Squandering Summer

I want to make sure that I don't squander our summer.

I'll take my kids outside and point out the little things.

We'll catch bugs and eat berries...

blow bubbles and play.

When you look around with a toddler, everything is amazing and new. Grab your camera and go capture the summer.

They'll be time in the autumn to

Scrap Happy!

These pictures were taken last week.

1. Moraine State park (overcast, great weather for pictures)

2. a dragonfly at Deer lakes park (I used the focus and took several)

3. A zoom is great for closeups. The kids don't even realize what you're doing!

4. our backyard in the evening light (focus on a spot they'll run through. Click when they are there.)
5. Deer lakes Park (be ready to catch the expression when they see a fish!)

Perspective

I had been scrapbooking some over the weekend, and then had stopped to organize a rolling cart I keep under my desk. I ended up piling things on my desk as I cleaned, and happened to glance at the mess. A photo of my daughter caught my eye. It looks like she just can't take the mess on my desk doesn't it?! I thought that was so funny that I had to share it.

It was great to work on my daughter's album. I am going to squeeze one more page into this one and I'll be done with her 21st album.

Here is a photo of my daughter and son having a snack. But that wasn't really what I was trying to take a picture of. It doesn't tell enough of the story. By my coming down a little, and making sure that the blanket shows a little in the photo, you can see that they are actually under a tent! Our living room has at least one child-constructed tent in it at a time lately.

I love that my girl isn't too big to play with her little brother. She waited and waited, wanting a sibling for so many years. Now she has one, and she appreciates having him. She helps him ride a tricycle, helped him learn to walk, keeps him off of the stairs, and taught him how to scream! That was one thing he didn't need to learn, in my opinion.

Scrap Happy!

Bunny and Kitty get Married!

The bride was beautiful in her flowing pink gown with purple and gold embroidered flowers. The groom, lovingly dressed in black pants and a tie that matched his nose, gazed adoringly at his bride. Bunny and Kitty, friends and the most loved "pets" of my daughter for 5 years, finally tied the knot last week. My daughter took these photos to commemorate the special event.

The bride and groom, locked in a loving embrace.

I didn't know what my daughter was doing when she asked to borrow my camera. I gave her instructions on keeping the band around her wrist, and sent her on her way. Would I have done this if I didn't feel that the camera has been dropped too many times to matter? Maybe not. But looking at these pictures, I am so glad that I let her have her fun. Maybe someday she'll be a wedding photographer and I can pull out these pictures and remember the first wedding she shot!

I never thought of giving her photography lessons. After all, I never had them, I just mostly learned by experience. But she has potential! Maybe we can add a photography class taught by mommy in 3rd grade. I'm sure she would be showing me things I never learned about my camera by the end of the school year. :)
Scrap Happy!

Who needs professionals?

I take my baby boy to the studio to get his picture taken every month as close to the 9th as I can. The last 2 months, I had the same photographer, who had the hardest time getting him to smile! So, this month, I decided to just take the pictures of him myself. I waited until the sun was going down, made sure he had a full belly and enough sleep, and took him out in the backyard. I was armed with a toy, my camera, and my wonderful mommy powers. I know his very favorite songs, and the funny voices that will make him look at me in adoration. But none of that mattered. Once I had him in the great outdoors, sitting in the most interesting of grass, he was totally sidetracked with God's creations and hardly noticed my cute little songs and I were even there. Long story short, I took him out twice overall this week. I clicked just over 60 photos. The second day wasn't planned as a photo shoot, but since he looked so adorable I had to leave him in the care of his sister for a few seconds and run in to get the camera. I was able to get a few more keepers the second day. A big part of that is because I had the help of his sister, who I positioned behind me.
So, will I take his picture next month. Oh, undoubtedly! But it won't be his "monthly" photo. I'll leave that to others. Why? Mostly because I already know that it's going to be impossible to choose between all these pictures I took. I'm already envisioning several pages with a collage of pictures taken those 2 days. Yawning, making his angry face as he pulls out the grass, (he was mimicking me pulling weeds. He thought that was the funniest thing!) leaning to look around me at his sister, his serious expression as he looked at the world...yeah, I think this is going to be more expensive than Penny's.

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Stripes

I was inspired to take this picture because both of my kids had stripes on. Plus, my girl had pink and my boy had blue. This wasn't planned, but so cute that I had to capture it. You can see from this picture how big my little guy has gotten in 4 months.

