The Erin Manning Photo Challenge: Create a portrait of someone you care about, and shoot it using one of the techniques we talked about - either using reflection, diffusion, or window light.

Hi Everyone,

I’m thrilled to see all of your photo challenge images after our online chat last month. Great job. Window light was a popular theme and many of you included your kids in the photo project. Yeah! There were also some beautiful nature shots, a flower, cats, and a self-portrait. All of the images were thoughtful contributions to the challenge.

I’m going to offer a few tips in response to each photo, in the order you submitted them:

Sondra – Nice image of a sweet girl with a personality-plus expression. A very contemporary point of view and composition. When composing your shot, be careful not to crop hands at the wrist, and be sure you are within your camera’s focusing range. This looks like you might either be too close to focus, or there is some blur from movement.

Pinky #3405 – Love the morning light on his face and the fact that you used a black background (no shadows) like the example I showed online. It’s a good side shot, but I’d like to see more of his face, even a ¾ shot.

Patty 2262 – A lovely nature shot. Good that you were paying attention to the quality of light. I like the diagonal line of the branch that draws your eye through the image. Next try taking a series of images: a wide-angle shot that includes the entire area, a medium shot, and a close-up shot. This helps tell a story about where you are.A crisp, clear shot out of the window at the museum! We didn’t really cover much in the landscape area during our chat, but a good rule of thumb is to place the horizon in either the lower 1/3 or upper 1/3 of your image – depending on whether the upper part or the lower part of your image is more interesting.

Cherrie #1790 – Nice self-portrait of you. Good expression and I like that you have nice, even light on your face, not even a shadow from the hat. Since this is a self-portrait I know you weren’t looking through the viewfinder when the picture was taken, but it’s important to make this point: sometimes we get so caught up at looking at the subject when composing a photo that we forget to pay attention to what’s going on in the background. Household items can be distracting. This would have been a good opportunity to use fabric or a blanket behind you as a backdrop.

Patty 2832 – Awwww, poor Jake! This image is a wonderful boyhood document of his experience, and you have nice, soft, and even light on his face. It’s a little out of focus, which can happen in low light, or when your subject, or your camera moves. It can also happen if you are too close to your subject for the camera to focus. Try stepping back, then zoom in to fill the frame with his face.

Love the composition of the cats on the chair. The S-curve of the chair moves your eye through the picture, and the cats punctuate each end of the chair. The light is nice too. I’d like to see you take more of this scenario, with different angles, and getting in closer to the cats.

Lydia – A truly lovely image. The morning light glistens off the snow/ice on the tree and the delicate branches seem to dance. I’d like to see more of this, close-up. Try using your Macro setting, get in close and capture detail too.

Julie O. – # 1 Fantastic use of window light. I like the way you used a colorful backdrop and positioned your daughter off-center (using the rule of thirds). The window light is pretty and soft across her face. Next time try moving the card a little farther away from her so you don’t get a shadow on the backdrop…but lovely all the same.   #2 Good use of window light and using a white board to reflect more light into any shadows on her face. Kelsey’s expression is looking a little forced though.  #3 The natural shot of Kelsey is really beautiful. You captured an authentic moment, and a real expression here. She has a catch light in her eyes (twinkle) and pretty, soft light on her face.

Christina #4635 – A very cool shot with the use of reflection in the window. I would like to see a little more to the left, capturing more of the reflection. Also, he’s a cute kid with beautiful, blue eyes – try putting him in a solid color blue/green shirt that draws attention to his eyes.

Amanda #1485 – Nice shot of the flower, but I’d like to see more. Try using your macro setting and get in closer. I’d also turn off your flash and move around to the other side of the flower, letting the window light fall upon the flower, as opposed to the window being behind the flower.

What a cutie! This little boy looks like he’d be so much fun to photograph. I like that you are on his level, it gives a more intimate feel to the photograph. It looks like you used your flash, you can tell from the hard shadow behind his head on the blue backdrop. Try turning off your flash and face him towards the window light, if you have it. Then make sure your background is a solid color, move back, and zoom in with your telephoto zoom to fill the frame with his face. If you use Sports mode, or Continuous Mode you can take a lot of shots and capture his many expressions.

Lesa #5200 – Pretty yellow flowers and I like the diagonal line of the fence in the image. I love that you used a big, white golf umbrella for diffusing the light. A couple of things you can do to mix it up: 1. Use your Macro Mode and capture close-ups. 2. Try photographing these flowers very early in the morning, or very late in the afternoon without any diffusion. See how different they look with directional light from the side.

