Organize Your Photos in 2016!

In the digital age we don't think twice before taking a photo so we end up with too many photos in our computer. The worse thing is that we just dump them there if we have the time but mostly they're on our phones. I don't know about you but I need my photos to be in an album if I want to look at them or enjoy them. Looking through them on the computer is just not the same...
So I decided enough is enough! I'm going to organize all my photos and start creating albums. Some digital and some traditional.

Organizing your printed photos is a completely different story that we'll address in another blog post. I thought I'd start from my digital photos, because there SO many of them.

Here's how I do it...

1. Gather all the photos in one place. Download the photos from all your phones, ipads etc to one folder. Move all the photos from your computer to that same folder. I have three drives on my computer and they all had photos in them... Name the folder: Family Photos.

2. Open a folder for each year. I went as far as the first photo and created a folder for each year, all inside the Family Photos folder.

3. Start grouping photos to events, people, trips etc. Go through the photos and create a folder for each "subject. For example: Jack's 8th birthday, day at the beach, riding a horse, visiting grandma...

4. Purge. Since we take photos almost without thinking we have many photos which are very similar, or not as good. You really don't need to keep all of them. Pick the beautiful photos that together tell the entire story.

5. Move. Once you have folders for all the "subjects" ready move them to the relevant year folder.

6. Repeat this process with all the new photos you'll take and you'll have an organized family's photos library!

7. I even have a folder for the photos that I have already pit in an album. This folder is also organized in yearly folders. After I create a page or a mini album for a certain event I take the folder and move it to DONE folder.

This is my system and it works for me. You might want to do it differently. Maybe organized the photos in theme folders like birthdays, vacations, holidays and in each folder organize the photos in yearly folders. The important thing is to find a system and organize your photos because otherwise you'll be drowning in photos if you don't!

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Have fun creating!

Photography Tips - Getting Silly with it

We always take nice proper photos with a nice background or a captivating close up. We make sure they are interesting, beautiful and of course scrapbooking suitable! How about taking some funny photos?

I have to say it was not my idea, it was my kids'. They took the camera and started having fun by putting a plastic bag over my head and taking pictures. It was really funny and I played along! I also created a whimsical, fun and colorful layout

 

If scrapbooking is all about telling stories about our daily lives what better way to capture all those family precious moments with funny, goofy and silly photos. They can show that hidden wild side in dad, all the funny things your son likes to do or even or even bring out the inner child in grandma.

So try to have fun with your photos and get silly with it!

Have fun creating!
Einat

Photography Tips - Don't be a director!

If you want good, special one of a kind photos don't be a director! What I mean is don't tell your subject: "sit, stand, move to the right" etc... These photos usually look artificial and even boring.

Really good photos are achieved in one of two ways:
1. Take the photo when your subject is busy or doesn't pay attention. This way you can capture them in their natural authentic state. It works especially well with kids: the best photos of kids are when they're playing or busy doing something.

2. Go to the extreme. If you want to plan your photos or direct your subject add something crazy or funny. This will make the photo unique and interesting and will capture the essence of a person. Look at what my kids decided to take a picture of....me with a plastic bag on my head...I think it's one of my best photos, funny and unconventional..

 

So next time if you want to take a photo of your family don't have them stand in the room and smile, have them do something like a funny face, maybe jump or even stand back to back if you are more Conservative or feed them and take the photo while they're eating....

Have fun Creating!
Einat

Photography Tips: Standing in the presence of history

Taking pictures of faces up close is good. You can see the person's feelings and thoughts and the photo almost pops off the page. But sometimes you want or need to take a few steps back and take the picture from a distance. This is a DT layout for My Punch's Kit of the Month Club that had just the right stuff for my layout.

Usually a photo from a distance is necessary when you want to capture the view or something in the background. In this layout I wanted the entire map to fit in the photo.

So, don't be afraid to take pictures that capture more than just the person. You can always take two photos: one from up close and one from a distance. A combination of the two will make a great layout!

Have fun creating!

Einat

Photography tips – take a picture of yourself

Sometimes you want to remember a special event or day by having a photo of you in it and there is no one around to take your photo. Sometimes there are plenty of people who can take your photo you just don't want to give them your camera, and sometimes you just want to be goofy and take funny photos. What do you do? You take a photo of yourself! You simply hold the camera, turn it, stretch your hands and press the button. Usually it takes more than one photo to make it right because it's very hard to aim.

These photos are really fun to scrap because they are kind of silly and the people in the photos don't always look right, so these photos make very funny layouts. Here are a few of my examples…

Try it it's fun!

Have fun creating!

Einat

12 Days of December Blog Party – Day 5

Today we have a double celebration: it's day 5 of the blog party and it's also the day for the Designer Craft Connection blog hop. Most of these talented designers have a wonderful project for you this time: a sock monkey! Just click on the DCC button on the right side of my blog and you can see all the great projects! But before you hop on, please take a minute to complete today's mission!

Yesterday's winner is…

Congratulations, Kim!

Contact me with your details, so I can send you your prize.

