How to Organize and Produce a Church Photo Directory for Free

Creating a church photo directory has many benefits.

* It is a great aid for pastors and families to remember who is who

* The entire congregation can benefit from photo directories, in that they can keep in touch with other people easier, and learn about others in the community.

* Staff members find the photo directories invaluable in that they can add notes to certain people, and then visually remember what role(s) those individuals play within the Church

Producing a photo directory is rather easy, but here are a few things you should do first.

* Talk with your priest/pastor/bishop about organizing a photo directory shoot, and organize one day when you will do nothing but take pictures. You need the help of the priest so that he/she can announce the photo shoot several weeks in advance, so that everyone can make sure that they can attend. As well, of course you want everyone wearing their Sunday Best!

* Find someone to take pictures. You can either find someone within the congregation, or hire a professional photographer. Advantages of in-house photography is that you can save some money, i.e., it's free. Plus, nowadays, pretty much any digital camera can take the kind of quality pictures that you need.

* However, in some cases you might want a bit higher quality if you can't find someone within your congregation. Professional photographers generally know how to bring out the best smiles in individuals, plus know what kind of lighting is necessary to create the best looking pictures. So you should decide whether someone within the congregation has the expertise you need to take high quality photographs, or look at hiring someone else.

* Send out an e-mail reminder to remind individuals and families of the photo shoots, or announce it several weeks in advance, every Sunday.

Now that you have the photographs, if you'd like to create a photo directory for free, you can do it this way.

Free Method

* Use something like Microsoft Word (or any word processing application such as OpenOffice)

* Create a table, and divide the table into sets of 2 columns. (For example, if you wanted a photograph on the left hand side, and text on the right, you would make it two columns. If you wanted two sets side by side, then you would make it four columns)

* Cut & paste the photographs into Microsoft Word. Resize them so they fit, and add the information.

* Make sure you organize everything alphabetically!

* Add pertinent information, such as the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the families you wish to add.

Alternatively, if time is important to you, and you want something that you can edit easily later on down the road, you might consider a professional photo directory application. Advantages include the following:

* It is much faster, you just import the photographs, and then the software automatically resizes it.

* Easy to edit/make changes - If you add new members, you can generally just insert the member where you want them to appear. Doing it manually might take a while, because you would need to shift everything around.

* Many other uses. Software can allow you to keep track of extra information (phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc), customize the look & feel of your directory, plus much more. Doing it by hand would take some time

* Plus many more benefits, depending on your needs

Creating a church photo directory is a pretty simple and straightforward process. Just make sure you organize a time and date with your priest/pastor/bishop to take the photographs. Then, download all the photographs to a computer, import them into a word process or a photo directory application. Organize it, print it off, and then enjoy all the compliments you get for a beautiful photo directory!

Now of course you can create a photo directory for free. But it can be time consuming, and extremely frustrating if you have a lot of pictures and are trying to do it by hand. Why not get this church directory software that makes creating photo directories a breeze? It has been picked by the Top 3 Churches in the world, every year, for the last 7 years for making church photo directories, and is currently in use by 1000's of churches worldwide. See which software has made such a difference. Click here now

Selecting Custom Photo Playing Cards

You have decided to give photo playing cards at your wedding or party and want to make sure that they turn out well. Here are a few tips for success:

Start with a good photo. This is probably the most important step because the end result depends on your photo choice.

Select a photo that best represents you. Your guests will have these photo playing cards for a long time, so you will want to choose an image that portrays who you are. Many couples use an engagement picture, while others use a casual photo where the subject(s) appear very natural.
Decide upon the orientation of the photo. If you prefer a full body shot, than a vertical image is best. If the photo is more of a close up and is wider than it is long, a horizontal orientation will work well.
Focus on the face. A standard playing card is small, fitting into the palm of your hand, so close-ups work best. A photo from the waist up tends to allow the face or faces to be truly visible and clear.

Scan your image. You will want to use a high-resolution setting when scanning your image. Experts suggest a minimum of 300 dpi, which stands for "dots per inch." If you don't have access to a scanner, many office supply stores are able to scan your photo for a small fee. Fed Ex Kinkos and Office Depot offer this as a service.

Request a sample before placing an order. Photo quality can vary greatly, so you will want to get an actual card, from a previous order, in your hands. This will allow you to judge photo clarity.

Determine if and where you would like the personalization displayed. Most people like the copy on the bottom of the card. Be sure to limit the amount of information you include to the name of the guest of honor, event and date. This will prevent you from ending up with very small words or having the words interfere with the photo.

Give yourself time to order. Product of photo playing cards can take up to three weeks, so you will want to get started earlier than later. Include time for shipping when determining your timeline.

Ensure that you receive an email proof of your playing card image. It should include both the image as it would be displayed on the cards as well as your message.

Joyce Kreger is a party planner and recommends these custom photo playing cards offered at Cool-Party-Favors.com.

DIY Holiday Photos

The holiday season is upon us! For any of you camera enthusiasts out there, this is the perfect time to put those cameras to good use. Use photos to show and tell people about your holiday traditions, whatever you celebrate this time of year. It's the perfect time to take advantage of the free on-camera talent that you have - your family and friends!

Here are some tips on how to capture your next holiday get-together using your point-and-shoot camera.

Photographs Tell Stories

The whole point of documenting an event in a powerful way is to tell a story in pictures. Like all stories picture stories have a beginning, a middle and an end that take people through the experience. If they weren't there, you want them to feel as if they were. If they were there, it reminds them of the experience in intimate, loving detail.

Many people celebrate many holidays during this time of year, but let's use Christmas as one example of a popular holiday gathering because most people know the general events surrounding the holiday:

1) Check your gear - make sure you have enough batteries and space on your memory card. Bringing a tripod may be cumbersome, but if you don't mind the extra weight, it's good to have. For various alternatives to tradition tripods, see the Resources section at the bottom of this post.

2) Let people know what you're doing-"I'm going to be taking photos for a slideshow for later," or "I'm creating a Christmas story book we can all enjoy." This helps people relax and enjoy the spirit of the event when they know what you're doing with the photos.

The Beginning, Event and End

All good stories have an introduction, a main event and an ending or conclusion. For the photographer, this means shooting photos that show each of these phases.

THE BEGINNING - When photographing your event, there are several types of photos or shots that will anchor your storytelling. These are called: Establishing shots and consist of portraits, detail photos and pre-event or preparation photos. The various kinds of establishing shots tell the beginning of your story. They not only introduce the viewer to your story, they set the mood for the story.

To document an event most effectively, you have to get there early, at least an hour before it begins. Begin putting your story/day together by taking "Establishing shots." These will set the time and location for your photo documentation. Establishing shots put the rest of the photos that you'll be taking in the right context for what you do with the photos later, such as creating a photo album, photo book or slideshow.

Examples: Wide shot of your mom's house / A highway sign that says, "Welcome to Townsville," or a shot of your parents opening the door.

Preparation Shots - When there's a big event, there's always preparation in the background. This is a good time to take some candid shots of people getting ready before the big event so your viewer feels the excitement and anticipation begin to build.

Examples: Mom taking the turkey out of the oven / Kids sneaking under the Christmas tree / People getting dressed or ready for the big day, especially if they rarely get dressed up (teenagers, children, etc). Think fun and silly.

Detail Shots - Your photos don't have to have people in them all the time and it's better if they don't. Details shots will help enhance the flow of your photos and give viewers a chance to appreciate the details of the day. Detail shots can help evoke a mood or emotion as well. You'll shoot these throughout the day, not just in the beginning.

Examples: Shots of decor in the house, like twinkling Christmas lights / Close-up of hands breaking an egg and other food shots / Shot of window looking out / A family pet sniffing presents / Shots establishing the weather - snow or frost on a window or ledge, leaves changing color in a tree in the yard / Flowers or candles / The centerpiece on the table or the table set and waiting for guests to arrive.

Portraits - Portraits help remind everyone of who was at the event. A group shot, or poised portraits are great, but candid shots are more fun and interesting for the viewer. Think natural light and candid shots as well as posed portraits. Use light coming in through windows, firelight and lights from sources in the room more than you use flash. You'll tend to capture some of your best portraits when people are unaware you're there. Hard to do, but so worth it! You'll also shoot these throughout the day as well. They can be hard to get if you wait, so shoot them as you see them.

Examples: Close-up of someone unwrapping a present/ Staring thoughtfully into the fireplace or out a window/or admiring the tree / Portraits involving parent and child / children playing or sleeping / Think about a portrait of carving the turkey or ham.

