You can find me over here now

http://www.jenreed.com

Related posts:

1. Digital Scrapbook Day SALE! 40% off storewide
2. NEW! Collab with the AMAZING KimB!
3. Learning to take photos with a DSLR camera

Presents? Did someone say presents?

Do you take lots of photos of your kids opening their gifts at Christmas?

How many holidays do you end up with all those photos of the kids opening their presents but don’t end up with one photo that can be used as the focal photo for a layout? Either the kids aren’t looking at the camera or the photos are a bit blurry (because the kids move) or some photos are low quality taken in years past…

You can still scrap those Christmas photos quick and easy using this two page “lots of photos” layered double spread layout. Just open the files, insert your photos, add your journaling and you’re ready to go!

Included in the expanded Super Spread Plus are 2 layered PSD layouts (left and right sides), 3 papers and 1 sheet of embellishments and wordart.

The left side comes with the “Night Before Christmas” poem but there is also a hidden text paragraph layer that you can use instead to quickly journal your own Christmas memories.

Grab this two quick page set for only $2.94 this week @ ScrapGirls! 

Super Spread Plus: Santa’s Helpers includes

• (1) 24×12 PSD double layout file
• (2) 12×12 PSD single layout files (left and right side)
• (3) 12×12 Papers
• (14) PNG Embellishments

 And don’t miss the ScrapGirls Year End BLOW OUT Sale!!

My entire ScrapGirls store is on sale for 41% off Dec 24th through Dec 31st!

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Recently I started thinking about getting a DSLR camera again. I see some absolutely wonderful shots that friends post on Facebook.

I can do that. I know I can. But will I have enough patience?

There was a big part of me that was (and is) nervous that this $1000 camera is just going to sit there. I’ll become frustrated with it and will give up. But I stopped listening to that voice and went ahead and ordered the camera. I wanted it early enough that I could play with it before Christmas.

The camera came this week and yesterday was Day 3 of me shooting with it. The first night I shot with it, I was absolutely LOVING it. I took a ton of photos of the kids, the tree and even the dog. I looked at the photos in the LCD panel and thought “WOW! WOW! Those look awesome!”. I even showed Rick how great they were looking. I had never got photos like that before.

The next morning came and I was so excited as I moved those photos from my card to my computer and then the “shooting in manual” reality struck.

The LCD display LIES! LIES LIES LIES!

The photos that I thought were great (and some shots were truly great) were all blurry. All of them! Blurry! I wanted to CRY! I was so disappointed.

The photo below is one of those photos that I couldn’t wait to see up close only to find that it was not sharp at all. The shutter speed is too slow and while it did capture Rogue’s tongue it also made Dan out of focus. My hands can’t stay still at this speed (1/10). It’s too slow – the shutter stays open too long and my hand shakes before it closes causing the blur. This is a different blur than the tree being out of focus. The tree is supposed to be out of focus but Dan was supposed to be sharp.

This next one of Dan came out okay.  He isn’t as blurry and once I corrected the white balance it made it better too.

I took this next photo on Day 2 when I was working on keeping my ISO down at 100-200. The photo sharpness is definitely better than 95% of what I had shot on Day 1.

On Day 3 I got some nice photos of the first snow fall of the year.  I put the focus on the tree with the background slightly blurry.

These last two are also Day 3 photos. If you go back and look at the first photo and then this one of Sam below you can see the focus is more sharper here and ironically the lighting was actually worse for the photo below.

Obviously I’m not an expert at taking photos with a DSLR as I’ve only had the camera for 4 days. I know I have so much more to learn.

But… there were a few things that I learned right off after reading bits here and there that helped me not be so frustrated and take better photos out of the gate.

Most of my photos will be taken indoors of my kids. I’m sure I’ll get photos outside too but for the most part I’m looking to capture more indoor spontaneous moments. I think my photos on Day 1 would have been so much better if I knew where to at least start. I was just randomly trying things. I’ve gotten lots of advice here and there and tried to do some of the suggested things –  like let the camera manage a few settings while I control just one or two. I did take some photos like that but the camera would do things like make the ISO too high or the shutter speed so slow that the end results still were not working for me.

I personally think a lot of these photography blogs out there or even people you know that have a DSLR camera, forget what it was like the first few days they tried to shoot manual. By now they know so much more about photography and all of the vocabulary associated with it that they have a hard time breaking things back into laymen’s terms. They tell you what all these words mean but not where to really start. It makes your head spin.

For me the epiphany was once I realized I need to set my settings in a specific order each time and start checking the exposure meter to help me adjust those settings. Once I did those two things my photos immediately started getting better.

Here is what I came up with as a decent place to start when just learning how to use a DSLR. Again, this is just a START for the complete newbie who knows nothing about what any photography term means. You just want to take some good shots right away – not spectacular – but decent enough to justify the amount of money you just forked over for this amazing DSLR camera.

