January 20: Point and Shoot photos

Discussion in 'MOC Challenges' started by FarrahJobling, Jan 19, 2015.

  1. FarrahJobling

    FarrahJobling FarrahJobling

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    January 20: Point and Shoot photos

    As a professional photographer, of course I need to have a DSLR, but let’s just talk about my personal photos. Althought I enjoy the creative aspects of photography- using different lenses, shooting wide open, etc...- I’m lazy and don’t always carry around my camera bag. I do, however; ALWAYS have my iPhone with me and it serves as my point & shoot camera. I bet many of you are the same, or perhaps you have a lightweight P&S camera that you carry along. Having a P&S camera on us at all times means that now we can take photos any time, all the time. We can catch memories as they happen. The only disadvantage to the cell phone camera is the quality. You’re not likely to get professional grade quality from your cell phone, but then you’re likely using it to capture everyday moments to scrapbook, not to print poster-sized canvases. Although it’s most important to capture moments as they happen and literally just point and shoot to make sure we don’t miss something, often times, we can wait long enough to control some aspects of our situation.

    Here are some tips about getting the best photo with a point and shoot camera.

    Tip #1- Light
    The main consideration when taking photos is light. Cell phone cameras really need a lot of light. They do not work well at all in the dark and the LED light makes a better flashlight than flash, but it’s better than nothing, so we make the best of it. I usually turn mine off. I know I run the risk of camera motion, but I try to hold as still as possible. This is also a good time to mention that the front camera (at least on the iPhone) is much worse in quality than back camera, but it’s still fun for the occasional selfie.

    Tip #2 – Watch your background
    As with any photo, pay attention to what is in the background. The subject of your photo is, of course, the most important, but almost equally important is what is NOT your subject. Avoid clutter or objects coming out of people’s heads. Even half a step in any direction can make a world of difference. Watch the horizon too. ;)

    Tip #3- Editing
    It’s very rare these days to see any photo that hasn’t been edited to some extent, whether in the phone, or in Photoshop. There are endless apps out there for editing photos, from free to quite a few dollars. I don’t have all of them, so I’ll share a few of my favorites:

    Snapseed – Full control of brightness, contrast, color and even some special effects. I love this app for great all-purpose clean editing.
    VSCOcam – If you like the VSCOcam presets or just want to try something new, then you’ll love this app
    BigLens – add some depth of field and bokeh as if you took a shot with a wide aperture
    PicTapGo – From the makers of the totally RAD actions – find popular combinations or create your own.
    Picfx – Edit with fun presets, including light, textures and frames

    Tip #4- Accessorize!
    Lens attachments - I have the ones from PhotoJoJo, but I’ve heard good things about the Olio Clip ones as well. The set includes a telephoto lens, wide angle lens, and a macro.
    Weatherproof cases - Take your camera to the beach or underwater without worrying about the sand or water damage.
    Tripods – can you believe they even make little tripods for cell phones?

    Tip #5 – HAVE FUN!
    My favorite tip is to always remind you to have fun. Enjoy what you’re doing and the memories you’re capturing. Remember that the whole reason we scrapbook is to remember the times that pass us so quickly…so make sure you enjoy them!


    JANUARY 20, 2015 MOC CHALLENGE-

    Now for the extra fun part. Many of my personal scrapbook pages are done with iPhone photos and I bet that you wouldn’t be able to pick them all out. My challenge to you is to try some of the tips that I’ve mentioned above to take a NEW snapshot and scrap it (If you only have a DSLR, then use auto mode). Please mention what tip/tips you used.

    The rules:
    [FONT=&quot]Your page must be a new page in order to count for the Month of Challenges. Please post your page in your page thread you created in this folder. You should have one post per completed challenge page. If you complete all 31 challenges, your thread should contain 31 posts. Please do not comment in the participants’ page threads so we can keep them clean. You should also post your page here in this thread, and people can comment here if they wish. Pages should contain at least 75% current Lilypad product (currently for sale in the store from either permanent designers or guest designers).

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  2. jesskab

    jesskab Watch me sizzle & twizzle

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    I used my Samsung phone & the Photopro app, 2 different filters.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2015
  3. Cath_

    Cath_ In my polka dot dress and apron

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    i don't know how to spell. last photo off my cannon (as i need a new sim card

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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  4. gybogi

    gybogi Giddiyup!

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    sounds good, thanks for the tips!

    and here is mine:

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    Last edited: Jan 21, 2015
  5. MariSt

    MariSt Well-Known Member

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    I love your layout and great challenge!
     
  6. Mother Bear

    Mother Bear Crikey!

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  7. mimisgirl

    mimisgirl It's all about ME!

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    Actually I had the same question as Jess. I have some photos perfect for this that I was going to put into a pocket page - can I still do that for this challenge?
     