I chose to take their picture on the steps of our deck because it was out of the direct sun and because I could easily position them to be on the same level with me.

Unfortunately, I was so concerned with getting them to look at me and smile, that I repeatedly cut the baby's arm out of the picture. I realized my mistake, and was able to get several where his arm is in the shot, but they aren't as good as this one.

I have been too busy to scrap anything traditionally. The baby is caught up in his online album and in his scrapbook, but I have yet to touch my daughter's. I did find out something exciting this week! The online albums can hold up to 100 pages, not only 50 as I originally thought. So, it may be possible to fit his whole first year in this album. I don't know why that makes me so happy, but it does. :)

Scrap Happy!

Posed Candids

All of the pictures on today's blog are "posed candids". I just didn't want them to look posed! I have little tricks I use when I want to get a picture of something I just missed or something I think would make a cute shot. I don't mention a picture at all! For the photo above, I said to the kids, "Everyone is supposed to be sitting on the bench unless it's your turn to bat." This made them sit and hold still! For the photo below, I probably said, "Let's count those eggs again."

I think it's good to have a mental goal in mind when you are going into a situation where you plan to take pictures. If you know some pictures that you want to capture, you will be looking for them. I like to get spontaneous pictures, but this can be very hard to do. Just remember, if you are careful with your posed shots, you can make them look like really great candid photos. It just takes some time and thought.

Think along the lines of the person you are photographing. Sometimes it works to say, "Ignore me." or "Don't look at the camera." Sometimes I pretend that I am looking at and reviewing a picture I just took, or I'm messing with the camera, when in actuality, I'm looking at the screen watching for a great shot. The one thing I don't recommend is lying to your kids. They will catch on, and besides it justs sets a bad pattern. Bribing can be used on occasion. (I'll give you candy if you smile nicely for this picture!) But again, it sets you up in starting a bad pattern so that your kids may always need bribed just in order to behave for photos.

Ask questions about an object they are holding if you want them to be focused on it for the picture. Ask them about something that is behind you/beside you/ etc. (Did Uncle Mike get here yet?) if you want them to be looking somewhere else.

People think that their subjects need to be looking right at the camera for pictures to be good. But that isn't true. If they look like they don't even know their picture is being taken, then you have captured life happening! Isn't that what photography is all about?

Scrap Happy!

meet my friend, Mr. Camera

My little guy has certainly gotten used to seeing a camera in front of his face. He's 3 1/2 months old, but he's met Mr. Camera! When you meet someone, you don't know anything about them. The more time you spend with them, the more you know them, right? It's the same way with your camera. You learn to use it by taking pictures. I often take picture after picture, just to see what lighting is best, or trying out different settings on my camera. In the above picture, I thought there was a little too much light from the sky, and the lighting also made my son have too much shade under his hat.

So, I got down a little lower, just a tad, enough to see under that hat. But this time, I used the flash. While it filled in the shadow from the hat, it made his drooly little face quite shiny.

Fast forward several more shots, and now I have turned my subject so that there is a flowering tree and less open sky. The background is crowded, and my boy looks like he's asking, "What is that thing in front of your face, Mommy?" However, it's the lighting I'm playing with today, and now it's how I want it, so I'm happy. I'll never get these pictures printed anyway, they are just teaching me. But it's fun to learn!

Scrap Happy!

Three months to go!

I have to admit that I saw a picture like this in a baby photography book, and that's where I stole the idea. I loved it! The hardest part about taking this picture myself wasn't the aiming of the camera, but covering the rest of me up so that I was decent! I used a black sheet behind us, brought in an extra light, and opened the blinds a little (as much as I dared!) for some natural light.
Wow! So much has happened in a week! I have been using the Cm program, Storybook plus and LOVING it! I can't believe all the stuff you can do with this program, it blows every other kind of digital album away! I am almost done with my album, including journaling. I'm just trying to get the Disney princess embellishments I've had trouble ordering. I have done just a page or 2 of Jae's traditional album this week, even though I did leave everything out and plan to do the same in the upcoming week. I actually preferred to do the digital album!!! It was just so fun figuring out all the features! You can add pictures and text anywhere you want to, which is pretty awesome! You can mat your pictures, use so many fonts, enlarge your pictures and text, even make tags, shadow, change texture (just by sight, it won't actually feel different), and so many other things I won't even get into here! I do have to say that because of all the options, it can take quite a while to do an album, although it always has taken me a long time to do a CM digital album, probably because there are so many more options than the other guys. UPDATE! When I wrote this last night, I hadn't finished the album yet, and now I have. I went to the Cm website and found my consultant's website and ordered the princess embellishments. Let me tell you , it was pretty easy! This is just a download, so it cost me just $4, no shipping. I could use it immediately, too, and believe me, I did! It was awesome! I had so much fun, and stayed up til 3am. UG! But I couldn't tear myself away. I reviewed my book carefully, and it's a good thing, too because I had some things that were too close to the edges and needed adjusted. I kept a scrap piece of paper and wrote down the page numbers and what needed switched and then saved all that for today. So, I ordered my album at last, and it is probably the best one I have ever done. (updated on Oct. 5th)

