I am thrilled to be here at S.E.I. Lifestyle! I have been creating with products from S.E.I. for years.
I am a project person and thrive with a long list of projects to make! Let me introduce you to my corner of the web with a look at some of my favorite projects.
Why I Blog Life-n-Reflection is a challenge each day to look at our lives in reflection. Focusing on the simple things of life allows us to savor small pleasures: a kind face, a soft ray of light, a knowing glance, the budding of a tree, the song of a cheerful bird, and a loving embrace. Through each moment savored we can find gifts of inspiration and serenity. Blogging is an open window for sharing layers of moments captured in photography and inspired projects to bring each seasons gifts into our home.
My Creative Process
The create process is as important to me as the finished product. Burlap, aged postcards, butterflies, floral fabrics, pages torn from romance novels, vintage lace, ink, and die cuts, and are a few of my favorite things to create with. Find more projects in the Life-n-Reflection Project Gallery.
Hello, and welcome back!
I wanted to share some camera tips today for those point and shoot camera owners!
This button and I have become fast friends. The official term is EXPOSURE COMPENSATION BUTTON. The plus setting let's more light in while you take your picture and the minus lets less in.
I really dislike using a flash indoors when it's during the day, and I feel like there is plenty of light in the room!
A while back I read SOMEwhere where someone suggested to use the "P" setting. well I got out my manual (who read those? oh, wait I had too!) and discovered that combined with the "P" setting I could use this for better indoor pictures.
I usually take my pictures on Auto, but with the P setting and playing with the exposure compensation button I have taken more well lit pictures.
I have one other camera tip...
Your flash feature can be your friend when you take those day shots in the shade or when your subjects are facing the sun.
You might be thinking it's in the middle of the day, why would I need a flash? These two pictures are the perfect example:
I really prefer using my flash, it opens up the shot so that you can see her face.
I've been obsessed with photography lately. Truly obsessed. I've even started to edit scenes in my mind when we are just out and about at the grocery store. It's my newest passion. I shared some photos of my daughter and my friend's engagement pictures over at Que Linda a while ago. Also, I recently took a picture of my friend's sweet baby~
I'm a sponge when it comes to photography tutorials and I want to share some great sites that might help you too.
The Digital Photography School has a forum and hundreds of tutorials for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom and more. It's a great place to start if you have a DSLR camera or are looking to buy one.
Polished Picture has Photoshop tutorials and free actions that make editing so much easier.
The Coffee Shop is a great resource for digital scrap booking as well as photo tutorials.
Paint the Moon is my all time favorite sites- perhaps because it's the first one I was introduced to when we got our camera. I love her style too.
There is also photo editing software out there that is free. I've heard that Gimp is great and there's also Photoscape.
Do you use any sites or software that I didn't mention?
Wedding season is here again! … and family vacation season, and take cute photos of your family season. Many of my friends have recently been asking how they can better control the images they are taking. They have ideas of images in their mind, but when they take the image it doesn’t seem to translate like they had hoped. It seems everyone is trying to take better photos during this season of fun. While I can’t share everything I know in this post, hopefully I can get the juices flowing and inspire everyone to go take photos.
This instruction won’t really work if you have a point and shoot camera that operates only on automatic, but it will still be useful because you can better communicate the image you want to a professional photographer.
With manual cameras you can control the ISO or ASA, the shutter speed, and the aperture or f/stops. I want to focus more on the aperture. F/stops can be tricky, but they don’t have to be. Basically like your eye the aperture lets light in. The larger the opening, the more light that is let in. For a bright day you want to limit the amount of light that is captured to avoid an image of pure white; and vice versa for a night or an overcast day. To know what the lens opening looks like for each f-stop here is a diagram.
Those f/stops aren't just for controlling your exposure. If you want an image where everything in the frame of the image is in focus you will want to use f/16.
If you are taking a photo of your child and want your child to be the only thing in focus with the background objects all out of focus you will want to use an f-stop somewhere between f/4- f/1.8. This is also a good way to compose your image. Sometimes the objects in the front can be the ones in focus; while other times the objects in the background can be the ones in focus. Now, go out and create those photos.
Leave a comment to enter the giveaway for a club SEI June kit. For up to 4 extra entries, leave a comment each day this week.
Hi there everyone! Let's get this week started with a photo tip.
Sometimes you just can't control your background (or your subjects!). A few weeks ago we took our little family on a trip to Florida. We love visiting Old Town at least a few times while we're there. While we were there my littlest decided to pick up some bird seed from the ground and feed the birds. Now, if you're the mother of a little boy you'll understand that they don't sit still long. So I knew I had to take the opportunity while he was sitting still to take a photo. The problem was that I didn't have a say in where he stopped. The background was less than ideal. If I would have taken the shot as is I would've been left with a lovely view of the parking lot. Not cute.
There was no way I was going to ask him to move... he'd never sit still again! So I had to move. A simple change in perspective and you can get a shot like this...
I simply stood over him and let the sidewalk be my background instead. Much less distracting.
So next time you're taking photos, try moving yourself instead of your subject! Marcy
I get so many questions each week about my photography, so I thought I would try and fit a bit of everything into one post......a little crash course. I am so lucky to be able to do what I love, and hope I can share some good basic information with you!
Equipment: I shoot with the Canon 5d Mark II. My favorite lens right now is the 35 mm f 1.4. I LOVE my setup! But I also shoot several weddings and portrait sessions each year--so this camera is perfect for me. There are some amazing (and more affordable!) choices out there for every different level.
I highly recommend the Canon XTi. It is such a good little camera, and a great way to explore the world of DSLRs. It's an older model, which makes it very affordable if you are in the market for a good beginner camera. The next upgrade would be the newer rebel, the T2i. A great camera + it shoots HD video! I LOVE having my camera and video all in one!
