MomShots

There must be something in the air because I have been asked about photo collages and storyboards quite recently by a small handful of people, including my mother. So I thought I’d try to answer your questions all at once and show you how I have been doing it and some options.

First off, I use the two terms, storyboard and photo collage interchangeably. I may be incorrect in this and if I am, please let me know. I think they are the same thing. What do you think?

The way I have been doing it is what I wrote about in this post, using the triptych, diptych and various storyboard actions from the Coffeeshop. I use PhotoShop CS3 and her actions work great and are super easy. If you have PhotoShop or Elements and are not familiar with how to install actions, Rita has a great tutorial here. You can also do a Google search and find many resources for this.

I also have been known to build my own collages in PhotoShop. I often use a grid view and use ruler guides to help me place and size my photos similar to what you see below.

I also do scrapbook style page collages that you have seen in my 52 Week Project posts. Similar to this one:

For these, I just use my digital scrapbook papers and elements to put them all together; sometimes helter skelter, sometimes with a plan.

Another option for photo collages is one that can be done without the aid of PhotoShop. Did you read that right? Photo collages without PhotoShop!!! Free!!!

Have you seen Picnik yet? If you use Flickr you might be familiar with their site. They offer tons of free photo editing options. You can upload your images directly to Picnik or you can pull your images off of your Flickr photostream. You can edit photos, make basic collages, make fancy scrapbook style collages, make a slide show and even put your images on various novelty items like grandma’s new favorite coffee cup!

If you like what you see on Picnik you can sign up for their premium service for a pretty reasonable price of $24.95 a year. Then you have access to lots of even greater editing and collage options.

Here’s an example of a collage I just created using Picnik.

So there are a few options of making photo collages. Are you super confused or are you excited to get out your photos and start making collages and storyboards? They can be so much fun. I am sure you will agree.

Let me know if you have any questions. I’m here for you!

May I introduce a two new words to your vocabulary?

Triptych - pronounced Trip-tick. Originated from the Greek words, tri- “three” + ptychē “fold”
Diptych - pronounced Dip-tick. Originated from the Greek words, di- “two” + ptychē “fold”

These words were introduced to me about a year ago from the Digital Photography School. They had an assignment that centered around Triptychs. I can’t remember what I submitted or even if I did submit anything. Prior to that I don’t recall ever hearing those words. Since then, I have really enjoyed putting together both triptychs and diptychs. They seem to speak to my indecisive mind. I don’t have to choose just one photo, I can go with all three.

Lately I have been making a lot of triptychs. I have been using this free action a lot instead of making them from scratch in PhotoShop. It’s pretty fast and I like the result. They also have a great diptych action as well; also free. I love the CoffeeShop site. Rita makes wonderful actions that are really fun to play with for storyboards and photo editing. However, you don’t need an action to make these. They aren’t hard to make and you may really enjoy the results.

This is one of my recent favorites. I couldn’t decide on these so I put them all together in one triptych. It makes making up my mind so much easier!

If triptychs and diptychs are new to you, I hope you give it a try and see how you like them.

I live in a house with six giant windows in the living room. Not your average home at all. It has many crazy features, one of which is that it is round. That causes all sorts of decorating dilemmas. I’m not even going to mention that the moron person that built it had no idea what a straight line was. I digress. My house has many, many faults but the large windows in the living room is not one of them. I love them. I want every house I ever live in to have such wonderful windows. Always.

One of the wonderful things about these windows is that on overcast days I have the most wonderful light that comes in. I can set children pretty much anywhere and they are bathed in beautiful, soft and multi-directional light. I don’t get harsh shadows and can get bright skin tones with ease.

One sunny days, it proves to be a challenge because I can get too much bright light but it is a challenge I gladly accept. If I weren’t so lazy about decorating I could probably solve that bright light problem with a few translucent or hazy curtains. But I am. Our living room has no furniture in it. Why? Because I’m lazy. Also because I really love the large open space that is always being used by my sons and husband as a wrestling ring, Jedi sword fighting arena or Nerf gun battle zone. Who needs furniture when you have great light and children with imaginations? Not me!

I took these photos yesterday of my adorable niece. She was over for a few hours and when she’s here I can’t help but get out my camera. I need to start thinking of more creative ways to photograph her but for now, this will do.

Thank you wonderful overcast day for your beautiful light filling my living room. You are welcome to come back often.

So I recently discovered a fantastic photographer out of Southern California named Liz Kuball. She’s really got an interesting style and I found many pieces very inspiring. It also makes me a little bit homesick for my dear early married days in sweet San Diego.

Liz has a great idea on her site that I decided to carry onto mine. She is very much in favor of sharing photography information. This, as you probably know, is a passion of mine as well. So in the spirit of sharing information and answering questions to the best of my ability, I have added this button and link to the right sidebar of my page. If you click on it, it should generate an email to me and you can ask away. You can also leave comments, click on the Contact page or email me directly at momshots@yahoo.com.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I love questions! While I will freely admit I don’t know everything, I am a dang good researcher and have many fantastic photographers to reach out to in the event of a question that totally stumps me.

Obligatory MomShot:

Magnus, my 2 1/2 year old. Photos taken yesterday (2/16/10). He was playing with his robot in the perfect light. I couldn’t pass up taking a bunch of shots. Then when I was playing with the photos in Photoshop, he saw this compilation of photos and he started squealing in delight. I think I’m going to print them out and put them up on the wall.

In the course of living with two daughters  I’ve learned a great number of things, not least of which is that taking a good picture with two kids in it is hard.

