10 Quick Photography Tips for Amateurs

I'm not a professional photographer. I'm an avid amateur. I don't own an expensive DSLR camera. I have a point-and-shoot that cost just over $200. I've never taken a photography class, but I've learned a lot through trial and error.  I won't be using a lot of technical jargon in this article. I'll leave the f-stops and aperture settings to the pros. What I am going to do is share 10 things that you can do right now, with just about any camera that you have, to improve your picture-taking skills.

1.  Get the best camera that you can afford.  If you're just starting out, you don't need all the bells and whistles of the higher-end cameras on the market.  All those features can be overwhelming, so keep it simple.

2.  Use natural light whenever possible.  If you're inside, try to position your subject near a window or other natural light source.  If you aren't sure whether or not you have enough natural light, take one photo with the flash and another without it. 

3.  Get in close.  If you want a close-up shot, the best thing to do is get as close to your subject as possible.  If you can't get close, you can use the zoom function on your camera, if it has one.  I know I said that I wouldn't get technical, but I'm going to make this exception.  (This is as technical as I'm going to get.  I promise.)  An optical zoom will give better results than a digital zoom.  A word of warning, though.  You need to have a steady hand when using the zoom function, because any movement will result in a blurry photo.  Here is where the next tip comes in handy.

4.  Hold your breath. Seriously. Try it. You can breathe out after you've snapped the photo.  It works for me almost every time.  It helps you to keep the camera steady.

5.  Take more than one picture of the shot.  If I know that I want a really good photo of someone/something, then I take four or five of the same shot.  Now that most of us use digital cameras, we don't have to worry about "wasting the film."  We can print only the pictures that we want.

6.  Be aware of your background.  You know those photos of Uncle Joe that look as if he has a plant growing out of his head?  We all have them, don't we?  When you're taking a picture, take a quick look around to make sure that there isn't anything in the background that will make your photo appear strange.

7.  Smile - you're on Candid Camera!  (OK, I might be giving away my age here.)  Honestly, though, the best photos I've ever taken are candid shots.  Sure, you want to snap those family photos of the whole gang together; and they do have their place, of course.  However, try taking some photos when your subject isn't aware that you've got a camera pointed at him/her.  You'll be able to capture expressions and moments that just can't be posed.

8.  "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be JPEGs."  Don't keep your photos trapped on your camera and other devices.  Print them on a regular basis.  Even if you pick only a few each month, get them printed.  Then they will be all set to go when you're ready to scrapbook, and you will have a "hard copy" of your photos, just in case something happens to the disk or camera.

9.  Back up your photos on a regular basis.  You don't want to lose all those photos if something does happen to your equipment.  Although you will have printed the best, it's still a devastating experience to lose hundreds of photos because of an accident or a lost disk or camera.  What I do is create a back-up file on my laptop at the end of each month, and I put all of my photos in a monthly folder.  Every few months, I burn them onto a disk.  Plus I have them stored on "the Cloud."  (More on that, as well as cell phone cameras, in a future article.)

10.  Take it off "Autopilot."  I use the Auto setting on my camera for most of my shots, but I do like to experiment with other settings as well.  I'm getting pretty good at using the Portrait and Action settings.  I'm still having a little bit of shake with the Macro setting, but it's all about practicing.  Try taking the same shot using the Auto setting and another special setting that your camera has.  This is where reading the manual that came with your camera will be useful.

I hope that these simple tips will help you take better photos.  Remember that you don't have to have professional quality photos to have good photos.  Try to take the best photos that you can, and keep experimenting.  Oh, and here are two simple bonus tips that I learned the hard way:  1.) Always carry an extra set of batteries with you.  2.) Make sure that you have a memory card in your camera before you leave home.  Happy snapping!

Autism Awareness: Finding Your Voice in Journaling

Autism Awareness Day: Finding Your Voice in Journaling

Autism spectrum disorders affect approximately 1 out of 88 children, according to statistics from the Center for Disease Control.  They are more likely to affect boys (1 out of 54) than girls (1 out of 252), and these disorders are found in all racial and ethnic groups.  Our son, David, has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction. 

