Posts Tagged ‘
digital photos ’
Thursday, May 9th, 2013
Before our daughter was born, I had the best intentions to create a beautiful photo album documenting her infancy but sadly, that album has sat in a box for the past nine years as the photos have lived on my computer in digital form. I have no shortage of digital photos documenting my kids’ lives but like many parents, I’m strapped for time and honestly, just not really great at taking my digital photos and sharing them on a regular basis. I know I’m not alone in my challenge and thankfully, there are apps and services that allow busy parents just like me with ways to do something with our digital photos quickly and easily.
Shoot and Share with Story by Disney
This week Disney released Story for iOS, a free iOS app that allows individuals to use the photos that are taken with their iPhone to create photo albums that can be immediately shared. Easy for kids and parents alike, Story is a powerful tool that allows families to share favorite moments in real time with loved ones quickly and easily from the palm of your hand. Photos from your iDevice are pulled directly into Story and compiled into albums. Edit, remove, add a 75 character caption, or adjust the layout from two stacked horizontal photos or two verticals side by side with the tap of a finger.
When you’re done with your Story, share it via email or social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest or embed it into a blog post. Want a more customized Story? Tap on the Story icon with the plus in the upper right corner to create a custom Story using any one of the 5 different themes with photos from the camera’s library and captions as text or take a photo or video right from your phone to incorporate directly from the screen.
Create a Blurb book out of your Instagrams
Chronic Instagrammers who share their favorite photos socially can create a book of their images using Blurb. Blurb boasts one of the most impressive arrays of photo books that are available in a variety of sizes. A square Instagram book that measure 7”x7” starts at under $20 for 60 pages and is the perfect way to showcase Instagram photos in an album format. If you’re more of a Facebook photo sharer, Blurb also offers Facebook Photo Books in the same size beginning at $12.99 for 20 pages.
Hang your Instagrams on your wall
Art worthy images captured in Instagram can be turned into canvas prints thanks to Snapbox with a single email. The service provides darling sized canvas prints that look great solo or grouped together on a mantle or hung as a collection on a wall and start at $10.
Man’s hand making photo of a little girl with a mobile phone via Shutterstock
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012
If you haven’t already ordered your holiday cards, it’s not too late to get some great shots of your family to create a fabulous card commemorating your year. Don’t worry about trying to book a session with a professional. Shots taken with your point and shoot camera in the comfort of your living room or in the backyard your kids love to play in will capture their spirit just as well as a pro would.
What else do you need to know about getting great photos of your kids? Rather than turning to the professional photographers, I queried some of the top bloggers who spend lots of time looking through the camera lens to capture great shots of their kids for blog posts. Here’s their advice on how to get the best shots, what to wear, where to go, the best time of day for photos (not during naptime!), and more!
- Bribe your children with whatever they want if they promise to wear what you want them to wear and smile like it’s the best day of their life! —Jenn Quillen, The Rebel Chick
- Young kids? Schedule around naps, because we all know how crucial naps are for their moods! Hmm, that might work well for all the subjects in the photo! —Rajean Blomquist, RajeanBlomquist.com
- Eat after the photo. Bring extra clothing for little kids. If you must bribe with treats, give something non sticky like a cracker. DON’T do what I did and bribe my toddler with a tube of mini M&Ms. What was I thinking?! Her mouth and hands were covered in blue dye for the Christmas photo! —Jill Berry, Musings From Me
- Embrace the idea of a candid shot. Kids don’t want to sit and pose over and over again, and candid shots can showcase little personalities in a fun way. —Roo Ciambriello, Nice Girl Notes
- Kids feed off of mom and dad’s attitude. Make it FUN. Fake it if you have to. Talk with each other. Joke with each other. As a photographer, the favorite family photos that I have taken have been the ones where the family members are interacting in a real way. The kids end up forgetting that the photographer is even there. —Lolli Franklin, Better in Bulk
- If you can’t get a good group shot, make a collage with individual shots. —Kelly Whalen, The Centsible Life
- Have a sense of humor. ‘Perfect’ family shots come with the frame. Replace it with a photo that shows your family’s personality. — Robin Elton, Simple.Green.Organic.Happy
- Comfortable clothes, snacks and a relaxed attitude. Try shots from different angles too – up high, waists down with little hands holding something special. — Hillary Chybinski, hacscrap.com
- Get outdoors, at twilight, for best lighting. Coordinate, but don’t match. Be comfortable and let your kids personalities shine through! —Melissa Angert, All Things Chic
- 1) Clean lens of the camera with a proper lens cloth. 2) Make sure kids are well rested. 3 ) Take the shots on your largest and highest resolution it will give you a lot to work with later allowing you to crop and edit. —Sherry Aikens, Super Exhausted
Now that you have these great tips, know you don’t have to spend a bundle of money on stylish holiday cards that match your family’s personality. Sites like Shutterfly, Tiny Prints, and MyPublisher are looking to appeal to parents who haven’t yet ordered cards by offering substantial discounts made available through their email newsletter. Subscribe to keep up with the best deals on cards to order yours at a discount.
