Create A Unique Photo Book As A Romantic Valentine’s Gift

January 26, 2010

Romance isn’t just about candle-lit dinners and boxes of candy with big bows on top. Real romance lies in the personal touch, in showing how much you love someone with a few heartfelt words just for them, or a unique gift that you’ve really thought about and taken time over. We’ve posted several great ideas for Valentine’s gifts already, including a pink Canon camera and a gorgeous canvas print, but if none of those seem just right for your partner, how about creating a unique photo book, celebrating your personal love story, as a truly memorable gift.

Dig out photos from when you first met and once you’ve finished exclaiming over how young you both look, scan them into your computer (unless of course you met recently enough for them to be digital pics!). Find photos that tell your story and bring back precious memories: the amazing vacation you took together, the first house you bought together, your wedding day, the birth of your children, or whatever milestone moments of your lives that come to mind.

Once you have found and selected your photos, it is easy to make a professional looking photo book by laying out your photos together with some text. Write your own messages or add favorite poems and quotes. You can be imaginative and write up your story in the style of romantic fiction, or just add dates and places as more of a factual record, but be sure to include a message of love at the beginning and end, so that your gift has that essential element of romance. You could even add a secret message by placing a single word on each page amongst the photos which put together make up a 20 word message of love. Or create your own unique way of putting together a photo book, there is no limit to the possibilities.

Photo books tend to have a minimum of 20 pages and a maximum of 80, so you’ll need at least 20 photos but can include many more if you lay out several per page. Allow yourself plenty of time to play with the layout and select photos. The biggest problem you’ll have is keeping it a secret from your partner, as you spend hours leafing through old pictures and exclaiming or sighing over the happy memories they evoke!

Breaking The Rule of Thirds – Part 2

January 25, 2010

In our previous post we discussed some situations where you might want to break the rule of thirds. There is still another reason you may want to think about slightly modifying the rule of thirds as well.

The images produced by today’s digital cameras have simply taken the technology from the 35mm film camera days and used it as a basis for the images the digital camera creates. The problem here is that a 35mm image when blown up will create an 8X12 image and NOT and 8X10 image.

What this means is that you need to be careful when you frame your photographs because 8X12 picture frames are not easy to come by, whereas 8X10 picture frames are. The same is true of photo albums which are mostly formatted to accept 8X10 photographs instead of 8X12 photographs.

You can certainly get photo albums and photo holders that will accommodate the larger images, but they will be more expensive and perhaps more difficult to store on a shelf or in a drawer. I provide a link to get some of these items at my archival photo storage page.

When I know I am taking a photograph that I will later want to use in picture frames around my home I try to make sure I allow some extra space either above the subjects head or below their feet. This way I can trim the 2 inches from the image but still preserve the essence of the photograph for display.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

Breaking The Rule of Thirds

January 24, 2010

Using the rule of thirds comes naturally to some photographers, but for many it takes some time and practice before it becomes second nature. But once it does become second nature you will see an overall improvement in the photographs you take.

You will recall that the purpose of the Rule of Thirds is to think about what the point of interest of the photograph will be, and to place that point of interest along one of the lines or where the lines intersect. In other words, you purposely place what you want your viewer to see first using the rule of thirds as you compose your picture.

Break The Rule

Like all rules, sometimes you need to break it. For example, look at the photo on the right. The photographer has obviously applied the rule of thirds by aligning the subject of the photo along the vertical line in the right hand third of the frame.

The problem here is that the left hand side of the photo is stark white with nothing in it. Therefore, while the subjects draw your eyes to them the blank space to the left is very distracting. In addition the photograph is overexposed.

When To Break The Rules

Some rules are meant to be broken, and ignoring this rule does not mean that your photographs will be uninteresting or unbalanced. On the other hand, a wise photographer I know told me that if you are going to break a rule you better learn the rule well first!