Michelle 3624 – CUTE! She just exudes cuteness. I typically recommend using a solid color shirt, but in this case her striped sweater really adds to the playfulness of the shot. She looks like she would be so much fun to photograph. I bet she has a lot of expressions. Try shooting in Continuous Mode and keep holding the shutter button down. You could capture a succession of her different looks, then put them all together in a series later. I’d like to see more of her face, maybe without the hand, but overall, great shot.

Okay! Drum roll please. The winner of the Photo Challenge is……. Julie O!  Nice job, Julie. This is a lovely image with a natural feeling and an authentic expression. Good use of window light and composition. She has a catch light in her eyes and pretty, soft light across her face.

It’s been a pleasure connecting with all of you. If you’d like to learn more, join the Facebook group for my book Portrait and Candid Photography. You can upload images, videos, make comments, learn, and share information. It would be great to see you there.  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43653873638&ref=ts Check out my website too. I have a special Learn section and I’ll also keep you updated on when my show The Whole Picture airs next.

http://www.erinmanning.com 

Have fun taking pictures!

Erin   

Wow, I feel like I just took a photography class!  Thanks so much Erin!                                                    

Talk about dropping the ball on this one! I am so sorry for not getting back here to draw the challenge winner sooner. This has to be some kind of new record – 3+ months to draw a prize!

What am I talking about? 3 months ago Rebecca (super, awesome Fiskateer that she is) invited me to come and participate in an online chat with you awesome Fiskateers! We had a book giveaway during the chat and then I issued a challenge that tied in with my book, Cut: Loose Break the Rules of Scrapbooking. The challenge was to scrapbook a page about yourself without including your gorgeous mugg on the page. In other words, find a way to capture yourself on the page without the dreaded self portrait!

Here are two examples from the book that shows this in action.

There were some enthusiastic participants in the challenge and I promised to give away one copy of my book to a random participant. Since I so clearly messed this one up I am going to break a few rules. Instead I am going to give away 3 copies! OH ya! I am a rule breaker all right! This means Kimberly #2494, Patty 2262 and Sarah #3020 you all won a copy of Cut Loose: Break The Rules Of Scrapbooking. Email your mailing addresses to me at crystaljrieger@gmail.com and I will get you books mailed out this week.  Thanks for playing along!

I was assigned two new lines to work with.  In this particular post the
brand new Heidi Grace Forever Love line is featured.

I started with a plain box and cover.  I wanted to make something really special so I found this acrylic drawer pull at the hardware store and if you look very closely you will also see I added 4 wooden leg pieces to the bottom.  I painted the entire box black before I started, including the legs.  I used small strips of paper all around the side of the box cut with my trimmer and then embellished with a doily which I cut to fit in 3 areas of the box. To accent and show off the doily pieces I mounted them on black cardstock and then trimmed around them with my mini pinking paper edger scissors.  I’ve been using paper edgers a lot lately as they really are a simple way to add texture and design to your projects!  The doily area is adorned with beautiful Heidi Grace embellishments that match the line.  Of course I also used plenty of Fiskars tools while creating this box.

Tools I used:

Mini Pinking Paper Edger scissors
Give it a Swirl Border Punch
12″ Portable Rotary Trimmer
No. 5 Non-Stick scissors
Fiskars Craft Drill
Fingertip Craft Tweezers
Fingertip Craft Knife

As always, feel free to send me a private message if you want any information at all about how I created this or any of my projects.  I am always willing to answer questions and help in any way that I can!

Happy crafting everyone!

Lisa

But the real reason I was asked to post is because I invited Angela to be a part of a fun swap I am organizing.  Being the creative event planner that I am, I came up with a little twist on the “Circle Journal” well, I didn’t come up with it alone, I think bits and pieces of it came out in chats with friends and then I put them all together and this is what I came up with… “A year of you”
Circle journals and swaps are so much fun.   Most of them are a group of people creating together but with their own photos or no photos.  I have many of these wonderful little books and such and I really love doing them.  However, what I really need is to get some of my own photos into books!  So here is a way to create in a group but get a whole book about you in the end!

Step 1: Ask 12 or 13 friends to participate in this fun year long swap.

Step 2: Create a list to establish an order.

Step 3: On the 5th of each month email 2-5 photos of your life from the month before (ie: February 5th you will email January photos) to the next person on our list. You will receive 2-5 photos from someone else.

Step 4: Create a 2 page layout using the photos you received for the person who sent them to you.

Each month you will be sending and receiving photos from a different person and each month a different person will be creating a page about your life!

