Photo Contest Finalist!

So, I have to admit. I've been all wrapped up in Blythe Doll world and I'm so not in the mood to make a craft that is not related to her. I sewed an outfit for one of my dolls.  The simple 4-step pattern took me four hours! I need to learn how to sew. I'm customizing a doll from head to toe.  If the eyelashes don't kill me, waiting for her eye chips to arrive will take me down.

The one aspect I have seen success with, thank goodness, is my photography. I love taking pictures of my girl. If you haven't become a Flicker follower for Crafty Life and Style- please do. I'm finally giving it some love, mostly Blythe picture love lately. Yesterday, I joined a Blythe Photo Challenge group. It was the final day of this month's challenge.  At the last minute, I entered this picture in the contest.

The theme was Glamour. I thought this picture pretty much summed it up.  I was one of five finalists selected for a public vote!  Please click on over and vote. I would love your support and so would the other photographers!

Shutterbug Sunday: Bird Watching

We're excited to hear that our woodpecker is back for the summer! Honestly it's pretty cool. This bird is big! This is a Pileated Woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in America. They are between 16-19 inches long!  The red line from the beak to his neck indicates this is a male woodpecker.

When he's banging on a tree looking for carpenter ants, it sounds like the tree is getting hit with a hammer.  My son has also identified his call!  Now, he can tell me when he hears him. Obviously, when shooting photos of birds, you need to be stealthy and have your camera ready.  We've been lucky with Woody-- but I admit I'd love to get even closer!  I haven't been as lucky catching the pretty little humming bird who visits.

Woody was really distracted with chomping apart my tree stump, so we were able to capture quite a few snapshots of him.  We got varied results because my three kids were so excited just to see the bird.  The top photo came out the clearest. The bottom is a little less focused but we still love it. The rest were a bust.  It's very hard to get your subject in focus in a zoom lens when you are contending with something in the foreground- in this case- the grass.  Still, we got the shot we needed!  Persistence pays off when you're taking pictures of birds.

Blythe

Meet Blythe. Well, to be honest this is Blythe from the Little Pet Shop set. She's only 2 inches tall and yet I can see she is already taking up a big spot in my heart! I have been thinking about her since maybe last summer when I stumbled across a picture of a cute little girl holding one on a post from one of my favorite craft blogs and discovered that there was this whole world of people who collect her. Blythe Little Pet Shop dolls are brand new to Toys R Us and are very cheap- made for the masses and in an effort to satisfy my appetite for a REAL Blythe- I asked my hubby to get me and the girls each one so we could play together and I could get my camera out and photograph her like all the Blythe lovers do.

Yes, I asked him to buy me a toy so I could play with it... and I love her. He bought me the one in the snow gear but because it's warm and sunny outside she now sits at my desk at work. My daughters got  the one with the dark hair in the bathing suit and and the cute little blond one. Sunday we ran around the back yard and took pictures and I told the girls it's very important to care for her because if they are really good I would get them a real one. With in the hour- my little 3-year-old lost the stand for mine! GRRR

The real Blythe dolls are 12 inches tall, come in all different colors, hair colors, outfits and they have a pull string in the back that changes their eye color 4 times! Kenner brought them out in the 70s, but little girls thought they were spooky and they were taken off the shelves in a year. Funny note, the first time my baby girl saw one on the internet she said "I don't like it, it's scary!" Then a woman brought her back in the 90s in the form of a book called "This is Blythe" and she had taken all kinds of pictures of her all around the world and published that- the rest is history.

Now there's this cult of Blythe lovers-- including me. Grown women love her and I do too! She can mostly be found on EBay or in specialty toy stores that sell items from Japan and other parts of Asia. The real ones are pricey- starting at 60 plus shipping if you're lucky. Most are more than a hundred. Some are valued at several hundreds. There is no one price for them.

So, for Mother's Day morning I was very satisfied with my tiny little baby Blythe--- that was for the Morning! Several hours later I had purchased my first, uhh-- TWO dolls! I'm still waiting for them to come from Hong Kong and they can't get here fast enough.

Many women get their dolls and customize them. I will likely do some articles on their work in the future because it is a skill that is enviable! They give them freckles, change their skin tone, do artwork on them, change their hair and even make them clothing. It is amazing what they do with them.

Do you have a Blythe doll? If so, who do you have? Send me a picture. I'll be honest with you- I'm obsessing over this- and not crafting at all for the last few days because I just can't stop thinking of my new girls being in the mail! Come to think of it-- I just may go try and make them some outfits!!! That's crafting-- right??

Shutterbug Sunday: A Different View

Many times at events people focus on where the action is taking place. They point their lens at the action. If I were only looking at the action I might have missed taking this entertaining picture. 