Since Autism Awareness Day is April 2, I've been thinking about how important our scrapbooks are to David.  He has always enjoyed looking at the photos, but it's the journaling that he comments on the most.  I think it's because of the way I journal in our books.  I find journaling about my photos to be easy, but that isn't the case for many scrapbookers.  In fact, there are many scrapbookers who don't do journaling at all, because it's too difficult.  I hope this article will help you to "find your voice."

I'm not talking about being more outspoken or finding the right words.  What I mean by "finding your voice" is determining who will be reading your journaling.  For whom are you creating the layout?  Is it the people in your layout?  Is it for grandparents?  Is it for you?  (That's okay, you know!)   When you know your audience, then you can determine your voice.

For example, in my children's scrapbooks, I address them in my writing.  I use first-person narration, such as "We went to our favorite park," and "You looked so cute in your Halloween costume."  If I'm creating a layout for my own personal scrapbook, I might use these words:  "My children are growing up right before my eyes," or "I married my first love."  It's still first-person, but I'm speaking about them, rather than to them.

 

Scrapbook companies have made it very easy for us to include journaling on our layouts.  Most scrapbook lines include journaling boxes or lined papers that can be cut up into any shape you like.   Here is a list of some of my favorites:

• ● Echo Park (Scoot, Photo Freedom (Vol. 1), For the Record 2)
• ● Simple Stories (SN@P, SN@P Life, Take a Hike)
• ● BoBunny (Family Is, Surprise, Surprise Banners)

That's all there is to it.  The key is consistency.  If you begin speaking TO the subject of your layout, continue to do that throughout the entire journaling section.  Try to do it throughout the entire scrapbook.  The result will be something everyone who looks at your scrapbook will want to read, because it will sound natural and genuine.  Give it a try, and let me know if it works for you.

Project Life Free Journaling Cards

I just designed these today and wanted to share them with you.  They are 3 x 4 cards in both svg and scut2 format.  If you like them, please leave a comment to let me know.  Thanks!

Project Life Cards

Project Life Continued

by Jeanette Giancaspro (Apr 4, 2013)

As I wrote in my previous Project Life Article, I've been doing Project Life on a monthly basis. This has been working very well for me, especially during months in which we don't have a lot of "big" events. Although September is back-to-school month and mybirthday month, I don't usually make an entire layout about each occasion. However, I still take photos and want to document them in my scrapbooks. Project Life to the rescue! 

Since I wanted to have an "everyday" theme for this month's layout, I decided to use the Note to Self collection by Echo Park.  Not only does this collection contain designs that are basic enough to use with everyday photos, but there are also cards that can be cut apart and used for journaling and embellishments.

To maintain continuity in my album, I have decided to use the months' names as my titles, and I will place them in one of the top sections of the divided page protectors.  For this layout, I've used Echo Park's 4" x 6" horizontal and vertical page protectors in their Photo Freedom line.  I cut the letters out on my Cricut machine, and I layered them on top of punched circles from the leftover patterned paper scraps from the paper collection.

As I mentioned in my previous article, I'm trying to go the simple route with this project.  In keeping with that theme, I'm using simple embellishments on my layouts.  On these pages, I've used some stickers from the Note to Self collection, and I've also cut out some of the images from the patterned paper. 

Another embellishment I've used is a punched flower that I had in my collection.  This punch by E.K. Success (see image below) is a nice standard flower punch to keep on hand.  (Here's a tip.  When you have small scraps of cardstock or patterned paper, use your flower and basic shaped punches to make some embellishments that you can keep in your stash to use on your scrapbook pages and cards.)

Because it worked so well for my August layout, I typed my journaling and printed it out for this month's layout as well.  I don't know if I'm going to do the journaling this way every month, but I'll try to keep it as a unifying element in my Project Life album.  I won't worry about it, though, if I change my mind. 