THE MAIN EVENT -This is the moment of truth. As a storyteller, it is best to be an observer at this point, watching reactions and grabbing photos of the emotions you see - surprise, laughter, joy, tears and smiles. Don't be afraid to walk around and document what you see, but don't be in your subject's face. Being too obvious with your camera will take away the spontaneity, and probably their enjoyment of the event. There's not much to photograph when people are eating, so sit down and be a part of the event.

Examples: Unwrapping or handing out of gifts / Family pets playing with wrappings / Goings on of people during event / The interaction of babies, toddlers, children and animals / Food being served or eaten / People playing video games, watching television, having snowball fights or playing sports in the yard / People interacting, cooking, cleaning up in the kitchen.

THE END - The end is really the event's conclusion, winding down, or aftermath. The Main Event may fade into the end slowly, or quickly, but keep shooting. Documenting the aftermath will be a good indication of how successful the event was. It is also a great time for photo opportunities. People are happy, engaged and even sleepy as events wind down. The stressful part of the day - the main event, be it dinner or unwrapping presents, or decorating the Christmas tree - is over and people relax.

Examples: Photos of people leaning back at the table talking, laughing or enjoying a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or a hot toddy / Youngsters, exhausted by the day taking time to nap in unexpected places.

Conclusion - You've worked hard on documenting this event and if it stays in your camera all your hard work is just put to waste. Your great story goes untold until you tell it in a book, slideshow or album. While the moments are still fresh in your mind, take time to put them together where people can see, enjoy and share them. You can:

a) Build a photo gallery and share them with everyone.

b) Print them as a coffee table book

c) Make a calendar out of the best photos and give it to your relatives after the event to help them remember the fun all year long.

d) If you really want to have fun, make badges, buttons, bumper stickers or greeting cards out of your photos.

Photos tell the story of our lives and relationships better than words ever can. Photos not only help us connect our customers to our brands, but they help us connect our friends and families to our hearts and memories. May your holiday season be filled with love, memories and photos to last a lifetime.

For more information, visit Donna Santos Photography
http://www.donnasantos.com

Taking Great Photos - Photos With Impact

Do your photos seem flat?

In this modern day of photography, we have more tools available to use, than ever before. But are we putting them to good use? "A picture is worth a thousand words" is a mantra repeated again and again. However, how do we change those thousand words from boring to inspiring?

It is far too easy with all the resources we have, to get caught up comparing megapixels and other technical jargon instead of taking meaningful photos. The digital cameras we have today are brought to life by over 150 years of photographic growing pains. They are good. They are all good.

We can illustrate it by this point. Give the most cutting edge equipment to an amateur. This includes the latest in lenses, camera, filters, and all the other items we are pushed by retailers on a regular basis. Now take an artful professional. Give them a four-dollar disposable camera, and send the two out into the world. Who do you think will end up with the better photos? And why?

The answer is that the person who is more concerned about seeing their subject matter, and creating feeling on film is the one that is going to produce the best photos. Being concerned with 100 different buttons, and settings is going to get taxing and is certainly more than enough to distract and confuse the amateur who is eventually going to resign to have the camera set to "auto."

The fact is that the camera really doesn't matter. It is the person behind it that will make or break any photos that are produced from it. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for the terrific cameras that we have today, and I am not saying that you should junk that DSLR you just gave an arm and a leg for. But what I am saying is that many aspiring photographers would do well to clear their minds of all the rules they are trying to learn, and start to pay more attention to what they see.

Just like we can sit in front of someone whilst they talk to us and not hear a word they say, we can walk past a scene that truly displays beauty and not even notice. We need to listen more than just hear. We need to see, more than just look. Once we see something, we need to learn how to show it best. How to describe this scene; with the photo we will craft in order to best describe a feeling.

Upon starting out in photography, I was sorely mistaken when I thought taking a photograph was about reproducing reality. And this misconception still runs rampant among people with cameras in their hands. We even speak about "normal" focal lengths, as if a photo taken at the right focal length will take a page right from reality its self. This simply is not the case. Have you ever been taken at the beauty of a sunset, and had your camera handy? Perhaps from a trip or vacation you had taken. When you got the film back weeks later, and were eager to show it to friends and family something just wasn't right. Upon sharing the photo, you had to mitigate your own sense of wonder by explaining that perhaps "you just had to be there."

The fact is that they were not there. And they rely on you to tell the story. Unfortunately we often do a better job describing this vocally after the fact, instead of trying our best to get it in the photo. The photo can speak for itself, we know that because they are worth a thousand words remember? So what are your photos saying? What do they say about the mood of the scene? The mystery, or intrigue? Perhaps the playfulness of it all, or the pain and anguish in this fleeting moment on earth? We often call this capturing the moment. What are the thousand words telling us to feel?

This is easier said than done. As I said earlier, photographs are not about reproducing reality. They are about creating it. If your photo has impact, it will create a reality all its own. It might not be exactly as you remember it, but it has the ability to touch, move and inspire you and anyone who looks at it into something more than just a scene on a two-dimensional piece of paper. A photograph can create a new world for the person viewing it, only if it has impact. There are ways of inspiring this, but not until we have unbound ourselves from the boxes we so easily fall into in this information age.

In conclusion, the next time you are going to take a snap, ask yourself what story you are trying to tell, and hot it will make someone looking at your photograph feel.

Learn Nikon is a site devoted to sharing the wonderful passion of photography with amateurs to experts. Focused on being a definitive source for the aspiring photographer who wants to learn about all aspects of crafting great photos. Please visit Learn Nikon Taking Great Photos [http://www.learnnikon.com/impact-photos.php] For more insightful articles. Though the site focuses on Nikon brand cameras, many of the articles are universal.

Using Your Digital Photo Frame As a Motivational Tool

The advances in photography have now reached the stage where its a whole lot easier for many more people to capture, share and store fantastic looking snaps of all their precious moments in life. You can easily manipulate any image you take before printing it off and there is no need to pay for poor quality photographs, which was the case not so long ago.

And now with the advent of the digital photo frame, displaying your digital photos to their best effect has never been easier, nor have the results ever looked better. It's all very well to take thousands of digital images - some of which may be kept on your camera for an eternity, while the rest languish on your desktop computer's hard drive, rarely - if ever, to be seen again. And for those that are actually given life and printed - either at home or work with the trusty Canon digi printer or via an online order at Kodak or one of its many competitors - these are looked at when first received but what happens next? Left in a drawer along with all the others?

It's all changing now though with the digital photo frame. Your photos can now be uploaded directly from your camera, from your computer or from some other form of electronic storage device. And it's easy too - no time to setup, no fiddling about with lots of settings. It's all fairly much a plug-and-play setup, so you don't have to have a university education to figure out what's to be done just to get your photos from one place to the other.

How can the digital photo frame be used as a motivational tool however?

First, where might you want to use it to inspire? At home of course. Imagine getting out of bed in the morning and feeling the need for some inspiration, just to get the creative juices flowing. How about the idea of having a digital photo frame in your bedroom that has a slideshow of some of the most inspirational type photographs that you either took yourself, or you found on the internet and downloaded to your photo frame. You can add in some of your favorite music too - many digital photo frames have this facility.

Or, how about at the office? You need some motivation to get going in the morning so it makes sense to have your own digital frame filled with highly motivational images and captions. You can insert both images and words and make a slideshow of these. A great booster to add to your productive capabilities.

Or, it may simply be that you want to make some new years resolutions or a single resolution and you need a constant reminder about it too. Make up a slide show of images and captions to keep up the motivation to stay on the right track. This will help serve as motivation to push you in the right direction whenever you feel the desire to stray back to the old ways.

There are countless other ways that a digital photo frame can be used as a tool for inspiration, either on the personal or the professional level - it's really a case of using your imagination - use vivid colored images, and/or words that really sink home to make you think deeply each and every time you read them. This way you're getting the best use of your digital photo frame as a motivational tool.

Looking for a great digital photo frame? Just Click Here for more information.

Photo Birth Announcement Time Savers - 6 Fast, Easy Tips

Many new parents are choosing birth announcements with photos to share the good news of their blessed event. But photo birth announcements don't have to be time consuming.  They don't have to be one more complicated thing to do when your baby arrives. In fact, there are surprising stress-free ways to quickly and easily send out photo birth announcements.  

