MomShots

This is a blog dedicated to reuniting lost cameras and memory sticks with their owners.  I think it is a wonderful idea.  If you have lost a camera check for it there and if you find a camera post it there as well. 

I would like to type up a long post this morning about something fun but I don’t think it is going to happen.  My kids are all antsy to get going with our day.  Magnus is literally climbing on my back right now.

So instead of posting something about nothing I will make a quick note about the new Tip of the Week.  This week’s tip is about using the Eyedropper tool.  This is a very useful tool.  I think you are really going to like this tip.

And also a reminder that we save all of our past Tips.  You can pull up any of the Tips by simply going to the Tip of the Week tab (up above).

This post’s obligatory photo is from last year.  One of the first snows.  My boys were so excited to go play in it but I made them slow down for a second so I could get some shots of them.  We are starting to get excited for snow for this Winter.  I’ve been going through the checklist to make sure everyone has all the necessary gear for warm, cold weather fun!

I got an email the other day from Momshots reader Aubrey.  She said

 I tried out the duotone one & loved how it worked on a pic of my son.  The original pic was a little too bright; the red of his shirt really stole the focus away from his face.  I tried black & white, but it wasn’t giving the image the soft angelic look I felt it needed.  So I tried the duotone with a blue cast and I love it! 

Here are the photos Audrey sent.  I’m sure you will agree with me in saying that her son is just totally adorable.  

You can see what she means by the red in the color photo being a bit much.  Your eye is drawn away from his cute little mug and onto his shirt.  The black and white is lacking something but the blue duotone definitely gives it that look she was going for.

I’m so glad you emailed me Aubrey!  Thanks for showing us all a fantastic practical application and example.  I love, love, love that you tried all three versions and sent copies to me.  It is so helpful for not just me, but I am sure, many other Momshots readers.  Thanks!

Did you try a Duotone photo?  How did it turn out?  

Shelle tried her hand at the spot color.  Don’t you think she did a great job?  I love the spark that the spot color gives her photo.  She’s such a great photographer.  I’m definitely a fan!

The new Tip of the Week is up!  It’s a great one, as usual, brought to us by Tye Durbin.  Tye talks about how as photographers we are telling a story and we can use color to help express that.

Tye issues a challenge to take some photos and experiment with colors.  I am going to do that this week and post them here for you to see.

Check it out and let us see some of your results.  Leave a link to a photo on your blog, Flikr, etc. in a comment.  The more discussion we have, the more can all learn together.

If your kids are anything like mine, they are always going full speed.  There is no chance that I can gather them together, pose them in a sweet angelic way and then be able to snap some beautiful photos that show how cute and adorable they are.  Not gonna happen until they are maybe 20…

Does that sound familiar?  Well if it does, you may think this Momshots Tip is pure genius.  I do!  

Contain them.  Put them in a box.  Put them in a basket.  Put them in something that makes it difficult for them to run away.  They enjoy the novelty of being inside a container and you get to snap some shots while they are immobilized.

I took a series of photos with my three boys in this wooden planter bucket.  We use it as a laundry basket and so the boys thought it was really fun to climb in and play around it.  

Try this tip yourself and let me know what you think.  I would love to see some of your results.

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The next item of business is the new Tip of the Week.  We are focusing on the letter B this week.  For B we are discussing Backgrounds.  Check it out and the next time you start snapping your Momshots, think about what is behind your subject.  Are your darling kids going to end up with a tree or telephone pole growing out of their head?  In some situations that would be really funny.  However if that is not your intended purpose you might be disappointed.

I love your feedback.  Don’t forget to leave a comment.  Do you have any funny shots where shovels are growing out of your kids’ ears?  Do you have any great ideas of containers you can stick your kids in to get some good shots?  Let me know.  I love to hear it.

Our newest Tip of the Week is up and it is a really good one.  It is about Adjustment layers in Photoshop Elements and CS.  I highly recommend checking it out - there is some really great information there.

We are starting a new Tip of the Week theme; each week the Tip of the Week will relate to a letter of the alphabet.  Part of this could be because I have preschool aged children at home but part of it is because there are so many things to learn that the alphabet seems as good a place as any to organize our thoughts.  I hope you enjoy these tips.  We have some really, really good ones planned.  By the end of the alphabet we are all going to have learned so many cool things.  I’m super excited!!!

On another note, my children and I are working on two projects.  Both have to do with photography.  I have been sharing my love of photography with my kids.  We have been working on two photo books.  One is based on the alphabet.  We work on learning one letter, it’s sounds, shape, drawing it, etc.  Then we go around our house and neighborhood and photograph items that start with that letter or the actual letter itself.  We have only done three letters so far; A, B & C.  We will probably do D tomorrow or Friday.

