Create Your Own Masterpiece With A Photo Printed On Canvas
July 21, 2009
Picture this – you’ve just been taking photos of your kids on a beautiful, sunny evening and you’ve managed to capture the perfect shot of their happy smiles beaming in the golden light. This is a photo that deserves more than just sticking into the photo album. You want to frame this one and put it on your wall to preserve that moment forever. Why not make the most of this photo and have it printed on canvas!
Printing a photo on to canvas is a technique that is now widely available. Your digital photo is printed onto a canvas background and is given the texture, depth of color and feeling of a real masterpiece. Museum quality canvas ensures that these prints will last for many years to come without fading or deteriorating.
Most digital cameras now produce images of good enough quality to make really quite large prints. Think of creating a larger than life portrait of your child smiling down from the wall at you. With canvas you really don’t need to stay small, in fact you are really creating a piece of personal art that you can use as a focal point of your room.
Once you’ve had one photo put onto canvas, you’re bound to want to create your own family portrait gallery, so stunning is the effect. With the modern look of the gallery wrap finish, where the image is wrapped around the edge of the canvas stretcher, there is no need for the distraction of a frame, so you get the full force of the image. Another advantage of canvas prints is that there is no need of glass to protect the image, so the image is clear and vibrant without being disturbed by the reflections of glass.
Canvas prints are also relatively light, without the weight of a heavy wooden frame and glass. This means that it is easy to mount a whole series of canvas prints on a wall. You can have them printed all of equal size and hang them in a row, or make them of all different shapes and sizes and hang them to create a mosaic effect, all close together in a block.
Canvas prints really do bring a whole new dimension to your photography, making your pictures look really professional, so that you can enjoy your best photos of your kids everyday and keep your memories of those gorgeous toddlers alive… even once they become teenagers and are begging you to take those embarrassingly cute pictures down!
Child Photographer
The Perfect Child Photography Contest Is All About The Photo.
July 20, 2009
Have you ever looked into a child photography contest, only to be turned off by the thought of pitting your child’s adorable smile against another’s? If you look past the very first pop up of your web search you will come across cute baby contests that agree all babies are beautiful. The real entrant in the contest is you and it is your photography skills and creativity that are judged.
Because of the lure of prizes and parental pride contests to find the cutest children for advertisements are flooded with photos. I have entered more than one and while there is no doubt that my son is beautiful, for some reason he has yet to win. While I scouted out even more contests to enter his winning smile in I came upon ones that are all about the photos.
I’m sure that you have caught your child in some adorable moment, peeking around the corner, or wearing a beard of bubbles in the bath. You look at the photo and you see the perfect image. If you have staged the perfect picture, or more impressively, caught it by chance, then you should enter in one of these photo contests.
With judges that range from professionals to your peers, even offering you a vote, there is much to be had. Not only can you rise to the photography challenge, but you can look around and be inspired by other people’s clever ideas and poses. I often peruse other’s photos and find shots that I am eager to duplicate and make my own.
When Anne Geddes’ work first debuted, I was one of millions popping their own little ones into flower pots and firing off dozens of pictures. This past Christmas I photographed my son in a drywall bucket, in a t-shirt with the family’s logo on it. My father and grandfather, the heads of the business, were thrilled with the quick spin on an old pose. My father dubbed the photo his “Little Legacy” and taped a copy to his clipboard to show off when he gives estimates.
While I am a fan of beautiful baby contests, entering my son with the conviction that he will one day be on the cover of one of my parenting magazines, I find a certain satisfaction in the photo contests. I take pride in overcoming shutter lag to get the perfect shot of my son popping out of the water at the pool. I am thrilled when I choose just the right ISO to capture a low light photo of my baby sleeping without it being overcome with graininess. The contests appeal to all my photographic sensibilities, give them a peek and they will be calling you too.
A Mom’s Best Tool Is Sharing Photos Online.
July 17, 2009
It is no secret that motherhood requires you to use every trick in your bag and come up with new ones on a daily basis just to keep up. That is especially true for mothers like myself who’s family is too far away to lend a hand. That being the case there are just two things that I can’t life without; unlimited minutes on my cell phone and sharing photos online.
I want my family to be able to see my son grow up, as they are able to do with his cousins who live in the same town. I also take more pictures of my little one daily than most people take in a week. Relying on postal service is both costly and slow; uploading your photos onto the internet is really the only way to go.
There are so many benefits to sharing your photos online; I can’t believe I only started doing it this year. I had associated it with teens and myspace and never really looked into it. However, most of the websites that you upload your pictures to let you order prints and other products.
The one I use even retains my address book so I can share pictures with everyone or just two or three people with only a few seconds of clicking. There is even an automatically formatted invitation from my account to view the photos which saves me tons of time. Not only can I use it to order prints, but so can everyone else I share them with.
