Digital Scrapbooking 101 BLOG

Scrapbook Photography 101 Part 2 of 3

Posted on November 16th, 2011 by wwaddell.
Categories: Digital Photography, Scrapbook Articles, Training.

Title:  Scrapbook Photography 101 Part 2

Author:  Wes Waddell

Article:  Scrapbook Photography 101 Part 2 Basic Photo Composition

Now that you have the basic photography equipment and a better understanding of your camera, its’ different modes and how they affect your images… it’s time to start learning how to best use this knowledge to take photos that are not only in focus, but tell the right story and fit into your scrapbook of memories.

Basic Scrapbook Photography Composition:

Anyone can easily, in just a few hours, learn to operate a camera, point it at something and take a clear, in focus image. But it takes lots and lots of practice to have that image composed so that it also tells the story, preserves the memory and fits onto your scrapbook page the way you need it to.

In all your standard photography courses, they teach you the basic principal of: Use all the available space!

For your scrapbooks… this is sometimes the totally WRONG ANSWER!

Yes, if you are going to print an image of your child’s smiling face and hang it on the wall, you want to get in closer and capture the face close up. The difference with the scrapbook or memory journal is that while you may want to have a close-up on the page, you are also going to be adding captions, journaling and other artwork that not only tells of your child’s wonderful smile, but that it’s their 1st birthday and they were smiling at grandma for the very first time.

Scrapbook Photo Technique: Take the close-up image, but also take one with grandma in the image and one of the child’s profile from the front of the ears forward on the very edge of the frame. (great to use as a scrapbook background) In short, think page background, and how you will tell the story on the page or page set. Then take the images needed for that one part of the story.

Photos of the birthday cake in the lower corner of the photo with a solid color wall or background and photos of the presents off to one side or along the bottom of the picture make wonderful scrapbook background images with plenty of empty space to fill with photos and journaling notes.

Landscapes are different:

When you travel or go on family outings, a lot of people take beautiful images of the landscapes and scenery.

The problems you run into as a scrapbook photographer is that these landscapes don’t make for good backgrounds in many cases because you will be covering much of it up with other photos and stories. And if you just put the images on the scrapbook page by themselves, they make for some very boring scrapbook page sets.

So, what do you do about it?

There are a couple of techniques that you can use to help jazz up your scrapbook scenery pages.

First, keep your family in the images but off to the side or near the bottom of the image and don’t be afraid to use the fill flash mode (if you have one) to highlight their faces. This keeps the story about them and that they were there.

Second, use the viewfinder and look at the image as if it were a background page. Imagine your images, titles and journaling over the top of the image you see. Now, move the camera around, turn it on end for portrait style and capture several images that work as backgrounds with the most important parts of the scenery around the sides of the photo.

Third, use a tree, some plants, a fence post or other close object to frame all or part of the image. Grandma and Grandpa holding hands and you shooting between them with just their shoulders, arms and hands framing the scenic is a really cool way to tie the family into the story.

Scrapbook Photography Tip: If your camera doesn’t have manual focus or it’s hard to use, then almost all cameras today allow you to point the camera somewhere else (like into the distance or at the sky), press the shutter button part way down so it activates the focus and light settings, then without releasing the shutter, point it where you want the photo taken and finish pressing the shutter. In this way you have the camera set to shoot a different setting than would be otherwise. You may need to practice this a bit, but it really works great at sunset and to place focus on other thanthe close up face or object.

Now it’s time again for the fun part… practice all these principles and techniques at the same time.

It’s not as easy as you might think! At least not at first anyhow.  Now you get an idea of why photographers take years to really learn their craft well.

This week’s assignment: Create 2 complete scrapbook pages using only your images and journaling/titles.

Go out in the morning or early afternoon with your friends or family. Take photos of backgrounds, people and nature.  Then, that evening go out again and take images in low light and of the sunset with someone as the focus of the story. Now, put the images onto your computer and using a digital scrapbook or photo editing program (you can print and do it by hand too, but that will cost you money for the prints and paper), create one page that tells the story of your morning and one page that tells the story of your evening. You can only use the images your took and titles/journaling boxes.