My Project Life album is coming along very nicely, and I'm really enjoying the monthly reflection on my family's (and my) life.  Be on the look-out for more articles about my project, and I'd love to see your layouts in the Scrapjazz Gallery.  If you'd like to discuss this article, you can find the forum here.  I look forward to reading your comments and answering your questions.

Additional products used:

• · ribbon
• · solid cardstock
• · ATG
• · Tombow tape runner

Happy National Puppy Day!

National Puppy Day

by Jeanette Giancaspro (Mar 22, 2013)

March 23^rd is National Puppy Day, which was first established in 2006 to raise awareness about the horrors of puppy mills.  Since the motto of National Puppy Day is "Adopt Instead of Shop," I wanted to share some layouts that I've made about ourdog, Mocha, a rescue dog.

When we adopted Mocha in August of 2009, she was only eight weeks old, and she was one of only three puppies left who hadn't been adopted that morning.  It was love at first sight!  I started taking photos of her the minute we got home, and I haven't stopped taking them since.  Mocha finds her way into many of our family photos and scrapbook pages.  Here are two layouts that I made using some of her puppy pictures.

This is a very simple layout.  In fact, it's one of the layouts that I use to teach scrapbooking to beginners.  I started out with a sheet of kraft cardstock as my base.  I often use a neutral color for my base.  Then I selected a sheet of red cardstock and a sheet of patterned paper that coordinated with my photos.  I used the red cardstock as a large mat for my three photos, which I trimmed down a little bit.  I punched a border strip from the patterned paper and cut a few embellishments with my Cricut, using black and light brown cardstock.  I also die-cut my title.

My journaling took up the fourth quadrant of my photo mat, and I added the title to the top and bottom of this area.  Before layering the mat onto the base cardstock, I adhered the border strip.  Then I added my embellishments and a small strip of the patterned paper for a final detail.

 

Although this is a two-page layout, it is just as simple to put together as the previous layout.  I've laid out the photos in a similar manner, keeping them close together and touching each other.  The base paper is green instead of kraft, and the size of each page is 8 ½" x 11", as opposed to the 12" x 12" size of the "Puppy Love" layout.   Other than that, the design is very similar, and I used die-cut embellishments and pieces of patterned paper here too.  I added a chipboard title, a stamped image, and some brads to change things up a little.

These layouts are easy to replicate whether you are a beginner or have more experience.  You can add more embellishments, use smaller or larger photos, flip the layout, move the title, or whatever you need to do for your design.

I hope these layouts have given you ideas for scrapbooking your four-legged family members.  If you don't have a dog (or cat) yet, why not celebrate National Puppy Day this year by visiting your local shelter or adoption agency and taking a lovable puppy or adult dog home?  Then you can start documenting the joy and fun that he or she will add to your life.

  

Sisters

I'm still working on my December Project Life layout.  I had to make it 4 pages, since I have so many photos.  And those are the pictures that I didn't include on my Christmas layout!  I didn't think I had taken that many pictures, but I guess I did.

Here's a picture that's going on its own layout.  My sister gave me this last month when we visited her.  I'm planning a layout with some of the pictures of the two of us together.  Several years ago, she underwent chemo for ovarian cancer, shortly followed by thyroid cancer.  She is cancer-free (4 years now), and she is an inspiration to me.  I'm planning to write about our relationship when we were younger and how that relationship has become stronger as we've gotten older.  (She's 9 years older than I am.)

I'll post pics of the December PL layout when I finish it, and I'm going to do that by the end of this week.  Thanks for stopping by.  :)

Facts and Feelings: The Paperclipping Roundtable

I had an awesome time on The Paperclipping Roundtable today! Noell and Izzy were just terrific, and chatting with Ali Edwards was pretty cool, too.  It was wonderful to share ideas and thoughts about scrapbooking special needs children.  Please click on the above link to listen to the podcast.  This is #151, and I highly recommend listening to the other 150.  They do a great job!  Thanks, guys!