Before the baby is born:

1.  Make a list.  Write down everyone who will receive your photo birth announcements.  You can start with your Christmas or Hanukkah card list, and then add to it.  Do you want to send one to your doctor?  Are there old friends or colleagues you haven't heard from for a long time?  This may be just the opportunity to reconnect.  Make sure all your addresses are current.  Now you have an idea of how many birth announcements you'll need.  Be sure to get a few extra for anyone you might have forgotten and the family scrapbook.

2.  Browse online. There is such a variety of photo birth announcements in every color, theme, size and price imaginable on the internet.  This is the time to find exactly what you want.  If you wait until after the baby arrives, you may feel pressured to settle, just so you can get the announcements out.  But if you do your shopping now, you can find the perfect photo cards for your baby.  If you have enough time, you might even want to request some samples of your favorite designs, so you can examine them in person before ordering.  

3.  Decide on the design and the wording you want.  Although you won't know all the statistics yet, like birth date and weight, you can figure out the rest of the words.  Do you want to include a quote, a poem or some clever play on words?  Some companies are very flexible in what text you can use to personalize your photo birth announcements.

4. Preorder your envelopes.  This is a real time-saver.  Once you have selected your photo birth announcement, you can order the envelopes that match the announcement ahead of time.  Some companies will want you to reserve and pay for your birth announcements in advance, and then will ship your envelopes.  Other companies will "sell" you the amount of envelopes you require and include a coupon that refunds the cost of the envelopes when you are ready to order your announcements. Even if a company does not list this option on their website, most of them will offer this service.  It is well worth taking this extra step.   Then, you can address your envelopes, put stamps on them and have them ready to go.

5. Take lots of photos.  Yes, before the baby is born.  The time to learn all the bells and whistles of your digital camera is before you need to take great pictures.  Practice getting the right shot, so that when your angel arrives, you'll be ready to take awesome photos.

After the baby arrives.

6. Take lots of photos.  And then take even more photos.  Don't worry about how good they are, (you've already practiced!). Just click away.  Then leisurely look through them, choose the best ones, and upload or email them to the company you've chosen to create your photo birth announcements.  Let them know all your statistics and personalization, and wait for them to arrive.  The only thing left to do is stuff the envelopes!

Just imagine how delighted everyone will be who receives your baby's photo birth announcement.  And to think, no one will ever suspect that you did so much ahead of time or that it was this easy!

Linda Kling is the owner of www.photo-party-favors.com, which offers personalized photo favors and custom invitations. Visit her website for more information on photo birth announcements, featuring multiple photos of your baby.

Stay Connected With Online Photo Sharing

Memories play a vital role and they will never fade away. They play a confusing role in everybody's life. Old sweet memories bring tears, laugh, smiles, joy and much more emotions. A picture is worth thousand words. It is true in most of the cases. Being a good digital camera owner, one can diligently record all the events. There may have been several photos and video taken on a special occasion. Until few years back, it was not possible to share on a massive scale with friends and family members living at a distant place. The digital era is here and one can share all the photos and video with the click of a mouse how ever large it may be. Online photo sharing services will keep the people connected sharing each other's memory.

Flickr, Smugmug, Ofoto, dotPhoto, Google Web Albums are some of the portals which enable you to share the photos on web. Certain services will let the user to take print outs. Users have to select the services rightly according to the needs. If the objective is just to share the photos, then any service is good. Some of the common features offered by the online photo sharing portals are:

·        Users can have free account with restrictions to upload limited number of photos

·        Storage is limited with free account

·        Sorting photo options according to category is possible

·        Sharing the albums with friends

·        Adding captions and footer messages

·        Enables slide show of the photos

Those were the days to wait for a longer period of time to see the photos of loved persons staying away. The technology has given us great advancement and enables online photo sharing with which photos can be sent across the globe in a matter of seconds. Most companies allow the users to take print copies and they can order it online. They can just go to the nearby shop to collect the printed copies. How cool is this service? Photos speak volume about the past and the good thing is that the persons may change in the photo but not the photo. It stands for truth and originality.

It is now very easy to create photo album [http://www.glimbus.com] of your own. You just need to sign up for image sharing [http://www.glimbus.com/signup] on the website owned by the writer of this article and start sharing your photos with friends, family and some online colleagues you have.

Scavenger Hunts - How to Find Fun Ideas For a Photo Scavenger Hunt

Photo scavenger hunts can be a great way to get party-goers actively involved in having fun. If you are planning a party for teens or adults, there are many possibilities for coming up with some neat ideas for photos you will have your scavenger hunt participants taking.

If you've never participated in a photo scavenger hunt before, let me explain how it works. Unlike most scavenger hunts where you bring back physical things that you've had to find, with a photo hunt, you just have to bring back a picture. Nowadays, most people will have a digital camera, even if it is just on their phone, so it makes the game easy for everyone to play.

This can change the traditional scavenger hunt game quite a bit. For example, you don't have to send your groups out to photograph different objects they need to find. You can instead have them photograph themselves doing different tasks.

For a bit of retro fun, set each group up with a single Polaroid camera. Since Polaroid film is a bit expensive, you can make thriftiness part of the game, and it will also help keep the game short and fun. Make one of the rules that only a single packet of Polaroid film can be used by each group. So that would be 10 totals photo.

Planning the Photo Scavenger Hunt List

This is where the fun comes in. You should feel free to mix things up a bit. Make a list of tasks that can be done indoors and then some that can be done outdoors. Be sure to pick a couple of challenging locations too. And naturally, most of the stuff on your list should probably be a bit silly. Or if you are having a bachelorette party, you could try for a little risque.

If you find yourself stumped for ideas, think about the kinds of games you played as a kid that were physical and that would probably be pretty funny (and possibly embarrassing!) to do as an adult.

Here's a short list:

Charades
Statues
Pillow Fights
Light as a Feather

Then you task your party-goers with specific instructions based on these games. They go out and play them and bring back photographic proof! For example, have them prove that the party levitation trick (Light as a feather) actually works. Or tell everyone to go out and play Statues as specific types of statues (comic book characters, American presidents, etc). Or have everyone come up with a phrase for charades and then each person has to be photographed doing a different word in the phrase.

I think now you probably have a good idea of what kinds of silly things you can come up with for your friends to do on a photo scavenger hunt, but you can always get more great ideas from my compilation of scavenger hunt lists. There should be enough there to really help get your own creativity flowing.

Jennifer Connolly is a freelance writer who loves to plan parties when she's not busy working.

10 Fun Photo Christmas Card Ideas For Your Family Holiday Greeting

What are you going to do to make this year's photo Christmas cards really stand out?  You don't have to fall back on the same old ideas this holiday.  Here are ten suggestions to help you make this season's family greeting the best one yet.

1. Try a different spin on a traditional theme.  This fall take a picture of the kids with a pumpkin snowman.  Just stack three pumpkins, graduating in size with the biggest on the bottom and their stems removed.  Paint a face on the top pumpkin, carve a small hole to hold the carrot nose, then put a Santa hat or wool cap on top and add a scarf.  If you live near the beach, you can make a sand snowman instead.

2. Transform an ordinary photo Christmas card into a religious one by adding your favorite Bible verse. Look for a company that will let you create your own personalized message, instead of just sticking with the text shown on the sample.

3. Nothing is cuter than a holiday greeting that contains a photo of an adorable animal in a seasonal setting.  The easiest way to achieve this look yourself is to take a picture of your sleeping dog or cat on top a sheet of wrapping paper or under the tree.  Add the caption, "peace on earth" and wait for the "aaaahs".

4. Create a four seasons look with a multi photo Christmas card that has space for four photos.  Then choose pictures of your kids from the past year during the winter, spring, summer and fall. Personalize it with the words, "thinking of you at Christmas...and all year, too!"

5. Is your little one a budding artist?  He or she can help you to create a really unique holiday greeting.  Ask him to draw a picture of the family with crayons. Then, it's your turn to cut out the faces of each family member from snapshots and glue them to the top of the crayon bodies. Take a close up photo of the masterpiece for this year's card.

6. Are you famous for your holiday baking? If you're always being asked for the recipe for one of your seasonal goodies, you can turn that into a fun photo Christmas card.  Write out the directions on a pretty recipe card, then clip a family photo onto the card, perhaps of the kids baking cookies. Be careful not to cover any of the instructions with that picture. You might want to add the words, "wishing you a sweet Christmas".

7. For impact, try black and white with a touch of color.  Your favorite photo with the kids in Santa hats can be changed into an artistic black and white picture with just the Santa hats in red.  Most online photo Christmas card companies will do this for you at no extra charge.

