Free Yourself From Photo Clutter!

Whether you’re "digital" or "paper" we can all use a little Photo Freedom! If you're paper, you probably have a box, drawer, or maybe even a pile of pictures stacking up. And if you're digital, your hard drive can look much the same. I've been a victim of both... Organizing photos may seem overwhelming, but, but you can free yourself from photo chaos with a few simple ideas and tips. This process won't happen overnight. It's a process...and ongoing one, but before you know it you can be enjoying beautiful photos from your walls to storybooks.

Not All Photos Are Created Equal

Step #1 -Weed through your pictures

• Toss out/delete all the bad, blurry pictures.
• For paper pics, set duplicates to the side in a separate pile.
• Keep only your favorite, quality images/pictures and throw the rest out!
• For paper images make a pile for pictures that you'd like to frame and/or send to friends and family.
• For digital images make a folder for pictures you’d like to print and frame and/or send to family and friends.
• With an acid-free photo pen, label the pictures on the back of the photo’s edge. If you can recall the date, names, and place, add those details.

Keeping Things Simple

Step # 2 – Organize

• Make pile/folder by themes – By date, years, events, people.
• Pictures can be kept in photo-safe boxes AFTER they're sorted and organized.
• On notes cards, used as dividers, write down notes, stories and memories about each theme of photos.

Share Your Photos

Step #3 – Sharing and Displaying

• Send copies of your photos to friends and family regularly. Have a stash of pre-addressed envelopes so they're ready to go out every few months. Not everyone has access to the computer.
  
• Build digital photo albums online or keep a BLOG and send notices to friends and family when they're updated.
• Intricate albums with details and captions can be…well, wonderful? If you have the time, money, and more time and more money… scrapbooking can easily become an overwhelming and time-consuming hobby.
• Photos and stories combined are what create family traditions and heirlooms to be passed down. By choosing a special event, such as a wedding or new baby, you can create beautiful family story and photo books with Cherish Bound.
• Print and frame your pictures. Get them up on the walls, on your shelves, and out so they can be seen! Choose only your best photos. Be creative…string them from cute wire clips, use bulletin boards, memo boards…that way they are easy to change out and update.

Keep Up The Good Work

• Once you’re caught up (yes, that can happen) keep up and control your photos! Organize your photos as soon as you download or develop.
• For paper pictures, keep a VERY SMALL photo/shoe box out. As the box begins to fill, sit down with the family and sort through the photos, share the stories, write them down and prep them to be scanned and loaded into a photo/story book.
• As soon as you download pictures, delete the bad ones! Label folders with dates and event names if possible.

And here’s my shameless plug –

The Cherish Bound process can help you stay on top of your photo chaos. By simply adding story and a few photos, you can create meaningful storybooks that can be shared with everyone who walks through the doors of your home. The entire family can be apart of the process. This is no longer MOM’S job! It’s a family thing.

The Cherish Bound publishing tool is simple to use with an easy drag and drop system. You can upload your story text, images, and scanned images into a book template of your choice. End result, a beautiful soft or hardbound book will arrive on your doorstep by carrier within 15 business days.

Organizing your photos can be a daunting task. So keep it simple. These are priceless memories that can be easily enjoyed and relived for generations to come. You can join in on my Family Yearbook Challenge to help you stay the course as well.

Essentially, the goal is make sure our stories, memories, traditions, thoughts and values can be passed on. Don't lose focus.

5 Easy Steps to Taking Great Pictures of Kids

I have an amazing girl here....Jessica from MomShots.com We met on Twitter (I ♥ Twitter) and I have been up and down her blog this past week. She's talented, amazing, and has so much to offer all of us so-called Mom-Aunt-Grandma-whatever Photographers! Take the time to learn from her. She's fantastic and make sure you get to know her blog....lots of great information! This is a long post...but SO WORTH IT!!!

Take it away Jessica...

I want to share with you a few simple steps to help you take great pictures of your kids. You don’t have to have a fancy-shmancy camera to get good pictures and with these tips you will find your pictures looking even better! Anyone can follow a few simple guidelines and end up with beautiful results. You can use these tips independently or together and you will love your new found photographic skills!

• Tip #1: Focus on the Eyes.

We all have heard that “the eyes are the windows to the soul”. I don’t know about that but I do know that when you can clearly see your subjects eyes you feel a more personal connection. The personal connection brings in your audience and makes them really feel and enjoy your picture more. This includes you too.

Focusing on the eyes also ensures that your child’s face will be in focus and not some other random body part!

Before you think to yourself, “I can’t get my kid to sit still long enough for a picture, let alone get them to look at me.” Don’t worry about that. You don’t necessarily need to have your child looking at you to get a great shot. I have some great shots of my kids running away from me!

• Tip #2: Get Down on Their Level.

We look at children from above all day long. Kids tend to be shorter than adults. It’s just nature. One way to make us take notice of a photograph of a child is to take a picture from a different perspective then we are used to viewing them. Bend your knees and get down to their level. You will really notice the results!

