Episode 41: Riley O’Reilly

Do you create a layout from the photos you have or do you take photos with a layout in mind?  Katrina Kennedy joins us as we discuss ideas and tips for becoming our own photo journalists.

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You can download this episode by right clicking and saving this link.

Joining the Discussion:

Katrina Kennedy
Peppermint Granberg
Katie Nelson
Steph

From The Show:

 

Our Picks:

Peppermint: brush for tablet

Katie:  learnfoodphotography.com

Katrina:  Welcome Home

Steph:  Disney Photography Blog

This entry was posted in Katie, Katrina Kennedy, Peppermint, Show Post, Steph. Bookmark the permalink.

52 Responses to Episode 41: Riley O’Reilly

  1. Linda says:

    sometimes I feel like I should leave a pick of the week that I find…why you ask, because even though my brain logically knows this is all virtual, I feel like you are all my friends and we are sitting around a table each week talking about my favorite things. scrapbooking and technology.
    I want to share with all of you at the same time and gosh darn it, who’s blog to I pick to start. Do I email Katie, Steph or P? Yes, I could dream that you all come flocking to me each week and read my facebook page, but you don’t.
    Anyway, this is my pick of the week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jc_8WGbpFM GOOGLE IS GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD…and I am glad they are using android to do it.

  2. Amber says:

    Hi Ladies, so I only got just up to the bit of the show where you are talking about the RadLab and right there, I turned it off to go check it out for myself. I was playing with the trial, and have been wondering if it’s worth it, if I would really USE it that much on post processing of photos when I had an idea. What if I used it on scrapbooking supplies? You know what? It works, and looks really cool. I tried it on some WarmGlows by Anna Aspnes, then pulled in a paper and tried it on that. SO much fun! I’m excited that it’s not limited to photos and am now seriously considering getting it!!! Now to finish listening to the show!

  3. Krista Sahlin says:

    Peppermint, I have a white plate and dish fetish as well. LOL!! Actually, I LOVE any and all white porcelain. For our dishes I have multiple pieces from different collections at Pottery Barn. You should check there. My main pieces are the Great White collection, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE!! They also have an affordable collection: The Caterer Set here: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/caterers-12-piece-dinnerware-set/?pkey=cdinnerware (I have these for my salad/dessert plates) Anyhoo… thought I’d share. Krista

    • Peppermint says:

      I’ve gotten a few suggestions for that Caterer’s Set at PB. There are two lines at Crate & Barrel that I’ve had on my wishlist for a while, too. Every time I get Christmas or birthday money I say I’m going to finally buy my white dishes, then something always comes up. And it’s always something NOT fun, like my Jeep needs new brakes. Being an adult is full of suck sometimes.

      I like the idea of mixing sets, though. That’s why I want to go all white, so I can add pieces from any line, any store. Make it more eclectic.

  4. Becky says:

    Another great show! When you were talking about which comes first, the stories or the photos, I realized I too don’t really know which applies to me. But I am still in the phase of life that I have lots to shoot (my kids are young) and the story tends to evolve from there. I have gone back and shot still life type photos to fill in a story that I have.
    Back in December, my 7 year old daughter was distraught that the year had gone so fast and she couldn’t remember all that had happened. So we made a deal that she and I would take a photo every day for 2012. She’s loving the project and so am I. We’ve missed a handful of days but as I look through what we’ve captured so far, I’m thankful we’re doing it. Whether it’s the ordinary or special moments, it will be a great record of the year for her. My third is due July 4th and I already have plans to make sure I document all the firsts and all the in-between.
    One thing I did with my other two was to take one photo on the same day each week for baby’s first year. I believe I read about the idea in Simple Scrapbooks or else it was somehow related to Stacy Julian. Anyway, my Wednesdays with Lindy and Thursdays with Michael are some of my favorite sets of photos. Especially with my son I don’t remember much of his infancy and this helps fill in the gaps. Again, I’m so thankful that I stuck with the idea so that I can have some record of their first year.
    Thanks again for a thought provoking conversation! I always learn something new!

    • I LOVE that you are taking a daily photo with your daughter. What a gift you are giving her.

    • Peppermint says:

      I belonged to an online community for my entire pregnancy and my son’s first couple of years – and I posted almost daily about highs and lows, milestones and setbacks. And I SO WISH that I would have printed it or C&P’d it into a document at the time. I emailed almost daily with a few ladies I met on the board, too, and for a long time I kept those emails in an archive but I lost them in a hard drive failure at one point. I don’t have many regrets in life, but not preserving all that material when I had the chance is at the top of the list of things I would write in a letter to the 24 year old me.