8. Make a statement.  What makes your family tick?  Are you a bunch of beach bums, taking advantage of sun and surf every possible moment in the summer?  Then include photos in your holiday greeting of the kids playing in the waves and building sand castles.  Are you all sports enthusiasts? Then feature action shots of your children playing for their team.  Are you involved in animal rescue, active in politics, big on barbecues, busy selling homemade jewelry at craft shows, passionate about your faith? Find a way to work it into your pictures.  This year, instead of a posed portrait, give people a glimpse into your family dynamics.

9. Send a holiday greeting that takes a trip down memory lane.  For this idea, you will need to select Christmas cards that feature multiple photos.  Choose your current favorite family picture and then add one or more photos of the kids when they were younger for a then and now effect. You might want to ask the card company to change the older photos to black and white or make the current picture larger than the rest. Don't forget to add captions underneath indicating the year the photographs were taken.

10. If you're still looking for a fresh idea for this year's Christmas greeting, then it's time to browse. Start searching through the huge variety of designs in photo holiday cards online until you find one in particular that inspires you.  Maybe it's a candy cane motif and you'll think of posing the kids with comically oversized candy canes.  Or you'll fall in love with one that has a pale blue background with snowflakes, which might lead you to dress the family in shades of blue.  Many times, it's easier to pick out the card first, which will set the tone for the pictures you want to include.

This year you can have an amazing photo Christmas card that gets rave reviews from friends and relatives.  All it takes is a little inspiration and thought to make this season's greeting a one of a kind expression of your family.

Linda Kling, as the owner of http://www.photo-party-favors.com, has offered ideas to people planning celebrations since 1992. She recommends these unique photo Christmas cards. Visit her website for free printable Christmas gift tags, recipes, more.

Now That I've Got My Photos On My Computer

In an earlier article on this site "What to do with all those digital pictures?", we talked about our system of using the marvels of digital photography to take thousands of shots.

We created folders in "our pictures" directory on our computer, one for each month of the year, and simply off-loaded the camera's media into the appropriate month folder as it became full.

This process provided a historical time reference for any photos stored on the computer. In a year or two we could still correlate a specific photo to the month and year in which it was taken. A helpful process for those of us who's memory is starting to get a little wonky!

Now, what to do with all these photos?

Make digital slideshows with them, that's what.

Our "DVD" case is full of home made slideshows created from paper and digital photographs.

Some slideshows contain all the pictures from a complete calendar year, with the months of that year as the chapters for that show.

Others are slideshows of specific events; family gatherings, a trip to Upper Canada Village in Ontario, Canada; you get the idea.

Not only does having slideshows provide hours of entertainment for gatherings at our home, having the slideshows on Cd's provides a back up should any of the original digital or paper pictures be lost.

So, how do you make slideshows?

For those folks that haven't the time, or the inclination to learn some software the easiest route is to contact a provider of digital slideshow services. Their professional experience will ensure an excellent outcome for your shows.

If you are more adventurous, and would like to tackle making slideshows yourself, here are a some tips.

If it's paper photos you want converted into digital, or it's existing digital photos you want converted to slideshow, first select all of the photos in question.

On the back of paper photos, number them from one and up, in the order you want them to appear on your slideshow. Decide if you want on-screen captions for some or all the photos. If so, write the text for that caption on the back of those you wish.

If you are converting paper photographs into digital format, which is necessary for making a slideshow, you will need access to a scanner. If that becomes a bit daunting, reconsider using a service provider. They will be able to handle the scanning of your photographs for you. They can then provide you with an electronic album of your photos, or create the slideshow for you, or both.

For digital pics, select all of the digital photos you want for a particular show, and copy them into a folder you have created for the purpose. Once you have the copies in there, rename them from one and up, in the order you want them presented on your show.

Create a word .doc with the text for each caption beside the corresponding number of your photo should you wish captions visible as the slides are shown.

Do you wish any chapter headings, a cover shot for the slideshow? Make a note of these.

What about music? Select the music you would like as background for your slideshow. Try to get music long enough (or a number of pieces of music that are long enough) to last the length of your show.

Each slide in your show should play for about 6-8 seconds. That's ample time to see the shot and to read the caption without the picture becoming boring. Therefore, if your slideshow has 30 pictures in it, your music selection should be around 3 1/2 minutes.

Please note that if your slideshow is for other than personal use, you cannot use copyrighted music, which is pretty much all the popular music of the day. If your slideshow is for business use, consider finding public domain, copyright free music for your show. It's available if you Google those search terms.

Before you begin building your slideshow, decide if you want voice-over narration instead of word text. Or maybe you want both? Your call.

Limit each of your slideshows to about 3-5 minutes so that viewers don't get trapped into watching for huge lengths of time. Unless they have a vested interest in the show (for example, they were with you on the trip to that luxury resort) most folks won't hold the same interest in your photos as you do.

So how do we convert paper photos or digital photographs into a marvelous screen slideshow that you'll be proud to display for guests or at the next company function?

That's for the next article; "Making a slideshow".

As always, questions about the process are welcome. Feel free to contact us through our website.

Mr. Wade has parlayed a passion for computers, the internet, and digital photography into diverse activities including his own web site that discusses web site building, creating digital slide shows, and crafting Ebooks. He can be contacted via that site: http://www.solid-gold-websites.com

Titillate Your Kids Minds with Word Games

If you think your children play to many computer games - try this trick. Get them to play word games known to both develop kids mentally while improving their spelling. It works!

Spelvin

http://www.deprice.com/spelvin.htm

Spell as many words as you can with 7 letters. Use the Hold buttons and then pull Spin to refresh the tiles you wish weren't there. Play Spelvin as you scramble for words and gamble with Juice to spin for better letters.

Word Mojo Gold

http://www.deprice.com/wordmojogold.htm

Prepare yourself for an exciting new word game that takes spelling and creating chains of words to new levels of fun. Simply create intersecting words over the random colored tiles to acquire 3 or more Mega Mojo Letters and you'll advance to the Mega Mojo round. Exceed your target score each round and you've got major Mojo!

Flip Words

http://www.deprice.com/flipwords.htm

You'll flip over our new word game: Flip Words. Click on letters to make words and solve familiar phrases. The first letter of each word you make will be revealed in the phrase you're trying to solve. Once you recognize the phrase, you can submit your guess or try to reveal all the letters for a special bonus. You'll never run out of phrases because you can create your own and automatically download new phrases created by others. You can even save your game and resume it later!

Jig Words

http://www.deprice.com/jigwords.htm

Click on letters to spell words and reveal fun photos! There are two modes to play: "Jig Words" mode challenges you to find all the possible words and includes exciting "Word Duel" bonus rounds. "Letter Racing" mode places you in competition with 3 other players to see who can make words the fastest! As you make words, you're also revealing hundreds of fun photos and you can even add your favorite photos right into the game. Plus, you can create photo packs and easily share them with your friends and family!

David D. Deprice has long been facinated with word games. He has been following them for years and is proud to boast one of the largest collection of word and spelling games available at http://www.deprice.com/games.htm

Unique Photo Gifts For All Occasions

Photo gifts are a very popular variety of products you can create with a photo image on them and make unique and personalized gift ideas for a variety of occasions. They include items like T-shirts, photo mugs, magnets, calendars and one of the most popular in recent years, USPS photo stamps. When someone receives a photo gift, they feel special because it usually takes more time and thought to look for a particular special photo and have it placed on a stamp or mug. It often takes more effort than just cruising the mall and picking up a gift certificate or a pair of jeans.

Photo gifts are especially good for people with relatives who live far away. Often grandparents are not able to see grandchildren who are growing up in a different state. However, with photo gifts, grandparents can see pictures of the child at all stages of life. For instance, a grandparent could receive a USPS photo stamp with a picture of the grand child holding a piece of artwork they made in class or posing onstage in a play they acted in. With photo gifts, relatives do not have to miss the special moments of another relative's life no matter how far apart they are.

Just think about it; you were about to send a letter to your mother telling her about your 20th wedding anniversary. What better way to really make the message clear than to put a stamp of you and your spouse holding two wineglasses on the very front of the envelope? A picture is worth 1000 words. That's the popular saying. That stamp will say much more than your letter ever could. It will make a wonderful complement to your thoughtful words scrolled on the letter inside the envelope.

