Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to wish all my TTT peeps a Happy Halloween. Make sure to get those cameras out and ready to take some great Halloween photos. Here are a few ideas of fun photos you can take today!

Photo prompt ideas:

• If your child is wearing Halloween attire to school snap a picture of them before they leave
• A fun Halloween lunch
• Pics of attendants and decorations at Halloween parties
• Class parties at school; make sure to include the teacher
• Make a Halloween snack and take pictures of you and your children baking it and the finished project. Ideas; popcorn balls, pumpkin muffins, candy apples, apple crisp, spiced nuts, cupcakes,etc.
  
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• Take pictures of your children in their costumes outside before it gets dark (this will ensure some great crisp shots before the trick or treating begins)
• Bowls of trick or treating candy
• Jack o lanterns all lit up, (use your night mode for this/ no flash)
• Inside your childs trick or treat bag to see all the loot they got
• Trick or treating (you will need to take alot since it will be dark and lots of movement. Keep shooting and hopefully you will get a few good ones.)
• Halloween traditions to you and your family.
  
• Decorations around your house and neighborhood.

All these photos will be great to use with your new October Kit!

An easy way to fix or enhance your photos: Picnik

by Nathalie

Are you PSE or Photoshop illiterate, like I pretty much am? Well, there's an easy way to edit, fix and just have fun with your photos online: the answer is Picnik! I used this great online photo editor for the first time today and it is super easy! I love the fact that you do not have to register (that's amazing nowadays!) and you do not even have to upload your photos if you already have them in photobucket, flickr or even facebook. Best of all it is FREE.
I will explain how I did it from Flickr:
Once you have chosen a photo to edit from your photostream, go to the "Action" tab on the top left corner of your photo and chose "edit photo in Picnik", your photo will automatically open into the Picnik photo editing mode. There you can do a ton of editing: crop, resize, work on the exposure, colors, sharpening...

Here's my not so great photo before:

and after simple editing:

Mmmh, it's okay but we can do better. On to the "Create" mode! When you have your photo open in Picnik, go to the "Create" tab which is on top of the frame. There you will find tons of different options: look on top under "Featured", "Effects", "Text", "Stickers", "Frames", and more... under each of those tabs you have different things to try. It is very easy to undo/redo with the buttons on the upper right corner and when you like what you see, simply click "Save" and it will automatically save your photo into your Flickr photostream!
I found this to be very user friendly and with limitless possibilities!!! Here are a few of my favorite effects:

"Cross Process" effect

"Holga-ish" effect

"Boost" effect

It is so much fun! And you don't even have to know anything about actions!!! LOL!

To do the same thing from a photobucket or facebook account (or your computer), go to www.picnik.com and click on the bottom according to where the photos you want to edit are... follow the prompts and you can do the same things as above.
All the effects I used above are free but there are a lot more if you are willing to pay $24.95/year (I say you don't need it, look at what you get for free!)

I hope to have given you a new option to enhance your photos and therefore your pages :) Now I am off to print, once I can figure out which one I like better...

Valentine Photo Ideas

Valentines day is just around the corner and whether you are taking photos of you and your sweetie or just your little ones here are some ideas to help you capture the day.

Give your little ones a giant lollipop and let them enjoy!

Capture photos of your child creating Valentines and then them with their creation.


Dress up your cuties on their Valentine best and capture some great photos at a nearby park.


Or on a dock or at the railroad tracks

Summer Photo Ideas

So the sun is out and it's time to get those bright, fun, sunny PHOTOS! Here's just a few examples of fun things to capture in the upcoming months!

With Fourth of July right around the corner make sure to get a picture of the kids with a sparkler, their festive outfits, fireworks in the sky, the American Flag, fun desserts, etc.

Another fun idea is to have someone move their sparkler in a continuous circle while you take their picture. Set your shutter speed really low and stay really still or use a tripod and you will get a fun look like this:
Swimming shots are always a great addition to your scrapbook. Of course you need the typical shot of the kids jumping in the pool or floating around but some other fun ideas would be the look on their face after holding their breath under water, splashing each other, playing pool games, soaking wet kids, etc.
Also make sure catch a photo of that favorite summer food like watermelon, popsicles, icecream cones, trips to the zoo, days at the beach, sandcastles, places you visit, your favorite place to eat, those beautiful summer sunsets, yardwork, flowers, boating, etc!