The teenager on the mat performing the kick was... uh... very loud and animated in his vocal elements of the form he was demonstrating.  He attracted the attention of a large crowd of spectators. He was really good- but I was more entertained with the reactions in the crowd. Most people were watching for his forms-- but from a 3-year-old's perspective-- he was just LOUD!

It tickled me to no end when this beautiful little girl covered her ears, but still could not remove herself from the action!  I quickly got down on the ground where the kids were and snapped a couple pictures from behind. I thought it was so cute.

Some of the best photographers know this trick. It's not so much the fire you cover- it's the people witnessing the fire. It's not so much the subject walking in the door (say Santa or the Bunny Rabbit) it's the kid's reaction to the subject. Try to capture a different view the next time you snap a picture!

Shutterbug Sunday: Preparing Your Images for the Web

Ok, so I know we have all experienced it, our gorgeous photos being scrunched and distorted once they are uploaded to the web!  Does this frustrate any of you, as much as me??  There is hope and a way to export your images so the distortions are not as bad.

Image before being processed for the web.

Image before being processed for the web.

Step One: After all of your edits are finished and you are ready to upload your image to the web, in photoshop go to file, and Save for Web Devices.

Step 2: When you see the Save for Web Devices screen pop up, you will want to make sure your settings in the top right hand corner are as follows:

• jpeg format selected
• maximum setting selected
• quality at 100
• optimized box checked

Now just click save and place the image in your desired folder. I save all mine to a folder labeled "website".  Once I am done uploading the images to the web, I delete everything. This is just one of the ways I help keep myself organized.

Now for the finished products. The end result is by no means perfect, but definitely an improvement! Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

Same image after.

Same image after.

www.marynicholsphotography.com

Baby Blessings

Crafty Life and Style would like to announce a baby blessing for our Shutterbug Sunday contributor, Mary Nichols.  Between her busy preparations and oh...delivering a baby, Mary still managed to get us her blog post over the weekend.  Mothers are fierce.  We're sure to see amazing photos of this bundle of joy as Mary tests her skills and teaches us what she learns along the way.  So, this is a crafty cause for celebration.  I mean, can you imagine what her scrapbooks will look like with this being a typical photo?  Congratulations Mary.  Your child is beautiful.

And if you'd like to see examples of Mary's work....just scroll down to the next blog!!

Shutterbug Sunday: Framing the Shot

I wanted to share with you one of the very first pieces of advice I was ever given when taking pictures. My father and grandfather were both photography hobbyist, and the reason my love affair with photography began. My father first placed a professional camera in my hands at the age of 16. I remember holding the old piece of equipment, and taking in its leather smell. I was so excited to try it out, I think I went through an entire roll of film in about 20 minutes!

Tip: The closer you are to your focal point, the lower/wider you want your

 aperture setting to be. For example mine was set to f/2.2, this is how I was 

able to keep her face sharp, and the palm branches soft. You will also want

to make sure to toggle your  focus points in your lens when using wide apertures, 

 especially on people. The focus point in my lens was directly over her eyes.

Once teaching me a few technical things about its operation, my Dad gave me a great piece of advice that I have now applied to every aspect of photography. While we were out shooting for the first time I had practically tripped down a hill when trying to avoid some brush that was getting in the way of the shot I wanted. My Dad told me that instead of avoiding the brush, to use it. Frame the shot he said!  So I tried it. I outlined the shape of the base of the tree I was trying to photograph with the brush. After getting the photos back I flipped through them and one picture in particular caught my eye. Yup, you guessed it, the one where I had framed the tree with the brush. It had so much more visual interest than any of the other pictures I took. So, long story short? I started using that technique in nature photography and now I apply it to every aspect of photography I do. So the next time you’re out and about taking pictures try using some of nature’s natural elements and FRAME THE SHOT!  You might just love the results!

http://www.marynicholsphotography.com/

Shutterbug Sunday: Night Flash

I know it automatically pops up everytime you press down on the button to take a night photo.  But you don't always HAVE to have your flash activated for every picture.  Learn how to turn it off.  Why?  Because even if it is late at night, particularly if it is getting dark...your flash may be doing you more harm than good.  Take these pictures as an example.  The one above shows the lovely burning coals.  The colors are vibrant and glow.  But, the one below is washed out by a bright flash from my camera.

The challenge with many cameras is that you have to be very still when the flash is off.  The smallest movement can cause streaking in the photo.  But, the difference is obvious.  Try a tripod.  At night, if you are taking a picture of something that provides it's own source of light, capture more color and turn that flash off.

