Make a Photo Book and Share Your Pictures Online
December 31, 2009
Looking back over the year that has gone by, I’m sure you have many memories of milestones in your children’s lives, and in your own. You probably have photos of many of those special times, but have you put them into an album yet, to share with the whole family, so that the year is documented before it fades from your memory? If sticking prints into a traditional album seems too much like hard work, why not create an album, and share your pictures at the same time, online.
Sharing pictures online is free with many photo-sharing sites as long as you place one order per year with them. This could be for some straightforward prints, or for a complete photo book – a printed album that you have laid out yourself, with text and captions and whatever else you want to include. The theme and layout is up to you. All you have to do is to upload your photos to the site and work with them within the photo book interface.
The great thing about making photo books online is that you can see how your photos look together without having to print them out first. You can look at alternative page layouts, change your mind, replace a picture and play with all your favorite pictures for as long as you like until you have your book just right, before you have it printed. Some pages can have just one full-size photo taking up the whole page, others can have a selection of small thumbnails, so it is easy to put together a varied and interesting album to tell the story of your year,
Even better you can e-mail an invitation to selected friends and family to view your photo book online, so they can look through your photos easily and if they want to they can order themselves a printed copy. The photo books are printed on good quality paper, just like a glossy coffee table book, so look really professional too.
If it is taking you too long to put together your photo book, you can always invite your friends and family to look through your photos anyway by sharing your online album with them via e-mail. And as long as you order a few prints once a year, your photos can stay securely stored on the site until you next have time to work on your photo book.
Mum and Photographer
Fun Photo Gifts
December 30, 2009
Are you looking for a Photo Gift that is different? I was shopping for a present for my Mother-in-Law, when I remembered that she had said that she does not have pictures of my sons. Since she lives in another state, I email her pictures to keep up with my sons’ lives. She is not the type of person to print the pictures or upload them to a photo site. I thought a photo gift that shows my sons’ past year would be an excellent idea. I came across a variety of gifts that are fun and useful at the same time.
Home and Office
Looking for a photo gift that is portable? You do not have to settle for a commuter mug; create a skin for a cell phone, camera, PDA, MP3 player, or laptop. This is one way to personalize your electronic device. The stationary department has a large selection to choose from, expand your mind from the photo holiday cards. Use personalized note cards, postcards, stamps, stickers, note pads and notebooks with your favorite photos. Do you want to give a gift that will help organize the office? Purchase a clipboard, desk organizer, clock or mouse pad that has the photo of your choice incorporated in the design. Placemats, trivets, aprons, serving trays, coasters and cutting boards with photos make perfect gifts for people who love to entertain in their home. Blankets, digital photo frames, plaques, photo posters, and photos on canvas are a wonderful way to decorate your home.
Personal Gifts
Ladies always enjoy receiving jewelry; make hers extra special with a photo displayed in the jewelry. Your favorite photos can be placed on t-shirts, boxers, ties and scarves ready to be given as a gift to be remembered. Photo puzzles and playing cards are fabulous gifts for all ages to receive. Most young children enjoy seeing themselves in pictures or their names mentioned in stories. Imagine their delight when there is a whole book with their picture as the main character. This will quickly become their favorite book and one you will treasure for years to come. Are pets a considerable part of the family? You can personalize their collar, leash or food bowl with a picture of themselves or you.
Several of the gifts I mentioned below allow for multiple pictures to be placed on the gift. Some offer the ability for your picture to be placed in a tile design, so the same picture is displayed multiple times on the gift. Since there are so many items that your photos can be placed on, you should have no trouble finding a very personalized gift for everyone on your list.
Top Tips for Buying a Digital SLR Camera
December 29, 2009
What style of photographer are you? When you come up with the answer it help determine what you are looking for in a camera. If you would like to have more control over your pictures, then a buying a digital SLR camera is right for you. D-SLR stands for digital single lens reflex it uses a mirror behind the lens to direct the light to the viewfinder when you are taking pictures. Now that you have decided to buy a d-SLR camera, what do you need to consider when comparing cameras?
