Two Photos for One Picture

Right after the sun set on New Year's Eve, I glanced out the window and spotted a single bird perched at the top of a tree with a sliver of moon in the background.

Because darkness had already set in, I needed the fastest shutter speed possible, which meant that my aperture (which controls the amount of light allowed through the shutter) had to be as large as possible (meaning the smallest possible Av number - it's inverse).

As mentioned in the blurry background post, a low Av number is used to achieve a blurry background effect. The further away the background is from the subject, the blurrier it will be. In this case, the moon was quite a distance behind the bird and therefore quite blurry.



Since I actually wanted the moon to be in focus in my final image, I took a second shot, this time focusing on the moon, ignoring the fact that the bird and tree would come out blurry.



Armed with my two separate images and Photoshop, I copied the in-focus moon from the second shot and pasted it on top of the blurry moon in my first shot with the in-focus bird. I adjusted the levels and changed the hue of the image to a lovely evening blue. The image is named "Awaiting the New Year".

A Backdrop for This Little Piggy Bank

To create a backdrop for photographing my cute little paint-your-own piggy bank, I threw my multi-functional $1/yd white piece of fabric on the table (near a window for natural diffused light) and draped it over the laundry drying rack behind it. TA DA! Instant studio.





I especially liked the last shot and felt my pig was giving me some attitude, so I had to give her a voice.

The Gingerbread House

I just had to share this photo of last month's gingerbread house. It makes me feel all warm and Christmas-y just looking at it.



This is another good example of that blurry background effect. Here's what I did:

1. Set my aperature (Av) setting to its lowest numeric setting (around 4.0 for me)


2. Zoomed in as far as the telephoto would allow


3. Moved myself around to fit the house and tree in the frame


4. Focused on the house, pressed the shutter button halfway down and held it while I framed the shot, then continued to press it all the way down to take the photo

Part II: Easy Photo Books That Make You Look Incredibly Talented - Wedding Speech & Colorized Photos

Did I mention I *love* photo books?

Another favorite photo book project was a wedding memento for one of my closest friends. I had given a speech at her wedding and I combined the words from my speech with photos I had taken.

For the colorized effect in some of the photos, I used Photoshop to create a copy of the photo and placed it on top of the original. I converted the top photo to black & white and then used the eraser (50% opacity) to erase the top photo wherever I wanted color to show through. With this technique, I was able to "add" color to specific parts of the photos I wanted to highlight.

Front cover:


Inside cover:


Sample pages of colorized photos with words from my speech:

Part I: Easy Photo Books That Make You Look Incredibly Talented - Art Gallery Book

Ever since customizable, bound photo books became available to the average consumer, I have been a huge fan. They're fairly simple to create, look professional, and are relatively inexpensive ($25-$40 and there are always discounts around the winter holidays). I've created books both in Shutterfly and Kodak Gallery with nice results.

In addition to doing scrapbook-style "Year in Review" photo books, I've found other great applications and wanted to share my favorite projects.

The first project was an art gallery book for my co-worker of her children's artwork. While she was out of town, I snuck into her office, took the artwork off the wall, and photographed each piece individually. (Thankfully, I took a "before" picture of her wall and was able to put the artwork back exactly in its place so she never suspected a thing.)

The inside cover (the photo appeared through the cut-out in the cover):


The perfect quote that I added inside:


A few sample pages of artwork:






Another idea - publish your children's stories and illustrations!

Where To Print Those Lovely Pics

My two favorite professional developers are Gluskin's in Stockton, CA and Marin Filmworks in San Rafael, CA. They both have online ordering available and you can have your photos shipped to you. (You can also pick up in store, but I find it well worth paying the shipping cost for the convenience.)

Wolf/Ritz Camera is pretty decent for consumer grade, but their print paper feels flimsier to me. However, their prints look good and the prices are low. It may also depend on your local store, as a friend mentioned to me that his local Wolf didn't print as nicely as mine.

During my brief stint in wedding photography, shot in film, I took all my Kodak UC and VC film to Gluskin's and was very pleased with the vibrant colors and quality. I sent one roll of infrared to Marin and they did an excellent true black and white prints and their sloppy border for film is my favorite of all time. Unfortunately, they use a different sloppy border for digital prints, which I don't care for as much.

Buying & Arranging Wall Frames

I picked up this great guide from Pottery Barn with directions on how to lay out wall frames. I've always wondered what the best way to hang frames along a stairway to they look right. The key is to set large anchor frames which establish an invisible line parallel to the stairs, then balance smaller frames around the anchor frames.
 

For a collection of frames on a regular wall, set the large anchor frames in a row. Then add four smaller frames (of the same size) in the corners above and below to establish an invisible box. When adding additional frames, align them to the edges of the invisible box.

Aaron Brothers is a great place to purchase quality frames. Also, they have a wide selection of various sizes in the same style, and if one store is out of a specific frame, changes are you can find it at another. Aaron Brothers can be on the pricey side, but if you wait until one of their Buy 1, Get 1 for 1 Cent Sales (I believe they're semi-annual), you'll pay about the same price you'd pay for Walmart frames, but you'll have much nicer quality frames.

Before putting up my frames, I measured the final frame sizes, created mock-ups out of scrap paper, and taped the placeholders on the wall to make sure it looked the way I wanted.