Show the results to family and friends that were not there and see if they understand the story and like what they see. After all, it’s only through the minds of others that we know we have told the complete story.

In Part 3, we’ll cover mood and some more tricks to make your photo’s look like a pro.

Until then, practice, practice, practice!

Wes Waddell

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Scrapbook Photography 101 Part 1 of 3

Posted on November 15th, 2011 by wwaddell.
Categories: Digital Photography, Scrapbook Articles, Training.

Title: Scrapbook Photography 101 Part 1 of 3

Author: Wes Waddell

Article:
Scrapbook Photography 101, Part One: Equipment – Bag, camera, flash, tripod

This article is a simplified photography course directed at new photographers and scrapbookers out there who want to know the basics of where to start.

First, a short introduction to what this course is.

The basics of photography are not hard and just about anyone over the age of 12 can learn them in very short order. With today’s modern digital cameras, it’s very easy for anyone to take clear focused images in most any conditions. What really takes time and practice is taking images that capture the memory and fit the needs of the scrapbooker who is capturing not only the memory and the emotions, but the story itself.

We will highlight the basics and what you need to get started. We’ll really be concentrating on how to apply the basics and the techniques/tips to use to get the most out of the images you capture for your scrapbooks.

That said, let’s get started.

If you really want to learn the basics of photography the first thing you need is a reliable camera. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive camera out there, but it must, and I repeat must, be able to shoot in a variety of modes and conditions. At a minimum, this means in full auto mode, in portrait or people mode, in sunset or low light conditions, with fill flash (we’ll talk more on what that is later) and at night.  Optional nice to have options are: moving objects mode, landscape mode and Macro settings.

The nice thing is that most of today’s digital cameras, even the ones on your smart phone come standard with this. The only catch is that it needs to be 4 mega pixel or better resolution if you plan on making 8×10 or larger prints out of your best images.

Now comes the hard part that most people ignore… To really get the most out of your photography you must understand the equipment. You’ll need to learn how your camera and all it’s modes and capabilities work. After all, if you don’t know what it can do and how to use it, then how can you take advantage of it when the time comes that you need it?

For example, full auto is OK for taking candid shots at a family reunion, but so much is out of focus in the auto images taken of mountain or lake scenery photos. You need to know how to put your camera into landscape mode to get the full Depth of Field (how much is in focus) out of your camera lens.

Read the manual, practice with the different settings and keep your manual handy to review the modes you don’t use all the time.

Let’s talk bags and cases:

If you have a camera but can’t get to it quickly when you need to take a quick photo… then you are going to miss out on a lot of great pictures. I always recommend getting the smallest bag you can for the camera and your everyday basics. That way you are more likely to always have it with you when you need it. If you have a lot of accessories, use a seperate bag and swap out what is needed for the situation you are in at the time.

The one accessory you should never leave out: Your Tripod!

Face it, you’re going to need a tripod whether it’s for portrait work, landscapes or sporting events. You will need one eventually if for no other reason then to include your self in a few of the images with your self timer or remote. Luckily you don’t have to spend a lot here. Just something lightweight and durable. If your camera (cell phone camera’s especially) doesn’t have a tripod attach point, don’t worry about it, just get one of the multi-finger or spider grip tripods that can be adjusted to hold almost anything.

Your Flash:

You will need some kind of Flash.  You can buy a separate remote mounted flash, which is great to have around if you can afford it to supliment your built in flash on the camera. These external flash units have a remote sensor that goes off when it senses the flash on your camera go off and adds light just where you need it. I use mine to light backgrounds up most of the time.

You’ll will need to consider what kind of photography that you will be doing most though before you spend your cash on another flash unit. If you’re going to do mostly nature and landscape, you may only need the fill flash that comes with most cameras built in today. On the other hand, if you are planning on doing portraiture or large group shots, you will want to consider a larger high power camera mounted flash that has an adjustable angle.

OK, now that we have our bag, our camera and our tripod; it’s time to have some fun.

This week’s assignment: Find a willing subject (person) that you can work with, preferably someone that won’t mind playing some games and doing a few silly things.  Now, with your manual reviewed and still handy, shoot 8 to 10 images using each mode of your camera.  Shoot some of the pictures in the morning, some in the afternoon, and finish up at sunset into darkness. Be sure and have a notebook handy so you can take notes on time of day and light conditions along with what your settings (mode) were for each photograph. 

