Photo Hacks for the Family

Memories has always delighted us in some ways we never imagine. Seeing the firstborn child you have on the very first day,  memories have become retrievable because of man's wonderful invention, the camera. 


Before, we are using the analog cameras that made us buy rolls of films and some of the photos taken on it just landed in the trash bin “I don’t look good in that pic- that was humiliating etc…” , is just one of the complaints we had then.  Thanks that digital camera graced the scene.  We can now take pics as long as we wanted (as our memory card or internal memory space allows) and then pick from those images the good shots and discard the unsightly ones J without anymore spending the bucks on developing the 'freaky' shots :)

I have here some tips to keep your memories alive and you could do some bonding with your kids doing these: 

1.  Maximizing Album Space
I seldom keep pictures with much of the background especially when it is not a “tourists’ spot”…it needs that there is a beautiful flower, building, resort or any captivating backdrop to keep me from cutting it.  Believe me friends, you can save a lot of album space by doing it. You are not wrecking the pictures but making room for more of the other pics you have got. Or you can opt to keep one with the whole background and all the photos taken that particular moment you can crop.  And when you see the results, it is a work of art. But, I do not prefer “rigid photo mosaic” – I saw a lot made by others and it makes me dizzy looking on the “craft”, just positioning the photos in a page having space for each is quite good enough.

Me and Jay-ar


Anyway, better to have copies of your photos saved on your laptop’s hard disk or in a flash drive or better a CD dedicated to photos alone. By doing that, you will still have a copy in case it happened that the pictures fade or accidentally wet by flood and unexpected reasons. Refrain from deleting copies you had gone developing, or you can opt to keep the great shots to save space. Why photos alone in a flash drive? Sometimes, frequent use of the flash drive makes it worn-out or malfunction, better be sure the images are safe. You will just access it when you have to add the latest shots.


2. Captioning

The occasion, date and where it was taken are most of the common captions. But you can also go whacky over the texts you want to put below above or right there in the photos, saying funny remarks and the like. The visitors who would want to see the photos will be more interested to look at them and entertained like reading a magazine and you can somehow leave them for awhile to get the drinks because you need not follow their every turn of the page explaining what is in every photo they look at.

A sample of Captioning (1993 photo)

3. Categorizing

I usually wanted each of my child, me and my husband a separate album for our solo adventures.  There are these “moments” that belong to each. The eldest’s graduation, the youngest’s competing in a tilt, dad’s work achievement party, mom’s past activities when still single or the growing-up years of each (even mom and dad can have!).  And the album for the whole family’s activities. On the PC’s hard disk “My Pictures” that we have on file is segregated that way, the family’s week vacations each year are also compiled.  Every place or resort we had been-to has a separate album-titled to the place with the year i.e. Tagaytay 2009.



4. Scrap-booking

Scrap-booking is fun for parents and kids, moms and daughters can agree on a theme that they both like as well as dads and sons.  Kids’ can help on cutting or pasting with the parent’s supervision. It’s bonding time, accomplishing something while having fun with your children.

Scrap-booking art design stickers, papers etc. are available in most bookstores. Ribbons and other origami flower crafts are quite nice addition too. Play with colors and theme. Want to make sure you are putting the right designs and texts? Answer these simple questions:

a. Is the design you have in mind  appropriate for the occasion presented on the pictures (if it is formal – it should be a little plain but elegant). If it is a “whatever” pics, you have the permission to cross any boundary.

b. Is the design dull or overkill? Color combinations contribute to dullness or overkill of the design. Better pick the stickers, craft materials you want to use and position it without pasting yet. Experiment on the position of each, that way you can land on the fairest look for the album page,  that is the only time you can start pasting or gluing or adhering (most albums have built-in adhesives).

Make sure that there are no too many colors that become an eyesore when overdone. If what you like does not look right, better forget it.

c. Keep the texts shorter. Just a few lines comment will do for every pic, dedicate the first line for “who’s in the pic from left-right”-just name the “cast” once if there are many pics on the same date with the same people.

Texts can be computerized or cut words (a collage) with different color backgrounds from magazines. Ask your child’s help to find each word you may need. The old-fashion personalized hand-written captions never goes outdated. For children’s album, their handwriting in crayons/colored pens will give it a blast.


5. Printing Tips/Ideas

You can also have the prettiest solo  pic in occasion, for example your child’s birthday blown-up around half size of the album then the details printed in wallet size(bizcard size) or thumb nail sizes that can be placed horizontally in a row  below the large one in the center or on the right side of the album vertically in a row, either way or even both.

You can have three pictures enlarged per occasion depending on the number of images you have. One per dozen ratio will be good to follow and be placed on different album pages.

Placement in rows can be done with space after each photo or just compressed whatever you prefer.  I would suggest “at intervals” because it will not make the picture confusing, more organized and neat look too.

Or you can have it printed this way, I have edited it on photoshop.
The pics are smaller in size to fit one whole page of the photo album.
6. Capturing Ideas

We need not be a professional photographer to do this considering our budget if we want to slash on the party expense.

Birthdays:

- Solo pic of the celebrator
   Must have one in a background where the greeting tarpaulin is.

- The venue
   The whole area with a single shot, one shot for the table arrangement, the food buffet, the cake, the    entrance, the tarpaulin.

- Balloons
Take picture of a bunch of balloons and one zoomed with the dedication if there is.

- Invitation
  The cover, inside etc.

- Cake
  Aside from blowing the candle on it, the cake itself will be nice to remember with its own picture       alone.

- Group pic with every guests’ table

- Gift opening

- Celebrator and Family


Having your digicam, better have “bursts shot option” so you can choose the best one.  Teach the pic cast “feet position” while standing and “legs position” while sitting in a subtle way. Also ask to smile just showing the upper portion of the teeth and hiding the gums…for best photo results. See samples below.

Just showing the upper portion of teeth

The other foot tilted in the middle of the other. No space between legs.

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Thanks a lot for doing that, my dear readers. Have a great day everyone! Let us be constant companions, come and visit all the time J

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