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I Wish I Would Have Thought Of That!

December 16, 2010 By Anne Leave a Comment

 

My dad sent me this picture a few days ago, isn’t it great! What a great idea for a newborn photo prop!

This is the grandson of friends of my parents.

Last night, while I was talking to my dad on the phone, he asked me if I would want to use this photo on this site. Here’s how the conversation went:

Dad: “Would you like me to ask if you can use the truck photo on your website?”

Anne: “I would love it, but I don’t want to be a hassle.”

Dad: “It’s no hassle!”

Anne: “OK, that would be great.”

Anne: “Wait, what are you going to say to them?”

Dad: “Well, I’ll tell them that you are part of an internet group that likes to exchange pictures of children.”

Anne: “Please don’t say that, they are going to think that I’m a pedophile.”

Apparently, my dad is planning on getting me an indictment for Christmas this year.

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iSwap Faces

September 13, 2010 By Anne 1 Comment

This little $2 iPhone app still has me giggling.

Take an adorable picture like this:

Run it through the iSwap Faces iPhone app, and you get this:

It’s so creepy – I can’t look away! My son is too young to appreciate this, but in a few years, I know this will have him rolling on the floor.

There is an iSwap Faces Lite version of this app that allows you to try-before-you-buy, but the demo version won’t let you save images. For that feature, you’re going to have to fork over the whole $2.

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Canon Lens Coffee Mug

August 27, 2010 By Anne 1 Comment

I stumbled upon this product after reading this cool blog.

If any of you guys pull my name in this year’s Secret Santa, here is something I simply MUST have.

It’s a Canon Lens Coffee Mug!

I know, right! It’s freaking AWESOME!

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Lego – iPhone App

August 9, 2010 By Anne 20 Comments

I stumbled upon this great iPhone app called Lego. It turns your photos into Lego mosaics.

Here’s what I mean. Here’s a Wordless Wednesday shot I published within the past few weeks.

Here it is Lego-style!

Isn’t that cool! The best part of this handy little app is that it’s totally free! Go to the app store and search, ‘Lego’. Once installed, you select the option to either take a picture with your phone or select a picture from your library.

The program will run it through the filter and then you can tap your screen to change the color scheme.

(Here’s the original in case you’d like to compare)

I think the program spits-out a more recognizable version of the original when you select a close up shot, especially of a face. I tried another image from my library, this one a WW pic from several weeks ago.

Original

Cool, but you have to work pretty hard to recognize the little girl.

My son is only 13 months and I am really hoping that he’s going to love Legos as much as I did when I was a kid. If he does, I bet he’d totally dig having a Lego-ized picture of himself on a t-shirt or something. Personally, I might not be able to wait until then. If he takes a decent nap today, I might find myself uploading some of these to Cafe-Press today for a custom t-shirt for him.

And maybe me.

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Comic Life – Program Review

July 26, 2010 By Anne 22 Comments

Technorati Claim Token – 9Q8NRNQS9D7Z

Remember a few years ago, when iPhones cost over $500? Well, I was one of the idiots that actually PAID that much for it.

You know, I’m right here, I can hear you laughing, that’s not very nice.

Apple introduced the phone at that ridiculous price point, and then quickly reduced it. They issued Apple store credits to me and the rest of the fanboys out there as a quasi apology for robbing us blind. One of the things I purchased was this software program, Comic Life for about $30.

It’s got the same interface as most Mac products allowing you to view your iPhoto library. The program lets you drag and drop your images into comic-book templates. You can drag in your pictures, create captions and text balloons and create full-blown comic books or photo layouts.

I know! Cool, right? I bet you’re thinking to yourself,

You can even mix it up a bit by using the included filters to change the look of your images. (Hey Comic Life – how about some more options with the next update!) Filters like hand-drawn and painted will give it a more authentic comicbook feel.

At the top of the program there is an Email icon that will allow you to email your page(s). Rather than receiving an attachment to download, the comic appears as an image in the body of the email. This feature is – what is the technical term that I’m looking for? – freaking cool!

While this program won’t turn you into Charles Schultz or Bill Watterson (I miss Calvin and Hobbes each time I pick up the Sunday paper – who’s with me?), it’s a very intuitive, fun program that allows you to do some really creative stuff with your images.

One of my favorite things is the collection of cool sound effects the program makes while you are putting your project together. Be sure to have your volume turned on when you are doing things like changing the size of the word art.

Here are some of the lofty ideas I’ve had for fun things to do with this program.

1. Create my holiday card as a comic book using this software. Every year, I say that I want to do this and every year I have no time to do this.

2. Create a 1 page comic featuring my son and have it printed on his birthday cake. He just turned 1, so it will be a few years before this will mean anything, but I still think the idea is rad.

3. Create an ongoing comic strip of my family.

Whatever you decide to do, you’ll have alot of fun doing it with this program.

How are you going to comicify your life?

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Product Review – Posterino

July 12, 2010 By Anne 3 Comments

Ok, so you’ve made some great pictures, now what?


At Live Laugh Shoot, we want to help you take better pictures of your kids, but we also want to introduce you to some interesting software programs that will inspire you to do cool things with those great pictures.
The first one up is Posterino. Holy cow – do I love this program! I bought a license about 3 years ago and still feel that it was $25 really well spent. This is a program that works seamlessly with iPhoto and allows you to create collages of your favorite photos.
(Editor’s note: Unfortunately, I have no knowledge on how this program works with Microsoft – I’m a proud drinker of the iKoolaid.)

I remember reading a user’s suggestion that this program should be added as a feature of the iLive suite and I couldn’t agree more. It is such a creative platform for showcasing your images.

Here are some of the things I love about this program

It’s a Must-Have for Photo Hoarders

Like alot of moms, I have a terrible habit of taking way too many pictures and never, ever throwing any way. Honestly, my iPhoto library should be its own episode of Hoarders.

Anyway, what I love about Posterino is can be a great way to display some of your B-list images.  As an example, I took my son to the park a few weeks ago, and brought along my camera just in case. I ended up making some really nice images – I put my favorite in a frame, but was left with several other great photos that I didn’t want to let rot in my computer. I don’t know about you, but while my shelves and tables are filled with picture frames, I do try to mix it up in terms of what is displayed. With Posterino, you can easily create a beautiful collage made up of dozens and dozens of images.

Good Looking Templates

While the program does allow you to create your own layout, I really like the existing templates. Not only do they look great, but they allow you to showcase different image layouts.
Random Population of photos
 

Another nifty feature of the program is that you can let Posterino do the work for you! Take a look at their built-in preset and Posterino will randomly select photos from your collection and feed them into a poster template. The result can be a pleasant surprise, and if not, hit the ‘shuffle’ button and Posterino will take another stab at the layout.

What could make it better? More options!

While I’ve only used it for posters, this program only boasts a few options. Hey Posterino, what do you think about adding more products to your catalog? Maybe more greeting card options? Perhaps a photo book? I can think of a dozen photo products that seem to be standard-issue on all of the major photo sites – why not add these? Your software allows for so much more creativity, I’d love to have the option of slapping my stuff on more schwag!

Have you used Posterino? What do you think?

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