When you get the images off your camera and onto your computer, you should be able to see a difference in each image mode. Be sure and repeat this procedure until you feel that you understand the relationship between the different camera modes and the effects they have on your pictures.

This way you will learn your own particular camera as well as how it reacts in different conditions. In part two we’ll start to learn some tricks and tips on how to make your images look like a pro took them with high end camera equipment. In the mean time, if you have some specific questions please visit our Scrapbook BLOG at: http://blog.princesscrafts.com

About the author:
Copyright 2011 Wes Waddell is a Freelance Photographer and Website designer who, along with his wife Kathy, maintain the Internets largest Digital Scrapbook Membership site (www.MyPrincessCrafts.com). He has an educational background in Photography, Space Systems Command and Control and Business Website Design. He very much enjoys applying photography and memory preservation techniques to his scrapbooks and web design.

 

Wes Waddell

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How To… Use the New Blend Modes in Digital Scrapbook Artist 2

Posted on January 31st, 2010 by admin.
Categories: Scrapbook Ad, Scrapbook Articles, Scrapbook Tips, Training.

How To…
Use the New Blend Modes in Digital Scrapbook Artist 2

With Valentine’s Day approaching and birthdays occurring throughout the year, we thought we’d show you how to use the new blend mode feature on your homemade greetings cards. Blend modes define how two objects or layers interact with each other and by using them you can achieve stunning results quickly and with ease.

The card below was made using Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 and we are going to complete it by applying blend modes to the two photos. We have used the same photo twice to show you how different blend modes affect the same object depending on what it is blended with.

1. Click on the top photo and then select the Luminosity blend mode (the blend modes are located in the Color tab). The picture will take on the color of the layer below; in this case, it’s pink.

2. Click on the second photo and select the Hard Light blend mode. The photo will take on the texture of the background making it look like the photo is actually printed on the material.

Blend modes are a powerful design tool and can be used in many ways to make your creations look fantastic.

Learn to scrapbook totally for FREE:

The greatest FREE digital scrapbook gift… EVER!

www.ComputerScrapbookTraining.com

 

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8 Tips for Taking Better Digital Photos

Posted on March 3rd, 2009 by wwaddell.
Categories: Digital Photography, Scrapbook Articles, Training.

Title: 8 Tips for Taking Better Digital Photos

Author: Wes Waddell

Article:

I used to have problems taking good digital photos that I was proud to show off to family and friends… Do you have the same trouble taking good digital photos like I did?

I spent lots of money and spent months of my time taking photo courses only to learn that unless I was going to become a professional photographer, 93% of what I learned had nothing to do with shooting great photos for my walls and scrapbooks.

If you are a lot like me and are looking for just the right information on how to take good digital camera photographs for personal use – If you are looking for the right tips that will keep you from missing or messing up the once-in-a-lifetime photos of family events and vacation travel – then you have come to the right place. 

So, What do you need to know in order for you to begin taking really good digital photos? Well, the first thing you’re going to need to remember is this: It’s you, the photographer that takes beautiful photos, not the camera. You can have the most expensive camera in the world, but if it’s not pointed in the right direction and you don’t click the shutter… you get no photos. Just think about it for a minute. It’s really true… isn’t it? I’ve personally seen some people (myself included) take truly gorgeous photos with a cheap point-and-shoot digital camera, while others take absolutely lousy shots with the most expensive digital SLR.

Fear not my friend! By read these 8 simple tips on shooting good digital photos and applying them the next time you take photos – Before you know it, you’ll be capturing photos that will make a pro proud.  REALLY!

Let’s get started:

1. Read the Instructions

This one should already sound familiar to you. You go out and buy the latest digital camera out there, bring it home, take it out of it’s box and then immediately proceed to work with the knobs and try to take photos with it.

You may briefly flip through the hundred plus page digital camera manual and then probably put it back in the box and never look at it again. I’ve got to tell you… this is NOT a good idea!