Shutterbug Sunday: Photo Editing

We are so happy to have Photographer Ashley Sisk provide us with an amazing guest blog about photo editing today. She's a master at it. Please visit her website- and don't forget to leave her a sweet comment!

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to share some simple editing tricks. I love to edit (in fact, I may love editing more than photography itself), so I was happy to accept. Although I operate primarily out of Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop (as well as Photoshop Elements), I wanted to offer some tips that could be applied in any program.  

First, let's start with a SOOC shot (straight out of the camera). If you follow my blog, I mentioned that I've been having an ongoing battle with the lighting in my inlaws' home. You might never know it if you only looked at my edited shots, but here is one of the originals: 

How ya like that white balance? Or lack there of. 

Anyways...as I mentioned before, I wanted to start simple....so, I started this edit in Adobe Camera Raw. Regardless of what editing program you're working in, you should have some of the basic functionality that Adobe Camera Raw offers. If you are using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you already have ACR (and although I shoot in RAW, you can open  JPG files in ACR by opening PS or PSE - go to File > Open As> Select open as Camera Raw file and select your image). Below, I've copied my SOOC data and the revisions I made in Adobe Camera Raw. Here's what I did:

• Used AUTO to correct my white balance.
• Pulled the recovery slider up. 
• Dropped my blacks a bit.
• Decreased my brightness.
• Increased my contrast.
• Decreased my clarity.
• Decreased my saturation.

Just making those few adjustments creates a nice clean edit. I've included my edit below. If you're new to editing, I encourage you to try adjusting the exposure, brightness and contrast within your editing program.

 

I should warn you that most editing programs offer an "Auto" option. Sometimes selecting auto works perfectly but more often than not, you'll need to make some manual adjustments.

So that was my very basic edit only using Adobe Camera Raw. If you're interested in an advanced edit...keep reading. 

Beyond my edit in Adobe Camera Raw, I brought my photo over to Adobe CS5 (also known as Photoshop). Most of my steps can also be performed in Photoshop Elements. Here are my steps:

• Created a duplicate of my background. I applied a high pass filter (found under FILTER at the top of the screen). I then applied a soft light blending mode to the layer. This is my #1 favorite trick to make the details of your image pop. You can lower the opacity if needed and/or use a layer mask to erase part of the effect. 
• Created an adjustment layer - CURVES. In PSE, if you don't have an action curves adjustment, you can download one here (it also includes a mask layer that I use often).
• Created a new adjustment layer - LEVELS. I pulled the left side (shadows) of the graph to a 11 - this makes my blacks just a tad bit darker. I pulled the middle bar  (mid-tones) up to a 1.11 I often pull the midtones up to a 1.38 to brighten up an image, but that was not necessary here. 
• Created a new adjustment layer - BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST. I decreased brightness to -10 and added a contrast of 8. 
• Created a new adjustment layer - HUE/SATURATION. I find with my computer that I always have to pull back on my yellows and reds (if I want to avoid creating oompa loopmas). 

Beyond this point, I felt like my shot looked a little too much like a snapshot (nothing wrong with that, I mean, it is a snapshot), so I decided it needed to be cropped.  I used the same photo ratio to crop the photo. I then made a few more adjustments and created two photo options (I wanted to share both a color and black/white). With my color shot:

• Created an adjustment layer: BLACK AND WHITE (in Photoshop Elements, you'll want to use a background copy then go to Enhance>Convert to Black and White). I created a custom black and white by playing with the sliders and adding a tint. I also lowered the opacity to 15%.
• Adjusted my brightness/contrast and levels adjustment layers for a little more drama.
• Finally, I applied Totally Rad's Lux action at 50%. For a similar effect...you can create a new fill layer - fill it with a shade of cream or light pink, set the blending mode to screen and lower the opacity.

For my black and white edit, I simply increased my black and white adjustment layer back to 100%.

So, hopefully that all made sense and you've learned a trick or two. 

If you want to see more editing techniques, I have recently started a new photo challenge called Shoot and Edit with Jill at Forever'n Ever'n Always Photography. Every Monday morning Jill will post a SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot and then have a link up for all of you to share your SOOC too. You will have until Wednesday to link up. 

Then, on Thursday morning I will have my SOOC shot fully edited with a tutorial for everyone to follow to enhance their photos as well.

Well I gotta run back over to Scavenger Hunt Sunday! If you have a chance, come see me and have an awesome day!

Meet Ashley Sisk

Some people are just destined for greatness. Ashley Sisk is one of those people who has a very bright future in the photography world. Ashley decided to pick up her camera after her October 2009 wedding. She always enjoyed taking pictures before, so she thought it would be a good hobby to nurture. In a very short year and a half she's started a blog,  rediscovered her creative spirit, enhanced her photography and editing skills and made some incredible friends along the way!