If you ever find yourself bewildered at what to get a parent for Mother's Day or Father's Day, photo gifts are a great choice. They are different; they are unique, and therefore they are special. Oftentimes, other gifts degrade over time. Clothing gets old. Candy gets eaten, and jewelry often begins to fade, but a picture, a captured moment in someone's life, lasts a lifetime.

Unique photo gifts make the perfect gift for a friend, relatives, and loved ones. Sometimes people just don't think of giving a photo as a gift. Most people lean toward the usual box of chocolates, sweater or teddy bear. A photo gift often surprises many and warms the heart of all.

Jonathan Plight is an Internet entrepreneur and author who has been published internationally and has written about Men's Unique Gifts and Women's Unusual Gifts.

Creative Uses For Your Digital Photo Frame

Memories are indeed precious. In our time, nothing can save a memory better than a photograph. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Even with the advent of video, people are still using photos as the main medium for saving memories. The latest way to display photos is through the use of a digital photo frame. This new technology allows users to display more than one photograph in a single frame. This makes it very easy to display several photos all at once. Before, you needed to have multiple photo frames to display different pictures. Now, you only need one.

A digital photo frame is more useful than you might think. There are actually many creative uses for then, and some of the great ideas will be discussed here in this article. Do you know that you can even use one for work? Read on to know the different creative uses for them.

It is a wonderful gift idea. A digital photo frame can serve as a very unique yet practical gift for all types of occasions and individuals. And even if the recipient already has one or more, you really cannot have enough of them. They are very useful and for sure the person whom you will be giving them to will very much appreciate your gesture. It is just one of those gifts that almost anyone is sure to appreciate.

For presentations: You can use a digital photo frame for presentations either for personal or professional purposes. Instead of using a computer to present photos, you can simply store your photos in one of these frames and use is to show these photos to others. It is a creative way to present photos and you will be surely set yourself apart if you will use this gadget in your next presentation

For homemade musical sideshows: Some digital photo frames can play music. This type of frame is perfect for musical slide shows. Just store your favorite mp3s in the frames and let it play alongside your photos. This is a very creative way of storing and displaying photographs.

You can use it to entertain kids. Instead of letting them watch TV or play computer games, you can entertain kids using a digital photo frame by putting together fun yet educational photos. You can create a slide show about different kinds of animals or you can arrange photos of different famous places all over the world. You can then keep the frames in places that your child frequents. For sure, his curiosity will be piqued, and soon he will be asking you all sorts of questions about the photos.

These creative uses for your digital photo frame are proof of the value and usefulness of this relatively new type of gadget. They are indeed more than just glorified picture frames.

Looking for the best digital photo frame? Just Click Here for more information.

8 Ways to Take Better Photos of your Children

1. Don't let them say "CHEESE" ever. I'm not even kidding, get this word out of your life (except when you're making sandwiches on whole wheat to serve with tomato soup and maybe some goldfish). I have no idea who thought this was a good word for kids to say, or why, but don't ever use it... Silly words work great, I'm a fan of 'pickles', I know, who'd of thunk? but it's other, and it makes them stop thinking about trying to smile... A friend of mine used 'fuzzy pickles' but that's a little disturbing to me, makes me think they're moldy! We all have silly sayings and inside jokes in our families that work fabulously, you can even say the same thing every time (although I think it's better to change), make something up, take something from Dr. Seuss, a line from a movie, Shel Silverstein...

2. Get closer. Those beautiful faces, those gorgeous eyes, they should fill the frame once in a while, more often than not even... My favorite photos of both my daughter, and my dog, are ones where there is no background at all, just those sweet faces...

3. Let them be themselves. When my daughter was really little she had these great froggy boots, and she never wanted to take them off, not even for the bath! We'd dress her in these darling little outfits, and she'd go get the crazy boots. It's who she was. I, as an artist, embraced that, and have such fun images of her in that stage. Often, as parents, we think they should be dressed a certain way, or look or act a certain way, but let them be themselves and your portraits will shine.

4. Let them play. Don't make it all hard work. I know sometimes we want a perfect photo to send to grandparents, or for a special occasion, but often, if you let them play and be silly, dance around, dress up, twirl, play with a hula hoop, you get the photos you want during, or after the silliness... Last summer I had a few of the neighborhood kids in my yard, I took photos of them squirting me with those super-soaker water guns while I was behind my storm door (yes, there is value to being slow to change your storm doors!). The photos are such fun, and the expressions on the kids are amazing...

5. which continues into... Let them make faces. I don't think I've ever met a child who can make lots of different goofy faces and not burst into peals of laughter at some point. So you get the great smile, and all of those fun silly faces to create a super panel picture out of, or cards to send to cheer a friend or relative up...

6. Use natural light. Indoors use the window or doorway, outdoors get into the shade, you'll get more natural photos if you use more natural lighting...

7. Don't just take one photo. They're kids, they move, they blink, they are quick... take a few images if you want to be sure you've got it... That's probably one of the greatest features of this digital age, you can capture a bunch of pictures, and just print the one you love, how great is that?

8. Surprise them. The element of surprise is the most important tool in my arsenal. Children don't expect adults to talk in funny voices, burst into a silly song, wear washed up horseshoe crab shells on their head, stick shells on their nose or wear just about anything as a hat... It's so easy to catch them by surprise, imagine if dad took off his shoe and put it on his ear, or mom started dancing a jig (yes, this is while they're young, and most likely in the privacy of your backyard, but imagine the possibilities...). They're only young once, keep all of those precious memories safe.

Sarah J. Thornington, photographer of life at The Studio by the Sea on Cape Cod

visit our website at: http://www.thestudiobythesea.com

Choosing from the Wide Array of Adobe Photo Shop Tutorial Selections

There is no doubt that Adobe Photo Shop plays a major role in the world of technology today. It is the most popular and perhaps most important photography and graphics design software available. As such, it is highly important for anyone who wants to venture into the visual arts, digital at least, to have at least some level of familiarity with the software. Not surprisingly, several kinds of Adobe Photo Shop tutorials have sprouted in the market, each serving a particular purpose of instruction for those who want to learn how to use the program

With the many different options, it can be quite confusing to select the correct Adobe Photo Shop tutorial for you. A good way of narrowing down the list is by looking at the different types of tutorials and seeing if they fit one's particular need. It may also be helpful to take different kinds of Adobe Photo Shop tutorials to gain some knowledge about different functions, which may be probably be useful in your eventual Photo Shop experience. Here are some of the usual types of Adobe Photo Shop tutorials available. Check out which one could cater to your need.

1. Basic Adobe Photo Shop Courses - these tutorials are for those who are totally unfamiliar with the program. A good basic tutorial would show any novice how to use Adobe Photo Shop for general purposes. It should instruct the user how to use the most common tools in the program and the power of each tool in manipulating or enhancing images. There are even some basic Adobe Photo Shop tutorials that teach a little of the more advanced topics that may be eventually useful.

2. Color Courses - as implied, color tutorials focus on the powerful color manipulation capabilities of Adobe Photo Shop. This is very useful for those who want to play with tints and hues of photos. Many digital photographers use this tool very often to make the colors of their photos take life.

3. Photo Scanning and/or Editing - these tutorials are very helpful for photographers, whether those who use digital or film cameras. This type of tutorial tells the best ways of scanning printed pictures so that they would turn out well on screen. It then teaches how to make changes with photos, whether to remove or to add something to them, for various purposes.

4. Text Effects - this type of tutorial unleashes the great text-making capabilities of Adobe Photo shop, which can be very useful in making labels, advertisements, promotional and instructional materials. This can definitely make words pop out.

5. Special Effects Tutorial - Adobe Photo Shop is known for creating many astonishing effects and this type of tutorial unlocks the mystery of astounding graphics. This can help users go beyond normal photo processing by manipulating images to heights limited only by imagination.

6. Texture Effects - Adobe Photo Shop can make pictures look as if they are the real thing and this is done by playing on textures. This type of tutorial teaches users how to make their picture appear as if they can be touched and felt.

Other kinds of Adobe Photo Shop tutorials are available, some are even so specific to particular features of this remarkable program. It is best to try them out for size to discover the great powers that the software can provide.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For a free photo shop tutorial and or to purchase a video photo shop tutorial checkout his website.

Photo Bar Mitzvah Save the Date Cards - 7 Top Trends

If you're looking to send unique bar mitzvah save the dates that stand out from the rest, nothing beats photo cards.  Let your child's pictures tell the story.  But before you decide, here are the hottest trends.