If you take the time to buy a good digital camera, you owe it to yourself and to your family, who’s photos you will be taking, to understand all of its ins and outs. Take just a little time to learn how to control it’s manual exposure settings, how to use all of it’s different automatic exposure modes and probably most of all – how to use the flash and how far away it will work. The knowledge you gain about the workings of your digital camera will be invaluable when you’re out with your family taking those special photos.

2. Control the Flash

I know we briefly touched on this one in step one, but it’s so important that I’m taking it to the next level here. One of the most important techniques you need to learn with your digital photography is how to control the flash. Personally, I rarely rely on the automatic flash that comes with most digital cameras. Depending on the individual situation, you will need to sometimes turn off the flash (if for nothing else to conserve on batteries as the flash is one of the biggest users of power) or use the flash as a fill while still capturing the backgrounds that are out of it’s range.

Let’s look at an example: When taking outdoor photos, it is sometimes a good idea to turn on the flash and use it to illuminate the subject (fill flash), especially if your subject is in the shade or has the sun at their back. On the other hand, you may choose to turn off the flash when taking some indoor shots. Sometimes, using the flash indoors can result in a harsh glare or reflection from glass in your photos.

3. Know Your Macro Mode

Almost all of today’s digital cameras come with a macro mode. This setting is meant for taking close up shots of small objects like flowers or figurines. On our Fuji S2000, it’s represented by a flower symbol on the back near the LDC screen. On our Nikon, it’s the same flower but it’s on the thumb wheel setting control. You’ll want to read the instruction in the manual for your exact limits, but when you turn on the macro mode you get as close as 4 to 6 inches. Most of today’s digital cameras will focus in macro mode between 4 inches and 1 or 2 feet. Makes for some great background close-up photos.

4. Keep the Camera Level

The basic rule of you always hear in photography is that you need to hold the camera level. OK, common sense.  But, has anyone ever given you the tips as to how to best make sure this happens?

Since most digital cameras come with a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen, you can use it to properly level your digital photos. Here’s how you do it: The next time you’re taking a photo inside or out, try to look at the LCD screen or in the viewfinder for the horizontal lines to use as guides. What I mean is to make use of lines such as the horizon when you’re taking a photo of a sunset or a window sill or wall corner when you are taking images inside. By lining them up with the edges of the LCD screen or camera viewfinder, you better ensure that your photo will turn out level.

Of course, there are times when you may want to get creative and tip the camera on an odd angle to make a shot more artistic or unique.  that’s fine, but remember that with digital images, you can also do that with your digital/computer scrapbook or photo editing software later and still have the original image for traditional use. So, unless you are going to send the image to someone or post it online without editing first… there just isn’t the need there used to be for odd angles.

5. Keep the Digital Camera Still

I recommend this digital photo tip to all photographers, new and pro alike – carry a camera tripod with you, even just a clamp on one.  Camera tripods are an must have tool in your photography arsenal. Tripods are need a lot more often then they are used.  They are an absolute must if you’re taking shots under low-light conditions without a flash or when trying to capture fast moving objects such as runners and kids on a swing.

I always use a tripod when I’m taking photos at night in the city streets.  The trick is to have one that is small and light enough that you won’t mind carrying it around, yet sturdy enough to hold your digital camera steady while you press the shutter button. The bigger and heavier your camera is, the bigger a tripod you’ll most likely need. For most non digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras, you won’t need a huge one – just a simple light compact one that collapses and is easy to pack.

6. The Right Setting For The Right Speed

I find that the ISO setting in digital cameras confuses most people, especially when you first get started. If you think of it as film speed and that the faster an object moves, the faster or larger the ISO setting you normally need.  The ISO setting of a digital camera essentially controls the sensitivity it has to light. With that in mind, if you’re taking a photo of something like a flower in macro mode, then you should always try to use a low ISO setting of like 50 or 100. This allows the camera to use a longer shutter speed (stay open longer) and produces a cleaner image. On the other hand, if you’re taking digital photos of a moving object, like a child playing on a swing, then a higher ISO setting in the range of 400 or even 800 if the sun isn’t very bright would be better.