• Tip #3: Get Close, Real Close.

Get in there and make their face fill your entire view finder. You can show that beautiful little mug in all its glory by using your zoom feature or just getting in their face. Don’t worry about cutting off the top of their head or chin. If that happens it is fine. If it doesn’t happen it is fine also. Either ways will look great!

• Tip #4: Be Aware of the Background.

Often when we have our camera in front of our face, we are focusing on what cute thing our little cutie is doing. We sometimes forget about what is behind them and how it is going to look in a picture. If we don’t pay attention to the background we will end up with photos of things that can detract from the beauty of our children. We can also end up with some pretty funny looking pictures - like telephone poles or trees growing out of heads. Not the kind of photo we want to look at over and over!

• Tip #5: Try New Angles.

Mix it up. Use your camera to look at your child through a new angle. This can be fun and exciting. Try shooting from below or from way above. Try turning your camera a little and tipping it forward. Try laying on the ground or setting your camera on the pillow next to your sleeping baby’s head. Be creative and have fun!

Since photographing children is never easy, I want to throw in a few Bonus Tips for you as well.

• If your camera has a Sports Mode or Child Mode, try using that instead of Auto. Those modes are designed to capture clear shots of fast moving subjects and we all know how fast moving our children can be. Especially when you want them to sit still for one simple photograph!!!
• Try sticking your wiggly kids in a bucket, basket or other container. The novelty of it will keep them occupied for a few seconds and you can get some fun shots without them running away. See the shot above with my son in the wooden basket. He loved getting his picture taken that day. The bonus for me was that he wasn’t running all over the place so I could actually get a few nice shots.
• Read your camera manual. Learn how to use your camera and all the great features it offers. Each camera has so many really useful and fun features that you can use to get some really creative shots. Don’t be intimidated by that manual. It isn’t really as hard to understand or as boring as you might think. When you finish reading it you will be the master of your camera and your photographs will improve drastically!
• Shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Take as many shots as you can. Don’t be afraid to take a ton of pictures. You are more likely to get some good ones if you take a whole bunch. Just delete the ones you don’t like and keep the ones you do.
• Don’t forget to get some photos of you. Often one parent is behind the camera and never ends up in any photos. I’m speaking from personal experience here; make sure that you give the camera to other people or use your timer so that you can be in some shots. This is very important. Your children need to know what you looked like when they were two.

Taking photos of our children is so important. It freezes memories in a time capsule and helps to convey our feelings and emotions. Our children will be thankful to have photos from their childhood and we will be glad we were able to capture those memories.

Most important, have fun and don’t give up. You won’t be sorry!

Thank you Jessica! How amazing is that advice??? Oh I'm so excited to go take more pictures!! She rocks!!!

Wordless Wednesday...How Cool Is This?!

I'm LOVING www.picnik.com I'm going to do one for each of my kids, print them, frame them and hang them in the play area! Perfect "artwork"! Woo-hoo...I'm so excited. And it was SOOOO Easy! Sorry...this wasn't "Wordless" but I'm just in picture playing heaven!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit www.5minutesformom.com

The Sprague Lab....NEW CLASS and Jessica ROCKS!

So I follow Jessica Sprague....on Twitter, I love her blog, her website....by now I should be a pro at Photo Shop, but I'm scared to death and just don't know where to begin....i take that back. Yes, I do know where to begin...with her class! I just need to get started and she's the perfect teacher.....so I'm going to do her Photo Shop Class...but that's another story. ANYWAY........

I just saw on her blog about a new class she's teaching.....ah! You have no idea how excited this makes me! I mean, this class is so up my alley! It's just awesome! It's called Stories in Hand. Go read her post and you'll see why I'm bouncing around in my seat!! I can't wait! Her work is amazing, but to know that she has such a deep passion about story and the important parts of why we scrapbook/memory keep or even attempt to just makes me love her more! No, I'm not a stocker, and she doesn't even know I exist, but I think she's awesome....so there!

Negative Space

Scrapjazz had another "Photo Challenge". This one from Jamie Warren, and I loved it! Her picture samples and info about what "Negative Space" is in photos and how it brings to much more emotion and depth to a picture.

I don't even think I have pictures that are good enough to share...that have negative space, so check out this link! SCRAPJAZZ

Photographing Babies

I'm intrigued with baby photography. I can look at my children's baby pictures over and over for hours on end. I think it's because those stages of life come and go so quickly. Every time I was blessed with a new little one I would think to myself how can life be so grand, so wonderful, so amazing...how can this sweet little baby bring so much love and joy into my soul? If you're a mother I don't even have to try and explain it...you get it. It's not something you can describe in words...it just makes me smile.

The pictures that we capture of our little ones at birth and during the first few months of their lives help us remember those deep overwhelming feelings that we experience when a new baby has blessed our lives.