I'm a big fan of hers and I just love the creative pictures she takes. They POP off the page! Ashley is going to be our guest blogger for tomorrow's Shutterbug Sunday! Please come back tomorrow and show her some love!!!

Meet Mary

I became a fan of the photography of Mary Nichols after she took some pictures for a friend who was grieving the terminal illness of a close family member.  It was a sensitive situation and Mary took extra time, used extra patience, and captured extra special memories.  Because her approach was less about business and more about showing some humanity...I thought she would be the perfect fit for our little blog family, which is full of a bunch of ladies from different backgrounds, sharing pieces of themselves.  We hope you enjoy her posts once a month on our Shutterbug Sundays.  Here is Mary, in her own words:

About Me: I was your typical stay at home Mom with a little hobby called photography. After having my son I very quickly became obsessed with learning how to improve my skills. I wanted to be able to take better photos of him which is what spiraled me into starting my own business. I love all things photography especially black and white photographs. To describe myself in a nut shell? I am madly in love with my husband and son, addicted to latte’s, a writer, art lover, dog lover, procrastinator, ditsy at times, inspired by vintage, wearer of pearls, hobbyist of interior design, and I love and I crave simplicity in life.


Welcome Mary!  You can find more of Mary's beautiful work on her website:  www.marynicholsphotography.com

Shutterbug Sunday: Display Your Pictures

Today we have a guest blog from Melissa of Shields Fine Art Photography. Melissa is based in Topeka Kansas. Currently she and her husband focus on art photography but they are also branching out into portrait and event photography. We know you will enjoy her tip today!

First off, I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone here at Crafty Life and Style for asking me to write this post.  I fancy myself some great photographer, but really I'm just like the rest of you.  The tip I want to share today is what to do after we push that button.  We've captured that moment in time and now what?
The first thing to do is get it off that card.  Cards fail and if your card fails then you've lost all those pictures.  I double store my photos.  I have two external hard drives.  There are two copies of each photo on each one of my hard drives.  I also have a pro flickr.com that I am trying to upload all of my photos to just in case something happens to the hard drives.  (You can check them out here.)  I've heard of people who use jump drives.  Each time they clear their card, they put it on a jump drive and file the drive away.  You can put them on CD.  The main thing is to have them somewhere else just in case your card fails.

Now you have to share them.  What fun is it to take a great picture and then not show it to anyone? I was sharing a lot on Facebook but it took so much time to downsize them and that's one of the reasons I started the flickr account.  But that doesn't spruce up my home any.  I'm going to share a little secret just between us OK?  I have picture frames in my house still with the fake family pictures in them.  How lame is that?  I know it's really bad especially since I take photographs as a second job.  But I'll share what's on my wall, what's ready to be hung and what's going to the printers to get hung.

This one hangs above my husband's computer area.  It's his best buddy Gabe.  It was a Christmas present a few years ago.

This one is going in my craft/office room when it's done being remodeled.  It's currently in a closest.  This one is special because it's the first photograph that hung in an art gallery.

This one just got back from the printer.  Not sure where or what is going to happen with it but at least it is printed.

I donated this one to the zoo for a fundraiser and it's getting reprinted for my office.  I want to line those walls with special photographs.

Now get out there and take some great shots and share them.  Decorate your home with them.  It's a cheap way to bring some color into a room.

About Melissa-

Melissa loves her camera and her friends have joked that the camera is just part of her body.  She started her passion for photography as a child in 4-H.  She blogs about her pictures and her husband's photography, photography in general, and photography tools at Shields Photography.

Shutterbug Sunday: Star Filters

This is a magical time of the year and why not have your pictures reflect that. A great way to create that feeling is by using a star filter. This is a filter that you can attach to your camera lens if you have one of the more fancy shmancy cameras- not a point and shoot digital camera.

Both Crafty Cat and I have Cannon Rebels. Her mom and dad got it for her on Black Friday last year and little did I know- that I would get the same camera on Christmas last year! Cannon really should pay us because we're such huge fans and we tell everyone to buy them.

If you have a camera like we do- look into buying a Star filter. You won't be disappointed! They are so fun to shoot pictures with. The lens has thin lines etched into it in a crisscross manner. When you take a picture of a light source portions of the light streak outward creating a star effect. I used my star filter for the above close-up, for this wide shot and for this shot in front of the Christmas tree.

They cost about $20-$25 dollars and would be a great stocking stuffer for someone who loves photography. If that's you-- there's still time to hint! Or better yet- just send them the link to this post! hehe-- hope you like this post!

