.
How to Have Portrait Mode without an iPhone 7 Plus
Although the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus boast a few great new features, the standout feature is the new portrait mode which creates depth maps using the two cameras and then blurring the background to create something which looks like it was taken with a very expensive camera.
If, like me, you don’t have several hundred dollars to spend on a new phone (and you prefer a smaller phone) then there maybe a partial solution for you with Patch, a new iOS app.
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