Anyway, I still have found plenty of time to do all the other things in my life, including hobbies! I started on the back of my daughter's quilt and I am making headway with the baby blanket, probably because I tried to work on it for an hour a day this past week. I like knitting because you can do it while watching TV. I also ordered a bunch more pictures, and am just waiting for them to come in and swallow me up! Seriously, I am so behind I don't even want to try and figure out how much I have to average a day in order to be done by my due date!
Scrap Happy!

capturing the little things

My daughter learned to tie her shoes last year, but since she didn't HAVE shoes that have laces, she had to learn on a shoe that was too small to wear. This is fine, but it really would have been strange if I had taken a picture of her tying a shoe that wasn't even on her foot. This soccer season, when she pulled out her cleats and started tying, I had to run in and grab the camera! I am impressed with all of the little things. When she learns to snap, does math in her head, suddenly shoots up an inch and 1/2 seemingly overnight, and says her classic sayings, the most recent one being, "way six" meaning that this is something that is perfect for 6 year olds.
A lot of these things are impossible to capture in a picture, so I write them down, and make mention of them in her album. But when I remember to capture the little things that I can take a picture of, I'll hold on to those memories forever. So, by all means capture the high school graduation in meaningful pictures, but don't forget to take a picture of that first lost tooth as well. One last thing; just as I didn't get a picture of the first time she tied her shoe, it's OK to get a picture a little late, even months later. It's still just as exciting!

Winners!

The team you see above and below is my husband's softball team. Sure, a lot of the faces have changed, not that you can tell because the first picture is taken from so far away!!! I can't be sure that I could even pick him out from the group! But as the team has gotten better, so has my photography! (and those uniforms!)
This lower pic was taken this year, just after the guys won second place in the top division for the tournament, and had won first in the top division for the overall season. (I'm explaining the 2 trophies) Getting close up shows you how dirty they got this day, as well as their tired faces. It shows their personalities a little bit and the comraderie they share. Yeah, I'm proud to be a fan, and thankful that I got this shot, because although this group of guys were a little bit easier to arrange and photograph than a group of kids, they didn't stay in place too long!

Scrap happy!

Soften that picture

I was talking with a wedding photographer 10 years ago and I learned something interesting that I didn't try until last year! He said if you put a little tulle in front of your picture, it will soften it just enough. The picture below was taken this way.Another year passed, and my cousin came to visit. I don't know what you do to entertain your out of state company, but we spent a good bit of our visit playing with our cameras! I showed him the tulle and he thought it was the greatest thing.
He took several pictures of me with the tulle in front of his lens, and they pretty much turned out like this.
He has a nicer camera, so that could be why they were so cloudy. Actually, the one above is one of the best he was able to get.
Here he is showing my daughter the pictures. I took some as well, and you can see the tulle in the one below. It was blowing in the wind and is doubled in that corner.

I love the way it softens pictures and just thought I'd share my hint with all of you. Wouldn't this be a nice touch for baby pictures?

Scrap happy!

Summer pictures

These pictures were taken this week on a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo. I have so many little settings on my camera that I don't ever use. I realized that I wasn't able to get a clear shot of the cool looking flower in picture 1, so I found a foilage setting in my camera and took picture 2 using that. The difference is amazing!
I have had a fun and busy 2 weeks, without any time for scrapbooking! I had princess camp, and then this past week I was visiting with out of town family every day. It was great, and I got a lot of great pictures. My cousin, David, is a photographing fool, just like me, so we had a blast playing with our cameras. Our last day together, we make a CD (this time, 2!) of all the pictures we took during our week together. He gets a copy and I do, too. This way we both have all of each others pictures. The summer is far from over and there are still so many pictures to take! Scrap happy!