  5. Terra says:

    I love white plates as well! They are so much easier to use all through the year because you can just change out your table cloth or have any decoration on the table… and of course, they make the food really stand out on your food pictures. I picked up my set of square white plates at Target.

    http://www.target.com/p/Target-Home-Basic-Square-Rim-White-Dinnerware-Set-16-pc/-/A-13794782

    They also sell them individually. I have found that I use the smaller plates more for regular meals, and the larger plates usually end up being used as platters for serving rather than an actually setting piece. They are heavy duty and really last. I absolutely love them!

  6. Kelly says:

    I haven’t been able to listen to this one yet, but thought I would seek a little Lightroom advice. I think I’m going to switch from Aperture, which I mostly love …. Anyway, I remember an episode where I think Peppermint mentioned something that didn’t sound good in the new version. Can you refresh my memory?

    Anyone using Lightroom 4 & have reviews? Any switchers from Aperture? I watched one lynda.com video on rating to make sure my basic workflow would be fine, and it looked great. I’m a mostly paper scrapper doing just (lots and lots of) snapshots. Thanks!

    • Peppermint says:

      My concern was about upgrading from an earlier version of Lightroom to Lightroom 4, because they changed the Develop module in LR4 and that could affect photos processed in an earlier version. I haven’t heard a lot of uproar about that, though, so it must not be that big of an issue for people? I was concerned that some of my presets might not work, too. But if you haven’t used LR previously then none of that would be an issue.

      • LR4 gives you an option when you open your catalog to update your photos to the new develop algorithm. You can choose to let your old photos stay as is.

        I’ve loved the changes to the Develop Module and find I can get a much more accurate edit just in the Basic Module.

        I’ve been blogging my LR4 Workflow in videos over the last few weeks. You can see the videos here.

        http://captureyour365.com/category/photography/lightroom/

        • Kelly says:

          Thanks, Peppermint and Katrina! All good info. I think I’m gonna love Lightroom.

  7. Peggy M says:

    I had to laugh when listening to #37 when you talked about going on manual mode with your cameras. My 1st SLR was a Pentax MX – fully manual not a battery in there to operate anything but the light meter. Now, all the auto stuff seems like a luxury but I have to admit with the DSLR going manual is different than it used to be.

  8. Tina says:

    There are so many times during the show I wish I could chime in. I often find myself laughing and talking out loud to you guys. Thankfully I’m always alone when I listen so we’re good. :) I read all the comments to make sure no one had commented on the podcast app you all were talking about. I remember back when The Digi Show was still recording with Izzy and he picked an app called Instacast. I immediately downloaded it and have loved it everyday since. The app costs $.99 and is worth every penny. I’m sure the Downcast app is great too, but I just wanted to offer another option for all of the people who are addicted to podcasts (like me.) Thanks for another great show!

  9. Kim Mears says:

    I love the show. I have an Android device (well, many really). I use DoggCatcher as my podcatcher app. It is around $7, but it is totally customizable. I can set up how many back episodes I want to download, when I want it to check for updates, how I want it to download. It also has great fast forward/rewind options. You can also get videocasts, not just podcasts. I tried just about every option on the market a few years ago, and this was the best. I haven’t tried any of the new stuff, but I wanted to recommend it!

  10. Nicole L. says:

    Hi ladies!
    I think I may have missed it…and I couldn’t see anything on the Rad Labs sight – but it is NOT for elements users…right?

    • Shannan says:

      Hi Nicole – the Totally Rad website says you need Photoshop Elements 7 and above to use Rad Labs.

  11. Terri Torrez says:

    Still catching up on some episodes, but I’m struggling with a software dilemma and hoping the Digi Show panel can help. Last year I had the opportunity to upgrade from PSE 8 to CS5 so I took it. I’m still struggling with the changes in the interface and though I can pretty much now do everything I could in PSE, I haven’t learned anything new and some of what I’m doing seems to take more steps. I’m a hybrid scrapper looking to experiment more with digi this year and as I started looking at classes, I realized they are all taught using PSE. Struggling as I am making the switch, I’m thinking it might be a whole new challenge to try to adapt instructions from one program to the other. Add to that the release of PSE 10 and the new features in that, and now I’m wondering if I should just switch back. Or maybe upgrade to CS6. Or find a good class that will teach me to make the jump between PSE and CS. Too many choices and I would appreciate any guidance you can provide.