1. Set your settings in the same order each time.  I’m now setting in order of ISO, aperture then shutter speed.
2. Start with your ISO set to 100 or 200. The higher the ISO the grainier or noise your photo will be. In the very first few days of using your new DSLR camera don’t go higher than 200. Set it and leave it.
3. Then set your aperture according to how much background blur you want. I found myself between 1.4 – 2.2. I also had a difficult time shooting at aperture 4 or higher indoors because the light was too low light so I stayed pretty much at 1.4.  (Your 50mm lens may only go to 1.8.)
4. Next look at the exposure meter bar. This is what was missing for me in the first two days. On Day 3 when I started using the exposure meter my photos were MUCH better. In laymen’s terms this bar shows you if the photo is going to be too dark or too light. The exposure meter looks something like this…On my camera, I see this on the top and in the viewfinder. 
5. While looking at the exposure meter, adjust your shutter speed until the exposure setting moves somewhere into the middle.
6. Now here’s the catch… when starting out you are probably shooting with a 50mm lens.  Rule of thumb is the 50mm lens can’t handle slower speeds than 1/50 without a tripod or a very steady hand (which I certainly don’t have). Maybe you can go down to 1/30 or 1/40 and still be okay but for those first few days of using the camera try to stay at 1/50 or faster to avoid the hand shake blur. As the bottom number goes higher the shutter is faster – 1/100, 1/400 1/1000 is faster and okay but 1/15, 1/10, 1/8 are slower and need a steady hand or tripod.

That was my problem my first day when I thought I had gotten great photos but they came out with a slight motion blur. Looking back at the photos I took that day all of them are at speeds 1/10 or 1/15 which is too slow. My hand can’t stay steady that long. So don’t frustrate yourself… keep the speed at 1/50 or faster in the beginning.

QUICK CHECKLIST

So for a complete DSLR newbie shooting manual for the first time, here’s a good place to start with your settings.

• Set ISO: 100-200
• Set Aperture: 1.4-2.2 (maybe up to 4)
• Look at the exposure meter
• Set Shutter Speed: 1/50 or faster (higher bottom number is faster) till you get the exposure meter somewhere close to the middle.

Now if you find that when your shutter speed is 1/50 and the exposure meter is still off the scale and the only way to get it right is to make the shutter speed slower – DON’T! Instead go back and adjust the aperture. If you are already on the lowest setting that your lens can go (1.4 or 1.8), you could try raising the ISO but don’t go over 800. The better answer (for the newbie) is to keep your ISO low and find a way to add more light to the room instead.

My first DSLR photos are FAR from perfect and definitely FAR from where I want to go. BUT… they are as good as the photos I have taken with my point and click camera and a lot of them are better since I can change focus. When I first started with the DSLR (4 days ago lol!) I just wanted to at least be able to take photos as good as my other camera. I think I’ve accomplished that and am now looking forward to learning more about photography and shooting those “WOW!” shots!

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On a personal note, I picked up my family photos yesterday. Every year since the girls were born we all get dressed up for a “professional” family photo. Everyone gets something new to wear for these photos and our outfits coordinate somehow. I saw a boys sweater I liked and was able to quickly find girls sweaters in the same color blue. So this year we went with black/white/blue colors.

I say “professional” photos because it honestly depends on the photographer we get. The past few years the photos were just okay. They served their purpose but there was no “flair”. Usually we just go to Sears but they closed the Sears Essentials by us and I refuse to go the Sears mall store (I’ve had too many bad experiences over the years with their mall portrait studio). So this year we tried Target. WOW!  I was impressed.

The studio manager was on top of everything. It was a Saturday and they had 6 people working in a one room studio setup. It was truly amazing. While we were getting our photos taken, two other families were working on selecting their photos. Not only that but at Target, they actually let you play around with the photos and spend time looking at them ALONE. That never happened at Sears. That was a very nice change of pace.

Anyway, I picked up the photos yesterday and I am very pleased with the results this year. Now I need to find some frames.

Okay… on to what’s new this week from me!  My first real Christmas collection!  I really like how this turned out and it’s jammed packed with lots of goodies.

All I Want for Christmas Collection Biggie

ALL PRODUCTS ON SALE THROUGH Dec 14th
exclusively @ ScrapGirls!

This collection includes
16 papers, a whopping 79 embellishments, 2 fun holiday alphas and 57 word art pieces!

All I Want for Christmas Trees and Gifts Embellishments

And what’s a holiday layout without a few trees and presents??

All I Want for Christmas Solid Paper Mini

And… last but not least… I packaged all three products into a special VALUE PACK which is regularly discounted 25% off the individual prices.

With this week’s sale, you can pick up all three pieces for only $10.35!

And of course some holiday inspiration for you!

Thanks for looking and from my family to yours… Have a wonderful holiday season!