Summer Photo Ideas

With summer right around the corner there is going to be some awesome photo opportunities this season. So make sure those camera batteries are charged and the memory sticks are cleared because here are my top 20 moments/memories to shoot this summer!

1. Your favorite fruit and eating it
2. Kids eating ice cream cones or Popsicles
3. Running in the sprinkler (come on you can do it too!)
4. Canon balls in the pool or lake
5. Cutting the grass or mowing the lawn (whatever you call it?)
6. Summer sunsets
7. Fourth of July Fireworks
8. Packing for your vacation
9. Dirty kids after a long day of playing outside
10. Sunbathing
11. Your new or favorite swimsuit or flip flops
12. Barbequing at home or with friends
13. Your favorite place to go and eat this summer
14. Fresh summer produce (all your favs)
15. S'mores and you or kids eating them
16. Summer sports
17. A good game of Frisbee or flying a kite
18. Your favorite summer drink and you sipping on it
19. Last day of school! The start of summer vacation.
20. Your favorite activity to do this summer! (I’d love to see what everyone’s favs are!)

November Photo Tips

Tips for taking better photos and to step out of the box... a little.

I am not the best photographer and have just began to dwell into what my camera can do but I wanted to share these photo tips that I have learned with you. If you have some good tips too please share along in the comments section or on the message board. I am always looking for new things to try. These tips are good for everyday shots and even some Holiday shots I hope.

For Tip #1 when taking close ups of people set your camera to Aperture priority (A) or the portrait or child mode. This will allow for the background to be blurry which is ideal in a portrait. If shooting in Aperture Priority you want a Low F number which is a shallow depth of field, I usually use something around 4-5. It seems to work best for me and is about as low as my lens will allow me to go. If shooting in the child mode the camera usually will adjust the setting for you so you have a low F number and generally same with the Portrait mode. You will just have to play with your camera and see what happens. While taking the close ups try to get as many angles as possible; above, below, profile, just there eyes, even try tilting your camera a little. I love this photo of Sydney and her hazel eyes. I tried to make the focus of the photo on her eyes not worrying about if I was cutting off part of her head or not. I even tilted the camera slightly to give it a little different angle then just straight on. The second one I was just right in her face snapping photos until I got one with a smile. My aperture was set a 4.4 and I love how the background looks so pretty and blurred but she is in focus.

For Tip #2 if your subject will just not sit still (which if they are like my kid at all then they won’t) then get them involved in the photo shoot. Have them run around, act crazy and have a good time. This will ensure that you get some fun, action filled photos and your kid as themselves instead of just saying cheese. Don’t be afraid to chase after them, run ahead of them or continue to take shots even if they are still far away. There has been plenty of time that I took a shot far away only to zoom it in later and see that it was actually on of my favorites. If your camera is at least 5 megapixels you shouldn’t have a problem cropping your photos unless you are planning on printing them poster size. Both of these photos were cropped later. I love how the first one looks like you are right in front of the action while the second one captures her at just the perfect moment and she doesn’t even know it.

That brings me to tip #3 don’t be afraid to try new things. There are a million shots out there waiting to be taken you just got to try them. There has been plenty times I have taken a shot only to find out later that it didn’t really work but other times when I ended up loving them. You don’t always have to shoot your subject from the front or when they are looking at you sometimes the little details are what matter most. Try shooting them walking away, their backside, their new shoes, the side of their face, a close up of their toes, anything.

I mean who could have thought her booty could be so cute.

Or here I love how my sister Anna captured the side of her son’s face. I never thought a profile picture could be so cute, even though most of the picture is of his hair and ear.

So I challenge you to get out there and shoot some photos. Take lots, lay on the ground, get above and below your subject, take some shots you wouldn’t normally take and play around with the aperture and settings on your camera. Have fun and if you get some awesome shots share them here in the comments or the Photography section of the TTT Message Board. We would love to see what you come up with! Happy Shooting!