    For the record I’m on a PC and I use Lightroom 3 (soon to be 4) for organizing my photos and digi supplies. Also, I should mention that while I am not primarily a digi scrapper, I am not a technophobe in any way. I’m actually a database programmer so learning new technology doesn’t scare me. I’m just wondering if I made it more complicated on myself for no good reason.

    • McAmy says:

      as idebbie mentioned below, jessicasprague.com offers her classes in both formats, elements and cs. you get both when you purchase the class so you could compare side by side. i don’t have any experience with cs, but i’ve taken just about all of the classes offered there and i think they are great.

  12. iDebbie says:

    Hi Terri!

    I made the same switch a few months ago. I haven’t adjusted yet to CS5, but mainly b/c I haven’t had time to use it much. I was very tempted by PSE 10 when it was on sale at Costco, but I resisted. The main reason I’m going to stick it out with CS5 is b/c it’s so much easier to install actions in it. I have lots of actions, mainly from Wendyzine (and Katie) to install still, but I know it’ll be so easy in CS5 compared to PSE. I guess this is a dumb reason, but it works for me. lol

    I plan to go back to my beginning classes at jessicasprague.com to watch and try all of the lessons using her CS4 and 5 videos, rather than her PSE videos b/c she offers both in her classes. Also, Lynda Sattgast at Digital Scrapper is so good with CS5 and has a beginning self-paced digiscrapping class at her website for either CS5 or PSE 9. It’s a great class as are all of her classes.

    I think the thing I miss the most from PSE 9 is the Project Bin. I used it so much! On a Mac there just isn’t an easy way to replace that in CS5, so I’m still trying to find a good workflow without it.

    Good luck and hang in there! I think eventually we’ll be so glad we did. :)

    • Terri Torrez says:

      I totally miss the Project Bin. Until True Scrap a couple weeks ago I couldn’t figure out how to arrange the windows and drag layers. I was copying images into layers and I knew that wasn’t efficient.

      If I understand the Action issue, a lot of Actions now work with PSE but are just difficult to install, yes? I don’t use any Actions right now but I can definitely see that changing once I get a little more into things. Being a programmer, I can definitely see the value of automation.

      Thanks for the recommendations on classes. I did not realize there were so many options in both programs. Now I just need the time to take some of them.

      • StudioWendy says:

        Many actions can be installed in PSE, but it’s up to the designer to make sure they are compatible. It’s a little harder to install, but once you locate the location, bookmark it and it’s easy peasy to install everytime after that. CS is easier, but only because you can just double-click the ATN and it installs automatically.

  13. Teri Merkins says:

    Hi ladies! After listening to this episode, I’m thinking I better take even MORE photos of my boys before they get to the age Peppermint’s son is at. This way, I will never be caught up and will never run out of pages to make LOL!! The thought that being behind is a good thing was very relaxing to me. Maybe I’ll catch up in their teen years. I have 2 boys, BTW, ages 4 and 2.

  14. iDebbie says:

    Oh wow, who knew True Scrap would’ve helped me with CS5. I guess I should’ve signed up. ;)

    Yes, Actions are just more difficult to install in PSE. More steps and a bit convoluted IMO. Though I know Katie’s an expert now so maybe she has a tutorial here somewhere?

    The beauty of the classes I mentioned is they’re self-paced and you have access “forever”, so you just take them at your own leisure. :)

    • Debbie – WendyZine provides tutorials with her actions. Once you’ve done it once its really easy I promise.

    • Katie says:

      Wendy also posted a tutorial at The Daily Digi awhile ago that is very helpful. I used to get freaked out over installing actions in PSE, but it’s incredibly easy. You just need to know what path to take. Now I can practically do it in my sleep. :)

      /digitalscrapbookingtutorials/WZ_InstallingActionsTut.pdf

  15. Adrienne says:

    Hi ladies,

    I was laughing so hard during this episode when Peppermint discussed how difficult it was to photograph her son. I have a 13 year old and have experienced the same thing. I did resort to bribery for a few months (he was collecting soccer cards so 1 pack got me a photo session).

    I then realized that whilst he loves me producing scrapbook pages, he is embarrassed around others to have me snapping away. So now what I do is explain to his friends, teachers, etc that I am doing a photo a day project and they are always happy to help out. This diffuses my son’s embarrassment factor as I have an excuse. By the way, I did Project 365 in 2009 but I am not doing any “photo a day” project now. A little white lie!

