Bored with playing games, watching YouTube
and chatting on Facebook and Twitter? We show how to use your PC more
imaginatively
The PC is a Jack-of-all-trades and it has
many uses. Lots of people use one to play games, either online or offline, a
billion people have Facebook accounts, Twitter is catching up, and if the web
has shown us one thing in the last 15 years, it’s that we’ve taken time-wasting
to whole new levels. Such ‘trivial’ pursuits are fine, but why not put your PC
to a better, more creative, use? There are many ways in which you can be
creative on your PC and they include photography, film making and movie
editing, music, web design, writing and more.
Be
Creative With Your PC
Instead of taking snapshots for Facebook on
your mobile phone, why not splash out on a rugged camera that you can take with
you on your next safari, mountain climb or kayaking expedition? There are
waterproof digital cameras that can take great shots in extreme conditions and
with some photo editing software on your PC you could have some cracking
photography. You could even turn them into a coffee table book. Book publishing
has never been easier or cheaper and anyone can create printed books and ebooks
using their computer and an online service.
You might want to have a go at stop-motion
animation of the type made so popular by Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit. Did you
know that there are kits for under £50 that enable you to create your own
movies? You can buy the kit but do you have the creativeness and skills? Have a
go and see. Why create dull movies when there are some great camcorders that
you can attach to helmets, bolt onto bike handlebars or even attach to surf and
skateboards, for extreme action. You don’t have to be diving from a plane or
scuba diving under the sea to capture amazing clips (although it doesn’t hurt),
and we think you’ll be surpised how cheap and easy it is.
There are countless websites already, but
there is always room for another. If you have an unusual idea, why not get
creative with website design. Alternatively, you could create apps for the
newly launched Windows Store; Microsoft is giving away software that could make
you a millionaire with a bit of creativity and inspiration. Here are a few ideas
to get your brain ticking.
Creative Photography
It is easy to see why digital cameras have
replaced film models by allowing you to be much more spontaneous and creative.
You can shoot as many photos as you want because there is no cost, they are
easy to store on your computer, share with friends online, problems can be
fixed and they can be used in a variety of projects.
Get
creative with your digital camera photos with PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate
Mobile phones are used a lot for snapshots
and top of the range models take quite good 5MP or even 8MP photos. However, if
you are serious about photography you need a proper camera. There are lots to
choose from, so let’s take a look at some that are worth considering.
The Samsung PL120 is a sub- $155 budget digital
camera, but still has a 14.2MP sensor and a 5x optical zoom starting at 26mm.
The PL120’s stand-out feature are the dual screens: the usual one at the back,
alongside another on the front. This is useful for self-shots when you hold the
camera at arm’s length and take a picture of yourself or you and a mate. The
Olympus TG-1 is an interesting camera that has a 12MP sensor and wide F2
aperture, making it good for low light shots. Its ruggedness is the main
selling point, though. It is shock-proof for drops of up to 2m drops,
waterproof down to 12m, freeze-proof to -10 degrees and crushproof up to 100kg.
It takes shots where other cameras can’t go and is brilliant for walking,
climbing, swimming and so on.
ToolWiz
Pretty Photo
We’ll mention just one more for serious
photographers to consider, the Canon EOS 1100D. It is a digital SLR body and
you can choose from any of Canon’s range of EFS and EF lenses. It costs between
$542.5 and $697.5 depending on what lenses and accessories are bundled with it
and it’s excellent.
A really useful accessory for any camera is
the Eye-Fi card. This is an SDHC digital camera memory card with built in Wi-Fi
that transfers photos to your computer wirelessly.
If you want to be creative with your photos
then Corel PaintShop Pro and Adobe Photoshop Elements are obvious choices. Both
programs offer a large range of photo editing tools, repair, enhancement and
special effects. PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate for example, has high dynamic range
tools, you can split RAW photos into three exposures, simulate graduated lens
filters, there are REALLUSION FaceFilter Studio portrait enhancement tools and
NIK Color Efex Pro filters. Photoshop Elements 11 can turn photos into comics,
graphic novels and pen and ink artwork. It also makes it easy to take elements
from one photo and merge them with another, so single people can be put
together as a group shot for example. Soft edges like hair are normally
difficult, but Photoshop has the tools you need.
There are numerous photo editing programs
of course, but here are a few more favourites. Microsoft’s free Image Composite
Editor lets you load several photos and then it automatically stitches them
together to make a panorama. ToolWiz Pretty Photo is free, yet comes with over
100 filters and hundreds of objects. You can do lots of fun things with your
photos. Photivo is an open source project designed to enhance your photos with
filters and effects. It can be integrated with GIMP and like GIMP, it requires
some effort to learn, but it’s worth it. FotoSketcher is another free tool and
it turns photos into artwork like pencil drawings, watercolours, oil paintings
and so on. It can produce fantastic artwork with just a few mouse clicks.