I can’t even tell you how much I used to spend on doubles and triples just so I would have enough to give away. Now everyone picks out what they want and does whatever they want with them. My cousin stores them on her iPhone while my mother is constantly ordering 8×10s. One of the nicest things is that they can send me comments as soon as they see them and I can pretend we are all hanging out together chatting about our kids instead of spread across the country.
There are more technical advantages too. The photos you upload are stored on the websites server, so you can access them from anywhere. It is the perfect place to store your precious memories in case of fire or other destruction. My cousin who is studying to be a professional photographer uses the sites to get critiques on her photo skills from family and peers.
Whether you are a professional photographer or a time pressed mom, photo sharing websites are ideal for you. It doesn’t matter if you scan in a print or start with a digital image, as long as you know how to store your pictures as a jpeg you are good to go. If you don’t, Adobe Photo shop can do it for you. Either way you can simplify your life and start uploading now.
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Already Put Your Photos On Canvas? Here’s How To Make The Perfect Display.
July 16, 2009
Now that your photos are on canvas how do you give them the attention that they deserve? The answer is in your display. If you really want to make your artwork pop the wall that you hang them on is almost as important as the giclee.
Contrasting colors make the boldest statements. Finding the right shade is as easy as getting a color wheel. You can get them at the art store or just grab one online. The exact opposite color is straight across the circle from the one on your canvas. To turn your intended wall into an eye catching gallery simply paint it in the contrasting color to provide a stunning background.
It may be simpler to reverse engineer the process and choose photos for your canvases that contrast the existing wall color. Choose a number of your favorite photos and using some paint safe tape, design your ideal layout, then send the winning pictures in to be printed on canvas.
When I was pregnant with my son my nesting instinct turned into the pressing need to paint my son’s room perfectly. My goal was dappled sunlight, and after half a dozen shades of yellow and a week with a sponge I succeeded. While playing with my Photoshop software in my son’s first weeks home I made a collage of animals that I had photographed at the zoo. I laid his name over it and played with colors. A deep almost purple blue declared the room as his and I converted it to canvas for hanging by his door.
It doesn’t take a maternal instinct to desire beauty from your home. Whether you want to be surrounded by canvases of your child’s multitude of expressions or some other happy memories, there is no sense in hanging them on the wall if they are just going to fade into it. Nor do you have to paint the whole room if one wall will do.
Accent walls are very popular now. You can jump onto this trend and make it your own with distinctive canvases arranged on a single wall of bold contrasting color. If you are looking to spice up your home in a fun way let a color wheel lead you to the perfect shade of paint to bring out the best in your canvases. Make your memories stand out on your wall like they do in your mind.
Use A Digital Photo To Give The Light Of Your Life The Ultimate In Personalized Gifts.
July 15, 2009
A light in the dark represents so much. To a child it is protection from the monsters under the bed. To a sailor it is a safe guide through the night. Through new technology it can now be a glowing tribute to a memory that you hold dear. If you are looking for top of the line personalized gifts, send your digital photo to be carved into a beautiful light.
Being a proud mother with more pictures of my adorable son than I know what to do with I am constantly searching for unique photo gifts. When I ran across the process of illuminating photos I was instantly intrigued.
They take your photo and carve it into a translucent material. It has all the simple elegance of a black and white photo, the variance in thickness of the material creating the gradient of the photo’s tones. When you light it from behind it makes your precious memory glow with an ethereal beauty. They even give you an option of frames to compliment the light or just make it match your home.
Even if I didn’t have a child, my home would have a variety of nightlights for safety and solace. Add a baby and guaranteed late night wakeups and they are an absolute necessity. These beautiful works of art shame the glowing frog in my bathroom outlet. While their uncomplicated beauty would compliment any home, they could easily reside in a church.
I am a fan of cathedrals like Norte Dame with their spires and stained glass and that is not an endorsement I give lightly. It need not even be night to view these lovely displays, although they do shine through the darkness like a beacon of hope promising sweet dreams and happy memories.
These delightful pieces belong on a mantel; don’t let their function hide them in a dark hallway. For such elegance the prices are unbelievably reasonable. You can easily afford to both display the artwork with your other precious photos and light your bathroom.
Whether it is your wedding day, your child’s first smile, or the first time your mother held you, the memory will be illuminated fantastically. If you have a photo that shows the light of your life, that makes you glow every time you glance at it, then that picture has a higher calling. Let the light shine through and illuminate your happy memories.