1. Multiple Photographs - Traditional one-photo cards get an updated look by featuring several of your child's pictures on his bar mitzvah save the dates. You can choose pictures from different stages of his life.  While you're asking your guests to mark their calendar for his spiritual coming of age, they can see first hand how he has grown.  Another approach is to use a variety of current snapshots that reflect your child's personality.  Take a picture of him with his favorite pet, playing a sport, strumming the guitar, laughing, hugging his sister or anything else that gives a glimpse into what makes him tick.

2. Unique Designs - Cards containing multiple pictures are a great innovation, but you can take that concept a step further by incorporating them into a cool design.  Browse online and you'll find all kinds bar mitzvah save the dates in every imaginable style.  How about a card that mimics a bulletin board that pins up your message and pictures?  Or you could go with a filmstrip design that includes one photo per frame.  There are cards showing personalized tickets with all your information. Take your pick of flowers for a girl or sports style for a boy.  Or if you want to choose something a little more religious in tone, you can find them with the Torah or star of David.

3. Themes -  Is your child planning a theme for their bat mitzvah or bar mitzvah party?  Shop around and you'll come across photo save the date cards that highlight just about any theme party.  If you come up empty with your search engine results, trying searching for the specific theme, such as winter wonderland, Hollywood, Mardi Gras, jungle or luau.  You can also try looking at websites that include theme birthday invitations.  If they offer their own original designs, they can probably adapt it for your child's event.

4. Think Small - If you want to save some money on your cards, without sacrificing any impact, they don't need to be very large.  In fact, a 4 x 6 inch card is just as stunning as one that is 5 x 7 inches and it's less expensive.  Yes, you can still add multiple photos to a smaller card, because you don't need to also crowd a lot of words onto it.  Your message breaks down to asking guests to save the date.  Include the day of the event, the words "invitation to follow" and a website for updates if your child has one. 

5. Scratch-Off Cards - If you want your save the dates to get noticed, try this novel approach.  On some of these cards, just the date is scratched off.  You can find others that even go further than that.  The card teases your guests with hints that include some of your child's likes, things he's good at, a baby photo, a toddler picture, and then the big reveal when they scratch off to see your child's photo and name. This one will get people talking!

6. More than a Card - Another option for photo bar mitzvah save the dates is to mail personalized photo magnets or bookmarks.  These are also relatively inexpensive and will grab your guest's attention.  An added advantage is that a bookmark or a small magnet are lightweight enough to mail with just one stamp. It's something that people are likely to hold on to, so they will be continuously reminded of your child's upcoming special date.

7. Do It Yourself - You can scrapbook a page with photos of your child with your message.  Pick out nice 12 x 12 inch scrapbook paper for the background and trim to 8 x 12 inches.  Add your pictures, title and journaling.  Then take a photograph of your page.  Make sure that the entire page is displayed in your camera's viewfinder or you might have to crop it with software later.  Then, simply make reprints and mail.  You can also use greeting card software on your computer, add your snapshots and words, and print them on your computer's printer.

With so many options available, you are sure to find just the right photo bar mitzvah save the date cards for your child.  Whether you make it yourself or hire a professional, you can discover inexpensive and unique ways to announce this important event.  Whatever you choose, they will turn out to be exceptional announcements that everyone will treasure.

Linda Kling is the owner of Photo Party Favors specializing in photo favors and invitations since 1992, and she recommends these photo bar-mitzvah save-the-date cards, featuring your multiple photos.

Powerful Online Dating Photo Tips For Men

Creating an online dating profile sounds simply enough-upload whatever photos you can find of yourself or take some with your cellphone, scribble a few words about you and voila you are ready for action.

It can be that simple, but if you want to give it your best shot and get better results than the average guy, start by paying special attention to the photos that you choose to use for your main profile picture and in your online dating profile.

When you create your online dating profile or ad, think of it as marketing yourself. You will need to be able grab the attention of someone who may be viewing hundreds of other profiles pictures and you will have just seconds to do it. Therefore, your main photo that is displayed on your dating site(s) will need to be your best and most flattering close-up of just you.

Review the tips that follow and see how many of them you can put into play to improve your online dating profile.

Use Recent Pictures

Recent does not = three years or more ago!

When you select your online dating profile pictures- the more recent the better! Ideally, the majority of your pictures will have been taken within the last year. Remember: Newer= better. You do not want to misrepresent yourself in looks, age, or weight as it can lead to disappointing your date when you do not appear live in person as you did online.

Go Naked From the Neck Up

Lose the sunglasses and hat mister!

Your main profile picture is your chance to make a great first impression. So use a picture without wearing your hat and sunglasses. Women who are profile surfing will want to look into your gorgeous eyes, and if you are wearing a hat, we may wonder what may be missing under that hat. Besides you can always include pictures with your favorite hat for example, in your other pictures.

Sell it with a Smile!

Smile and laugh- it is just online dating.

It is a fact, that people are more attracted to happy people, so wear a smile in the majority of your profile images and especially in your main profile picture. Believe it or not, I have seen profile pictures displayed where the person appeared angry, disgusted, or unhappy. Furthermore, many times, the profile said that they were easy going or happy people- yet that certainly did not come across in their dating photos. Needless to say you will attract less people to your profile if you select an incongruent picture. So smile silly!

Make it a Genuine Smile

Fake smiles can make you appear less human.

Some people easily smile and look natural in their photos and others who try to smile on queue end-up looking staged, fake, or awkward. When you have your picture taken for your dating ad, make sure your smile looks legitimate Consider thinking about something that is funny to you or makes you laugh a little. This way your smile will come off as genuine and will attract more people.

Make a Solo Appearance

Kick your friends, family and pets out of your primary picture.

Be sure that you are the only one on display in your main profile picture and in the majority of your other pictures. If all of your pictures have other people or animals in them, it will be tough to get a good look at you- the main feature. So even if you love your family, dog, car, or fishing more than life itself, avoid including them in your primary picture and feature yourself exclusively in the majority of your supporting dating pictures.

Tell a Tale

Let your pictures tell a true story about you.

Be sure that a few of your pictures tie-in with the copy that you have written in your profile and/or help tell a story about who you are and what you like to do. For example, if your profile says that you like to play tennis, then display a picture of you playing tennis; if you like to travel, then show a nice photo of you at your favorite location. You may find that you get contacted simply because someone saw a picture of you doing something that they could relate to which gave them something to talk to you about in an introductory email. Snap!

Use Good Quality Pictures

Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus-oh my!

Be sure that the images that you use were taken in focus and are not blurry or fuzzy to the eye. Even pictures that look good on your PC can sometimes look distorted once you have uploaded them to an online dating site (Cell phone pix are notorious for this). So once you have uploaded them, test them by viewing your profile as the public will see it. If you know the photo is out of focus already, then resist the urge to use it and select another one or have more taken.

Crop them in Close

Are your pictures ready for a close-up?

Another photo "do" is to ensure that your images are zoomed-in and cropped closely enough so that the viewer can see your face, even in action/travel shots. They will want to be able to see that it is really you and feel your personality coming to life through the photos you share.

Quick tip: Start with pictures that are of a high resolution (1 MB or more) so when you zoom-in and crop them you are not left with a tiny thumbnail that will not display properly.

Follow these tips to help you make the best first impression you can as an online dater and one that wants to stand out from the rest of the pack in a positive way!

Kathy Marlor- a.k.a. the "Self-Empowerment Sensei" is an experienced online dater, self-improvement coach and seminar presenter.

Dating Profile Coach - http://www.datingprofilecoach.com specializes in helping good guys make a great first online dating impression by offering a variety of dating photo and profile services.

Visit our site to get online dating photo services or dating profile services starting at just $19.00. http://www.datingprofilecoach.com/get_photo_editing.html

Unique and Interesting Photo Baby Shower Invitations

When we think about throwing baby shower parties for our loved ones, you might want to keep in mind the type of babyshower invitations you would select or design. While browsing the online websites you will come across different types of baby shower invitations, but the most popular ones are the photo baby shower invitations. A good presentation of the invitations will allow you to set the mood for the celebration.

You might want to start off with the guest list. In order to get off on the right note, you need to decide whether you prefer a for couples or a party involving only the women. If in doubt, you can ask for the advice of the guest of honor since it is her party you are planning. Traditional invitations for babyshowers can be arranged and formal baby shower photo invitations can be sent out accordingly. Once you have decided on the guest list, you need to start looking out for unique and special photo invitations. You might come across a lot of online websites that offer baby shower invitations based on a variety of themes, designs, patterns and colors. There are any invitations that can be personalized or customized according to your needs and specifications.