    It also helps if we plan the photos in advance. For example if a friend is coming over, I will say “I haven’t taken a photo of X in a few years. Let’s take some photos today.” He then has an opportunity to discuss this with his friend when he first comes over, so I am not surprising him.

    Love the show

    Adrienne

  16. Amanda says:

    This is my first comment on the Digi Show…I have been a long time listener. Katrina was a wonderful guest, thank you! I love when she said, re: taking the pictures at the piano recital because you are “supposed to”….she said: “you’re supposed to do it because that moment is a story.” Great takeaway for me!

  17. Thank you for commenting Amanda. So glad that resonated with you!

  18. coffeebabs says:

    For Mother’s Day, my family wanted to get me a wacom tablet (or something similar) but I was overwhelmed on which one to pick! Not too expensive. Help! Also, can you only get Adobe Illustrator in the Creative Suites bundle? I have heard all of you comment about how you love to use it with your tablets. Love, love the show as always. Thanks for being a regular part of my week.

    • StudioWendy says:

      I have a very old wacom tablet. Compared to the one I have, I’d go as big as you can afford so you have as much drawing real estate as possible. The Bamboos are the consumer level product and the Intuos is the pro line. Hope that helps!

      As for Illustrator, you can purchase it separately, or as part of one of their physical bundles. And, of course, it comes with the new Cloud Service.

      • coffeebabs says:

        Thanks Wendy. I’m leaning toward the Bamboo Create. I did not realize that Illustrator was so expensive. Will have to wait until another special day!

  19. linda says:

    I was so touched by Katie and Katrina’s discussion in the beginning, about how we can’t compare ourselves with another – because we just aren’t at the same point in our life path. It gives me so much perspective… and I think sometimes we are way too hard on ourselves… feeling put down by everything we see online, instead of inspired, you know?

    • Katie says:

      Thanks so much. That conversation actually helped me a lot with my own perspective. It’s funny how therapeutic these shows are for me. :)

  20. Maribeth says:

    Oh my gosh, where has Katrina been all my life? I have heard her on previous podcasts, but it has just been recently that I went to her website (devoured might be more appropriate!) and joined the CY365 daily prompts email list. There is just something about her style and manner of teaching that resonates with me. And her voice is calming and confidence-building all at the same time. I was so happy to hear she will be announcing her new class at the end of the month. I hope I can wait that long, lol! Thanks, Steph, for having her as a guest!

  21. Peggy M says:

    now that I’m finally caught up with the Digi Show (well, except for all of last year’s podcasts), I have a question on the issues with the portable hard drives. I work for a reseller of computer hardware & software with corporate only clients & sell a TON of the external hard drives, both the portable and “desktop” type. My clients come to me first when anything fails. One has their employees go on site to their clients and everyone of them has an external hard drive, and they use both the portable and desktop. I can recall maybe a dozen or so failing in the last year. I don’t know how many they called into the manufacturer or just gave up on though. That being said, those that have failed have all been covered under warranty and replaced. Have you with your failures have them replaced under warranty? Western Digital does sell a “rugged” case for their My Passport drives. LaCie also has a “rugged” line of drives as well.

  22. Katie, this is so embarrassing….I found a new auction site (yeah, like I needed that) called Tophatter and one of the staff in the room was named Katie Nelson. She said hi to me when I came into the room, so I asked her, “Are you Katie, The Scrapbooking Lady?” She replied,”I am not sure what you mean.” I mumbled,”Sorry, must be another Katie Nelson!!!” LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Katie says:

      That is so funny! There used to be a Katie Nelson that had her layouts published in Memory Makers (around 2000 or 2001) and she even had a daughter named Riley. I think I had a layout published in one of the same issues that she did and it was all very confusing.

      I guess there are some other Katie Nelsons out there, but no one else who goes by Katie the Scrapbook Lady that I know of. :)

  23. coffeebabs says:

    Have you ever done a show on challenges? How to find them, work flow, etc.

  24. LeslieM says:

    Where are you all this week? Did I miss you were taking a break?

    I came on to say I use Podcaster for my Android Podcasts and like it a lot.

    Also, I just found out there has been an O’Reilly ebook published last month called “Take Control of Crashplan Backups”. I’m going to buy it. I love the ability to put all 6 family laptops on the pro plan, plus the ability to backup to an EHD.

    http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781615424047.do?imm_mid=085754&cmp=em-npa-pr-tb-tco-crashplan-backups

    • StudioWendy says:

      Steph’s been a little under the weather! Hopefully they’ll be back next week.

      • steph says:

        Thanks, Wendy! Sorry, I meant to post and send out a newsletter sooner. Just did both.

