How to Take Good Photos!

May is National Scrapbooking Month! And to celebrate, I wanted to share with you a tip on one of the things I think prevents people from scrapbooking – not having good enough photos to scrapbook!

Scrapbooking is all about preserving and cherishing our memories. And there is nothing more frustrating then going to organize your memories only to not have good photos of those special moments.

I found a great article on WikiHow on taking better photographs, and one of the tips they mentioned is something that I've found to be so true when taking photographs for my blog – make sure you set the white balance. When you take a photo, the white in your photo is your best litmus for the rest of the colors in your photo being true to color. If your white looks grey, then there isn't enough light in your photo.

The best way to keep the white balance in your photos is by taking your photos in direct sunlight whenever possible. When I'm taking photos indoors, I put my object under an Ott Light which has natural light technology in the bulbs. But even then, it's not guaranteed so I always check my white balance in Adobe Photoshop as part of my photo editing process.

Here's a great example of what I'm taking about… I took this photo of my son, Landon, about 6 months ago. He was playing in the bathtub, being a goof ball, and I wanted to capture the moment! Obviously, he was in the bathtub playing so I couldn't move him outside into natural lighting and I wasn't about to go down and grab my Ott Lite to shine on him. So this is what I was stuck with:

Our tub is white in this photo, so that is my litmus for whether the photo is true to color or not. Since the tub looks yellow, we can conclude that the White Balance is most certainly off in this photo. But I have the photos that I have, and I want to scrapbook them! So how can I make this photo usable? I'm going to edit in Adobe Photoshop by going to "Enhance" and then select "Auto Color Correction" as shown here:

After I select that… here's the photo I have!

See how the tub is now white? My White Balance has been restored, and I know I have a fabulous, perfect for scrapbooking photo!

Now that you know how to take good photos, I encourage you to come to one of my Scrapbooking Classes so that you can learn how to put the photos you take into spectacular keepsakes. Click Here for more information!

Speaking of Scrapbooking… Stampin' Up! just announced MORE Add On Images for My Digital Studio!!!! Here they are:

There have been a LOT of new Digital Download releases this month in celebration of National Scrapbooking Month, and it's gotten a little confusing for some! So I've done a big update on my Digital Download Master List – view it here.

If you don't have My Digital Studio yet, be sure to check it out!! It is a FABULOUS Digital Papercrafting Program (not just for scrapbook pages, you can do cards and Multi Media projects, too!). Click Here for more information on MDS.

Order My Digital Studio by May 31st and get a FREE pack of Designer Brads!!

TO ORDER STAMPIN' UP! PRODUCTS ONLINE 24/7 CLICK HERE!

Don't Forget!

• To check out the NEW Aly Stamps Boutique! Click Here to View!
  
• To register for the June Scrapbooking Class, "It's a Journey"!! Click Here for more details!!
  
• To register for the June Card Making Class, "Cards for Him"!! Click Here for more details!!
  
• To order from the Clearance Rack Today!!! Click Here to get started!!
  
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• To order your favorite Retiring Stampin' Up! Colors before they are gone forever! Click Here for more details!
  
• To place a qualifying order to receive FREE Designer Brads! Click Here for more details!