Summer Scrapbooking Tips

It’s a great time to capture summer memories. A simple approach is:

Think – Snap – Journal

Here’s a few tips on photographs to take and notes to make that will make summer scrapbooking fun and easy.

Family Camping Trips:
• Photograph setting up the tent (it’s always an adventure!)
• Starting the camp fire (for me, this usually involves burning non-traditional objects like our roll of paper towels so we don’t have to have cold hot dogs!)
• The car loaded with gear
• Ask all family members to write down their favorite memories from the trip. When you get home, you’ll have everything you need to tell the story. Simply add your photos, family notes, and you’re done!

Children’s Summer Camp:
• Photograph your children leaving for the first day of camp
• Your children’s artwork from camp
• Your children’s counselor
• Your children’s friends from camp
• Ask your children to write down their favorite camp memory and names of their best camp friends
• Keep any letters you receive from your child
• When the summer is over, your children can put the pictures, notes and letters into a summer camp scrapbook for fun memories.

Children’s Gardening:
• Photograph the seed packets
• Your children planting
• Make a note on your calendar to take a picture each week of the seed’s progress
• Your children bursting with pride with their full-grown plants
• Be sure to write down the dates of the gardening project and include with the pictures for fun summer memories.

Create your very own photo wall collage!

You see photo wall collages at the trendiest hot spots; now create them in your own home. They are a great way to decorate a large empty wall with memories you can share with your friends, family and the occasional door-to-door salesman.

The first step is to select fun photos you actually enjoy looking at. The photos should carry the same coloring or the same theme. For example, all black and white photos or school portraits of your child throughout the years.

Choose a main photo to set the tone of the collage; this should be your largest photo. Now you can select your frames. When you look for frames, choose different sizes to add depth to your collage, choose some frames with matting and choose others without. As for the frame colors, you can stick with just one color. If you want to take it up a notch, you can choose completely different colors, textures and styles.

Use different frame sizes and shapes for you photos. I recommend laying out the frames before hanging. Start with your main photo in the center and then work your way around. You’re looking to fill a rectangle or square space with the frames. Once you’re satisfied with the combination you’re ready to hang and enjoy!

Photo courtesy of Kodak.com

Summer Photo Tips

So it’s officially the beginning of summer and you plan to go to the beach or the lake. Capturing the family vacation is a must. As our photography experts know, light can be pretty tricky. Here are a few tips we tell our volunteer photographers to use when working in similar situations:

1. Change it up a bit…instead of the same image that comes to mind of the wide-angle landscape image of the lake/ocean in the background, try something new. Go to the waters edge, tighten your focus a bit and capture your child’s excitement of the water. Turn the camera vertical for a different perspective. If you want to capture the details, ensure there is a local point of interest in your image. This could be footprints in the sand, a wave cascading over a rock, a sand castle, or the clothing/shoes left behind telling the story of why you are there.
2. Is the time right? The best light comes early and late in the day. When you first get there be ready to capture the excitement of getting there. There will likely be less people, friendly shadows and richer color. Same with the end of the day, as the sun is low in the horizon, the light is rich over the story of what has gone on the day at the water’s edge.
3. 3.) As we discuss light, mid-day light is bright. It is easy, ironically, to end up with an under exposed image. Do not be afraid to switch to manual mode from auto and experiment with the exposure meter. Try exposing under and over to see what fits your taste. The key is to get a histogram that has a nice bell curve and is end to end.
4. With all this light, who needs a flash? You will be amazed at how well your images will look with what we call a Fill Flash. How we do this is to have the subjects back to the sun. Making sure that the sun is not shining into the camera, turn on the flash and meter right on the subjects face. The flash will not only balance the exposure, eliminate/soften the shadows, but add that little element that makes an image pop.
5. Filters anyone? UV filters are quite common and will help a lot while in the bright waters edge light. However for the best images, use a polarizing filter. You will be amazed at how this adds the pop to the image. It will take a washed out sky and turn it to a vibrant postcard blue. The water will also look more inviting as the reflections will be reduced.

So, next time you go to the water, walk with confidence that your images will be that much better preserving the memories of present forever!

Picateers Quote of the Day

"As a parent, I have been very disappointed with the quality of the pictures that the schools have been getting for many years and thought that I could do much better. With the help of Picateers, I was right. The best part about doing the pictures myself was that I was able to show the students their pictures as I took them and if they did not like them, we started over. Being a small school just starting out, we have been doing alot of fundraising and this was by far the easiest one we did."

Frances Levy
Parent Advisory Committee Chair
Marine Oceanographic Academy

Picateers hits the road to the National Charter Schools Conference in DC

We’re packing our bags and hitting the road. Stop by one of our booths at the National Charter School Conference to say hello. We would love to hear from you.

The theme of the 2009 Conference is "Charter Schools: Leading Change in Public Education".

Can't wait until the conference to find out how we're changing Picture Day in public schools and helping them raise money? Learn more about our revolutionary Picture Day program here.

Next stop...Texas!

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Picateers has joined Facebook!

We might busy revolutionizing Picture Day but we thought we would take the time to join Facebook. This way we can keep you updated, stay connected and share all the great things going on here at Picateers.

So check us out, make a comment, and spread the word!

Personalize your Father's Day Gift. Act Now!

Father's Day is June 21
Visit Picateers and create a personalized gift that Dad or Grandpa will always treasure.
Use your child's Picateers school portrait or upload your own digital photos and even include personalized text!
Hurry, order by June 8th for on time delivery!
Picateers gives cash back on every purchase! With Picateers, while you make creative gifts for Dad, you are also helping out your favorite school or organization. It's the gift that keeps giving. We give 10% cash back to the school of your choice. Click for details >