This is just the basics; you will need to decide the size of the layouts, if the layouts will be mailed each month, or held till the end of the year and traded in person or some other way and if you want to have 12 or 13 friends participate.  If you ask 13 friends, you will have all 12 months created by someone else-if you ask 12 then one of the months will be your own creation.

Things to keep in mind:

-Make sure whoever you ask knows that this is a one year commitment.  It is important that no one flakes!

-Larger layouts are more time consuming.  Even though it seems like it’s just a 2 page layout, remember life happens and sometimes smaller is just easier to keep up with.

-Don’t leave it till next month.  Do the layout every month.  If you leave it till the end, it will not be fun, it will be work.  You can create a yahoo group to upload photos of finished pages so everyone can see them and be held accountable =)

The group I put together is international but we all go to CHA each year so the plan is to swap at CHA 2010. I can’t wait.  Feel free to email me with questions.  Here are a couple of photos  of  one of the circle journal groups I  was in. We all got together and had lunch at the end and swapped books. It was so fun to see the final product with everyone’s contributions . They are a really fun way to create together!

I actually couldn’t stop at one project so I made several.  While I didn’t address everyone’s wants I did hit on the ones that I saw repeated over and over again.  I made some things and then I attached some links to the Fiskars Crafts site below that show other ideas that I didn’t have time to make!  There is new stuff up on the site every week so keep checking often for more ideas!

If you were interested in advent calendars you will find them at this link.  One of them happens to be mine!  Also I’ve seen a very simple paper chain advent idea where you cut off a link each day.  You can attach goodies to the chain links or write quotes, or write that today you will play a family game together, etc.

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/articles/t_adventcalendars.aspx

Here are a few centerpiece ideas……….I will be stealing the one that Kendra made for my own holiday table!

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/articles/t_centerpieces.aspx

Here are some tag ideas in addition to the ones that I am sharing in this blog post.

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/projects/t_tags1108.aspx

This link will take you to darling CD Christmas ornament that Valerie made.  What a cute idea!

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/projects/t_cdornament.aspx

Anyway, there are a ton more ideas on the Fiskars Crafts site including items that are perfect for gift giving.  So make sure you check it out!

Ok, now for what I promised…….a few items for my Fiska-friends!  The theme seems to be quick and easy so I tried to create projects that will not take any time at all!

The first item addresses the ornament request that several of you made.  This is created using the Cloud 9 Mini Frames released awhile ago.  When I did a Google search I popped up all kinds of websites where they are still in stock and some of them on clearance!  This was easy as pie and the finished look is so beautiful!

1. First you want to use a needle nose pliers to take apart the 3 rings that are holding the metal hanger and the heart on.
2.  Now choose a quote from the Cloud 9 Christmas Joy line or you can use a photo or anything else as long as it is a circle that is about 2″ in diameter.  Adhere this in the center on the front.
3.  Next cut a 3″ circle using your Fiskars circle cutter out of patterned paper (I used the Cloud 9 Christmas Joy collection) and then adhere this to the back side of the acrylic disk placing adhesive underneath the quote circle.  You want the outside edges to be free.  Then trim using your Fiskars Cloud paper edger scissors.
4.  Fasten all the pieces back on your acrylic disk.
5. Tie a cute little bow at the top and you are done!

Ok, on to gift ideas!  I’ve created two gift ideas for you below.  These can serve as hostess gifts, Teacher gifts, or gifts for anyone on your list!

Creation time:  10 minutes

This candle was created using a glade air freshener candle I picked up at Target.  They are in all the discount stores for a couple of dollars.  There are holiday scents and regular scents too!  Again, I used the Cloud 9 Christmas Joy collection.

1.  Cut a solid strip of paper 1 1/2″ wide and long enough to wrap around the glass candle jar and adhere.
2.  Cut a piece of patterned paper 1″ wide and the same length as the strip above.  Wrap around candle jar and adhere in place.
3.  I used a 2″ sticker from the Cloud 9 collection but you can use any 2″ punched shape and stamp in the center or use a photo.  I placed the sticker on solid paper and then used my Stamp Paper edger scissors to trim around the outside edge.  I covered the 3 holly berries with Rain dots!
4.  Attach your circle piece to the strips you just wrapped around the candle.
5.  You can embellish as well with ribbons, rhinestones, beads, etc!