Mother taking family photograph on winter beach via Shutterstock
Saturday, August 18th, 2012
Whether it’s your child’s first day of the first day of preschool, a milestone year such as the first day of kindergarten, middle, or high school, or just another incredible year, it’s always wonderful to capture the first day to share it with friends and loved ones and have it to look back on fondly as your children grow older. Whether you’re an amateur, budding photographer, or a pro, or just love to share those first day photos with friends and loved ones near and far, here are some great tools to help you capture first day memories.
Elmer’s 1st Day of School App— Elmer’s Products (yes, the company that makes glue!) has created a brand new free app just in time for school that allows parents to record and save first day of school memories. Snap photos using your smartphone and then create albums via the secure 1st Day website where they will be stored. Galleries can also be shared securely by email and on Facebook. Uploading them to the 1st Day Website provides convenience since all photos will be in one place and busy moms and dads won’t have to spend time searching for favorite images between phones, computers, flash drives, hard drives, and other digital devices.
Storymark App— Storymark lets you combine photos and videos to share precious moments using your child’s own words. Take a picture with your smartphone or use one from your photo library, record any sound or personalized message, and send it to friends and family within seconds. Special moments captured through StoryMark are housed in my phone’s library keeping them private until you’re ready to share them via email, Facebook, and other social networks. The Storymark app is available for iPhone and Android.
MomAgenda School Years and Sports Years— For parents who prefer to have a hard evidence of their child’s school years and prefer an organized, yet not overwhelming way to save treasured memories, MomAgenda School Years helps organize important mementos from kindergarten through 12th grade by providing places for report cards, class pictures, and art and writing samples, for each school year. MomAgenda also makes a Sports Years version to remember each season’s memorable moments, teammates, team photos, and more.
Content young boy in front of yellow school bus waiting to board on first day back to school via Shutterstock. All other images courtesy of the companies.
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
I love taking photos but being the tech savvy mom that I am, the majority of my photos are digital, rather than the beautiful prints I envision decorating my walls. Recently I was inspired to use family photos in creative ways after meeting with professional photographer, Mary Gardella of Love Life Images in Baltimore, Maryland. As we looked at some photos she had taken of our family, we talked about different ways to display images.
It seems so obvious that photos don’t always need to occupy space on walls in fancy frames with mats but I don’t always think about the wealth of photo products available that allow me to look at my favorite images daily but in different ways. Think outside the frame with these wonderful ways to digital images.
Photo books— Just as it’s a pleasure to sit down and turn the pages of a picture book, it’s cozy to sit down and recount past memories in a photo book. Photo services make it easy to create photo books by importing uploaded photos directly into an album for you. Of course customization options are plentiful that allow books to be as creative as you want them to be.
Photo jewelry— You wear your heart on your sleeve, why not wear a favorite photo around your neck? Classic lockets hide away treasured photos and or a single photo charm on a sterling silver chain can be a modern way to keep loved ones close to your heart. Charm bracelets are also a great option to showcase a collection of photos around your wrist. Snapfish seals photos used in their single photo charm necklaces and charm bracelets underneath a hard clear plastic to ensure images are protected and can become a family keepsake.
Montage notebooks— If you love to carry a notebook, why personalize it with your photos? Memo Montage notebooks are perfect to tuck into a purse or laptop bag and make a special grandparent gift.
Snowglobes— Kitsch becomes chic when you use your own image in a snowglobe.
Pillows— Yes. Pillows. But not just any pillow. Ones that take shape of the image you supply and could serve as your child’s new lovey.
What are some favorite ways to display photos in your home? Do they live on the computer like mine tend to do or have you found an innovative way to share them?
Photo of Woman with Digital Camera via Shutterstock
