Perfecting great photos

I was lucky enough this past week to have the honour of making a beautiful page for one of our clients. It was intended as a gift, and I still feel very special to have been able to scrap it. It was a lovely photo, but once I started to work with it, that background- which is only slightly distracting on the image- became REALLy annoying.

So I decided to take it out.

It took quite a bit of work- there is only one way to remove backgrounds, and that is slowly with alot of patience. I used

a tutorial from Take Out Photo which was fantastic for getting things started. The end result looked like this:

I know this is not a fantastic looking picture- some of you would probably prefer the original. BUT this picture was not intended to be left looking so stark and boring, because then came the best bit: adding in the elements!

I made a mask to fit the photo and also erased and added in bits. All in all alot of fun at this part! The final print has a lovely dreamy feel, and the focus is completely on this couple celebrating their wedding.

Credits: Phuong Pton- Tropical Oasis; Natali word art overlays

A big thank you to Eliza for allowing me to share her print with you all here. :)

Amateur photos- we love them!

Credits: Randi Oh: me Myself and I, Garden Delights, Shades of Blue; Maelia: Mysteryland; Kasia:Lavendar Dreams, Chocolate Fall, Sweet garden, the Spring is coming, Whimsical Poetry
I cannot tell you how much FUN I had making this fantasy page about Teddy's photography. As a rule I do not make fantasy pages, but I am starting to experiment with them more and more, and not only do they make a wonderful change from my standard approach, they also make me REALLY concentrate on my shadows and the small details of a page. I love altering the perspective and making the shadows lie flat on the ground.
Except for the photo of Teddy in the middle, all of the photos were taken by him. He loves his photography, and I loved making a page about his growing interest. And some of the photos are quite good- and some of them are close ups of the grass, and quite a few of his toes! BUT they are still his photos and they still are part of his story, doscovering the world and trying different interests until he finds ones that work for him.

ADSR Challenge 9

The current challenge for ADSR is up- that's the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race- and this one lookslike alot of fun. I've decided to make it into a real challenge for myself, and am going to scrap some of Teddys photos. I really want to make a page to capture his growing interest in photography and his fascination with the world. I have not decided on all the photos I will use yet, but this is potentially one of them...

Hmmmmmm.....

Pardon us while We Funky-fy

Just playing around with finalizing a funky new look!

Storytelling: taking great photos for memory albums

I recently had an article published on ezinearticles.com that outlines some tips for taking a great selection of photos for scrapbook albums, and some tips and ideas for capturing the types of images that help to tell a story. I really wanted to highlight some key points with more examples and less text, so I am including the 'picture book' version here. If you woud like to read the full text version, just follow this link

1. Think about the event and plan ahead: if you are going to the beach, or a theme park or a wedding, make a point early on of getting everyone together for one or two photos. Then you KNOW you have a photo of everyone!




Mummy, Teddy and Josie stop for a quick snap just inside the entrance at the reptile park.




2. Focus on the details: sometimes it takes two photos to tell the story. These two photos are of Ypres cathedral, Belgium. The entire town of Ypres was completely destroyed during the First World War, and the town was rebuilt from the rubble. The photo of the cathedral shows the grand structure, while the close up shows bricks peppered with bullet and shrapnel holes.




3. Experiment with angles: It costs nothing to experiment with digital photography. After you have taken the standard pictures, try something new. I love this photo of Ted with his new baby cousin Aliyah- the photo has great depth and you can just see him holding her hand.




4. Put yourself in the frame: if you are photographing kids, every now and then set the timer and hop into the picture too- your kids will love it. When Daddy took Ted to see Dorothy the Dinosaur in concert two years ago, he knew that I would want pictures of not just Teddy and the people on stage, but of him also- so he asked a fellow Dad in the crowd to take their photo. Well done Daddy!



5. Take action shots: While posed photos are lovely and make great focal points, action shots are wonderful for supporting the story. Also, if you are staging a posed photo and someone blinks, the photo goes from being beautiful to not so great (and not always noticable on a digital viewer). In this photo, ted is opening a parcel of a new Wiggles DVD he bought with his pocket money. His attention to the parcel is far better at showing how excited he was. Plus, I would not have been able to get him to pose with his DVD- he was too excited about watching it!

6. Having fun: Even grown ups can join in the fun or dress ups or playing games. Many museums will have a dress up area for kids to play in, and if you can convince Dad or Grandma to put on a hat and pose with the kids, it will add a wonderful richness to your pages. And you never know, they may even enjoy the excuse NOT to act their age!




7. Hand over the camera: Giving someone else the camera not only ensures that you get into the photos, but also lets them capture their perspective. My son has a little point and shoot, and he takes photos alongside me (when we know where it is- it is currently MIA). He loves seeing me scrapbook his photos- it makes him feel like he is part of the story too. In this photo, I asked Teddy to photograph his new slide he got for Christmas, and this is what I got. Not what I had in mind, BUT it is a wonderful snapshot of his world.

8. Every now and then, stop and have fun: You don't have to be chief photographer all the time. Give yourself permission to relax and join in the making of memories. If you miss something special, write it down either in a word document or in notebook, and keep the word file in a folder with the photos. That way you won't forget and you will have relaxed and joined in the fun.