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The Topic
Katrina Kennedy joins us this week as we discuss tips and ideas for getting great photos of the kids in our life (even when they aren’t our own).
Joining the Discussion:
Katrina Kennedy
Peppermint Granberg
Katie Nelson
Steph
Picks:
Katrina:
Peppermint: Basic Manicure Parts 1&2
Katie: and Apple camera connection kit
Steph: on Pinterest
Sponsors:
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I keep forgetting that pages have banner ads! I use the Firefox browser with the Adblock Plus free add-in. I’ve used it for years and I rarely see ads at all!
I have Feedly now but I can’t figure out how to add blogs. Right click doesn’t work on a blog. Any recommendations for good sites and how to load them? Thanks.
I usually just add them to Feedly by searching within the web app. Click the magnifying glass in the upper right corner (it’s sort of watermarked into the margin) and then type in the blog I want to add into that little bubble shaped search box. Then when the sites come up below (down at the bottom) I either click the “+” sign to the right of the one that I want to add it right away, or I click on the blog title and Feedly brings up a preview of the most recent posts, and there will be an “add+” button to the right of the blog’s title at the top of the page.
To be honest I don’t add a ton of blogs, I’ve sort of been reading (or NOT reading, if my unread post counts are any indication) the same blogs for years. I used to have a Chrome extension that added a “subscribe via RSS” icon into the URL bar for any site that had a feed, then I would just click on that and add it to my Google Reader (which automatically added it to Feedly) but having the extra extension in Chrome wasn’t worth it for the few times a year I add blogs to my guilt-inducing unread collection of awesome things.
OH GEE WIZ!!! I am still listening, but I had to stop you guys so I could let you know what happens with my family members. I avoid the “cheese” photos, but will take them when people insist, sometimes they are more relaxed and I get better candid shots after I take that shot because they think I’m through with them. My mom and sisters have the tendency to yell… “Don’t look at her, she doesn’t like photos like that” (which is not awkward at ALL… insert my own eyeroll here).
Love you guys!
Ahh helpful family members! You have a great point about getting the best after the posed shots! Anything that works, right?!
Hello Steph, Katie and Peppermint,
I am a paperscrapper and have only “attempted” digi scrapping at this point, however, I have to tell you I LOVE your show. And after I typed “paperscrapper” I realized it doesn’t matter what type of scrapper I am because we are all kindred spirits anyway but I digress. I want you to know I look forward each week to spending time with you, folks I will probably never ever meet, who let me into their lives, sharing “our” passion of memory keeping while entertaining me. And on top of that, I learn something from each and every episode no matter what the topic is. What a gift! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This made me smile.
Thanks so much!
Peppermint said her camera displayed Daylight Savings Time as “ON”, but it wasn’t updating the time automatically and she didn’t know what ON meant. I found that on my Nook e-reader, I have to choose if Daylight Savings Time is either ON or OFF, and I realized that Daylight Savings time BEGINS in March (so now we’re ON), and ENDS in November (then it will be OFF).
So if you switch your camera setting to ON in March and OFF in November, it should update! Maybe? It works on my Nook
It could also be that they changed when DST happens a couple years ago so some devices may be off early and late in the “season?”
You know, I’ve never understood what in the world that setting is supposed to be. I think it’s wrong on ALL my devices. LOL I’ll try toggling it!
I really enjoyed the show. Thank you for all the good tips for photographing young children. I have begun to let my 2-1/2 yr old granddaughter use my little point and shoot in the hope that she would cooperate a little more with me when I bring my camera out – and it has…a little. It’s also given me the chance to shoot some cute pictures of her taking pictures. Her little fingers work pretty hard to hold the camera, aim at her subject and press the shutter button. And surprisingly she has taken some pretty good photos that I have used to scrap a couple pages for her.
I also have to say all four of you ladies are beautiful inside and out and I really enjoyed being able to see the photos that were shared from your recent trip together.
Thank you so much Penny. I love that you have given your granddaughter a camera to use! Aren’t photos of little ones engaged in activities that best?!
You guys made my day! I usually listen to your podcast while walking my dogs. I was jumping up and down when I heard Peppermint’s pick of the week. Fortunately, I was in a deserted road and all I had was three dogs looking at me like a crazy woman. I’m glad you found the video helpful. As for this episode it was very timely… I just found out I am going to be an aunt for the first time woohoo!
That video has changed my life. I paint my nails 2-3 times a week now like a PRO. I’m totally winning at being a girl.
Loved the show this week (as always!). I listened a few days ago and just clicked over to the site to see what the video was that Peppermint mentioned. I was surprised when it was Kristina Werner’s nail blog! I don’t think you mentioned her name in the show. She’s an awesome paper card maker and makes awesome videos of her process. I think she was on Paperclipping Roundtable once or twice. She used to design for Basic Grey, and I believe now she’s working for Simon Says Stamp (online paper scrapping store). Fun coincidence.
What a great show! It was interesting to hear you describe the difference in your photography as a scrapbooker vs. non-scrapbookers. I didn’t realize this but I can definitely see an evolution in my photography since I started scrapping a few years ago. It also explains why I’m never interested in the posed professional photos they offer for kids sports like t-ball and soccer (something I can tell bothers the other parents – they think I’m a real slacker). I’d rather have the action shots or the picture of the team in a huddle, all listening to the coach. For me they tell more of a story.