  8. zanthia

    zanthia CT - Kate Hadfield

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    the only camera i have now is a cheap p/s one takes terrible photos - every phone photo i seen is far superior , photos are mostly blurred or washed out.
    so is a current pho to ok - the best you can do with your camera fine for this?
    i f os what is considered current as photos only get uploaded once every week or two
     
  9. beszteri

    beszteri CT - Lynne-Marie

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    Thanks for the great tips, Farrah! :)
     
  10. ArisaMinamoto

    ArisaMinamoto Crazy for Coffee

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    All Photos taken with my LG G2 / 20.01.2015

    Tip #1 - Light: lightning is difficult with my cats. so i turned off.
    Tip #2 - Background: as little as possible
    Tip #3 - Editing: I edit my Photos purely with Photoshop. I have some Photo Apps on my phone but i dont used it.
    Tip #5 - Have Fun: I have always fun :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  11. MlleTerraMoka

    MlleTerraMoka Well-Known Member

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    Mine :
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    I choose tip Editing. I edited my photo with the web application Pixlr-o-matic
    The photo was taken this morning during breakfast of my son : crepe with blueberry jam
     
  12. lorryfach

    lorryfach Likes to be chauffeured

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    My one and only camera: Nokia Lumia 1020
    #1 Lighting - I knew she would be eating for a few minutes so I took the time to open the curtains before taking the shot. The lighting still sucks but I did the best I could!
    #2 Background - I shot from above not just because it's fun (and it is!), but because the desk she's eating on is a total disaster area in every other direction. :giggle It's my husband's! Don't blame me!
    #3 Editing - I Lightroomed the bejeebus out of it.
    I don't have any accessories for my phone.
    #5 I had tons of fun!

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  13. Celeste

    Celeste I'm moving to Hogwarts!

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    moved the girls outside (lighting). converted to b/w because it wasn't so great (editing)!
     
  14. fruitysuet

    fruitysuet Well-Known Member

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    Haven't owned a camera for over a year (lost it and can't afford new) and don't take photos from my phone as it is very, very old and useless. Can I use one of the last pics taken with camera before being lost (it was just a point and shoot)?
     
  15. Lindzee

    Lindzee Aging gracefully

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    My phone camera is a Galaxy S3 - not the latest or greatest, but there are a variety of "effects" you can use while taking the picture.
    The picture I want to use was taken on my last work travel to Indianapolis. I'm standing in the doorway of Starbucks at the hotel admiring the little church across the street. Its not quite light outside yet - after a few attempts to point and shoot, I turn off the phones attempt to flash, zooom out just a bit to get the whole church without much concern on the background snapped this photo.
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    I want to see what I can do to edit the busyness of the background - be back with my page.
    After playing with the photo fo awhile I decided the whole point was this lovely church in the middle of all these buildings, so I cropped the picture to make the church more prominent and framed it with the trees because I wanted to do something to also draw attention to the llittle trees growing in the churchyard.
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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  16. mrs2a50

    mrs2a50 Pretty much the best.ever.

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    Here's mine - Note I did NOT read Farrah's instructions properly until just now, and didn't notice she wanted this to be a new photo, so mine technically doesn't follow the requirements. So don't do what I did. But ... I rarely use my iPhone for photos, and was really excited to scrap one of the amazing shots I get of my commute. The timing of my drive in the fall coincides with the sunrise and it's always phenomenal for just a short time. So the first tip I used was "have fun" and catch the moments as they happen. Secondly, I did a small amount of editing to darken the road slightly.

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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  17. SanVHM

    SanVHM Pluk de dag!

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    I just had lunch so I took a picture with my Z1 Sony Phone (this one has such a amazing camera) - no flash and cropped & edited with a filter from instagram.

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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  18. bjc

    bjc Trophy Wife

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    great challenge thanks farrah... i was interested in that app big lens cause i love dof photos so i went to buy it on my phone ... turned out i already had it...LOL...so this challenge will remind me to use it! guess i had never used it ..thanks again
     
  19. KayTeaPea

    KayTeaPea I carried a watermelon

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    Ok-- there are 5 photos on this layout, but the ones with my LG G3 are the vertical one on the right and the darker one at the bottom. I couldn't move the kids or add light to the one at the trampoline arena, so I edited it with some actions in photoshop. The one at the restaurant with my son, I edited on my phone with some in-camera brightening settings.
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  20. quietgirl

    quietgirl Active Member

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    I didn't have my Cannon G-9 yesterday so if we wanted photos they were Iphone for sure. I did follow tip #2. The first photo I took had a propane tank in it!!!


    I don't have any of those programs but they all sound great. Maybe I can try them after MOC. Sometimes the learning curve is steep for me! LOL. Thank for a great challenge.


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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015

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