3 Things : playing with printing + a giveaway

Thank you Ali for the wonderful ideas!
something i would like to work on in terms of my photos would be to be able to capture photos of objects, people and places from as many unusual angles as possible...

I love your work Ali! You are a huge inspiration to me!
I love working with levels on my photos in photoshop. It's my favorite tool.

loving these photos + words posts...you are so inspiring.
my favorite photo tip is fill the frame...i love taking photos of specific baby parts or eyes.
thanks for the chance to win!

Thank you for the inspiration - I used to plan the page around the picture and what cool new product we have but really like the alternative - the WORDS which are the important part of the page !!
I use natural light , hardly ever use the flash.....better pictures, I think and sometimes the shadows are cool.
Happy Day and thanks for another great give away !!
Carole Hepburn

I am really enjoying the series, Ali!
I tend to struggle quite a bit with taking candid people photos. I've got lots of posed people shots, and lots of shots of all kinds of objects. Very much still working on how to do the everyday people stuff. So far my solution is to keep my camera with me as much as possible, but it's definitely a work in progress.

Thanks for all your inspiration and instruction! I find your blog very entertaining and useful and I love your work. Thanks again, Vicki

I am by no means a good photographer. However, I take photos of my family DAILY and have NO regrets with the photos I get. I would be more dissapointed if I DIDN'T take a photos of our lives because I was afraid of the quality of the photo. Having the picture good or bad is good enough for me!

My favorite photo tip would be to get close...as for something I'd like to work on, that would be to be more willing to hand the camera over and GET IN THE PICTURE!

Thanks so much for this week!
For my photography, I am still trying to learn how to take action shots of my kids playing sports. Just once, I would like to be able to capture a shot of her hand just at the point of impact with the ball. Instead, I have the same three shots over & over - holding the ball, the ball tossed up in the air, and then her arm as it comes down from the hit. I know it's a matter of timing, but just can't seem to adjust!

My favorite tip is one I learned from you, Ali! Take pictures of your subject from diff. angles and syles to tell your story..... a close up, a wide angle, from above , below and anything else that might be interesting....keep shooting....you don't have to use them all, but you have a variety of choices! (Blurry or imperfect photos have their place-I love that!).
Love, love, LOVE your blog, books, YOU!

Me!! Pick me!
I don't have a fave tip- I feel like I am no good at taking pics at all!

Wow! I would love to get these papers. My favorite photo tip is for you to take pictures of small details, especially from an angel you don't usually see. I also enjoy taking black and white photos and using brushes in photoshop. And, if you haven't tried it, try printing on cardstock, cool effect!

As I become a better digi scrapper, I am finally going back to learning how to enhance my photos better on PS. Most of all, I want to make it simpler. Like an easy b/w conversion that I love!

My favourite Photo tip (for those who can) is to shoot in RAW and then digitally manipulate the photo in RAW rather than jpeg. You can get much better digital manipulation results - much better, crisper pictures. You can also save a normally dismal and dark shot MUCH better and easier with RAW format than with JPEG.
I enjoyed seeing your experimentation with papers, Ali. Thanks for posting your results even though some of it disappointed you. Have you tried printing on transparency lately - that's fun too! :)

Hi Ali!
My latest trend when printing at home is to print 5x7's. I always have tended to use 4x6 (don't we all!) and enlarged 8x10's. Since getting a new HP Printer that has a default 5x7 size, I have come to appreciate how versatile a picture this size can be on your pagas.
Thanks for all the things you teach me Ali!

Love the vellum layered over lace paper. I have printed on fabric before but not the product made especially for printers. I have used cotton fabric (even some with subtle tone on tone patterns - really cool) and spray adhesive it to cardstock. The real trick for me it to tape the leading edge (use regular tape, masking tape, painter's tape, whatever you may have that is not too thick). This gives a smoother edge for the printer rollers to go over and traps any loose threads to keep them from getting caught up in the mechanism of the printer. I use this for quilt labels mostly (on a laser printer! inkjet is not water proof - but, of course, you wouldn't be washing a scrapbook page!)

Thank you for all the coolio ideas...would love to play with the three types of printables...

My favorite photo tip. Take the pictures and then take more. I grew up with film and the idea of wasting film was unheard of. The digital camera makes it easy to take a lot of photos I just need to remind myself that its ok to over photograph because I have a delete button.

Thanks so much for the info, and the website! Cool Stuff, would love to win some of my own so I can play!

Oh, there's so much to work on. Thank you for your encouragement. Trying now to take photos more consistently- less at special occassions (after all, they are special and I want to be a part of them) and more of life the way we live. Less of perfectly dressed children. More of working in the garden. Less of the birthday cake. More of the growth over a year. Less of the finished product. More of the process. Less of stuff. More of emotion. Add those to words and it's a priceless gift.

I need to work on actually printing those photos I take! I take hundreds each week and don't usually print many.

Photo tip: Delete as many photos as you can from your camera before putting them onto your compter!

i am going to read the manual that came with my camera. ha! a simple yet genius idea.

I'm sure you've given this tip - take millions. I know I have gotten better at taking photos and I know I'm more likely to get THE ONE (and with a 22mo DD, that's not always predictable!) Plus with digital tech, there is no more expense. SO why does my husband STILL moan about it!!!

JOURNALING...I dread this word. People who knows me will agree that I am the queen of anti-journaling. However, after reading your blog, I think I will give it a shot and just accept that I may not be a genius in writing but who cares...right? I am not being graded on my grammar or punctuations. Talk about- "embracing imperfection".