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“Forever” Art Playground Blog DT Creation

Hello and welcome Art Playground friends. Today I am back, sadly with my very last Design Team project for my term. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this team even before it was a team. Thank you Sharon for the opportunity to design for this incredibly awesome challenge blog. I would have loved to stay for longer but unfortunately my Design Team workload is overflowing at present and time does not permit to do everything.

My last project that you see above is titled “Forever”. I chose this time around just to use a a couple of the colours from the inspiration board being that the yellow and the green and I toned them all down and created something a little vintage shabby chic styled.
And of course the tips on photography to help when you are creating a project. Apart from those mentioned by Sharon I would love to elaborate a little more.

When I choose photo’s for a layout project, they are always a photo taken by myself unless my girls have taken one that I really admire. I choose to use my own photos, not because I think they are fabulous but because “I”took them of my children which means more than anything in the world. Being there in the moment with them and seeing it all behind the lens. But then being able to create memories with the photos I take is a big part of being a scrapbooker I find. My inspiration for my photos are of my children usually. And my gorgeous daughter in this photos is always willing and able to take a fabulous shot. This photo taken at the beach over 8 years ago, really shows her personality and her gorgeous green eyes. And that is what I took from the photo was the green in her eyes. I also like to take close-up shots which my teenagers now hate with a passion for some strange reason. But I really love to lock in the person and not all the background extras. So when using my camera and doing a closeup photo I will use the portrait setting on my DSLR. I love my camera and it goes almost everywhere with me, just in case because you just never know when it will come in handy. And that would be another tip from me. Take your camera wherever you go.

Photographing my layout projects is always done on a flat surface and in the late afternoon as the sun is going down. I find this the best way. I stand straight over my project ensuring that I lock in the edges of the project so that they are straight. I do my cropping in Photoshop Adobe and I always do a little altering of the photos but nothing too drastic.

I often like to take close-up shots of a project and I do this by laying on the ground with my project. Sounds crazy I know but this is what I do. Using the close-up setting on my DSLR (which is usually symbolised by a flower) I get down on the ground and get as close as possible as I can to the embellishments or cluster that I wish to photograph. And then it is just click click click…… and so on. Oh and be sure to take a lot of photos! The more you take the better because of course you have more to choose from. And let’s face it, when photographing people in groups not everyone knows when to keep their eyes open and when not to blink. I think this is another big thing for me especially when they are important photos like wedding and formals or graduations photos.

When taking photos of my children at the beach I always aim to take the photos again late in the afternoon. And when taking photos at the park or beach, not only do I take photos front on of them, but also photograph from behind . I do this to get a different perspective of the person and of the moment. I loved doing this when they were young going on hikes when we had been camping or even just riding their bikes or learning to ride their bikes. Walking over bridges or just out on an afternoon walk, I take photos and lots and lots of them. Taking lots of photos will always ensure that you have plenty to choose from and sometimes you will be very surprised at which turn out the best.