Cord Scrapbook Studio

Guest Post: Chasing Picture Perfection w/ Stacie Errera

I may work for Cord Camera and spend a couple of days every week working out of one of our stores, but you'd be surprised at how many times I take for granted the untapped photography knowledge resource we have at our fingertips! So today I've decided to tap into the photography world thanks to our special guest poster--Stacie Errera.
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When the sun is really harsh during midday, you know that kind of day—when your eyes won't stop tearing from the brightness and sunglasses hardly help—you can still get wonderful portraits by placing your subjects just inside a shady area.

This might be just under an umbrella, inside a garage door, inside your house door, under the slide at the park, under the light of the first tree, etc. The key is to not position your subject too deep into the shade as you want all of the light that is just behind you to spill softly onto your subject. This will give even lighting across the face(s) as well as great catch lights in the eyes.

Here, my subject stood on the lawn, just where the tree started to shade the lawn and you can see exactly what I mean—smooth bright skin with no deep shadows and gorgeous blue eyes! Below, you can see an example of the line of shade.

If your subject's feet are on the sunny side of the line, you will get get a contrasty image with harsh shadows across the face that also block the shine in the eyes. But if the subject takes two steps back into the shade, the result is amazing as you can see in the main image above.

Another great advantage—you can eliminate the problem of squinty eyes! So look for a line of shade in which to position your subject on those really bright days and you'll love the resulting photos.
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For additional tips on ways you can improve your everyday photography skills, visit Stacie's blog: chasingpictureperfection.com. You'll find anything from info on action shots to composition, lighting or special effects. For the photographer on-the-go, she's got four different Photo Tips cards available for download! Thanks so much Stacie for sharing today's tip!

Let it Snow!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
I'm a snow belter through and through--almost to the point of being overwhelming annoying when it comes to my doing happy dances for heavy snowfall. I've never said I enjoy driving in it and I'm not a huge fan of walking around in it, but man does it look pretty falling so peacefully outside the window!

 
Yup...the "white death" has finally made its way to Columbus! Thanks to freezing temperatures, a few scattered flurries and blowing snow, it's a great day for just hangin' out at home with a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a cup of hot cocoa surrounded by nothing but your scrapbooking supplies! 
Perfect for those cool, snowy afternoons like this one is the Snowy Serenade collection, a limited edition series of glittered papers and embellishments by Bo Bunny.

Since this collection first hit shelves back in November, I've been waiting anxiously for the opportunity to shoot a few frosty photos of my own to scrapbook using these snowflake covered, glittered patterns! Now that there's finally some snow on the ground, I'm ready to grab my camera and go make some memories! 

I imagine many of you are itching to capture a few of your own snow-covered landscapes or sled-riding adventures so I thought I'd share a few winter-ized photography tips courtesy of Lifepics and HP Digital Photography.

1. Be smarter than the camera. Little known fact--What you and I think is "white", your camera actually sees as being somewhat gray. Combine that minor little discrepancy with a bright, reflective surface (like say, a snow covered field) and you get an image that's slightly gray or bluish in color. So what do you do? Well, if you've got one of those handy dandy little cameras with a "Snow" setting--perfect! I actually used the Pentax Optio W80 to take the storefront picture above using such a setting! Nice thing about that camera is that it's also waterproof! If you're shooting in manual mode (like you would with an SLR), you're going to want to overexpose your shot by about two f-stops. You could also adjust the white balance of your camera to compensate for what your camera's lightmeter automatically reads.

2. Don't be fooled by the lighting! Snow reflects sunlight. Ice reflects sunlight. And too much of a good thing (sunlight) can mean washed-out photos. But contrary to what you might think, your best solution is to actually turn on your flash. Yup... truth is, the light from the flash will help fill in some of the shadows and balance out that reflective light you're getting from the snow and ice.

3. Proceed with caution. Cameras (and their batteries) are sensitive to the cold and snow just like their human handlers. Batteries tend to be somewhat "sluggish" when the temperatures drop, so if you're going to be shooting for a while, keep an extra set handy in the warmth of your pocket. It's also a good idea to wear gloves where the fingertips have been cut off so that you can stay warm while maintaining the ability to adjust your settings. And finally, when you come inside from a snow shoot, be sure to let your camera warm up (slowly) to prevent condensation.

We'd love to see your winter photos and/or your finished "Snow Day" layouts--share your talents, tips and tricks on our Facebook page! I hope you all are able to enjoy the winter weather while staying safe and warm! Have a wonderful weekend!

Enter to Win!

Cord Camera in Clintonville is now accepting entries for the 2009 Photo Contest! Enter now for your chance to win Custom Framing for your winning photograph, up to $100 value! The submission deadline is July 31st and the winner will be announced on August 21st. Entries will be on display in the Cord Camera Photo Gallery at the Clintonville location upon submission and voting will take place from August 10th through August 20th. Open to amateur photographers of all ages, up to two entries may be submitted per photographer in each of three different categories: Nature, Wildlife and Macro Photography. Please contact the Clintonville store for additional details!

Photographing Fireworks

Talk of the infamous 4th of July celebration in downtown Columbus--Red, White and BOOM!--is everywhere it seems! Radio, TV, word of mouth... Everyone's swapping tips & tricks for where to go, when to go, where to park, what you'll see, etc. I mean, watching the fireworks on the 4th of July really is a big deal 'round these parts whether or not you head to Red, White and BOOM or to any of the other local shows (my personal favorite spectacle actually takes place in Delaware--it's awesome!)