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Here are some new goodies I have in my ScrapGirls store this week! They are all 25% off Nov 24th thru Nov 26th! I have two Super 7 products out this week. The Super 7 product has TWO quickpage layered layouts in PSD format and comes with (2) 12×12 JPG papers and (5) PNG elements. Just open the files, insert (clip) your photos, add your journaling and you’re ready to go. Super 7 : Turkey Day Do you take lots of Thanksgiving photos but don’t end up scrapping them all? Lots of photos of family gathering, foods you prepare and annual traditions… Use this two page “lots of photos” layered layout spread to create two fast layouts celebrating the Turkey Day traditions in your family. Regular Price: $2.77 ON SALE $2.08   Super 7: Jump into Fall Jump into fall with this falling leaves two page layered PSD layout set! Perfect for photos of children playing in the leaves! Regular Price: $2.77 ON SALE $2.08   Printable Art and Crafts The printable art and crafts product line is new at ScrapGirls this month. Turn anything into art with a frame! I have two vintage style artwork pieces this week that you can print and frame. They make perfect holiday gifts. In fact, I printed these and am giving them to the moms this year! You can print the artwork yourself or upload it to one of the online printers and have it done for you. CafePress, Zazzle, VistaPrint, etc. Each Printable Art product includes 5 different printable sizes for any kind of craft project! 16 in x 20 in 11 in x 14 in 8 in x 10 in 5 in x 7 in 4.25 in x 5.5 in (card) Printable Art and Crafts: A Friend Is Regular Price: $2.99 ON SALE $2.24 Here is the artwork printed at 11×14 and framed. I have a large format printer so I was able to print these myself on canvas. I picked these frames up at Kohl’s. I liked the 2 inch mat in these larger frames. The matted photo window is 11×14. Printable Art and Crafts: My Wish Regular Price: $2.99 ON SALE $2.24 Here is this artwork framed. Vintage Envelopes and Postage Embellishment Set I have been going through some of my grandfather’s submarine and military memorabilia and have a box of old letters. I thought they’d be a perfect touch to vintage or heritage style layouts. This embellishment set comes with 8 front-side envelopes, 8 back-side envelopes, 8 postage stamps and 12 postage marks – love the 1923 one! Regular Price: $4.79 ON SALE $3.59 Airman’s Creed Collection I finally have the last of my military collections completed! The final installment is the Air Force. I really love how this one came out! Regular Price: $7.59 ON SALE $5.68 Regular Price: $2.59 ON SALE $1.94 Here is some inspiration for you! Layout by Jen Reed Layout by Joyce Schardt   Layout by Joyce Schardt   Layout by Jen Reed     Thanks for looking and to those in the States have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

Related posts:

1. Happy iNSD Sale!
2. NEW 2012 Calendar Templates & 40% OFF SALE!!
3. 50% OFF SALE! All weekend…

All of my new 2012 calendar template sets are on sale 40% off today and tomorrow @ ScrapGirls! These calendar templates will not be sold in my personal store.

They are only available in my ScrapGirls store!

Regular Price $8.99

ON SALE 40% OFF TODAY AND TOMORROW

ONLY $5.39!

Don’t let your beautiful layouts go to waste! Share them with family and friends using this easy-to-assemble year round layout calendar!

Just drop your layout (or large photo) onto the LAYOUT SQUARE and add coordinating embellishments and create a beautiful 11×17 calendar for every month of the upcoming year. You can print the calendar in 11×17 format OR you can split the calendar into two 8.5×11 halfs and bind it in the middle.

Don’t have a lot of time to create calendars this year? Use these quick 11×17 year calendar templates to create a SIMPLE AND FAST keepsake calendar for family and friends.

Just clip your yearly highlight photos (or even digital papers and embellishments) onto the individual squares for your own custom calendar!

Create a SIMPLE and QUICK cover for your 4×6 2012 calendar!

Related posts:

1. New Templates, Special Sale & Freebie!
2. Happy iNSD Sale!
3. Special 2 Day Sale on Textures, Overlays and Patterns! CU included

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day WEEKEND!

Everything in my personal store is 40% off through Nov 6th!

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There is no such thing as an Ex-Marine. Once a Marine, Always a Marine. Honor the Marines in your life with this military collection focused on the U.S. Marines Corps.

And some inspiration for you!

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping!

Related posts:

1. NEW! In the Navy
2. NEW! Go Army
3. Happy 4th of July America!

Honor, Courage & Commitment- Core Values of the U.S Navy. Are you a Navy family? Honor your loved ones service with this military collection focused on the U.S Navy.

And some inspiration for you!

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping!

Related posts:

1. NEW! Go Army
2. NEW! The Messenger
3. My Family is a 3 Ring Circus!

Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless, Honor, Integrity and Courage.. the Core Value of the Army. Do you have a soldier in your family? Honor their service with this military collection focused on the U.S. Army.

And some inspiration for you!

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping!

Related posts:

1. NEW! The Messenger