Features
Digital SLR cameras have a variety of features to offer, but you do not have to have a camera with all the features to have fabulous pictures. One item you hear a lot about is mega pixel. Mega pixels are the amount of data captured by the camera’s sensor; this does not measure the quality of the picture. Image quality needs to be addressed when discussing mega pixels, because the larger number of mega pixels does not always mean it is better. Most digital cameras will produce the quality and sharpness that the general public would be satisfied with when printing the most common size photos. Do you plan to take action or sports photos? You will want to take continuous shots so look into how many frames per seconds. The greater the number of frames per second the more pictures you will able to take in a small amount of time. Make sure the camera or the lens have image stabilization to help prevent blurry pictures from what is called camera shakes. In low light situations your lens is open longer to capture more light, this allows more time for the camera to be moved causing blurred pictures. Some cameras now offer the ability to shoot video; I personally would not use this option, so this would not be a determining influence in my purchase. I would review the software included with my camera for editing photos.
Regardless of how you answered the above questions, one tip still remains stick to your budget. Your budget needs to take into account the camera body, lens, batteries, memory card, camera bag, and if your budget allows a tripod. Depending on how you will use your camera, an extra set of batteries could come in handy since digital cameras drain batteries. Make sure the camera fits nicely in your hand and the buttons are easy for you to navigate. If you are uncomfortable with your camera, the less likely you will use it.
Buy A Leather Album For Safe Print Photo Storage
December 29, 2009
So Christmas is over for another year and you’re probably still clearing up tinsel and wrapping paper and feeling rather flat after all the rush of the holidays. Why not use this time to take stock of all your photographs. Download everything that you took over Christmas, select the ones you’d like to print, dig out all the prints from the year and start putting together a print photo album, for the safest possible photo storage, before the New Year is upon us.
Keeping prints in a traditional photo album is by far the best way of making sure they are protected, easy to view and accessible to everyone. You can leaf through the pages with your kids, remembering wonderful vacations, fun family moments, memories of when they were younger. If you take the trouble to source archival quality photo albums with acid free pages, your photos will be securely stored for many years to come, so that the albums you have lovingly created will document the family history for the generations to come.
At this time of year you can get some real bargains when it comes to buying yourself some really good albums to store your prints in. The sales have started online as well as in the shops and in particular Exposures have some great deals on their leather albums and photo sleeves.
Treat yourself to a gorgeous Italian leather album that at 14” square is large enough to fit your biggest prints with pages protected by interleaved tissue and which is currently less than half price. Or finally buy that baby album that you always meant to make before your baby turns into a toddler and all those precious moments fade from your memory. Because babies do grow and memories do fade, unless they are captured on camera and immortalized in an album that you can leaf through every so often to refresh your memory.
Don’t worry about creative scrap-booking unless you love that sort of thing. Just buy archive quality print sleeves of the right size for your album and prints and slip each print in. Or buy plain pages and an acid free photo adhesive to attach the photos to the page with a simple layout. Label them with a special acid free pen and you will have an album of memories that will last your forever and bring joy to your children when they are grown too.
Mum and Photographer
Great American Baby Photo Contest
December 23, 2009
Do you have the cutest baby in America? Now is your chance to find out on the Great American Baby Photo Contest website. This is a fun, free way to share your baby’s picture or to look at other cute babies in America. The website launched in 2006 by a father who loves taking pictures of his two girls. In the spirit of friendly competition contestants are voted on by the public which has logged into the website. The contestant with the most votes will win $2,500.00.
How to Enter
So you are ready to show America that your baby is the cutest? First you need to create an account so you can log into the website. You will need to confirm your email address to have an account. The website states that this is to help prevent fraud in the voting process. The account is free and you need one if you are entering the contest or even to vote. Once you are log in you can upload up to 6 photos of your child but remember each photo is voted on separately. Your child must be between the ages of 0-48 months old to qualify for the contest. Only the parent or legal guardian who is over the age of 18 can submit photos of the child. The contest administrators do review each photo before allowing it to be posted for viewing. You must own the photo or have the rights to use the photo. The photo cannot be altered or you will be disqualified. Once your photo is approved, they will post your photo as a finalist for the month. You can a link to email family and friends that you have entered the contest so they can vote. A voter must be over the age of 18, a US resident and in a state that is allowed by law. Each contest is one month long as long as they receive 2,500 entries. If they do not receive enough entries they will roll those pictures into the next month’s contest but everyone’s prior votes are deleted for the new contest. You can vote once a day for your favorite photo. Are you wondering how they can afford to give away $2,500 per contest? They have sponsors that offer the money for the contest in exchange for advertising on the website. You are under no obligation to complete the offers by these companies. If there is a tie the prize money will be split among the winners.
Make sure to check out this contest and all the rules. This is an easy way to enter your child in a beauty contest without all the fuss.
