Callaloo Soup

Get Close. Get Very, Very Close

I love getting very close up to take photos, especially photos of objects and nature. It totally changes the feel of the resulting image. I took the following two photos below by getting as close as I could with my 50mm lens.

Pretty cool, but not good enough for me. I wanted to get even closer! The next time I went out to the garden I grabbed the macro filters that I have for my Canon 50mm lens. These nifty filters screw on to the lens and reduce the minimal focusing distance, allowing me to get very very close. (They are also available for Nikon cameras)

 

You can practically taste that strawberry!

 

The flowers seem to take on a life of their own at this perspective. The best part of getting this close is how common things become extra special.

How beautiful are thyme and verbena when seen like this?

Raspberry and tomato flowers are lovely and delicate.

Coriander looks like lace

And a dying tulip resembles a twirling ballerina.

Next time you're out in the garden, grab your camera and get very very close. You might be amazed by what you see.

Challenging Myself With Film Photography

I only took up photography seriously during the digital boom of the last several years. Before that I had a nifty little film point & shoot. It was great for snapshots, which was all I was interested in at the time. Now that I have been shooting digitally for a few years I feel I should "test" myself with film a bit.

As you see in the photo above, I've been collecting cameras over the last couple years. I found that Polaroid at the flea market for less than $5 and it actually works! The Holga toy camera was passed on to me by my sister, and that old film camera was one that Lucas and I found a few summers ago, and that no one claimed.

We also have Lucas' Nikon N65 film camera which came to light when we moved last year. (Funny story, when we met he was the big photog and I was the total tourist amateur. Now those roles seem to have been reversed.)

Santa Claus also brought me this nifty thing

Which I have used exactly once so far.

I think that with all these cameras at my disposal I should be more creative with my photography! I especially want to include some film photos in my Project Life album.

Do you do any film photography? Can you pass along some tips?

 

These Hands Tell Our Stories

With photos, pen, ink, papers, stamps and doodads my hands weave the patchwork of our lives into stories we can read, recall and remember over and over again.

I've been experimenting with different photo subjects and perspectives lately, and this is one of the results. I'll share the completed layout I was working on in the photo soon.

Tuesday To Do: Camera Bag Hack

I first saw this idea back in November last year, and really wanted to get it done before my trip. Alas, another of the things that had to wait. But after lugging around my camera and lenses in a really unsuitable way on the trip, I knew this would have to be one of the first projects I attacked this year. Then I ran across it again while browsing online and that was all I needed to get busy!

So here is my fancy new low cost camera bag.

Here's how I made it using the innards and a padded divider from an older bag, some cute fabric and a handbag bought on sale.

The main part of my bag is the inside of my old Tracy Joy camera bag (which no longer exists it seems). The main problem I had with this bag is that it was narrow, so when full with all my equipment it was difficult or impossible to close. I ripped out the inside portion which has a number of sewn in pockets, as well as the foam padding that was stitched into the sides.

I measured and cut a piece of fabric to fit over the outside of the innards, and stitched the foam padding to it. And by measured I mean that I wrapped the fabric around the innards and cut to suit!

I then turned it inside out, and fit the original bag innards into it

Then I folded in the top edge and stitched the two pieces together.

Finally, I covered the padded divider with some of the same fabric.

Basically what I created is a camera bag insert. I popped it into my new handbag and voila!

It holds my camera body with attached lens, two extra lenses, filters, cables, and other accessories. Plus space for my wallet, keys and cell phone. And when I get bored with this handbag I can just pop the entire thing into another one!

Is this something you think you might try? If so I'd love to see it! The two sites that I linked to show a couple other ways that you can do this, so be sure to check them out.

I am so happy. No more boxy camera bag!