Taking a picture of one kid, you’ve got two main factors - you, and the kid. (At least I do. My photography style lies solidly in the “aim and hope” school of photography.  I don’t really change settings or anything, so the camera isn’t really a factor.)  The kid is going to do what they’re going to do, and you’re going to try and capture it.  Using the tips Jess provides, you make sure they’re not in front of a distracting background, you focus on their eyes, get close, and take a bunch of shots.  You run after them if you have to, and make it fun. Take enough shots and you’re likely to get something good. After all, they’re cute, right?

But two kids- two kids is more difficult. Now you have 3 factors. Two sets of eyes to focus on, two temperaments, two sometimes conflicting agendas.

Most of my pictures with both of my girls look something like this:

Not horrible, but not compelling in any way.  Booooooring.

The rest look something like this:

Amusing, but not as representative of both of their lovely selves as I’d like.

Then one day I stumbled into taking this photo, and something clicked.

Getting these girls on two different planes made all the difference. It adds visual interest and depth, and allows the eye to move around the picture. Plus, there’s a practical side: they’re both looking at the camera, but they’re not right next to each other, so they’re not distracting each other.

After taking that picture I decided to try experimenting with this- looking for opportunities to place myself in the right location as the girls did their thing.

I love the depth of the planes in this one, and the fact that while only Audrey is looking at the camera, it also perfectly captures a facet of Zoe’s personality.

The planes in this shot are much closer, but the vertical difference shakes things up a bit.

The natural height difference in the girls means that most of the time Audrey ends up in the front of the picture, which is something I’m trying to work with.  But I love the candid feel of these shots; they capture the personality of each girl and highlight their similarities and differences. SO much better than that picture at the top of the post!

How do you get good shots of multiple kids? Please share!

We have a guest post today from Lori Brooks. She is a lady I met on Twitter and has been kind enough to offer to share a few of her photos. I think pets and children have a lot of the same challenges for photographers. They are both so wiggly and have a mind of their own and rarely listen and do exactly what you tell them to do.

Take it away, Lori!

Thank you so much to MomShots for allowing me to do a guest post for her, I am honored to be included in her wonderful blog. I am a petsitter and with each new client I take their photo and then display it on my facebook page, this photo welcomes them to my business family. Here are a few of my favorite animals ..

Cooper, there is not a person or animal this dog does not like, he makes friends with cats, dogs, people, anyone. Even if the dog is barking at him all aggresive, he just wags his tail and smiles “lets be friends”.

Madison, she is a rascal full of spunk and personality. it is true that dogs do reflect their owners cause she is just like her owner my friend crystal. She loves to cuddle yet she puts up a fuss when its time to go to her room, makes me smile every time.

Shadow, a fireball of energy and a lover. this dog can go from 0 to 60 when walking at a moments notice. She also loves affection and attention. But who wouldn’t living in a household of 6 people.

Thanks for sharing your shots, Lori!

If anyone else has any shots or thoughts they would like to share on MomShots, send me an email.

Are you following MomShots on Facebook? If you aren’t, you should. It’s super easy. Plus it makes me feel good. Just click on the blue button to the right —-> that says “Follow this Blog”.

Done.

Super Easy.

Do it now.

Please.

Hi! I’m a friend of Jessica’s, and she asked me to visit and share a little. This is a bit intimidating, because I know next to nothing about photography, but luckily she asked me to talk about one aspect of photography I do know: handing my camera over to my kid.

My daughter Zoe is 3 1/2, and she LOVES taking pictures. She walks through the house snapping photos of whatever takes her fancy, and while some of the results are …. interesting:

sometimes they’re really neat.

By looking at the pictures she takes, I’ve learned some lessons to incorporate into my own photography attempts.

Get close. Really close.

Capture those everyday moments you wouldn’t think to photograph,

and the moment just after that.

Pick colorful subjects.

Most of her picture taking sessions come randomly- when she asks to use my camera.  One fun adventure came, however, on a day we went out for a walk with the express intention of taking pictures of things she was thankful for.  They included the sun:

and a dumpster (we have yet to figure out the reason for that one):

Since she really does get such great joy from taking pictures, we’ve considered getting her one of the cameras that they make specifically for kids, but have decided against it at this point. The quality of the prints is reportedly low, and with the great photos she’s taking, they deserve to be seen in higher quality. And this way she’s learning respect for the camera - she’s quite careful, and knows how to turn it off and on, and most importantly, to put it back where it belongs when she’s done.

When I asked Zoe to tell me about why she likes using the camera, this is what she said,

“I like to take pictures of my plants because I love them. I like to use the camera because it’s so great.”

This is a crosspost. I don’t think many people read my family blog and I wanted to share the good news with you, my fantastic MomShots readers.

Plus, I’m kind of on a posting spree. Have you noticed? This will be the third post in as many days. Maybe I am coming out of my slump and will start writing some posts with substance. I am thinking about hosting a cool contest next month too. That’s fun!

I think I totally spaced mentioning it here. I put everything on Facebook but since this is kind of my diary/journal I need to put it here too. We went in for the ultrasound on the 21st of December and are happy to report that everything looks good. Besides having a healthy baby, we are excited to report that our 4th and final baby is a girl!!!! We are beyond the moon excited about this fact. We were happy to only have boys and thankful for all of our children but there was always a little part of us that hoped we would also have a girl. Ben is finally getting his “daddy’s little girl” and I’m going to get my little dolly. We are so thankful and excited for this gift.

Lala’s Toes Focal length: 50mm, Aperture: f/11, ISO: 1400, Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec

MomShots Tip of The Day: Grab your camera and capture those funny moments that make you laugh. Easy. Simple.