Different Angles

First, I have some news! I'm pregnant! Yay! These pictures were taken yesterday by my newly 6 year old. I feel like my tummy is enormous already, but I can see from picture #2, that I'm not. The first picture is from my daughter's point of view. But it really wasn't flattering! So, I had her stand on the second step of our porch and take another picture. Sometimes it's all in the angling!
My plans for scrapbooking are as follows: I have a huge desk for my daughter, which she won't need for the summer since she is done with Kindergarten! I've taken over this desk as my scrapbooking station and I plan to sit there for hours every day and scrap. This room is right on the main floor of my house, so this plan HAS to work! I simply feel the need to catch up now that I have a baby on the way. That is the best incentive for me. As for after the baby comes, I plan to still scrapbook for my oldest, but keep up to date on the baby's album by doing Digital albums as I take the pictures. Once I fill up a book, I'll simply order it and it will come to my house all done! Those of you who think that it is unfair to the baby to only have a digital album, keep this in mind....Which child will need to rent 2 U hauls to take their albums when they move out, and which child will just need a van? Which child will be laughing then?!
Scrap Happy!

Sad Story

I now am going to tell you a sad story. Oh, no! Don't get out your tissues, it's not THAT bad. But to me, sad. This week, my Homeschool Mom's group (Chai) went away for a little retreat. It was a chipper day, but we still took a hike and later, a brisk walk. We saw deer on our hike, thought the air smelled cleaner out in the woods, and just talked and laughed for hours on end! Definately something I want to remember! The sad part came when we wanted to get a group picture of the 7 of us. Three of us had cameras, but none of us knew how to set our cameras to take a timed picture. So, I ended up taking this picture of everyone else, and one of the other girls took a picture of 6 of us without her. Sad, sad, sad. Although I sat there and played with my camera for a good while, I just couldn't figure it out. I think I will always regret this. I even have a photo to remind me of my regret. Ug. The thing is, I have had my camera for over a year, but I obviously don't use this feature. Usually, I ask strangers to take a picture of my family, or I take a picture of the 3 of us by holding my arm out and clicking. I knew how to use this feature on my old camera, so I figured it would be easy to do. But I have learned the hard way," Different camera, different way of taking an auto picture!" I plan on spending some time with my camera manual this afternoon.

Scrap Happy!

It's the little things

Happy Easter! I am very excited about Easter this year, so I even got my little girl a whole Easter outfit! Of course, I had to take her outside on a nice day and get a picture of her from head to toe. I actually don't like this picture much. It looks like a snapshot. This isn't the only way to capture her from head to toe!
This picture is better than the first, because it is closer! Also, since I took this picture in the shade, it isn't just her face that's shaded, and there aren't any weird shadows on her face from her hat. Even the background is better, more green and alive.
I like to remember the details. Her little hands in the too big gloves, clutching that purse she is so happy with. I remember being her age and having a little, white purse for Easter.
She loves this flower on her hat. So much so that she always wants to wear her hat backwards, so that the flower and bow will be in front.
And here are her toes! When I talked about getting her some new shoes to go with her Easter dress, she said that she just wanted to wear her red, sparkly shoes. I really think that they go nicely with her dress, and best of all, it's very J.

Scrap Happy!

Self portrait

There are a lot of times when you want that picture, but there just isn't anyone around to take it. Don't be afraid to turn the camera on yourself.

I love my cousin, inside jokes, being warm and needing to wear sunglasses...

I love My daughter, wearing blue, standing out for a good reason, feeling pretty, taking pictures, and the sunlight in late afternoon.

Having a digital camera makes it so much easier to take a photo of yourself! If you are going to do this, here are some tips:

*It is still important to take the picture from a good angle, I like this one. When you are looking up, your neck is thin! But watch that your nose doesn't look weird in the shot. (yes, I'm serious!)

* you don't have to be looking at the camera to get a good shot.

* Keep trying! After each shot, look at your picture and do it again if it cut part of your head off!

* Watch the lighting! I have taken pictures of myself in the direct sunlight, and that doesn't work well. It doesn't always work too well when you use a flash either, because you aren't able to hold the camera far enough from your face.

* Be careful that your arm doesn't show up too much in the shot! It may take away from the picture.

*If there are 3 of you, hold your heads side by side, literally cheek to cheek, and have the one in the middle take the picture. If one of you is slightly in front of the others, they will look huge!