Creating and designing your own photo invitations is fun since you can add you own creative designs, wordings and photos. While designing such invitations, make sure you have a lot of baby photos of the expecting mother. You can either go in for single portrait, where the picture is pasted at the center of the invitation or go in for collages. Wordings can be kept simple and precise. You can even add your own quotes or poems. There are a number of templates that can be downloaded from websites and use to design the background of the photo baby shower invitations. If you have a word package installed into your computer, you can even play with different fonts and styles to give an appealing look to the invites.

After the invitations have been created, make sure that you have included all the essential information like the date, time and venue so that there is no confusion from the guests side. Invitations need to be sent at least 3 - 4 weeks in advance so that the guests can make the necessary arrangements or take leave from their offices to attend the special event. To add more uniqueness to the invitations, you might even be interested in decorating the cards with small beads, ribbons, seals etc. These supplies can easily be purchased at affordable rates from any nearby stationery stores. You might even be interested in taking the advice of your friends and relatives who will be happy to share tips and advice on how to make the cards more appealing.

If you are on a tight budget, then these photo baby invitations can also be downloaded from the online websites absolutely free of cost. All you have to do is pay for the postage stamps at the time of sending out the invitations to the guests. The effort put in by you for the baby shower invitations will be cherished by the entire family of the mother to be for the rest of their lives.

Make your friends baby shower a memorable occasion with photo baby shower invitations. At photobabyshowerinvitations.com we bring together the best collection of personalized baby shower invitations available from quality online suppliers.

Photo Blankets Make Unique Gifts

It seems that each year around the holidays and birthdays, it becomes harder and harder to find the perfect gift for someone on your list. There are so many gift options out there that it makes it impossible to really choose from all that is available. When most individuals are looking to purchase a gift for someone, they want it to be unique and personal. They want it to be that one thing that the person will appreciate and enjoy. For a gift that is unique and personal as well as practical, many individuals turn to photo blankets.

This particular gift is practical because many individuals use blankets to not only decorate their home but also to keep warm on a cold winter night. What makes photo blankets unique is the fact that individuals cannot go to the store and simply purchase the gift. They have to be special ordered and they are pretty much one of a kind. The personal aspect of the gift comes into play because of all the time and effort the gift giver puts into the gift. Photo blankets are completely customizable so it is up to the gift giver to put the thought and effort into making it something the recipient will love.

When it comes to photo blankets, there are many different styles to choose from. For a traditional style, individuals can choose a blanket the features one particular image. The one picture would take up the whole surface of the blanket. Another style for this particular blanket is a collage. Instead of using one rather large image, the blanket can be made up of a series of different images to show a collage of pictures. Depending on the size of the blanket, individuals can put up to 16 images on a blanket to make the collage.

In addition to the photos that are included on the photo blankets, individuals can also add other features to further personalize the blanket. One addition that can be added to the blanket is wording. Individuals can add a title or a caption to the photo. A nice way to personalize the blanket is to put the recipient's name and the date on the blanket in order to commemorate the event. In addition to adding wording to the blanket, individuals can also add a border. Gift givers can choose from numerous types of boards to accentuate the photos in the blanket. There are numerous types of styles and colors for the boards to choose from, making the photo blankets even more unique.

When it comes to giving photo blankets as a gift, there are many different reasons and occasions to give them. One popular time to give this particular gift is at a wedding. Giving a bride and groom a personalized blanket with their photo and wedding date on it is something that they will cherish for a long time to come. In addition to wedding gifts, photo blankets are also perfect gifts for anniversaries, birthdays and Christmas. Photo blankets are also a great gift for individuals who have just become parents. Many parents would love to have a blanket that has their child's picture on it. Many grandparents would enjoy this gift as well. Each holiday or special occasion provides a reason to personalize the blanket when giving it as a gift. However, gift givers do not necessarily need to wait for a special occasion to give this particular gift either. This blanket is something that can be given to an individual at any time just to say thank you or to let the individual know that you are thinking of them. Whatever the reason, this gift is something that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Andy West is a writer on a variety of topics, including blankets. Consider giving a set of personalized blankets such as photo blankets the next time you want to commemorate a special occasion.

Better Photo Tips - Fear Factor

By far the single biggest issue that keeps photographers from making a living at what they enjoy is a four letter word called fear. The words fear and self doubt go hand in hand. They feed on each other and support each other as negative traits.    Now, if your self doubt comes from the quality of your work, the solution is fairly simple. Learn more and practice, practice, practice.  If; on the other hand, the fear that keeps you from moving forward is people, that's a little more complicated.

Someone once said, "All fear is based on anticipation". The thing you need to ask yourself, is what you are anticipating true? Can you prove it? Let's take photography for example. What are some of the fears, or negative thoughts that keep you from selling your photos? They wouldn't like my work. They might say no. They won't like me. They probably already have plenty of pictures.

A) They won't like my work. Basic fact; no one can like or dislike something they have never seen. Let's say you shot pictures at a school play. After the play you see one of the actresses that you have a lot of pictures of. You see her being congratulated by her parents. Now is the time, give them a chance. Notice, I didn't say give yourself a chance. This isn't about you; give the parents and the subject a chance to see your work.

B) They might say no. Ok, I'll admit it is possible. It's also possible I could fall out of bed and break my arm tomorrow; does that mean I should never go to bed again? You have just as much chance they might say yes. If the parents were there, then that probably indicates this event was important to them. If the parents didn't have a camera with them, the odds have just increased in your favor. If they did, then you KNOW they are interested in saving memories and the odds are still in your favor if you take good quality work.

C) They won't like me. As already stated above, this isn't about you. You are providing a service. If you have managed to capture expressions or scenes from a different perspective, then you are offering a gift. You provide memories of experiences both the actor and the parents may never have again.

D) They probably have plenty of photos.   Having photos is one thing, having good quality professional looking photos is something else. Even if the parents think they have enough, the subject may want more especially if they make him or her look really good. The people who put on the event may also want some publicity photos for future events. Local newspapers may or may not have had a chance to cover everything going on that night. Sales of good quality photos do NOT have to be restricted to just one buyer.

A famous writer, Annie Dillard once said, "You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and just build your wings on the way down." To me this means, take a chance, and give your self the possibility of success. You can not climb to the top, if your feet never leave the ground. It is possible to make money in photography, but first you must give yourself a chance, and second you've got to give your viewer a chance.

Having the chance to touch the hearts and share memories of a lifetime is not something to fear. Every time you offer someone the chance to purchase your work, you offer them a part of yourself. You are telling them, "I think you, or your daughter, or son is pretty special. That's why I captured this memory." If you think of your services as a gift; you are more likely to succeed, and less likely to have to face the fear factor.

Award winning writer / photographer Tedric Garrison has 30 years experience in photography. As a Graphic Art Major, he has a unique perspective on the Elements of Design and how they relate to photography. His photo eBook; Finding Your Creative Edge in Photography, proves creativity CAN be taught. Tedric shares his wealth of knowledge with the world, at: Better Photo Tips.com

Wedding Quotes - Ideas For Finding Just the Right Wording For Your Wedding

If you're planning a wedding, there's a good chance you're also looking for a great quote or two to include in your program, on personalized favors, or even in your vows. Here are six ideas for choosing the perfect quotation or saying to help you put your love into words.
1. Size matters. In what way will you be using the quote? If you're incorporating it into your vows, you can get away with reading a long poem or quotation. But if you're trying to add a saying to photo bookmarks or mint tins to give away at your reception, you'll have less room. In that case, it's best to go with something short, but meaningful. Here are some examples of sayings that would easily fit on invitations or wedding favors:
* This day I will marry my friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love.

* There is no remedy for love but to love more. - Henry David Thoreau

* Two hearts once joined in friendship, united now with love.

