Media - Buying A Digital Camera

As I embark on buying a new digital camera for the media department. It’s a journey, with so many to choose from and so many websites out there with a top ten of digital cameras you get overwhelmed. So I thought to myself look at 5 or so websites and see what cameras make the list and their average position. Hopefully, I will be able to make an informed decision. At our church we have software that allows us to add pictures in the database next to the visitor or member name. We can generate a letter and have the picture included. I want to conclude this journey as quickly as possible. We need a new video mixer... I guess this is preparing. Oh well - just another day in the life of technology, equipment becomes outdated with the blink of an eye.

Church Media - Saturday Push for Sunday

Well, it’s Saturday and I am going through new graphic images, contacting team members, one great thing I have one cameraman that lives with me - my son... He typically waits the day of Service to look for his shirt, hopefully it’s clean but he's a teenager - enough said. One thing that has gotten me in a pickle is creating an animation on my home pc just to get to Church on Sunday morning and the color is off or the animation does not work as it did on your home computer. I would get to the building early on Sunday excited to try out this new background or whatever only to be disappointed... Yet the thrill out compares the failure... SO keep on your grind it’s worth it... Have a GREAT CHRUCH TECH DAY!

Hump Day - Inspired Creativity

Lately, I have come across some interesting websites, one in particular I find myself going back to, http://www.worth1000.com/ has all kinds of contest going on, one I'm interested in, "Artistic Expression 2009", I can’t wait to see the photos. Another one just ended, “Analogous Palette 2009” – Photos with monochrome or analogous palette. A monochromatic palette in an image enhanced by the qualities of the used color. In an analogous palette, the hues can be a little more varied, using colors next to each other on the color wheel. The website goes into a more detailed explanation of monochrome and analogous palette. With over 57 entries for the contest, take a look around, sign up for a free account and participate in a contest or two, add a photo or image to a Gallery, at the very least vote. At the same time you will be Inspired by some great work.

Media 101

Working in Media is rewarding and frustrating, it seems at times the most reliable piece goes nut - the computer - at the most inconvenient time, not that there is a convenient time. I had an issue last Sunday with our video announcements. Our video announcements are typically 3 minutes or less in time. We were unable to render out the video to DVD, an error occurred, “File too big for DVD” yea right – the file is barely a half gig. Needless to say a lesson should be learned from this. You should be prepared well in advanced for an event – only thing done the day of is pre-production check list. Even when it comes to computers, a routine task the team performs flawlessly several times a week- the day of production the computer goes bananas. An embarrassing and uncomfortable feeling, you would agree?

TGIF

Thank God Its Freeware. Thank you once again to all the authors that contribute to Freeware, you guys help us all in the computer community. So, my freeware of the week is "GIMPshop". I highly recommend this software if you are unable to fork over the dollars for Photoshop, I use GIMPshop at our Church. I create an image in Photoshop, send it over to the Media Team any changes necesarry is made in GIMPshop. The GUI and functionality is so close to Photoshop. I am able to use many Photoshop tutorials without missing a beat. Tons of support out there for GIMPshop and its predecessor GIMP. Get over there and take a look, you never know! www.gimpshop.com

4 Down 1 To Go Design Software

Friday Eve - When it comes to design, the top software being used today is Photoshop. I use Photoshop and I'm a big supporter of Adobe products. For many the price is a bit steep for Photoshop. Guess what? Adobe has released a free version of Photoshop - Photoshop Express (beta). While it is limited in comparison to the full version, it's worth a try. At the very least if you are in a pinch and need to do some Image adjustments logon and there you go. A plus, you can store your photos online, up to 2 GB of storage space. Swing over and take a look www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html What are you waiting for? Get to Designing.

Media 101

Nothing says team like a uniform, be it a sports team, girl scouts, a repair shop or a shopping store. Way back when, I discussed our Media Team getting shirts with a logo and name on it. The attitude was absolutely bananas, this positive attitude resulted in our going from breaking even to creating a positive cash flow... Uniform said to each member- we are responsible for the business being successful. I have a personal stake in this... No budget for shirts, start with a nice creative name tag, trust me the response will be tremendous. What are you waiting for!