Ten Tips to Improve Photographic Technique

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Ten Tips to Improve Photographic Technique

Betterphoto.com has put together an excellent list of the top ten tips for taking better photos.  The tips are illustrated.  Read the list by clicking here.

Add a Header or Footer to a Word Document

TIP OF THE DAY

Add a Header or Footer to a Word Document

In a Word document, a header is the text you see at the top of every page. The header's little brother is the footer, which is text that appears on the bottom of every page in a document. You don't need to use them both; you can use just one or the other.

To add a header or footer, follow these steps:

1. Choose View, Header and Footer.
2. Click the Switch between Header/Footer icon to choose either the header or footer for editing.
3. Enter your header or footer text. Any text you type can be formatted using any of Word's text and paragraph formatting commands, including tabs. Word preformats the headers and footers in any document with center and right tabs at the center and far right of the ruler. This allows you to press the Tab key, type some text, and have the text automatically centered at the bottom (or top) of each page. This tab stop isn't required, but it's mighty thoughtful of Microsoft to set it up that way.
4. Use the buttons on the Header and Footer toolbar for special items. Hover the mouse pointer over each button to see a brief explanation of its function (just like on the big toolbars!).
5. Click the Close button when you're done.

In Print Layout view, you can see the header or footer displayed in ghostly gray text. In Normal view, you can't see any header or footer, even though it's still there.
Source: Dummies.com

www.doityourself.com

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www.doityourself.com

A web-based home improvement and repair site. From the smallest problem to the largest renovation, this is a good place to go for answers. There are online forums to exchange information with other users, information on how to estimate a repair, a Q&A section on basic information on do it yourself projects, as well links to literature, services, and media. You can also subscribe to their newsletter.

Click here to visit

Does It Matter Which Gasoline Grade You Use?

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DOES IT MATTER WHICH GASOLINE GRADE YOU USE?

No hard and fast advice here.  I have collected various articles on the Web.  The links are below along with small clips from each.  Read and decide for yourself.

http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aabyb100401.htm

Gasoline Factors That Matter

The quality of gasoline and the additive package usually affect the rate of engine wear more than the octane rating. Basically what this means is that it matters more where you buy your gas than which grade you purchase.

http://chemistry.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://theserviceadvisor.com/octane.htm

WHAT IF I PREFER TO USE GASOLINE WITH HIGHER OCTANE RATINGS?

You can, but there are no real benefits, other than the gasoline manufacturers making more money off of you. When you use a fuel with a higher octane rating than your vehicle requires, you can send this unburned fuel into the emissions system.  It can also collect in the catalytic converter.  When you over stress any system, it can malfunction or not do what it was designed to do properly.  In the early 90's, an early warning symptom was a rotten egg smell from the tailpipe. Easy fix, go back to using regular 87 octane gasoline. The rude odor usually disappears after several tanks of gasoline.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040520/NEWS11/405200403

For most cars designed to run on regular, "you're not gaining one iota by putting premium in them. You're just wasting money," said Gabriel Shenhar, the senior auto test engineer and special publications program manager for Consumers' Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.

A few vehicles may gain "marginally" increased engine power if they're filled with premium, he told The Blade, but "most people won't know the difference."

According to the Federal Trade Commission, using an octane grade higher than recommended in a vehicle's operations manual "offers absolutely no benefit.

"It won't make your car perform better, go faster, get better mileage, or run cleaner," according to the FTC's "Low-Down on High Octane Gasoline. "Your best bet: Listen to your owner's manual."

The Magliozzi brothers note that unnecessarily high octane is widely believed to increase pollution from cars, rather than reduce it. The notion that "treating" a car to premium gas is "hogwash," they say.

Understanding White Balance

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Understanding White Balance

'If you come from the world of films, you may remember using filters to correct for incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Most people don't bother and their indoors pictures invariably come out with a yellow/orange or bluish cast. In the digital world, these correction filters are no longer necessary, replaced by a feature found in most -- even the entry-level -- digital cameras called, "White Balance."'

Another explanation is found here.



http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/tips/white_balance_tips_and_tutorials.php

Using White Balance

Kris Butler

02-07-04

Q: Many of my indoor photos seem to have mediocre colors or even yellowish brown color tinges? What can I do to fix this?

A: The problem you are experiencing is a very common one that results from a lack of white balance. You can easily and dramatically improve your success rate when shooting digital photos indoors by using your camera's white balance feature.

Why do white balance problems happen? Well, the fact of the matter is that regular indoor light can present some of very tricky shooting scenarios. Below, is an explanation of what you need to know.

Enough Light Not Necessarily Enough
This intuition-challenging fact arises because in many cases there seems to be enough light for good photos. So, if we have our cameras set on auto-flash, as is usually the case by default, the flash will often fail to fire because the camera agrees that there is plenty of light. The difficulty and likelihood of so-so or poor pictures results from the fact that indoor light is often the wrong kind of light.

And why is that? Because fluorescent, halogen and tungsten (a.k.a. incandescent or standard) bulbs emit color tones the human eye can't see, but that cameras pick up. These color tones then discolor the resulting photo in a way that unfortunately we can see onscreen or in print.

White Balance vs. Flash
"OK," you may say, "but can't I simply use my flash to override this effect?" Yes, you can, but in various circumstances you may either not want to use your flash, or you may be able to achieve better control and results using white balance.

For example, if your indoor setting includes various reflective surfaces that you can't or don't want to eliminate, you will likely not want to use your flash, but rather opt for white balance.

Another reason might be that you'd like to shoot a series of photos quickly and not using your flash will speed things up because you won't have to wait repeatedly for it to recycle and be ready to fire again. In these cases and others using white balance is preferable.

What to Do
1. Switch your camera into manual exposure mode.

2. Select the W.B. to bring up a list of specific white balance options.

3. Assess the particular indoor light source or sources you're contending with and make the appropriate choice in the list. Many digital camera have 5 options to choose from: Auto, Outdoor (Daylight), White Fluorescent, Standard Fluorescent, and Incandescent (Tungsten or Halogen). If there is a combination of light sources, try using one form of white balance and then the other to ensure you get a good picture.

4. Take your picture.

5. If you are taking important, once-in-a-lifetime pictures, you should also bracket your shot by using a range of E.V. settings. However, simply taking the time to set the correct W.B. setting will definitely ensure you get a better photo.

An excellent illustrated tutorial can be read by clicking here.