 

 

 

 

September Challenge: Get in the Picture

I mentioned last week that I had a plan for getting more photos of myself with Kieran, and in fact just more photos of myself in general. A lifetime ago (Kieran's lifetime that is) I used to take an obscene number of photos of myself. It's rare for me to do that anymore unless I need a headsot for an online bio. Plus when I posted about our summer vacation, my friend Anne asked if I had any record of me with Kieran during that time. Sadly I do not. And so this idea was born.

In September I will be challenging myself and making the effort to "get in the picture". I commit to setting up the camera to take more self-portraits. I commit to taking arm stretched out photos of Kieran and I. I commit to setting up the tripod to do photo shoots with Kieran and include myself. I commit to handing the camera over to someonle else to get more photos of us two together. And I commit to not complain if said photos aren't perfect.

Would you like to join me? Just leave me a comment and I will add a list of all your blogs to my sidebar (if you don't have a blog I can add a link to your flickr account or other photo gallery). There are no real rules aside from making the commitment to "get in the picture" in September. This is not some kind of photo a day deal. As we all know I suck at those!

Feel free to snag the image above if you want to blog about this. I've also made a smaller badge that you can add to your sidebar if you plan to play along.

 

Here's the code you can use to add the badge

<a href="http://francineclouden.typepad.com/callaloo_soup/2010/08/september-challenge-get-in-the-picture-.html"><img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d136/raggafran/banners/sidebarbadgecopy.png" border="0"></a>

 

Ready? Set? Click!

My Life Through the Lens

I was lucky enough to win a spot in Katrina Kennedy's photography class: Life Through the Lens at Get it Scrapped. I think I can say that my photography has improved drastically over the last couple of years, but I love taking classes because you can always learn something new! Every photographer always has special tips and tricks that you might not have known before. So far I have learned a few new things about my camera, as well as some much needed info on focus and light metering.

Here are a few of the photos I've taken so far.

I'm hoping that next week, once my Mum is here I will be able to focus even more (yah, pun totally intended!) and practice all the new techniques I've learned. With the good weather finally here, I am itching to get out and about and go photo crazy!
 

I recaught the photography bug

We were away on a long and lovely weekend, and perhaps it was the change pf scene but I am once again snap happy with my camera. The Week in the Life project had the sad effect of making me a bit burnt out, but it seems that my creative batteries have been recharged. I spent a happy afternoon on Sunday taking these shots.

Pretty Flowers

 
 

 

A Pretty Kitty called Luna

 

Happy Flea Market Finds

 
 

Of course I also took a wack load of photos of Kieran on the weekend, but I'll save those for another day!

More Whimsies

I've been working on a more meaningful blog post,but until I get that together here's another list of random stuff I've come across lately.

Round the corners of your photos with this online tool
Free e-book from Quilting Arts : 7 Quilted Bags
Transform your photos into tilt-shift minaitures
Identify fonts at What the Font
Make reuseable grocery shopping bags

I hope you're having a lovely Wednesday!

As promised

Burp Cloths

I found this tutorial a couple months ago, and finally made these burp cloths using the pre-fold diapers that a friend sent me as a gift.

They are super easy to stitch up. With my current stash of ribbon I could probably make a few dozen more

I used the same colour palette I've been using for all my baby craft projects. Okay, one more photo, just for the sweetness factor

Sigh.

Les Puces du Canal

After not being to the flea market in months (probably since the summer), Lucas and I headed there "early" Sunday morning. Early for us being around 10:00. It actually opens at 6:00. I forgot just how great this particular flea market is. This summer I vow to hit it from 6:00 a.m. one Sunday and spend the entire morning there (without Lucas of course, I don't think he could handle it!).

We were on a hunt for a rocking chair, but the two we saw didn't fit either our style or budget. Luckily there was lots of other great "junque" to be had. Somehow I didn't take any photos while there, probably too caught up in the treasure hunting! We found a wonderful old metal bucket to use for our recycling. It was originally a laundry boiling bucket or lessiveuse en tôle galvanisée complete with all the necessary parts. Maybe one day for fun we'll try to use it for its original purpose (on a wood fire outdoors at our country house, ahem!)