The good news…

You don’t need to remember all of this, just so you understand the basics and apply them to your cameras build in auto settings.  Mine has settings for portrait (people pictures), landscape (scenic’s with no people), runners (high speed moving objects) and a few more.  I just need to remember to choose the right auto mode for the conditions I’m taking photos.

For example: I use the normal auto mode for taking candid shots indoors at parties or in hazy light outside.  I use the runner or high speed mode when I’m at a racetrack or soccer game so that I get faster shutter speeds to stop the action and not blur the people or cars.  I then use the portrait mode when I’m taking people pictures with flash in a posed situation.  It’s only one those rare occasions when I’m doing something unusual, like shooting sunset images with people in them that the manual modes come into play.

One last note you need to know: The higher ISO setting you use and the faster the shutter works… the less light gets into the camera sensors. This tends to produce noisier or less sharp photo images. This ties right back to why you need to carry a tripod… so you can use slower shutter speeds and still keep the camera steady enough to get a clear digital image.

7. No Such Thing as Too Much Memory

Just like the days gone by when you needed to make sure you had enough rolls of film for your old traditional film cameras, make sure you always have enough memory capacity or memory cards in your digital camera bag so that you don’t run out of space before you run out of digital photos you want to take. It’s a terrible situation to be in on a holiday while taking great photos and you suddenly hear that alarm beep and realize you’ve just run out of memory space in your camera.

We’ve all been there in the past, so here’s some general digital photo guidelines to help you make sure that your digital camera has enough storage.

• - 2 megapixel or smaller cameras – you’ll need at least a 64MB card
• - 3 megapixel camera – you’ll need at least a 128MB card
• - 4 megapixel camera – you’ll need at least a 256MB card
• - 5 megapixel camera – you’ll need at least a 512MB card
• - 8 to 10 megapixel camera – get at least 2 1GB CARDS OR 1 2GB or larger card

Bottom line, you should be able to take 200 photos or more without running out of memory.  Even at that, I still carry and extra memory card just in case.  You never know when one will go bad or get damaged.  Better safe than sorry as cheap as memory is now.

8. No Power – No Digital Photos

Power or batteries are everything with digital cameras.  When your batteries run out, so does your ability to take photos. Carry a spare set of batteries, two sets if the session will be long or is really important… such as a wedding or 50th anniversary party.

That said, here’s a couple of things that caught me off guard and what you can do to avoid the same problems.

Fresh batteries, but the camera won’t work.  This one happened on vacation and we almost didn’t get any photos.  Did you know that rechargeable batteries come in different voltages?  Turned out that I had mixed a set of 1.2v NiMi’s with a set of 1.1v. Turns out they don’t work when mixed.  Put all the same voltage and type in your digital camera if you want it to work correctly and never mix alkaline with rechargeables… never, never, NEVER!

Last one: Keep your rechargeable batteries charged. Rechargeable batteries loose their charge over time… some in as little as a few days of sitting. Make sure that you have your charger packed and that all your batteries are freshly charged before you head out to take your digital photos. Since my camera will take both alkaline or rechargeables… I also carry a spare set of alkaline batteries as a backup on important digital photo shoots.  If you can, you may want to do that as well since alkalines if not too hot or too cold will hold their power for years.

In Conclusion

Wow. I know, that was a pretty long article crammed with great information. I hope that I’ve been of help to you and that I gave you some good ideas and tips on taking really good digital photos. Just try to remember what I said… while the most expensive digital cameras have some amazing features, you still need a photographer with an eye to take nice pictures. I have no doubt that if you apply the above ideas and tips to your everyday digital photo shooting then you are already a better photographer.

About the author:

Wes Waddell is a Precous Memories Preservation Consultant who, along with his wife, runs a computer hobby site on digital scrapbooking your photos. Get the greatest digital scrapbook gift… ever! The no cost Computer Scrapbooking 101 Course that has everything you need, including no cost software at: www.ComputerScrapbookTraining.com  

You’ll find full access to the entire course complete with all the tips, photo software links, fully illistrated online training and even all the digital scrapbook templates you need for your first small photo scrapbook project. You’ve learned how to take better digital photos… now it’s time to learn how to preserve all those precious memories of a lifetime.

www.ComputerScrapbookTraining.com

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