3 Things : playing with printing + a giveaway

thanks for all your great inspiration!! I love your tip about deleting. I totally need to follow your advice on that!!!

Currently I take alot of nature/outdoor photos as I can at least get it to cooperate unlike my children. I would like to work on taking better indoor/everyday shots. To look at my pile of pictures you would think I didn't have much of a family!

For my photos I need to remember to write down my thoughts when I am taking photos in a photo journal of some sort. There are times when I run to grab the camera when I see an expression on my son's face or a particular thought runs through my mind when I have my camera in hand. But by the time I download and order the photos I seem to have missed "the story". I may get some of it when I begin my pages but part of me feels the story is lacking because of time being passed. So that's what I want to gain --connecting more meaningful words with the photos--I know they were in my mind at one time--MUST GRAB JOURNAL!!

Evening light is very flattering... catchlights in the eyes make a portrait photo... change some photos to black & white before discounting them as "bad shots"... print full body shots on magnetic paper and cut out for your own fun fridge "paper dolls" (got this idea from Family Fun magazine)... recently tried printing pics on textured cardstock and love the look at times!
I need to get better about backing up photos and I REALLY need to get PSE or Photoshop and start playing!

My photo tip would be just take pictures that make you happy. Even if the pictures you take are not perfect that's okay embace the ordinary! Thanks for the giveaway you are such an inspiration to me.

Hey Ali--love to see that you tried different things. Thanks for sharing the process and the results!
My best photo tip is to take multiple photos from different angles and from different distances. Also to shift the focus while your looking at different angles. Hope this makes sense!
Thanks,
Trina :)

One thing I have been doing a lot lately is using the rule of thirds to make my photos look more interesting. I have found that one I stop and think for a second and maybe slightly move the camera my end result is much better.
Love your blog!
Gaby

I'm loving this words and photos week. Lots of good inspiration. I would like to improve my overall photography skills and need to focus on more everyday photos, not just event and gathering photos.

Not so much a tip as a thank you for this post and the one earlier today. I have been struggling with taking photos, scrapping them and what am I doing all of this for? Is it becoming more work than enjoyment? Your words and encouragement have been most helpful at a time when I feel like throwing in the towel.
I have also been curious about that fabric paper since I saw it as an ornament project by Donna. I wish you would have had better luck.
Thanks for a great post, Ali and the giveaway.
Machele

Today's first post is one of your best ever. I so need to hand over my camera---when asked what I wanted for Mother's Day, I said a photo of me with each of my sons. There are way too few.
Favorite photo tip: take a lot of photos. Nothing beats digital for instant learning. Play with your settings and experiment in the moment.

Love printable stuff!
My favorite tip: use the burst mode if you have it! Especially if you have kids or pets, or anything that moves fast! Saves the blurries and you get cool action sequence shots!
Di

I have to 2nd or 3rd my favorite photo tip - take lots of photos. Thank you for all sharing the great tips. I can't wait to try some of them out.

My tip:
Take pictures of older members of the family!!! And shots around town - buildings and cars - the kids will want to see it all when they're older, I hope!
And always, shoooting w/out a flash.

I have the same printer as you and I would love to try printing some photos on different papers then photo paper.
I am also editing my photos in PSE 5.0. I love what I have learned about Levels. Wow what a difference it can make!

I need to work on taking more pics from many angles as you were discussing in your first post today. I love the tip from Tammy earlier about getting to know YOUR camera. Even if you don't have the camera of your dreams you can learn to use the one you have better. I love that. I would love to try to print on an acetate overlay. Have you tried this? I also have an HP printer. You give us so much inspiration Ali. Thanks!

Thanks for the chance to win some cool stuff! The thing I need the most help with in photo taking is apeture. I just can't get it through my head, but I love the look of something in the background being blurry, but still recognizable. (Everyone has already given my best tips - take lots and lots of pictures and get to know your camera!)

Great giveaway!
First...my favorite thing to do with photos is frame them and put them ALL over the house. (maybe to a fault!)
And....I wish I could figure out some way to organize the digital negatives. I get overwhelmed with the amount!

Hi there
I am working on taking more "in the moment" photos, rather than posed faces, I like to see what people are doing as they play, interact, learn....

My favourite photo tip is one a friend gave me when I took my children to Disneyworld. I was told to get behind the characters to take photos of my kids running up to them and hugging them so you can see the children's reactions to meeting them! Photos turned out great like that!

Love the idea of printing a photo on vellum. What I want to work when I take a photo is getting a picture when your kids are on stage and lighting is not that great.

I love all of your ideas and this new feature! And I especially love what you did with the photo over the lace cardstock..great idea.
Thanks for all of the inspiration.

I like to print on adhesive cotton (it's for running through the printer) for when I have a really old or really grainy picture. One that just looks really bad printed on normal paper. I've found that printing it on this cotton paper (it's really like a fabric) makes the photo look soft and lovely as opposed to harsh and grainy.

I'm having a lot of fun with photo editing on the picnik.com site. Lots of neat ways to change photos and it is free!

Always, always back up your photos, use your photos, don't let them sit on the memory card. Print them, scrap them or just let them hang out in bunches for everyone else to enjoy. Take your camera with you even if you don't think you will use or need it. Turn it over to the younger set, see the interesting things from their angle. have fun.
Thanks Ali for the inspiration. ld

Love the idea of printing a photo on vellum. What I want to work when I take a photo is getting a picture when your kids are on stage and lighting is not that great.