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With Microsoft’s Photosynth those static displays of your holiday photos, for instance, are a thing of the past. Now you can show your friends and family those photos of your trip to The Grand Canyon or The Taj Mahal as a dynamic, moving display!

Your photos will be merged together and presented in an almost cinematic-fashion. It will appear that you are moving around and through the scenery.

The effect is difficult to describe so I would strongly suggest you see for yourself. Once you have seen examples of Synths made by other people and uploaded your photos to make your first Synth I am certain you will be well and truly hooked!

You will be able select any particular photo and zoom in very close and see the tiniest of details. And with modern high-resolution cameras those details can be small indeed!

My very first Synth was made using some photos I already had stored on my PC. They were of my son’s holiday in Egypt taken some time earlier so were not taken especially for Synthing. I picked 6 shots taken at Abu Simbel which were of the same scene and uploaded them to Photosynth. I was staggered by the result. It was almost ethereal! The first photo had my son in the foreground, the next he was with his wife off to one side, then his wife was standing on her own in front of the huge seated figures and then they were back together in the front and so on until the sequence repeated itself. I was amazed as the camera panned and tilted and zoomed in and out.

As I said it is difficult to explain and they do say ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ so this simple 6 photo Synth must be worth several thousand!

Pause the sequence and individual photos can be selected and zoomed in on to see the tiniest of details. And with modern high-resolution cameras those details can be very tiny indeed!

I have made many Synths since and some of them contain many photos, hundreds in some cases and I am amazed at how beautiful the Synths often are. My cameras are fairly modest but even so the results are impressive. I know that many people use cameras far better than mine and the detail that can be seen in their Synth’ed photos can be staggering.

One of my Synth which I am rather proud of is of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The photos were taken with my Olympus pocket camera and my Nokia N95 phone so the pictures are not the most detailed and probably don’t stand up to too much zooming but the overall effect is very impressive as the camera swoops around the Cathedral and nearby buildings. Buses come into picture then fade away, people appear and then disappear and all the while the camera is moving around the building and spinning around corners, looking up and down. Search for ‘St Paul’s Cathedral 291008′. I was very pleasantly surprised that it had been marked as a Featured Synth so I must have done a reasonable job on that one!

Attaining 100% Synth can be a little tricky at times but well worth the effort. Use photos that have a good area of overlap. This will help to ensure that Photosynth finds plenty of matching points and also use bright, clear, sharp images. If you have any photo editing software use that to brighten and sharpen up any dark or not quite in focus photos. It could be that not quite perfect photo is the one that links 2 sets of photos together to give that 100% Synthy rating.

Photosynth can be easily found by just searching for it by name in Yahoo or Google. And don’t forget it is free, so do have a look!

I can thoroughly recommend Photosynth and I am sure you will love it once you’ve tried it for yourself.

Public speakers have a tremendous responsibility to deliver their presentations effectively, with confidence and conviction. In order to deliver a successful presentation, the speaker needs to polish their presentation skills. Discovering strategy and tips to deliver your presentations will greatly enhance your presentation skills.

1.    Know the Purpose. Know why you have been asked to speak. What is the objective of the event? Be clear on the purpose before you prepare your presentation. Your presentation will be a lot more effective when you understand why your message is significant to the event or group.

2.    Prepare. Prepare. Prepare. A great presentation is not just going to fall out of the sky and proceed out of a speaker’s mouth. A speaker has to plan, prepare, research and practice their presentation. I like to stand in front of the mirror when I am preparing for a presentation. I want to see what natural or unnatural movements I might be making. I want to check my stance, my facial expressions and so on. Public speaking is a skill that has to be honed. The more the speaker presents, the better the presentation will become.

3.   Study. Take a look at very successful speakers. What is it about their style or technique that stands out or has an impact on you? How are they able to capture the attention of their audiences? Develop some of those successful presentation skills and tweak them to fit your unique style of presenting.

4.    Tell a story. Everyone has a story to tell. People love to hear stories they can either relate to or understand. Stories not only add to the impact of the presentation but will help the audience remember your message and hopefully you. Telling a personal story in your presentation helps you personalize the topic.

5.   Finish strong. End your presentation on a high note. Your closing should be as impactful as the start of your presentation. What do you want the audience to do? Is there a call of action? Avoid just ending your presentation with just, “Thank you for your time.” End with something positive and strong.

There are so many strategies to delivering your presentations with purpose and passion. Taking the time to hone your skills will help you communicate effectively so your audiences will actually listen, understand and act on your message.