For some, photographing fireworks is just as much fun as watching them! It's a challenge, for sure, but with a little bit of practice, some planning, and the right tools at your fingertips, anyone can give it a go! I asked Gary Walker from Walker Photography School to give us a few pointers...

1. Plan ahead. Scout the area before the fireworks begin. Look for a background that contains a well known landmark for the area, such as a statue, building or river. This will give your fireworks images a sense of place. Water is another strong compositional element which can show reflections from the fireworks adding extra punch and impact to your photographs. An ideal vantage point has the wind blowing across your frame carrying the smoke away from the area where you are taking pictures.

2. Be prepared. Regardless of the type/style of camera you carry, there's one piece of equipment that's absolutely essential for photographing fireworks--a tripod. A sturdy tripod will make your images much sharper due to the long exposure times used when photographing fireworks. Canon's Digital Learning Center (a great resource for a wide variety of tips & tricks for today's digital photographer) adds that "... it's impossible to handhold your camera rock-steady for anything longer than a small fraction of a second (forget about several seconds or even minutes!)" So true!

Also, if you have an SLR and access to a remote shutter release, bring that along too! This will allow you to open the shutter without touching the camera, which eliminates the possibility of accidentally moving the camera and causing blurry pictures.

3. Digital Point-and-Shoot Cameras... automatic cameras set the shutter speed and aperature automatically leaving you no control over the camera's settings. Under these conditions, Gary suggests a faster ISO speed like 400 or 800. The camera will probably overexpose the fireworks due to the dark sky background. Use the exposure compensation (+/-) button to decrease the exposure. Minus 1 or minus 2 stops should work. Remember there is a delay between pushing the shutter button down and taking the picture. It may help to listen for the thump of the morter, then press the shutter release and the camera should fire as the fireworks burst open.

Some cameras (like select Nikon Coolpix models) also have a "Fireworks" mode! You might want to use the self-timer though to help keep the camera as steady as possible. Or... try out "movie mode" on your camera to capture the fireworks display with ease!

4. With Digital SLRs... you've got a couple of different options! For single bursts of fireworks - Put the camera on a tripod. Set the ISO to 100 or 200. Set the lens (and/or camera) to Manual focus and set the focus point  at infinity. Use a normal to slightly wide angle lens (55mm - 30mm). Set the aperture to f11 and the shutter to 10 sec. for starters. Adjust the lengh of time between 10 sec. and 30 sec. depending on the desired effect. If your images are too light, reduce the aperature to f16.

For multiple bursts of fireworks--Set up the camera as above, except for the shutter speed use the bulb or "b" setting. The "bulb" setting will allow the shutter to stay open as long as the shutter release button is pressed down. The shutter will close when the  button is released. A remote release works best under these conditions. You can record multiple bursts on one frame with the bulb setting by opening the shutter and putting a dark sheet of cardboard or paper over the lens to block any stray light. Remove this temporary lens shield just as the fireworks are about to go off and replace it when the burst has finished. Repeat to record multiple bursts. 

Thanks Gary for the tips! For more information on Digital Photography classes (taught by Gary through the Walker Photography School), tips & tricks check out our website!

 

Got Questions? We've got answers...

This will be my tenth entry in the series of "Friday Favorites" which consequently marks the 10 week anniversary of the blog being back online! (WOOHOO!) As I was sitting here at my desk thinking of all of my favorite things, brainstorming different ideas to post for this week's entry I thought to myself, "Self, perhaps I've missed one of the most important things of all..." which led me to the following conclusion...

One of my favorite things to do is scrapbook. One of my favorite places to work is in the scrapbooking industry. And one of my favorite places within the industry is Cord Scrapbook Studio (obviously). But do you know what one of my favorite things about Scrapbook Studio is?

The fact that it's part of a "bigger picture".

Cord Camera is your "total imaging solution" and now more than ever before (since our beginning in 1954) we've come to pride ourselves on the ability to help you capture and preserve your memories from start to finish. We not only provide the avenue to purchase equipment or print your photographs, but we've stepped beyond the everyday photo album to provide options like custom framing and scrapbooking.

Now I know I sound like a typing, talking advertisement for Cord Camera and you really wouldn't expect me to say anything less. But you know, when I step back and look at things through something other than my own rose-colored glasses, the concept really is pretty cool.

See, I started scrapbooking because I loved to take pictures and I needed an outlet for matching up the prints to the stories behind them.  Then I started with Cord back in 2004 (a big Ellen "Holla!" to all my Delaware peeps) and since then my passion for taking pictures has turned into a love for photography which only makes me want to scrapbook even more just to be able to preserve my ever-improving images in a memorable way. So naturally, Cord has become the perfect place to mesh these two loves together.

So whether you're a photographer who scrapbooks or a scrapbooker who enjoys photography I invite you to take advantage of what I think is a "winning combo" when it comes to capturing and preserving our memories. For those of you who, like me, love photography but don't know much of the "behind-the-scenes" info necessary to make good pictures great, I've opened up the blog to a few of our photography afficionados at our stores who would love to offer some tips for you or answer some of your questions!

Want to develop some "mad skills" or learn how to further enhance your scrapbooking by improving your photos? Well, now's your chance... Add a comment to this post asking your questions, requesting a tip, or to share a trick of your own. We'd love to hear from you and will answer all of your questions in a future post!

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful weekend. :-)