I scored a bunch of embroidery thread and buttons:

some delish wooden spools

but my best find hands down was this old twin lens reflex camera to use for doing TTV shots. (I also got that photo holder thingy, which I plan to alter eventually).

I've been jonesing for one of these cameras for a while. And it definitely pays to walk the entire market, because this one that we found just before leaving was half the price of the first one I saw. My first attempt at TTV when we got home:

And another shot from today

I have a ways to go before I get cool shots like those in the flickr group, but practice makes perfect, and at least for now I have some time on my hands!

Gosh, I do love thrifting and old junk!

Get a free Photo Book

Just in time for the holiday season you can get a free photo book from Inkubook, a new site in the photo book industry. The folks at Inkubook contacted me and asked if I would be interested in sharing this promotion, as well as trying out their site. Being a lover of photos and scrapbooking I was thrilled to say yes!

From the Inkubook site:

Inkubook, an Author Solutions brand, is an easy-to-use online photo book creation service that enables people to make drop-dead gorgeous photo books in minutes. With Inkubook, it's simple to upload photos and then drag-and-drop them onto creative layouts to make a fantastic book. Inkubook creators can invite friends to contribute text and photos, which makes collaborative book-making fast and fun. For more information on Inkubook, or to begin creating your photo book today, join or sign in.

To be able to make a photo book on the Inkubook site you will have to register for free, a simple 1-screen process that takes less than a minute. Once registered you can start working on your book. You will have to install a plug-in for your browser, depending on your computer speed this should take no more than five minutes. A note: Inkubook will not currently work with the Mac PowerPC.

To add photos to your book you can either upload them from your hard drive or import them from flickr, which is the option I chose for my book: photos from my trip to Barbados in May. You have the option to let the site autofill your book for you (only available in 11x8&1/2 size), or you can build your book from scratch. If you choose the autofill option the site lets you know your book is being built, gives you an estimated time for completion, and suggests that you can leave and do something else in the meantime, as long as you don't close the browser. Once the book is filled you can then edit it further if you like, changing the page layouts and backgrounds and adding text.

Other features of Inkubook include

• Four sizes of books available, from 7"x5" up to 11"x11
• Choose from soft or hardcover
• Invite friends or family to add photos to your book
• Preset designs for Travel Books, Wedding Books, Scrapbooks and more
• Photo books are printed on 100 lb. archival-quality silk paper
• FAQs, and Live Chat if you're stuck
• US and International Shipping!

Now I did say that you can get one of these books free. All you pay is shipping and handling.  Here's how!

  1. Log onto Inkubook.com and create a free account by November 30, 2008 to start your book.
  2. Using the "Invite Friends" feature, invite someone to join Inkubook
and submit a few photos to include in your book. We'll send your friend a promotion code to use for a free book.
  3. Finish your book and order it by November 30, 2008 ,using the promotion code PBK266.For promotion details, visit http://inkubook.com/getaddresses/

For more information about Inkubook, or to start creating your free photo book log on to
http://inkubook.com/getaddresses/

I found the process of making a book simple and intuitive. The books are designed using a drag and drop process. Once my photos were uploaded and I got the hang of the design process, I was able to make my 20 page book in a few hours, when I used the Build from Scratch option. The Autofill option is even quicker!

The one thing I found frustrating was that I couldn't apply the same background to all the pages in one go, I had to change each page individually. One neat feature I discovered was that apart from typing directly into text boxes on the cover or pages, you can also submit text to a sort of "text bank" from which you then drag and drop your desired phrase onto the page. This means that if you want to use the same phrase or caption more than once, then you don't have to type it in again, simply drag and drop from the Text menu!

Since it's free to design a book, (you only pay when you order a printed copy) you can play and design to your heart's content until you're ready to order. I haven't received my book as yet, but once I do I will post a follow up review.

If you take advantage of this offer please do let me know what you think about the site and the book once you receive it! Here's the promotion code again PBK266