Change Of Season

 Yesterday when we were decorating our house for the Christmas season it started to snow. Not a big, oh my goodness it's the first official snowfall of the season type of snow. It was just enough to see the flakes whirl around and it got down right cold outside. It put me in the mood to create all kinds of holiday crafty goodness but I was left with absolutely no time to myself. I had my head in the clouds with ideas of creating a whole bunch of handmade ornaments and one by one taking all the store bought ones down and replacing them with joy. Then I thought about making a big wreath to go on our door. What are your favorite holiday crafting projects or any projects in general? I'm looking for inspiration for future blog posts. In the meantime- I hope you enjoy some of my photography.

Shutterbug Sunday - Bokeh Bliss

day 240 by april

These two beautiful photographs by April Newman of April Newman Photography demonstrate the photography technique called bokeh...the splendid purposely out-of-focus light, colors, and shapes that you find in the background of many digital photographs.  Based on the definition from Dictionary.com, Bokeh, pronounced bow-kay or bow-keh, is a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image. But for me, it is best defined as PURE MAGIC!

The goal of this technique is to create a blurred background that is compelling without distracting the viewer’s attention from the main subject of the photo.  This is especially important in portraits.

day 196 {explore} by april

Tips for getting good bokeh...
1.) Set your DSLR camera to manual or aperture priority and use a low f-stop number like f1.4, f1.8 or f2.8 for a large aperture. If more light is required increase your ISO level instead of switching to a higher f-stop.

2.) To achieve the formation of circles instead of a general blurring, use a shutter speed faster than 1/50 second.

3.) Get in close to your subject, while keeping the background outside the focus area.  If you are trying to create the bokeh effect with only night lights, remember to switch your camera to manual focus.

4.) Consider your background lighting.  Avoid backgrounds that are evenly lit since they will create a bland blurring. Seek out spots of light such as street lights, reflections, or unevenly lit textured surfaces.
I have included a mcLinky so you can show us some of your own magical bokeh.
 
Until next week. ♥ Tammy Lee of Bliss and Folly

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Creating Our New Header

This is the position my family is becoming accustomed to seeing me in as I look for crafty creative ways to take pictures. Our Shutterbug Sunday Photography Expert Tammy Lee Bradley said don't be afraid to go down low- and I take her advice to heart! As I was looking for creative ways to convey fall craftiness all I could think about was wood, fall colors and warmness. Crafty Cat and I want our blog header to offer you a warm welcome and it's our intention to provide you with a comforting place to visit and see beautiful creations everyday!  So, with that goal in mind I went to my supplies and filled a basket with all kinds of things that fit the definition.

Then it was time to find a location! It was too chilly to lay on my belly out on my deck so it was off to my living room floor. I rearranged my crafting items 20 times. I played with my lighting a dozen times. I shot from above, to the side, straight on- whatever I could to come up with a pretty shot.

Because my favorite crafts are scrapbooking and art journaling- photography is a big part of my world. I love it. I love taking pictures of my loved ones. I love capturing moments. I also really loved creating our blog header. I added many of our favorite items we like to use when creating our crafts. Crafty Cat and I are not afraid to take risks in our crafting- so the list of items we like is long! I even used a little symbolism- 7 is my lucky number.

Crafty Cat and I are really working hard to make this a fun place for you to come and check out our crafts, learn some tips and yet also know- you don't have to break the bank to create beautiful pieces of art. In fact- I spent $0- creating our header. I had all the items already in my craft area, the location was free (well, ok, we do have a mortgage-but you get it), even the editing system I used (Picasa) is free.

Today's crafty tip is simple. Craft with intention. Take time to think about your crafts and what they mean to you and others. If you're taking a picture think about the composition of that picture and you will capture memories of a lifetime. If you're making a crafty gift for a friend- spend extra time thinking about what your friend means to you and how you can make it special for them. Our goal is to do that for you everyday with each craft we make. We hope you like what we're doing. We want you to know- we truly appreciate you visiting our site. We also get giddy and excited when you leave us a comment. Thank you for all your support.

Shutterbug Sunday: Off Center

My favorite Cherry ♥ by Tammy Lee Bradley

Every photography and art class teaches the basic composition guideline called the rule of thirds. Even if you don't quite understand the concept, I find that simply keeping your point of focus off-center is a good way to create interest in your photos. I love the illusion of negative space that this technique creates. When combined with shallow depth of field, it can be used to make your photographs more dramatic.

The Softness of Autumn by Tammy Lee Bradley

I have added a mclinky below, share with us your own "OFF CENTER" shots.

Have a great week! Stay sweet. ♥ tlb