Creation time:  5 minutes

Who won’t love to curl up on a cold winter’s night with some of this hot cocoa mix.  I just searched the internet for hot cocoa mix recipes and turned up a bunch.  I made it, filled the jars and then began decorating them!  You will want to size things accordingly depending on the jar you use so I will not list specific measurements below.  I used the Cloud 9 Christmas is collection from last Christmas.

1.  Cut a sold strip and wrap around the jar.
2.  Cut a patterned strip that will fit inside your solid strip and wrap around the jar centering in the solid strip.
3.  Stamp an image on a small circle.
4.  Place the stamped circle on solid cardstock and trim around it using your scalloped paper edger scissors.
5.  Place this piece on a larger patterned circle.
6.  Place those 3 circles on one final piece of solid cardstock and again cut around it using your scalloped paper edgers.  Attach this circular piece to the decorative strip on your jar.
7.  Fill a mini bag with chocolate chips and a bit larger bag with marshmallows.
8.  Punch 2 holes in the top of the bags, one on top of the other and tie around the top of the jar with coordinating ribbon.
9.  Create a 2″ paper strip and punch a large hole in one end.  Unscrew the jar cover, slide the non-punched end underneath and screw the lid back on making sure your paper strip stays in place.
10.  Insert candy canes into the punched hole.
11.  Create a tag and on one side label it “hot cocoa mix.”  On the other side I labeled the mixing instructions for how many Tablespoons of mix to use with 8 oz. of hot water.
12.  Cut a circle using your Fiskars circle cutter to fit your jar lid.  I added chipboard stickers to the top to make it festive!

You could also do this in a decorative Christmas mug using plastic bags inside the mug or regular hot cocoa pouches you buy in the store and decorating the mug with ribbons and chipboard pieces you attach as charms dangling off the ribbon.

Creation time (paper crafting portion): 20 minutes

Place photo of tags here

Here are a couple of quick and easy tags that will take you no time at all!

Snowflake tag

1.  Use a Li’l Davis frosted acetate shape from their Tis’ the Season line.  I used a snowflake
2.  Next I punched a circle out of patterned paper using my Fiskars L Round n’ Round squeeze punch.
3.  I used a marker to create faux stitching around the outside edge and wrote my “to” and “from” on the inside.
4. Finally I used a small hole punch to create a place to hang the tag from my gift.

**Note:  The Li’l Davis Acetate shapes also make great Christmas ornaments!

Creation time:  3 minutes

1.  First I punched a scalloped circle from red paper using the new XL Seal of Approval from Fiskars.
2.  Now you will want to punch another L Round ‘n Round circle to place inside.  I used the new Heidi Grace Christmas line with faint holly in the background.
3.  I attached holly stickers from the Heidi Grace Christmas collection.
4.  Finally I punched a hole in the tag using a small hole punch.
Creation time:  Under 5 minutes

Several of you asked for table setting ideas.  Each year I create a table setting and for ease I always use paper plates!  I find something I like on clearance after Christmas for the following year and then match it up with a paper line.  I picked these up last year for 75% off and I already had the Heidi Grace Jolly and Bright collection from 2007 which I knew would go perfectly!  So for me it is easiest to begin with the plates, cups, and napkins and then match a paper line from there!

1.  Use a 12×12 piece of patterned paper for the center of your placemat.
2.  Cut 2 coordinating outside panels measuring 5″x12″ and use adhesive to overlap on to your 12×12 patterned paper.
3.  I used my Threading Waters border punch on the outside edge of the two panels.  Oh and make sure as you punch you are saving that little strip that comes off the top of the scallops.  See those thin green strips on the inside edge of the punched area?  Well, that is the strips that came off the top edge!
4.  Cut a 1″wide patterned strip and a 3/4″ coordinating patterned strip about 3″ long.  Layer and wrap around your napkin.  Place some layered chipboard circles in the center.  You can also build punched shapes for a decorative piece or stamp as well.
5.  For the place cards I cut a piece of cardstock  3″x5″ and folded in half.  I printed everyone’s name out on my inkjet computer and cut them out.  You could also stamp the names if you like.  Then I layered with a coordinating pattern and attached to my folded tent.  I stuck a piece of knotted ribbon on the bottom

You can make a place setting as elaborate as you want based on the amount of time you have!  But the theme here seems to be quick and easy so I think this is a great look, yet a quick project!

Creation time:  About 15 minutes per place setting.

Ok, these are a few project to get you guys started!  If you are looking for more ideas, or ideas that I did not create above make sure you check out www.fiskarscrafts.com as that site is chocked full of awesome ideas to get you going! Now I will finish off the post by selecting a winner that will receive the Cloud 9 Ornament that I made above.

