FLASH!!!!

I love that I have a digital camera and can see my pictures as soon as I take them. This helps me to train to be a better photographer. I have been challenging myself to take specific pictures, to learn how to take the picture I want.

Tip of the day:One thing I really learned from this book was that you should try not to use your flash! It's so bright, stealing away from the feelings in the picture you're taking. You capture the mood when you don't use a flash. Try to use natural light, which is best. But you can even get good pictures just using the light from candles (with a tripod and a night setting) . I have taken pictures using the light from the Christmas tree, although I've never loved the result. But I usually am unhappy when I take a picture of the tree with a flash. It just sucks the ambiance right out of Christmastime.

The picture on the left is one I took without a flash several years ago.

A few days ago, I challenged myself to take a good picture of my daughter without the flash. I positioned her next to the Christmas tree, (very close to get enough light!) and would ask her to try and find certain ornaments, just to keep her looking at the tree. The hard part was keeping her close enough to the tree! She would back up to get a better view of the ornaments! I also opened the window to let in some more light.

Yesterday, I positioned my daughter and her friend at the window. I captured only 2 pictures that were any good, because when they moved, it would blur. I love the picture of them looking out of the window at the snow!

Scrap Happy!

The book, the retreat, the workshop

Workshop Friday was so thereputic! It's so hard to get back to scrapping once you stop, and having a workshop was just the punch I needed! Can you believe I finished 13 pages in the 10th grader's last album? I'm still not finished with it, but I will be soon! It felt really good to scrap.

My retreat is coming up fast! It's 7 weeks away now, and I still have a few rooms available if you want to come! Just ask me about it! You will have your own room and bath, and we can scrapbook in our pjs if we want. I plan on getting a lot done at this retreat. I want to be completely caught up before I go to Arizona to visit family!

I just finished that amazing photography book by Nick Kelsh.( How to Photograph your life)
Here are some tips from the book:

*take close pictures

*take lots of pictures of an important situation

* don't put your suject in the middle of a picture, rather place them off to the side

Scrap Happy!

Digital Christmas picture

Yesterday we dressed up, and sat in the living room, to use the auto timer setting on my digital camera for the first time! We took Christmas pictures in front of our tree and the stockings STILL hung on the mantle, with care! I know, it's a little late for all of this to be happening! Will plugged the camera into the TV, so that we could see how each picture turned out, which made it just like being at a studio! The setting we accidently chose, allowed us to get into place and took 3 pictures, a very nice feature!

Late last night, I was on the computer, attempting to order some of my Christmas prints, which eluded me! I finally gave up and went to bed! Oh, how I long for the days when I could just send the film in to be developed! It was so much easier! However, I just need to get the hang of this, and then I'll like it, I'm sure!

The artist in me

I just started reading a book called, "How to photograph your life" by Nick Kelsh. So far, it's really good. I like reading an expert's opinion, and all of the photographs in the book were taken with an ordinary point and shoot camera. Just a few pages into it, and I have already learned that I need to get to know my new camera better. I had the camera I just retired for 3 years and I never learned more than the basics.

Now that I have my digital camera, the hardest thing for me to get used to is the fact that I can take as many pictures as I want, because I won't be wasting film! I have better odds of getting the perfect shot if I take more pictures. In fact, this book encourages you to take as many pictures as you can possibly get in. Today, I took my camera out on the porch and clicked away as my daughter played in the snow. It feels so great to have the freedom to take as many pictures as I want!

The author told of a time he photographed Olympic swimmers, spending hours at the edge of the pool, just watching them swim. He said that after that experience, he found himself to be a much better swimmer . That is what he is hoping to do for the readers of this book. I have found that I can be inspired by all sorts of things in my scrapbooking. I can take ideas away from magazines, art on a commercial, other people's albums, even the grocery store! I once spent a wedding day with a girl I had just met. As she and I ran around snapping pictures, she seemed to catch the perfect shots! She inspired me to look outside the box, and I found that my photos from that day conveyed a lot of meaning, really captured the moment and took you there.

It wasn't until I watched this cheesy teen movie yesterday that I realized that I'm an artist! I have always held that term in high regard, but really, many of people are artists in their own right. I feel that my photos and my scrapbooks are the way I express myself artisticlly. Part of being an artist is to let other people feel what you are feeling. It's very personal to put yourself out there. If I can let my daughter feel some of the love I feel for her as she looks at the albums I've made of her life, then my work will be complete.