Photography Tips & Techniques

Starting this week, I will be sharing photo tips that can help everyone take better photos. If you have friends who would like these as well, please feel free to share.

 

GET LOW!!!

 

One of our common mistakes is to put the camera to your eye, line up the shot, and click away. To improve on your wildlife shots (or not so wild shots of Fluffy the cat, or that speedy toddler) get down on the ground and play around with your angles. Take some images of the subject at the subjects eye level, and then a bit lower, and a big higher. You will find that your images are much more engaging to the viewer and real low images offer a unique perspective.

 

Please feel free to share with us some of your “low” shots on our Facebook Page!

 

Happy Shooting – Angela.

Hunting Birdies

HUNTING BIRDIES - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

JOURNALING: South Padre Island - Nature & Birding Center

SUPPLIES USED:  Stamped Cricut cartridge, Tahiti Beach Stack by DCWV

TECHNIQUE TIP:  I love the use of color blocking on a layout.  I love the simple lines and how my photos seem to pop off the page.  However, I don't always like how blocky and simple the layouts end up looking.  On this layout, I decided to soften it up a bit and round my corners and layer some border strips with softer lines.  the overall result is a great balance of photos and corresponding colors to enhance our wildlife shots.

Double page layout

Page 1 Detail

Page 2 Detail

Calm Days

No matter how many flowers I purchase, I never seem to have the right color so I decided to purchase quite a few of the cream colored paper flowers.  With these, I can use either glimmer mists, stamps, or ink to recolor them to the perfect color.  In this layout, I wanted to match the blue and green and my stash of flowers just didn't have the right shades of the color.  A little glimmer mist created the green flowers and the blue ones were created with the help of stamps and ink.  Perfect match for this double page layout!!

CALM DAYS - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

 JOURNALING: One of our favorite places to visit on calm days as the Birding & Nature Center.  We enjoyed the beautiful board walks and the peaceful setting watching the various birds and the alligators.

SUPPLIES USED:  Day at the Beach by EK Success, George & Basic Shapes Cricut cartridge, Sketch by: Mary Yountz, Summer Cardstock by DCWV, Inkadinkado Coastal stamps, Stampabilities blue ink, Glimmer Mists

Close up of Page 1 - Click on image for larger size

Close up of page 2 - Click on image for larger size

The Sunny Side of Life

I wanted a very simple but colorful layout to showcase our wonderful sunset photos. The papers chosen in this layout were chosen to compliment and help paint the mood of the photos. The sand textured background paper paired with a bright orange paper that is bordered by the black core'dinations strip mimics the silhouetted lines that you see in the main photo.

THE SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE - April 2010 - South Padre Island, Texas

JOURNALING: N/A 

SUPPLIES USED:  Stamped Cricut Cartridge for all letters of title, Tahiti Stack by DCWV. Core'dinations Black Magic papers, Fiskars paper crimper

Warm Wishes Notecard

I haven't been scrapping in a while, but I've been doing quite a few notecards as we travel around as they are easier and don't require as much "stuff" to be dug out of the cabinets while we are traveling from place to place.

In honor of the recent time that we have spent on the beautiful beaches of Hatteras, North Carolina, I fell in love with this adorable little Beach Crab from the Sea Creatures Collection from FileKutz by LisaJane.  I thought he was perfect to grace the front of a little note card.  I wanted to mimic the warm sands and beautiful blue waters of the coast so I used a combination of textures on some cardstock to create a warm friendly card.

Here is a close up of the adorable cut file.

Click on image to be taken to store to purchase this adorable little guy!!

Warm Wishes NoteCard (General Friendship Card)

Supplies Used:

·         8 ½ x 11 cardstock – Cream - The Paper Company Mediterranean Fashion Colors – Card Base

·         4 x 5 ¼ Blue panel cardstock – Recollections Jewel collection

·         4 x 2 Tan Cardstock – The Paper Company Neutral collection

·         Beach Crab from the Sea Creatures Collection cut file from Filekutz by LisaJane

·         Versa Color ink – Royal Blue

·         Fiskars clear stamps – Sentiments

·         Clear stamp block

·         Sizzix texture plate – Distressed

·         Sizzix texture plate – Friend

·         Mini Mister

·         Metal  decorative edge ruler

·         Scissors

·         Dimensional adhesive

·         Adhesive

Step by Step Instructions:

1.       Using Friend Sizzix texture plate, emboss the large blue panel with the Sizzix Big Shot Machine – spray with mini mister prior for a deeper embossed image.

2.       Using Distressed texture plate, emboss the tan cardstock with the Sizzix Big Shot Machine – spray with mini mister prior for a deeper embossed image.

3.       Tear tan cardstock diagonally using metal edge decorative edge ruler.

4.       Adhere the card pieces in the following order:

·         Blue embossed card panel

·         Tan cardstock at top left and bottom right corners

·         Crab base

·         The following pieces are adhered using dimensional “pop” dots

* Round crab body

*  Crab claws (these are right and left so fit them carefully)

* White eyeball with black pupil adhered normally to it

5.       Stamp Warm Wishes sentiment in top left of tan cardstock with blue Versa Color ink

6.       Use A2 envelope sized at 4 3/8 x 5 5/8