Sometimes placing the subject of your photograph in dead center can make a lot of sense and produce a very powerful image, in particular when you are taking portraits, where the subject of the photo is looking directly into the camera lens.

Another example might be when you are taking a group photo, or you simply want a landscape photo say of your home or farm, then ignore the rule and simply center the image in the frame. In this situation the image will fill the frame and the whole image is the focal point of your shot, not anything specific within the shot.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

The Rule of Thirds

January 23, 2010

As you begin to explore photography you will be confronted with a lot of technical terms which may tend to make you think photography is too difficult and will take more time to become good at than you care to spend. The truth is that spending a little time learning the basics will not only let you get better photographs, but it will bring out creativity in you that you may not realize you had.

The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is also known as the “Golden Rule” of photography and, while not an absolute requirement or necessary, will still help you create more interesting photographs in most cases. The rule of thirds is a rule of thumb arts and designers use when creating their work.

The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into 9 equal parts by placing two equally spaced lines horizontally and vertically through the image, and that the most interesting parts of your composition should be placed along one of these lines or at the intersection of 2 of them.

Help The Viewer Interact With Your Photo

Studies have shown that when someone first views a photograph their eyes will naturally go to one of the intersecting points rather than the center of the shot. In other words, applying the rule of thirds has this natural way of viewing an image instead of working against it.

Notice the two photographs below and observe how the image on the right is more interesting than the image on the left:

Simply Centered

Using the Rule of Thirds

While both children are doing similar things you can easily see that the photograph on the right has more interest to it than the one on the left. The most common kind of photographs taken are similar to the one on the left, however, as you can see simply taking a little time to understand composition and applying the rule of thirds can result in a much more interesting and engaging photograph.

You Want Your Photos To Be Interesting

After all, when friends and relatives come over to visit one of the things most of us do is bring out the photo album or fire up the computer to show them recent images of our family and kids.

We are all waiting to hear those “ohhs and ahhhs” when they look at our photographs. Another benefit of learning a bit more about composition is that we begin to create images that harken us back to that moment in time we snapped the photo, and it helps us record the history of our child or family.

So, the next time you are taking pictures image the grid you see on the left while composing your photo and try and create an image like the one on the right – you will be pleased with the results!

Rule of Thirds Grid

Baby Under A Blanket

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

Valentines Day Is Coming

January 22, 2010

It’s almost upon us – Valentine’s Day. Everywhere I look I see pink and red, hearts and flowers. The candy makers are in full swing with their advertising, and the minds of gals are filled with thoughts of romantic times with their significant others.

Candy and Flowers

The only problem with candy and flowers is once they are gone – their gone! Not only that if you have kids there is always competition for the candy, and if the gift is flowers then you need to take a photo of them before they wilt and die.

Oh, sure, you can take one of the roses, stem and all, and press it into a book while later adding it to your scrapbook. But flowers are biodegradable, and soon enough will wither into dust.

So What To Do?

Well, pink is the theme of the day, so let me suggest a Cannon pink digital camera. Now, before you think it is too expensive, let me show you one you can get for little more than a Benjamin.

Even if you have another camera or two around, this is one that is sure to please. It is about the same size as a deck of playing cards, can slip easily into any shirt pocket, or can be carried by a strap on your wrist.

It produces beautiful images, is easy to use with lots of shooting modes like Auto, Program, Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, ISO 3200, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Digital Macro, Long Shutter and Movie. Yep, that’s right – you can even take movies with this slick little camera.

A Camera For All Occasions

With all of those shooting modes you will always be prepared for any occasion, and it comes with all of these items:

• PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Elph Body
• Lithium-ion Battery Pack;
• Battery Charger;
• Wrist Strap;
• Digital Camera Solution Software CD-ROM For Your Computer;
• USB Interface Cable To Connect To Your Computer;
• AV Cable To Connect To Your TV.

The Right Color

It even comes in the right color!

If you need more information you can check out my review of this camera at Cannon SD1200 IS Camera Review.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

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