* To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, from this day forward...
2. Check the classics. You may be a very modern couple, but that doesn't mean you can't find inspiration from some quotes written a long time ago. Old quotation and poetry books, as well as websites can provide you with plenty of choices. Here are some samples:
* I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

* For you see, each day I love you more - Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow. - Rosemonde Gerard

* My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, both are infinite. - William Shakespeare

* Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

* There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends. - Homer
3. They're playing our song. You might have one particular love song that you view as being particularly meaningful to your relationship. If so, why not borrow a line or two from the lyrics? You could also use the words from the song you have chosen for your first dance at the reception. By the same token, you could also take a line from your favorite movie, TV show or novel.
4. Have a look at the good Book. You can find some great quotes about love that are appropriate for a wedding in the Bible. Here are some verses to consider:
* Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. -1 Corinthians 13:4-8
* Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. - Song of Solomon 8:7

* There are three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. - I Corinthians 13:13

* I found the one my heart loves. -Song of Solomon 3:4

* And the two shall become one. - Mark 10:8
5. Light may be right. You don't have to take a serious approach to choosing the best wedding quote for you. Check out some funny, cute or amusing sayings and see if you find what you like. Here are a few possibilities:
* Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker.

* Love is what you've been through with somebody. - James Thurber

* We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
6. Try your own words. Don't rule out writing your own wording. You can even borrow some of the ideas or phrases from quotations, but then rewrite them to make them more personal. You can also create a little saying that expresses your thanks to your guests. For instance, you might personalize wedding favors with, "thank you for sharing in the celebration of our love and commitment on our wedding day".
There are so many great wedding quotes available. Just decide how long or short the wording should be, then check the internet, quotation books, Scripture, songs, or even borrow a line from your favorite movie. With all these choices, you're sure to find just the right one for you.



Looking for more great wedding quotes? You can find them, plus wedding trivia, party recipes and free printables at Linda Kling's website www.photo-party-favors.com; as well as order personalized wedding favors, including photo mint tins, photo wedding bookmarks, magnets and much more.

Think Tank Photo Retrospective 5 Camera Bag Review;

DSLR users as well as users of mirrorless system cameras know that once you start buying more lenses to add to your collection, the more stuff you’ll need to carry around. That means that you’ll need to find yourself a bag of some sort that can carry around all the gear you need. The problem is that although you can find a bag to carry all your stuff, you might not want to actually carry it all and instead only want to carry what you need for a specific shoot. That’s where the the Think Tank Photo Retrospective 5 comes in to play. It is a small shoulder bag, but is large enough to hold a camera and a lens or several lenses.
In my case, I am using the Retrospective 5 with my Sony NEX-5N and my Olympus PEN E-PL3. These are much smaller cameras then DSLRs but they still have interchangeable lenses that I have to carry around with me from time to time. What makes the Retrospective 5 so ideal though is the fact that the interior of the bag can be customized for any situation thanks to a generous number of padded inserts. It comes with 5 inserts that can be attached any which way thanks to an easy Velcro system. This means I can design my own interior compartments for use with whatever equipment I want to carry on a given day.
For instance, let’s say I wanted to carry my Sony NEX-5N and some my extra lenses and attachments for it. I could easily do it with the Retrospective 5.I was able to fit my NEX-5N with the 18-55mm kit lens attached to it and lens hood, my 16mm pancake lens, an old Sigma UC Zoom 70-210mm lens and the lens adapter for it. After all that, I still had space for some extra cables, memory cards, and the battery charger with room to spare. All of that and the Retrospective 5 was still relatively small and compact.
Now that is just one example of what I could carry. There are other times when I want to to take are 2 or 3 cameras and no lenses because I have each camera set up for different situations. In that case, I was again able to fit my NEX-5N with 18-55mm kit lens, an Olympus PEN E-PL3 with 20mm pancake lens, as well as a few miscellaneous accessories with room to spare for my wallet, iPhone, and keys.
Interior Specs - Removable closed cell foam inserts with PE board stiffener, 210D silver-toned nylon, PU backed velex, 2x PU coated nylon 210T seam-sealed taffeta rain cover, 3-ply bonded nylon thread.
With the Retrospective 5, you don’t have to worry about minor bumps and everyday usage damaging any of your photo equipment as the entire interior of the bag is padded. Equipment stays secure and safe and the included dividers keep things from rubbing up against each other. Inside, you’ll also find a large zippered pocket, two smaller side Velcro pockets, as well as a larger Velcro compartment that features accessory pockets for things like memory cards, filters, or remotes. in total, there are 4 generous interior pockets to hold almost anything you want.
What I like about the Retrospective 5 is how inconspicuous the bag looks. From the outside, it just looks like a regular shoulder bag or messenger bag that someone might carry on an everyday basis. There is very little on the outside that screams camera bag which is great because that’s the last thing you want to draw attention to. The bag I was sent was black which also helps with concealing what the bag’s real purpose is meant for. The black also optically makes the bag looks slimmer than it really is.
On the outside of that bag, on the backside there is a zippered pocket that is actually quite large. It’s not quite large enough to fit something like an iPad, but you could easily fit a small book or any manuals you might have. On either side of the bag are also 2 pockets. I’m not sure what you could fit in these however as they are kind of tight but you could probably fit some pens you might have or even some business cards or a small notepad or your mobile phone. Above these pockets sits webbing loops on both sides as well. These allow you to hook items such as carabiners or some of the modular components that Think Tank Photo sells as well.
Exterior Specs - All fabric exterior treated with DWR while fabric underside is coated with PU for superior water resistance, sand-washed 100% cotton canvas, antique nickel plated metal hardware, YKK® RC Fuse (abrasion resistant) zippers, nylon webbing, 3-ply bonded nylon thread.
The Retrospective 5 has a huge flap that covers most of the entire front of the bag. It is held shut by Velcro strips that can also be silenced by covering them up the sound silencer system. That it does is allows you to cover up the portion that is on the flap so that it no longer hooks to the opposite part on the bag. This lets you open and shut the bag without it making any noises, but it also doesn’t allow you to secure the bag shut anymore. Basically with this method, gravity is doing the job of keeping it shut. I do admit though that it’s a clever idea and is quite helpful in a situation where you want to stay as quite as possible, especially if you have to go into your bag often.
When you open the flap, you’ll also notice that there is yet another pocket on the front of the bag. This is an expandable pocket that is held shut by a Velcro tab as well. This is probably the largest of the available pockets on the bag and is large enough to hold a standard DSLR body. However, for this review, the pocket included a detachable rain cover which is used to cover the bag and your gear in case of rain. It’s a neat little accessory and one that certainly comes in handy where I live since it rains here often.
Like most shoulder bags, the Retrospective 5 is carried using its built in shoulder strap. It’s made out of the same material as the webbing loops and is built to withstand some heavy usage. Unlike some other bags, it also includes a really nice non-slip shoulder pad that really helps with comfort.
You’ll also find that the bag includes a carrying handle as well which allows you to carry it with your hand. It has a decent hand grip and is adjustable as well as removable if you don’t want to use it or have no need for it.
Other than that, a very stealthy bag that doesn’t draw attention to itself and does what it needs to do which is to keep your equipment safe.
I’m loving the Think Tank Photo Retrospective 5. Those looking for a bag to hold all of their gear should look elsewhere and maybe look at the Retrospective 10 or 20 or maybe into a backpack instead. For me however, the Retrospective 5 is perfect for everyday use especially if you are just roaming the town and want to keep your camera handy. I don’t need to carry all of my gear and usually just need one of my cameras and a backup lens which makes the Retrospective 5 the perfect size.
I love all the extra pockets this bag has too which allows me to carry a few little extras with me which I couldn’t do with my other bag, I’m able to carry some usual camera accessories like filters, a card reader, and my charger as well as non photo equipment like my mobile phone, mp3 player, business cards, and some pens. I also love all the little extras included like the extra separators, the sound silencer system, and the included rain cover.
Overall, the Retrospective 5 is a solid bag that is made well, feels like a very high quality bag, and it’s something I don’t mind carrying around with me all the time as it doesn’t make me look like a tourist out on vacation. You can pick up a Retrospective 5 for $137.50 in 3 different colors – Slate Blue, Pinestone, and Black. The Slate Blue and Pinestone are made out of canvas while the Black is made out of polyspun nylon. The bag isn’t cheap, but you get what you pay for and in this case, I believe you are getting more than your monies worth.
Think Tank Photo Retrospective 5 (black)
Think Tank Photo Retrospective 5 (blue slate)
Think Tank Photo Retrospective 5 (pinestone)
Please note that if you use the links above, you’ll be eligible to receive a free gift with your purchase at checkout.
About Samuel Huang
Samuel Huang is an avid gamer and all around tech geek. When not glued to his computer or iPhone, he can be seen pwning n00bs on Xbox Live nightly. On occasion, he has the crazy dream of owning a vintage JDM Nissan Skyline Hakosuka GT-R or a Datsun 240Z.
Samuel Huang has made 204 posts on G Style Magazine

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