Here is an example of one of our pages…

The other project we are working on is a book on colors.  We photographed a whole bunch of objects yesterday and I will put them all next to the appropriate color.   I was inspired by this crafty lady.

Here is an example of my layout for Blue. This is not finalized but it give you an idea of where I’m going with this.

I guess the point of what I want to say here is that photography can be a whole family experience.  It doesn’t have be just mom or dad behind the camera documenting everything.  It can be a tool that helps build teamwork and unity in your family.

So how are you?  

Autumn is in the air here in Utah.  I went away for two weeks and came back to dramatically colder weather.  When we left the temperature was in the high 90’s and now it is about 15 degrees cooler.  I am a bit shocked by that sudden change!  I also noticed that at the very top of the mountains some of the trees are starting to put on their fall colors.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not freezing here or anything; far from it.  I guess after living in San Diego for 11 years I am still surprised by the changing seasons of Utah.  Strange since I didn’t grow up in a seasonless climate.  I guess we learn to acclimate to where ever we are.

The kids in my neighborhood have all gone back to school and the street is so much quieter in the day.  We are the noisy house on the street now.  We’re a noisy family anyway so that’s no surprise!  We have also started homeschooling preschool this year.  We are having a blast.  My son, Ulysses is always asking me if we can have school at random times in the day.  It’s so cute.  He is such a sponge; he just wants to learn and learn and learn.

Let’s see.  What else?  Oh, I got such a great complement from Tanya today.  Thanks.  You made my afternoon!  She left a comment and said that she was looking at older photos of her son and thought to herself that they weren’t very good “Momshots”.  She wished that she had gotten down to his level to take the photo.  Yaya, Tanya!!!  I love that you were thinking that.  I think if I had to pick one Momshot Tip it would be to get down on their level.  Over and Over and Over and Over I have to remind myself of that.

This week we have a cool Tip of the Week.  Tye tells us how to add SPOT COLOR to a photograph.  It is a great technique to draw the eye of the viewer into your focal point.  It is also just a really fun thing to do!  You an show off your babies big brown/blue/green, etc. eyes or that fiery red hair or a beautiful pink bow.  Thy sky is the limit!  It’s a lot of fun.  Try it out and see what you come up with.  Post it on Flickr and let us know where it is.  We would all LOVE to see it.

Here’s my attempt at Spot Color.  In Palm Springs we took the boys to play at a water fountain one afternoon.  It was a blast.  I love going to new places to photograph my kids.  Seriously, I get pretty bored of photographing them in my backyard…  :)

Tye has made a new Tip of the Week. I think many people will find this helpful. It is about removing a color cast on your photo. Say you forget to change your white balance mode on your camera and you are snapping away all day long. When you upload your photos you realize that all your photos have a blue or a yellow tint to them, now you can make this simple adjustment to help eleminate that color cast.

Great tip! Thanks, Tye!!!

I am writing this post from my mother’s dining room table. We drove up to their house in Bellingham, Washington for a quick visit. We had some errands to run and some people to see. Plus it is one of my sister’s birthday. As usual, we are trying to cram a million things into a very short time. I think we’re going to go pick black berries in a few minutes.

Keep those cameras out and your trigger finger happy!

The above photo doesn’t have anything to do with the new Tip of the Week. It is of my one year old son who fell asleep in the swing at the park. He’s just cute, isn’t he?

Photos using Levels.  Tye Durbin has done it again!  She is sharing her knowledge and helping us learn how to fine tune our black and white momshots using Levels in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS3.

Check out our Tip of the Week section for the details of how to do this.  Plus, her niece is so darn cute, you know you want to just nibble on her cheeks!!!

Did you know that Sepia tones were introduced to photography in the 1880’s? The addition of a pigment from the cuttlefish reacted with any remaining silver and converted it to a sulphide which resulted in photographs that would not fade over time. The Sepia tones that we are familiar with, and which define an era of photography, were designed to give photographs a longer life. That is why the only photos that have lasted from that time frame are ones that are Sepia toned.

Since the onslaught of color photography and modern printing methods, this isn’t a process that we do anymore except for the visual effect. And that effect isn’t done by adding pigment from the cuttlefish!

Our Tip of the Week, brought to you by Durbin Digital, is about changing your color photos into Sepia tones using Photoshop Elements (Version 4.0 and later) and Photoshop CS3. Try your hand at a few of your own photos and post them up. We’d love to see your results!