Firsts
July 14, 2009
Aiden's First Oreo
I am an absolute fanatic when it comes to capturing memories of my son’s firsts, probably because he is my first. Some things are easy to catch, the ones you know are coming, like his first haircut, others really require you to stay on your toes. If you don’t have a camera on you, or at least know exactly where it is, you are bound to miss something. For me each moment is important whether it is his very first laugh or just his first Oreo. It is more than filling his baby book it is celebrating his life.
Aiden, my son, is my little miracle. Every day is filled with surprises as he discovers and grows into the world around him. For me, photographing him is not just to capture the moment, but to be a part of it. I was taking pictures of my life long before Aiden was born, however, photos of his life capture so much more than mountains and waterfalls. I love to catch those moments that change who he is forever, those first moments.
I keep a camera handy just about all the time, and I am proud to say that I have captured most of my son’s elusive firsts. In fact, I nearly fell down the stairs running for the video camera, but I got his first laugh on tape while my husband continued to entertain him. To be able to look back at his first smile, his first step, and to remember that I was witness to such wonders is one of the many perks of motherhood.
Even the photos that you can foresee are not as easy to get as you would think. It took hundreds of tries to get Aiden to open his mouth so that I could get a photo of my son’s first tooth. I finally captured it after teaching him how to click his tongue. Sometimes you have to be crafty and sometimes you have to be quick to catch those first moments. And sometimes, like my husband said as Aiden grinned over his first French fry with me camera-less, you will have catch it the next time.
Mom & Aiden
Baby Shoes
July 13, 2009
In the last year my son, Aiden, has received and outgrown whole catalogs full of baby gear. Tons of it he barely used once before it was stored or made its way to another home. While I am far more sentimental regarding items that Aiden treats as special, I still can’t help but want to hang on to all these adorable things. Of course without renting storage space, keeping everything is just not a possibility.
When I have time, I absolutely love to scrapbook. Before Aiden I would go to the craft store just to peruse the beautiful paper and accessories. My sentimentality became mother of invention as I realized what a fitting tribute I could give these baby items before their send off. I photographed them and used them as background paper for photographs of my son.
I started with the baby shoes. I love baby shoes, but since babies don’t really need shoes until they are ready to walk, they get very little use. In fact, Aiden just this week got the very first pair for walking outside. At a very tall eleven months old, he is now a size five shoe, which leaves a dozen pairs of adorable footwear in his closet that he has outgrown without even setting a toe in them.
True to my nature I shot dozens of photos of him exploring the world in his new shoes, and exploring the shoes themselves. Catching his excitement at the sound of Velcro was priceless. Then I tossed the rest of his shoes on the floor, Aiden helped me artfully rearrange them as I photographed both him and his pile of shoes. Needless to say we both had a lot of fun with the project.
The resulting display was just as adorable; I washed out the background with software so it wouldn’t overpower the pictures, and I used photo cutouts of the shoes to cover the corner tabs. Even better, I did it all on my computer, saving me a trip to the store. If there is something adorable that you want to remember for years to come, photos take up a lot less space, and are a lot more fun than a closet full of baby shoes.
Its Later Than You Think
July 12, 2009
Three months ago, I lost my father. Since I am the oldest of five children who were all raised on a working family dairy farm in Williamston, Michigan, I can’t remember a time that he was not there for me; until now. For the last few years my dad has been in poor health, and would not let me take his picture. Needless to say, as I look through my digital pictures, there just aren’t many at all.
I did have one dream, and that was to photograph him with his great grand children, Josiah and Jennifer, while he was sitting in his lazy boy chair and holding a model of a John Deere tractor. It would have required a minimum of set-up because I would need to use two flashes on two tripods, one to bounce the light off the ceiling, and the other to fill in any shadows, but I could have set that up ahead of time. I was looking to capture that quiet affection between my dad and his young great grand children. It never happened. The real sadness that comes to me is because I have been able to do this scene for other people. I do hope that someday they understand some of the real value of those portraits.
So I started to dig deeper looking for pictures of my father, and turned to the 8 mm movies that had no sound. Keep in mind that the roll of film for each segment was only 3 minutes long so you had to really think about what you wanted to put on that roll. I came across my own children playing in the large above ground oval pool at my parent’s home. And wouldn’t you know it, I had concentrated on getting the picture of my boys, and missed including my father who had come over to help one of them out. All you can see is dad’s arm with his watch and wedding ring on. Foolish me, I thought! I sure wasn’t thinking of framing the whole picture.
Today we have so much more to work with in the way of getting our pictures, and being able to share and treasure them, all at a fraction of the cost that it used to be. But I fear that for many of us we are going to end up with little more than most people did fifty years ago! Why? Mostly because we are lazy, and take a lot for granted; we don’t want to do that extra little bit of work that makes all the difference!