I found this article on Scrapjazz called Shake, Rattle & Roll, Photographing Babies. It's a great little article with tips for photographing your new little babies.

Tuesday Tradition #15

Here's a "tradition" that is beautiful, adds to your home's decor, and is guilty of starting lots of fun family storytelling.

In our home we started a "WALL" of pictures. Actually, 2 walls and room of pictures. The first wall is a very organized squared wall of photos in our entry way. All 10x13 matted frames with closeup color pictures. They are hung straight and even with each other in a grid. This wall is extremely hard for visitors to pass by without stopping and staring...and of course some stories are shared.

If we make it past that wall there is another wall in our family room. This wall has black and white pictures all over it. The frames are all different sizes and shapes, but they are all black. They are hung in a "puzzle" and fit together all over this large wall. These photos are mostly from big events, vacations, special occasions....they are beautiful snapshots of specific memories in the making. Most people can look at a specific photo and know there is so much more to be told.

Our last wall or "room" of photos is in our game room. We are a big time sports family. My husband and I both played every sport, our kids play, we watch sports, we LOVE sports! We were stumped on how to decorate this fun room for over a year. We wanted a sports theme, but didn't want cheesy professional athletes pasted all over our walls either. So we decided to put all of our sports photos up! We blew up all of our sports photos in large poster sizes, some black and white and some color. Each person in our family got 1 large poster, 2 10x13's and 1 8x10. We picked our favorite action shots and sports moments and framed them. You want stories....you go in this room and it's all about stories. Mostly true stories, some exaggerated versions, but the best part about this room is listening to my children talk about what they dream of becoming. These pictures are great reminders for them....they remind them of how amazing they are and give them the confidence to become something big!

How To Use A Histogram??

Let's face it...95% of us are using digital cameras. I don't know about you, but I bet I only use and know of about 7% of my camera's functions. I'm sure if I took the time to read the manual, do some research and play with all the buttons I'd find that there are some cool tools on it that can help me take better photos. I've seen this thing on my camera here and there when I press certain buttons and I never knew what it was....

So what is it? It's a Histograph. I still can't explain it, but Scrapjazz had this great article that was very informative. By learning how to use this "histo-thing" you'll take better pictures and understand the importance of lighting, shadows, etc. So check it out and let me know what you think....

CLICK HERE

How to use a histograph?

Basic Technology Tips! Part 2

This is a continuation of the technology class I took at the Cherish Bound convention.

Tips and Tricks for BEAUTIFUL pictures

• Get closer to your subject
• Turn off your FLASH! Natural light is the best light for bringing in warmth to your images.
• The rule of thirds. Imagine your picture has a grid with three lines in each direction (like a tic-tac-toe grid). Try to place your subject where any of those lines intersect. These are referred to as the "hot spots"
• Set your camera to the highest quality settings
• Take candid shots of your family doing every day things. The best pictures are often the ones not posed.

Basic Technology Tips! Part 1

Don't be scared by the word "Technology". Technology is a good thing and can make our lives easier...when we know how to use it. Back in October of 2007, at Cherish Bound's Annual Convention, I took a class on Technology Basics. The instructors were great and I give them full credit for all the info I'm going to pass on. They gave us just enough tips to clear up some fuzzy areas but not so much that I felt overwhelmed. It's very important we understand how basic technology works when preserving our family stories and photos.

Most of the confusion and intimidation comes from digital photos. Here are a few "Basic" definitions they passed on:

• Digital Photo: A photograph that can be viewed on the computer. Sources are typically a digital camera or a scanner. Scanners allow you to convert a printed photograph into a digital one.
• Pixels: These are the dots of color that make up your photo. A pixel = a dot
• Mega Pixels: How many million pixels a camera can record in a single image. For example: a camera that captures 1600x1200 pixels produces an image with a resolution of 1.92 million pixels and would be referred to as a 2.0 mega pixel camera. You get to 1.92 million pixels by multiplying the vertical and horizontal dimensions. That number is then rounded off to 2 for marketing purposes.
• DPI: Dots per inch. 300 dpi means a file has 300 dots, or pixels, across every 1-inch within it.
• Resolution: Measured in pixels per inch or more commonly known as dots per inch.
• Image Size: The number of pixels in length, and pixels in width, a photo or graphic is. Example: the photo is 3,000 pixels x 2,000 pixels.
• File Size: A measurement typically expressed in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB). 1,000 KB is equal to 1 MB. Example: the photo is 600kb, or the photo is 12mb.
• File Type: The most common types are JPEG, TIFF, GIF and PNG
• jpeg, jpg: Probably the most common and popular way of saving picture files. The reason is that they're typically smaller than other image file types, and they can be viewed easily in many software applications. JPEG images are compressed. In most cameras the amount of compression is set using the "Quality" setting on the camera's menu. Choices vary from camera to camera, but they'll usually be along the lines of "fine", "standard", and "economy". The "fine" setting has the least amount of compression allowing for higher resolution.