* Lastly, if you have never done this and have no idea how to, simply hold the digital camera out and face it toward you. This will end up being a close up, remember! Aim it at your face, and make sure you keep your arm steady as you push the button. (Rememember that everything is reversed. I have turned the camera off due to pushing the wrong button more times than I can tell you! If this happens to you, you are not alone! )

Dance, baby, dance!

My daughter's dance recital was this past weekend, and in light of that, I'd like to give some tips for taking pictures at events like this!

Y I chose to get the smallest photo package from the professional photographer because I liked the idea of having a picture of the whole group of kids and the papers they gave us strongly discouraged us from taking pictures while the photographer was there. One mother was chastized by the photographer for taking a photo and ruining his light.

Y On the way to the rehearsal, I allowed time to stop and take a few pictures of my daughter on my own. This meant, I chose the background, just a simple walking trail, with trees along side. You can't tell that there are cars driving by, can you?

Y In my own photos, I encouraged her to do some of her dance moves.

Y I took both full bodied shots and some closeups. The outfit is a big part of the day, right down to those little white shoes!

Y When taking shots of your kid and another backstage, try to either get a plain background, without people walking through, or really zoom in for a close up.

Y When the papers you are given tell you that pictures and video are restricted to the dress rehearsal, please listen! It's distracting to everyone around you and flashes are also distracting to the kids on stage.

Y On this same note, you may actually get better pictures at the rehearsal, because the room will most likely consist of parents waiting for their kids. As their children leave the stage, the adults will leave the room to meet up with them. We found 2 seats directly in the front row at dress rehearsal, and had the best seat in the house for taping and photographing our little girl! She happened to be on stage directly in front of us!

Scrap Happy!

last bit of tips from the book!

Tip of the Day:

I learned so much from this book. Some things i read and thought, I'm doing this right! I felt pretty confident in my skills as a photographer. But I did learn a lot, too! I learned that i need to really learn about my new camera. How to turn the flash off, how to change the settings, how to hook it up to a tripod, A high USO number means it's easier for me to take pictures, If your picture is dark, add more exposure (+) and if it's too light, (-) reduce the exposure. Auto focus is nice, but not as good as learning how to manually focus. Estimate the distance to your subject. 20 feet away=put 20 Ft into the focus setting. This guy highly recommends Adobe photoshop. Take landscape pics horizontally for a change! (picture 1)I'm going to test myself by trying to capture a portrait without the person in it that I'm photographing! (Here's one of me, picture 2)

I have been a scrapbooking fiend lately! It's all I want to do, but of course, I still don't ONLY do that, or nothing else would get done. Scrap Happy!

See, I'm learning too!

I have captured some photos that illustrate what I learned from Nick Kelsh's book on photography. This first picture of the Grand Canyon illustrates these tips:
Try to avoid taking pictures of people or scenery in the middle of the day, when the sun is right over head. I did take many pictures of the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day, but the color was washed right out of them. It wasn't until the sun had started to set, that I captured this perfect shot. The best time to take pictures is 1/2 hr before the sun sets, or on an overcast day.
When taking a landscape picture, don't have it be 1/2 sky. The horizon should be on the top 3rd of the picture.
This second picture was also taken at the Grand Canyon. It's a picture of my daughter yelling and enjoying the echo she heard while hiking in the canyon. It illustrates these tips:

When on vacation, take the pictures that captured what you lived and what made an impression on you. Don't just have someone take a picture of you in front of every landmark you saw!
When capturing a group of people, have everyone's heads in relatively the same area. Don't try to get body shots, unless you are capturing how much the kids have grown.
Get as close to a close-up as you can. If you can get up a little higher than the group, on a chair or even a step, you can get everyone in the group with their chins raised toward the camera, and trust me...this helps everyone look better!
Take a different point of view!

When you are at a National Monument, (or Disney World;) take a picture from a different angle.

I don't have any pictures her to illustrate the final 2, but they are too good to leave out! When getting a picture of a couple, coach them a little. (I do this!) "Put your arms around each other. Act like you love one another!" " Put your cheeks together!" When photgraphing really close up remember not to use the flash! Also, you can chop the top of their head off, (above the forehead) if you are really focusing on their face. If it looks good to you in the view finder, it will probably turn out good.

take pictures of fall foilage on a cloudy day for the best color.

Scrap Happy!