I love my camera but sometimes I don't get the results I want. Katie and Matt also play around taking pics with mixed results. But I still want to scrap their photos even if they are terrible! On top of that, my camera has been in a downward spiral ever since I dropped at Disneyland in April–the battery cover won't stay on, it has duct tape on it, and now it is having more and more trouble focusing. I need photography help!

Since I have so many photo issues, here are some things I have come up with to deal with bad photography, poor lighting, and background distractions in my photos. I'm no pro, but hopefully these homegrown solutions will help you as well.

1. Background is too light, the foreground is too dark, and you can't see your subject.


In this photo Matt is barely visible because of the brightness of the light coming in behind him. I knew there was no way I could really correct that in Photoshop since I am novice at best. So I played with the colors a little and printed out an 8×10 of Matt. I cut him out and put him on the page–you'd never know I had any background issues now!

Supplies:from Pink Pineapple Scrapbooks

2. Things are out of focus. Xaver took the kids to an Earth Day festival and used his new camera, a point-and-shoot that we don't know how to use very well. Some of the pics came out blurry and of course those were the ones I wanted to use. I have the same problems with cell phone photos–always fuzzy.


Solution? Use distressed paper–it makes it look a little less noticeable if everyhing is “distressed”. You can even sand the edges of the photos to disguise your focus issues!
Supplies:all from the June 2009 Polka Dot Whimsy Main Kit

3 & 4. Crop A lot AND use a distracting color. I already shared this page with you a few months back but I wanted to show what the photos started out as:


My awful concrete floor with yucky yellow stuff all over it is making my photos look AWFUL!!! Not to mention the mess spilling out of Katie's room and into the photos…ugh! We pulled out the carpet when we moved into this home, a repo, and have been trying to save up to replace it…in the meantime, I have alot of photos with this ugly floor in them.

I used a 3″ circle punch to punch out the part of the photo that I wanted – Matthew. It eliminated all that yucky yellow from the glue on the concrete floor.

I used a lot of red accents on the page to also pull the colors from Matt's outfit and to draw attention away from the yellow parts of the photos. I used a color that overpowers the one I want to distract from–red is alot bolder than the yellow in the pics.

5. Focus on the “good” parts. I had a ton of photos of the girls at camp but the subjects were too far away in the pics. I don't like to order 5×7 prints because they are so pricey adn I already had all these 4×6 prints done. I had a couple of good, closeup pics so I made them the focal point–even though this pic is not of Katie, it is of her two good friends so it made sense to make it a focal point.


Now I am off to crop with my friend April. Gotta prep for my class tomorrow. It is a Father's Day book and card, all featuring Prima. Yes, Prima CAN be masculine too!


It has alot of distressing, painting, inking, and manly stuff going on. Plus the quotes inside will make dad tear up and melt. So if you haven't yet signed up, we've still got space. Just call the store Pink Pineapple at 760-598-2222 tonight or show up tomorrow at 10am. I'm also teaching this Wednesday night at Collective Journey in Redlands. And that's all folks!

Happy Creating!
 

Author: Jennifer Priest

It started with jewelry, beading, sewing, home decor, painting, basket weaving, pottery, and cross-stitch. Marry that to an entrepreneurial spirit & at 9 years old a girl is selling her wares at craft fairs as far as her parents and grandparents would drive her. These days, Jennifer enjoys crafts of all genres from sewing to scrapbooking to jewelry with a little dabbling in the mixed media world. Her style is approachable and she wants everyone who sees her work to feel that they too can embrace creativity and make their home and life beautiful.

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5 thoughts on “Five Fridays – Funky Photos

  1. Good one, Jennifer! Love how you have managed to save the dodgy photos… will have to try them out as I get more than my fair share of them!

    Posted on June 6, 2009 at 4:24 am
  2. Hey Jennifer. Love your Friday tips. I don’t know if you know this but if you have a light background and a dark foreground you can set the flash on your camera to work instead of be on auto and that will help correct the problem when you take the photo.

    Jenn Christman

    Posted on June 6, 2009 at 4:35 pm
  3. Jennifer, I can’t find the info on the Quickutz Ambassador program. Please forward the email to me at [email protected]. Thanks.

    Posted on June 7, 2009 at 3:18 am
  4. Hey Jen,
    I just have to tell you that I love, love. love the layout with little man with his headphones on…It is by far my fav layout..Dude I just love it. I saw it at the store and it so happy and the colors are great. We are so lucky to have you on our DT….Thanks so much Gloria

    Posted on June 7, 2009 at 5:56 am
  5. these are beyond great!!! I love that monkey music!

    Posted on June 9, 2009 at 2:34 am