3 Things : playing with printing + a giveaway

I am working on capturing MOMENTS...so many photos are of special events (birthdays, weddings, etc) and I want the moments that tell our story.

I want to work on getting more candids of my girls. I've taken so many pictures of them over the years, if they see me coming, they immediately go into "cheese" mode.
Love your blog...and loved meeting you at Inspired last month.

I'm loving your Words+Photos column. I'm working on the "photos" piece ala Stacy's Photo Freedom class and am also modifying it to fit my own process. For example, I would rather delete most of the 25 shots of the same thing vs. printing most of then and then throwing them out.
My photo tip which has proved to be the most useful for me is keeping an index card in my camera backpack to refer to BEFORE I start taking shots. It has 4-5 points to remember such as adjust white balance, adjust ISO. I have also added some creative things I am trying but forget almost every time I pull my camera out. Some of these are: tilt the camera, shoot very close or zoom all the way in, play with shutter speed to blur the action.
Hope this helps some of you!
MichelleB

i don't know if i have a favorite photo tip. someone suggested to use fill flash but i try to not use the flash. i love my 50mm 1.8 and it is great in low light soi take advantage of that. my problem with photos is printing them. i am currently trying to play catch up. i am really enjoying your posts for this week. (wish i had photos to actually do what u suggest!)

I don't know that I have any tips but my favorite tip is to make someone else take the picture so that I can be in a few shots every once in a while. It is amazing how easy it is to always be the photographer.

Hi Ali. What I want to experiment with is finding some kind of sticky paper and then using a brayer, adhere regular fabric to it and then print on that. Pretty cool, huh? This way you can use a lot of scraps or make fabric tags or journaling strips.
Regina

Ali,
Thanks for this wonderful words + photos journey. I just finished reading SJ's Photo Freedom and together with your insight, I'm developing a whole new framework for my pictures and process.
My photo tip: always back up digi photos twice and store negatives off site. My PC crashed last year and I would have lost a ton if not for scrapbookpictures.com. I now have CD and their server backups.
What I'd like to learn: I'd like to learn my camera better so that I can take better pics with a digi point & shoot. An SLR just isn't in the budget!

my tips would be always have your
camera around and you don't
have to have the perfect shot.
just capture the moment!
something i am learning more
and more with a new baby.
i just want to remember her
little quirks that capture her
personality right now.

my tips would be always have your
camera around and you don't
have to have the perfect shot.
just capture the moment!
something i am learning more
and more with a new baby.
i just want to remember her
little quirks that capture her
personality right now.

One thing I am really struggling with now that I shoot digital is printing my photos. My memory cards are full - all the time! And, I like what you said about deleting photos - I tend to take 10-20 shots of the same thing! I know I don't need them all, but I have to convince myself that it is ok to delete!!
I really like this words + photos - it has been very inspiring to me!!

One thing I am really struggling with now that I shoot digital is printing my photos. My memory cards are full - all the time! And, I like what you said about deleting photos - I tend to take 10-20 shots of the same thing! I know I don't need them all, but I have to convince myself that it is ok to delete!!
I really like this words + photos - it has been very inspiring to me!!

I love this segment. I am not a good photographer and my biggest challenge right now seems to be lighting. I can never seem to get the lighting right when I take a photo.

I love this segment. I am not a good photographer and my biggest challenge right now seems to be lighting. I can never seem to get the lighting right when I take a photo.

My greatest photo tip (or personal discovery) is the backlight setting on my camera--- it just works wonders. I do not always take the best photos and it is easy to blame the camera, and you just cannot go out and buy new equipment (at least I cannot) so my goal is to learn the settings on my camera to take the best photos I can

Two of the easiest photo tips to make any photo instantly more pleasing:
1)Rule of thirds...if you draw three imaginary line either horizontally or vertically into your frame to divide it into thirds, your main subject should fall into one or two of those thirds.
2)Get up close and fill the frame when shooting single objects!!! Try it - take a photo of a flower or otherwise single object (mug, tape dispenser, whatever)from a bit of a distance and then take multiple shots getting in closer each time. Chances are the subject you're shooting will look much better when it fills most of the frame.

Well, to be honest, I want to work with a new camera all-together! HA!
But seriously, currently I do not do anything to my pics, just print and scrap. I feel like sometimes I should do something in PSE to them...but I'm kinda chicken.
Thanks for this amazing giveaway!!

my favorite photo advise is to take lots of pictures.. if it is digital, then all you're spending is your time and memory. if you don't like the picture, make a backup -because maybe one day, you'll see it in a different light, touch it up and it will be a great photo.

I try to take photos at different angles to get different looks. My goal is to get a new camera at some point so that the pictures are better quality.

I love the freedom to snap away with my digital camera and not worrying about running out of film. This has allowed for more spontaneous pics because I'm not trying for that one perfect shot.
My most important tip is to keep the battery charged - I learned that the hard way recently; missed a once in a lifetime closeup experience with a gorilla. Now I carry the charger with me at all times.
When the Graphix rub-ons first came out I couldn't wait to try them, but like you, my first attempts were less than exciting. I tried on a smaller scale and found that practice helped. Now I am comfortable with the results and experimenting with enlarging my projects. Don't give up!

My tip would be to always have your camera on hand and don't always take a posed pic. Some of my favorites are always the ones that are taken randomly when people don't always know you're shooting.