For those of you who missed it Here is how it will work:

Every day, for 12 days, I will post a holiday project/s to inspire you and to give you ideas for your holiday table, presents, cards and more! Following the project you will get a mission, there will be a new different mission every day. To participate in the blog party and be eligible for the daily giveaway you will have to:

1. Subscribe to my blog (if you are not already subscribed).

2. Post the mission in whatever on line media you want: blog, FB, twitter etc. with a link back to the Blog Party.

3. Go back to my blog and write a comment with a link to your post.

You can join us for some of the days or all of them. Each day I will randomly choose a winner for the daily giveaway and post it the next day. Whoever takes part in minimum of 7 missions out of 12 will have a chance to win the grand prize, which will also be randomly selected. The grand prize is going to be 150$ gift card to some fabulous shopping at Scrapbook.com! if you hadn't join us yet, you definitely should! There is still time!

Day 3 project: Photography tips

Today I want to share some ideas for great holiday photos. These are photos of last year's Hanukkah, but you can use the tips for any holiday photos you want.

1. Take the photo from up close – to get all the details, like the, melting wax I took the photo of the Menorah from a really small distance. I put my camera on micro (the small flower) and took the photo with no flash.

2. Take a photo of clusters – to really convey the holiday spirit in my photo I took a photo of all the doughnuts on the plate. I did the same with the spinning tops that my kids were playing with.

Day 5 mission: (if you choose to accept it) is to share your favorite holiday food. Post it on your blog, on FB, on message boards, anywhere on line you want with a link to the Blog Party. Then go back to my blog and write a comment with a link to your post.

Day 5 giveaway: Photo mats by LYB. Great addition to your layouts or mini albums.

Have fun creating!

Einat

Photography tips – Back side

Photographs are magical because we capture moments in time. Moments that will never happen again in the same way. The best way to capture such a moment is to take the picture when your subject is unaware you're taking it. To achieve that you either have to be invisible or, if you can't manage that, take the picture from behind! Some of my best photographs are those of my kids when I photographed them from behind where they couldn't see me. To take photos from behind here are a few tips:

1. Wait until you see your subject do something interesting, go behind them and take a picture with their back to you.

2. Back side photos work best when kids watch TV, play on their computer, run ahead of you or look at something. In all these situations they probably won't pay attention to you and you can sneak behind them.

3. Photos taken from behind are especially interesting because they give us the point of view of the person we are photographing. If a child is looking at the fish in the aquarium we get the feeling that we are looking through his eye and we see what he is seeing.

Try and find your opportunities to take interesting fun photos from behind!

Einat

Surfing – Photography tips

I love taking photos of my kids. A day at the beach is the perfect opportunity to take some action photos. Action photos are photos of a certain action someone is doing, usually something physical like sports, playing outside or having fun at the beach. They very easy to shoot if you follow a few simple steps:

1. Decide which action you want to capture. The point of taking action photos is to follow a certain action from start to finish. I took the photos of my son surfing for the first time. I started with a photo of my husband explaining and continued with photos of his different trials.

2. Change your position. The subject you are taking pictures of is not always standing in one place. You have to follow your subject to capture all the different aspects of what they are doing.

3. Change angels. If you want your photos to be interesting and tell the whole story you have to take photos of the same action from different angels. You don't have to take a picture only from the front!

4. Try to be invisible. Try not to interrupt the action and be invisible as much as possible. Don't direct your subject; let them do whatever it is they are doing without saying anything. If possible try to take photos without them even noticing it.

The great thing about action photos is the fun you have scrappin' them. I created this layout for My Punch Kit of the month club with all my photos and a summer fun feeling! Tune in on friday! I have some great techniques to share with you.

Try shooting some action yourselves!

Einat

Imagine a tower – Photography tips

This is another DT layout I did for My Punch with a series of photos showing my son building a tower. I love these photos because they're shot from an angle that shows the building experience and the height of the tower. I'm not a professional photographer, but I like taking pictures of almost anything. I always have a camera with me, so I' won't miss anything.

I wanted to share with all of you a few photography tips I used in these photos:

1. Up close and personal – take the photo from a close distance to eliminate as many disruptions in the background as possible. We spent that day in a big playground so there were many kids, toys and parents in the background.

2. Find the right angle: find the angle that will help you tell the story in the photo. This story is about building a tower, so I got down on my knees and shot the photo looking up at him. This way I could enhance the height of the tower.

3. Photograph the process: take a series of photos from the beginning to the end of the story. I captured the whole building and destroying process.

To complete the story in the photos I added to the layout a patterned paper with numbers that reminded me of floors in a building and "built" a tower of my own using blocks of paper and "number blocks" I cut from the patterned paper. I created more dimension by adhering some of them with 3D foam tape.
 To further emphasize the height atmosphere, I added two arrows to the layout, one pointing at the word "tower" and the other pointing up. I used a mixture of fun words and letters for my title to give the layout a playful feel to it.

I don't know what he enjoyed more building the tower or pushing it to the floor when it was done, but it was definitely a very fun day and a real joy to create this LO!

Einat