However, I do want to share something of the past with my father with you. It is a picture that I took of him and my little brother when I was just a teenager with my first little camera purchased with babysitting money that I had carefully saved.
My Father on his John Deere 730 Diesel
So the next time you are with your parents think about the fact they will not always be there for you, and seize the moment to capture photographs that will last for generations.
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
Why I Took Photographs Of My Children
July 11, 2009
When I was a young girl growing up on a dairy farm I experienced an awful lot of life. I was the oldest of five with two sisters and two brothers, and living on a working farm meant that we were always working. Whether that meant milking cows, running a tractor or doing our school homework, our lives were full.
And the time went by so quickly. My father taught each of us how to run farm machinery as soon as we were big enough to reach the controls, and safety was always an issue. Until we could prove to him we understood the dangers of the equipment we were not allowed to operate that equipment.
I suppose that is why I have always been interested in mechanical things, and why a number of my siblings grew up to be engineers, captain large ships in the U.S. Navy and why I fly airplanes.
But early on I became fascinated with cameras. My first camera, purchased with baby sitting money, was a Kodak Starmite and I had plenty of things to photograph. My favorite subjects were my younger siblings and the farm, and so I collected a ton of photographs over the years.
Today as a grandmother I look back and realize how lucky I was to have taken an interest in photography early on. It is amazing to me how quickly time has gone by, and my own children are having children of their own and are now all in their 30s!
When we are young we think we are going to live forever, and that we have all kinds of time to accomplish the myriad of things we have planned for our lives. When you reach my age you realize that you ran out of time, and much of what you planned to do simply went by the wayside.
Which is what I would like to talk about today.
Modern cameras come in all shapes and sizes, and have capabilities I never even dreamed of when I got that first Kodak Starmite. As I look through my aging and fading prints from years ago I realize how lucky we are to have all of the technology available today.
But technology is only useful if we use it. Young families today need to slow down and take time to realize that those “firsts” that your children do will only happen once. That’s why they are called “firsts”. And if you don’t prepare yourself to photograph them when they happen you will never have a record of those “firsts”.
And all of those activities that fill our young lives as our children’s lives accelerate from birth to college graduation provide opportunities for us to record each special event as they happen. But why would we care if we photograph our children at each of these events? Who will ever care enough to take the time and look at those old photographs of our kids?
Well, one of the reasons why it is important to photograph our children is that they change so much over the years. The little toe headed boy turns into a strong dark haired man working on DC 8s and flying all over the world. That petite little girl has grown up and is having her own children now.
And then the grandchildren start coming around, and they are filled with curiosity just like we were at that age, and like our children were at that age, and they want to “know” about their parents, their grand parents and their history.
I am sure all of us have seen those ads on tv about family tree history; I think the website is www.ancestry.com. We have friends who are researching their family history, even traveling to foreign lands to research where their ancestors came from and what records of those ancestors remain.
So the answers to why photograph your children are all around you. They are your children, your parents, your grandparents and your extended family. Don’t put it off, take the time to learn how to photograph your children and take lots and lots of photographs of your children as often as you can.
Believe me when I tell you that you will be glad you did. One of the advantages of becoming a grandmother is the perspective on life you have. It is only after time has passed that you realize how much you wish you had recorded those special events in our children’s lives.
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
Breaking In The New Camera
July 10, 2009
My husband, Josh, finally decided what he wanted to get with his birthday money; a new camera. Unlike me, a huge fan of the wish list feature on my favorite websites, Josh likes to browse and research while his gift money burns a hole in his pocket. After hitting countless consumer rating websites and conferring with friends he came away with a Canon SD1100 IS which is a very nice digital point and shoot.
He was so excited when he finally got it that I had to drive home so that he could get into the box as soon as we left the store. In minutes he had the battery and memory card in and was browsing the menu and the manual at the same time. All the while he was pegging me with questions that usually ended with “Does your camera do this?”
We are both enamored of the face detection feature. My fridge is covered with baby pictures and when you point the camera in that direction at least ten little boxes pop up over all the faces and secure their clarity. We all migrated up to my son’s room to give the camera a proper trial run. As photo after photo of our little boy popped up on the screen he oohed and ahhed over everything from the vivid color display to the clarity of Aiden’s smile as we raced past on a push toy.
It is really adorable when my husband gets a new toy, his excitement just bubbles up like a child. He even stayed up late take pictures of the neighbor’s fireworks. The next day we set out for Longwood Gardens so he could test out the other features, like the macro setting. But by the end of the day, just like me, he had more pictures of our son than anything else.
Whether you are trying out a camera for the first time or you just remembered that you have one, take a day and experiment with it and your favorite subject. With a child in front of you every shot can be special and amazing and it’s a fun way to bond. You even have the photos as souvenirs.
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