    • Katie says:

      I just have to say that you should get “extra credit” for posting about an O’Reilly ebook on our Riley O’Rielly episode! lol :)

  25. LeslieM says:

    p.s. the book is cheaper on the kindle or nook sites

  26. Valerie says:

    Steph, I don’t know if you’ve been doing it on purpose, but thanks for being more open about living in the “Seattle Area.” In earlier shows, it seemed like where you lived became such a big deal because you wouldn’t say. I kept finding myself paying attention to context clues to try to figure it out–not because I’m a crazy stalker, but because I like puzzles and I can’t help but try to figure them out. It always made me feel a little sleasy, like I was being disrespectful to you just for thinking about it. Now, it seems like most shows you say you’re in the Seattle area. I know that I don’t know exactly where you are, but I never really cared about that. It’s just not a puzzle taunting me every week anymore. –Thanks.

  27. Natalie says:

    Hi Ladies,
    I am a pretty new listener to the Digi Show. I am a die-hard paper scrapper, and I LOVE this show! There’s so much to inspire me, even if I have only made two digital scrapbook pages ever (and one HUGE photo book with pages I laid out from scratch). I found the show when I ran out of Paperclipping episodes to listen to. I spend many hours a day nursing my baby girl, and she is getting to that age when everything distracts her– even turning pages in a book– so these podcasts have been fabulous! I load them onto my little mp3 player and listen through my headphones.

    One of the things I love the most about this show is how articulate and insightful you three (Steph, Katie, and Peppermint) are– as well as your guests! I always have a lot to think about while I listen. This episode was no exception. I’d been listening to the podcasts in chronological order, but for some reason, I skipped to this one right after listening to Episode 24, which also cracked me up, as well as blew my mind. (esp. the memory keeper vs. scrapbooker discussion around 32:00 of that episode)

    The conversation around the 33-minute mark of this episode (#41) really resonated with me. My little girl just turned 6 months old, and I haven’t been able to do any “real” scrapbooking, and sometimes that starts to really overwhelm me. Not because I feel the need to be “caught up”, but because I have a terrible memory, and I am afraid all these precious little moments will be lost unless I get everything written down right away. I see beautiful baby albums made by Really Cool Scrapbookers around the web, and I feel like a bad documenter of my daughter’s life! But I loved what Katrina and Katie had to say:

    ~33:12 Katrina
    It’s important that we honor those moments, those years, where you have to step away…
    I worry sometimes about moms who don’t have the resources, who don’t have the time; they’re comparing to what you’re doing Katie, or what I’m doing, and it’s not a fair comparison.
    ~34:19 Katie
    You do the best with where you’re at in your life…I do think it takes some experience or some maturity sometimes to be able to recognize how to capture a story sometimes…
    My kid is cute, I want to take a picture of my cute kid. And there’s nothing wrong with that!

    One way I’ve been trying to keep up is by doing a photo-a-day (project 366?) album. I’m using the (paper) Project Life products, and I’ve turned the album into a sort of baby book for my daughter. Some people find a photo-a-day to be hard, but actually, it’s been the best way for me to feel like I’m keeping up with the “new” memories. I just need to find one little thing to write about each day, and have a photo that may or even may not go with it (I mean, really, my girl is cute! sometimes I just want that cute picture :)). Even just partway through the year, I look back and see that I’ve managed to capture things that at the time seemed so mundane or everyday, but already those things have changed dramatically! I’m so glad that I had this way to capture them. It’s not a fancy album– mostly just 4×6 photos and 3×4 journaling cards– but I am getting inspired by listening to this show to actually get out some of the stockpile of digi freebies I’ve collected to dabble in some digital additions to the pocket pages!

    Now that this comment has become ridiculously long, I’d better close. :)
    Thank you for your wonderful show. I can’t wait to hear more from you all!
    Sincerely,
    Natalie Strand

    • Angie Gladwell says:

      Natalie, under the paperclipping website are the first 51 Digi Shows. I don’t know if you know but Steph stepped out on her own and there are more goodies to be listened to. You have to download them from that site as they are not on ITUNES but they are still wonderful. I go back and listen sometimes when I need to refresh my memory on something like extractions etc etc. I have them saved on my ipod in my music.

      On the paperclipping website you will see a link on the left for the digi show.

  28. Natalie, I’m honored that my words would resonate with you. I really believe them. Photography (and taking a photo a day) is an amazing thing. When it works, it works so well.

    “Real” has so many different definitions. I think your real is fantastic!

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