I say start with a more affordable camera, and work on getting nicer lenses. If you are new to DSLR cameras, you will love the kit lens that your camera comes with. When you are ready to branch out a bit more, I think the Canon 50mm 1.8 is a great little lens, with an awesome $80 pricetag!
Processing: I use Lightroom and Photoshop CS3. I am NOT a photoshop whiz by any means....I just like a little tweak here and there. I think my best advice for processing would just be to STOP! really. There is such a thing as too much, and I think it's so important not to get too caught up in processing fads (over-saturation, crazy sharpened eyes, fake plastic skin....and on and on).
Actions: I do use actions....kinda. Over the years I've played around with various free actions I've found--and sets I've purchased. I've loved a few of them, but found a good portion of them that I've never used. I'm now down to a small handful that I use just to speed up my work flow....and they are actions I've created on my own! I'm going to show you how to make a very simple action!
When shooting children (does that sound right?): Let kids be themselves. Ask them how they want their picture taken. Have them make silly faces for you. Make sure you're both having fun! If you need a good giggle, just say "who tooted!?".....it works like a charm!! (on some adults too:)
This picture was shot in late morning, in open shade. ISO 200, 35mm, f/1.4, 1/1000 sec. I shoot in RAW, which leaves my images a bit on the dull side--it just needs a little pop.....so let's make an action! On the right-hand side, in your action window, at the bottom you'll see a little post-it-note looking button. This will start recording your new action. Click it, and name your action (I just named it "My Action" for this tutorial, because I am creative like that)
To brighten the brights, and darken the darks, we're going to give it just a teeny little "S" shaped curve layer. (layers button, curves) Curves is a powerful tool--play around with it a lot to get different results.
Color varies from camera to camera, and for my my camera's color is just a little too saturated for my liking . I create a new hue/saturation layer, and take down the saturation just a bit.
That's it! My photo is done! Push the "stop" button at the bottom of the actions window to stop recording. Flatten the layers of your image (layer, flatten image). Open up another image, and test out your new action by pressing the "play" button.
You can create actions for small tweaks, black and whites, or resizing your images!
And just keep practicing. Take pictures of EVERYTHING. Try out what I did for yesterdays post--look around for the pretty things in your day-to-day life, and photograph them. Have fun!
I love blogs....don't you? I have been blogging now for over three years, and I feel as though it just keeps getting better! But how easy is it to get sucked into someone's blog....all the highlights of their life laid out so nicely, and wish that pieces of it were yours? Other's lives look so beautiful up on your computer screen.....don't they? I think it's so important that we all look for the little things that make our own lives so interesting each day. And I do mean little, teeny tiny things. I have two little ones at home and there are days were we just stay home. No big adventures. No grand excursions. But there are still little things that mean so much to me, and I try every day to look for them.
I promise that if you adjust your eyes a bit, there are pretty little things all around us, if we only remember to look.
If you could only describe summer through photographs, what would they be? Watermelon? A pool party? The beach? Here's a few of my favorite photos from this summer, as seen through the view finder of my cute little 1950's camera!
These are all true ttv photos. Through the Viewfinder photography (TtV) is defined as taking a picture of any subject "through the viewfinder" of any camera with another camera. I love the results I get, a digital image with the look of a vintage photo. I use an Anscoflex and sometimes a Duraflex camera. It's definitely become one of my favorite hobbies!!
I have a little motto I stick to when I create pages – the pictures are the focus! I know most of us aren’t professional photographers and our pictures don’t always look perfect, but I believe cropping and some small effects will help your ordinary photos look top notch!
1. Cropping can do wonders to an average photo. First you need to decide what you want in the photo. Most the time you are going to zoom way in – there always seems to be a lot of empty space. Do you want a horizontal or vertical photo? Get creative.
2. Brightness/Contrast Most photos need some brightening and I like to use extra contrast. Do this by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and then adjust to your liking.
3. Effects Lets look at some basic effects to ensure that your photo tells a story. Here are three different simple effects and the directions for using Photoshop (there are much more complicated ways of adjusting color in Photoshop, but I wanted to just stick with a couple easy ones). • SEPIA FILTER – this does not necessarily change the color of your photo to shades of brown and tan, it just gives your photo an older, dreamy sort of feel. Go to Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter choose sepia filter and play with the density (I used 49% density on this photo). • ENHANCE COLOR – this brightens all the colors in the photo and gives a more intense feel. Go to Image > Adjustments > Selective Color, here you should choose the colors in your photo from the drop down list and adjust each line to get a bold effect. • BLACK & WHITE – I love black and white photos - they have such a timeless look and feel. The key to making B&W photos look amazing is to play with the color contrast. In this case you will change your photo to B&W before you change the brightness and contrast. Go to Image > Adjustments > Black & White, then use your brightness/contrast tool generously.
I'm not a professional photographer, but I do like to take pictures! Every once and a while, I can think of a creative way to take a picture on my own, but most of the time I'm inspired by photographers on the internet, books and magazines. Whenever I see a photo that I like, I keep it. I like the everyday photos, but I really like photos that are interesting to look at even when you don't know the person.
These photographs are part of a book I'm working on about my baby's first year. The idea is to capture moments and details of her life in a more artistic sort of way. I've been taking photos of her clothes, her favorite toys, the nursery, special events and her of course! I've been posting my ideas for her book on my blog. See them here.
* inspired by Flora and Henri When my photos need a little boost, I edit them. I know... I'm a cheater! Like I said, I'm not a pro. If you don't have Photoshop, there are some really great online photo editing sites. My favorite is Picnik. It's very simple to use and it can make any photo look great!
DIY Clipboards •
Faux Polaroids Page •
Country Hybrid Scrapbook Page