Congratulations to Ursula 2228!  Send me a message containing your address and I will get the ornament out in the mail to you!

Happy Holiday crafting Fiska-elves!  Oh, and when you finish your projects I would love to see them so post in the Fiskateer gallery and then send me a message letting me know you have some Christmas crafting you want to share with me!

Lisa Falduto #1989

Right now on Fiskars Crafts there are so many projects to inspire you as you prepare for holiday gift giving and decorating.  Make sure you take some time to check it out.  www.fiskarscrafts.com

I know many of you are busy getting ready for Christmas!  I have so many things to do before the holiday is here but I want to take time out of my busy schedule to share a special craft with each of you and you get to help choose what I create!

Today I would like to find out what holiday ideas each of you are still looking for.  What items do you still need to create for the holiday?  Are you looking for Christmas card ideas?  Are you looking for Holiday home décor ideas?  Are you looking for gift tag ideas?  Do you want to make your Christmas table place setting special?

I want each of you to leave a comment by Friday Dec 5 about what you still need to craft for this holiday season and what I can do to inspire you to get creating!  Based on the comments below and what most people are looking for, I will create a project or two to share with you on the Fiskateer blog early next week that will get you going on your holiday paper crafting projects!  I will even choose a winner from the list of posts to receive a special Christmas project I create!

Happy Holiday crafting!

Lisa Falduto

Badge Holder Mini Book
Materials:
3 clear badge holders (dollar store)
Patterned paper (Fiskars Kimberly Polson)
Embellishments: chipboard stickers, labels, flowers, cardstock sticker strips, letter stickers and photo corners (Fiskars Kimberly Polson)
2 book rings (office supply store)
3 eyelets
Hole punch and eyelet setter
Tape runner (Fiskars)
Scissors (Fiskars)
Paper trimmer (Fiskars)
Decorative edge hole punch (Fiskars)
Photos
Instructions:
1.    Cut badge holders in half.  Line up together with openings to face where binding will go.
2.    The corners were rounded on my original sized badge holders, so when they were cut, I was left with some corners that weren’t rounded.  Use your scissors to cut corners into the ones that are squared off.
3.    Cut out 6 pieces of patterned paper to fit inside the badge holder sleeves.
4.    Gradually start to layer on embellishments and paper pieces that have been cut using the decorative edged hole punch.  I had fun using the patterned paper strip stickers cut to size on these mini layouts as well!  A fun idea is to save some of the embellishments to be placed on top of the clear sleeves rather than inside on the paper layout.  I did this with some of the 3D embellishments and     a flocked flower cut out from Kimberly Polson’s flocked patterned paper.
5.    For most of my photos, I decided to cut out the children with scissors from their original backgrounds.  This was because I thought the patterned paper backgrounds were so beautiful that I wanted to showcase more of it!
6.    For labeling, I used the letter stickers from Kimberly Polson’s line to spell out the children’s names.  I also used some of the expressions she has in the cardstock stickers like, “Adore,” “Sweet Heart,” (for the cover page), “Discover,” and “Enjoy,” (on the back cover).
7.    Once the mini layouts are finished and inserted into the plastic sleeves, punch 2 holes along the side for binding.  Insert a book ring through each hole to attach the sleeves together.
8.    A final embellishment touch was to make charms to hang from the book rings.  To do this, line up two different, but same-sized, chipboard stickers together.  Punch holes all the way through.  Insert eyelets in and then feed them through a book ring.
I hope you enjoyed this project.

Thank you Fiskars for letting me share with you! For more mini book project ideas, please check out my ebook, “Mini Book Projects” and my website, ScrapScene.com.

[From Angela:  P.S.  Angie’s upcoming ebook has the cutest sneak peak- it’s a mini scrapbook room!  If you look at the close-up photo, you’ll see the mini Fiskars scissors and rotary trimmer.  The only thing missing from this room is the mini-mess and the mini scrapbooker working on the mini floor because the mini countertops are too messy to get any mini work done on…]

Thanks to all of you for your tremendous support over the past few years.  We have been very blessed to be able to provide great products for this industry over the last seven years.

Hugs,
Amy Brinkman
Nancy Martinez
Founders, Cloud 9 Design

*************************

I know I speak for a lot of Fiskateers when I say how much I love Cloud 9 Designs.  I am so happy that Fiskars will be continuing the brand but we will miss Amy and Nancy. They are both such wonderful, creative women- I can’t wait to see what their futures hold.  Amy & Nancy- please keep in touch!               - Angela