Hi,
This is a question probably for Katie or Peppermint, and it’s not related to this particular show. I am a PC user and really love all of the tips and advice you guys give. It has definitely helped me to improve my workflow. But I am having a problem with external hard drives. I own several that I have bought over the past 7 years (Western Digital, HP, and now a SeaGate 1 Terbyte based on your recommendation). I would like to use the SeaGate drive in two ways: as a backup AND as the working drive I use daily where I keep photos and scrapbook supplies. However, the way the EHD software backs up my files makes them almost impossible to find and use them efficiently. The salesperson at BestBuy suggested I just use the EHD as a flash drive and move everything onto it manually. Is that what you guys do? If not, could you please talk about your process and how you manage the files on your EHDs? Thanks. You guys do an amazing job and I really appreciate all that I learn from you, far beyond just scrapbooking. It makes my bus/rapid transit rides more enjoyable!
Kelly Acton
San Francisco
I use my backup software to basically clone my computer. That’s basically for a catastrophic event. Then, I also manually copy over my photos, scrap supplies, documents and work files into my folder structure so I can find them easily. From there, I run a cloud backup to back it all up. So, yeah, I do both… the complete backup for a total loss and the important files for easy access. I have a 2TB and 1TB EHD. My 500gb just failed so I’m looking to replace it soon. Then I’ll use one for my digi supplies, one for my photos and one for my system backups.
I don’t really use an EHD anymore as a working drive because I’m not mobile anymore. So the one EHD I keep hooked up is purely a back-up drive that looks like nothing but mumbo jumbo if you browse it. CrashPlan backs up to it in a series of serialized folders that seem to go on forever and that only make sense within their software.
When I was laptop-based, and even when I was sort of back and forth between my desktop and laptop, I used my EHD like a flash drive like the Best Buy guy said. Except the EHD was my primary working drive and I didn’t store photos or supplies on any of my internal drives – so I wasn’t copying and moving files on & off of it or trying to keep two drives in sync. I just downloaded new supplies directly to it, imported my photos directly onto it, etc.
Then I used Mozy (at the time) to back that EHD up to the cloud – which was why I chose Mozy over Carbonite at the time. Carbonite wouldn’t back up EHDs, Mozy would as long as the drive was plugged in. Then when Mozy raised their rates (to INSANE PRICES) I switched to CrashPlan. I didn’t keep a local back-up of any of my files until I went strictly desktop based, really. I only had cloud back-up back then.
HTH!
Hi Ladies! Another great show! I have so many comments I want to make, but I’m going to narrow it down
When my kids were little, I would buy disposable cameras for them once in a while – this was before digital cameras became more affordable. I loved seeing the pictures they took from their point of view! It gave me a great view of their perspective on the world. I think it’s a GREAT idea to let your kids use your camera! Just make sure they know to keep the strap around their neck or wrist.
One of you made the comment that Katrina is not a disparaging person and I just had say how true a statement that is! I ONLY use a point & shoot camera. I’m comfortable with it and can carry it anywhere. It really isn’t a big deal to me…except when I’m around scrappers & they ALL have their big DSLRs and look down on me for my little PBS (push-button-stupid) camera. When I met you all at Downtown Disney in January, we went to take our picture together and I wanted to get a picture with my camera, too. Katrina was right next to me and offered to take the picture. I sheepishly handed her my P&S camera. She was SO SWEET and told me not to be embarrassed…that the most important thing was that I was taking pictures – not what I was taking them with. I was FLOORED! Katrina Kennedy…the lady who takes such amazing photos and teaches people to do the same didn’t make me feel like a slug for my PBS camera! Thank you, Katrina!!
Lastly…you made me totally laugh with the Roxanne song reference!! There was a popular song in the 60s about my name – nothing scandalous, Steph!
– but my sister would sing it when we were kids just to make me mad! I still can’t hear that song without my blood pressure rising!
Thank you for the daylight savings reminder. I totally forgot to change my camera time. As far as the daylight savings setting, when the decision was made to change when daylight savings would take effect from the first weekend in Oct and April to Nov and March it through off almost every electronic device with that setting. If I use that setting on our old P&S camera, the time will be wrong for March until that first weekend in April, and repeated in Oct to Nov.
This show was SO timely for me! I’ve been saving for a DSLR for some time now and was hoping to be able to order it within the next couple of weeks. I was floored to find a bonus in my paycheck this past week and promptly ordered my new Nikon. I had this schedule all planned out in my head of the classes I was going to take and the length of time to practice in order to learn all about it. Now I’m going to have this new camera for Easter and I won’t have time to learn what to do with it! I’ve always been pretty good with my P&S over the years and know all about composition, etc but can someone please give me an idea of what would a good setting for capturing my grand kids hunting Easter eggs Sunday morning? It will be cloudy here and it will be later in the morning when all this takes place – around 11:00 am.
I’m so excited I could just burst! Oh, and thank you, ladies, for making my morning delivery route less lonely. My face usually hurts from smiling so much after listening to you guys!
I guess I should have said that it’s a D5100 with just the kit lens.
My recommendation is to shoot on Auto for Easter so you’re sure to get everything, then dive into the fine details after. When I got my D7000 I took it to a benefit that first weekend and wasn’t horribly familiar with it yet, so I had a bunch of “reject” photos – but it was no big deal since it was a pretty low-key event. Things weren’t in the same place as my D50 and I hadn’t yet tinkered with all the on-board settings. I should have just moved it to Auto for that, though, in hindsight. Because over the next couple of weeks I was like “Ohhhh, that’s why those photos were all blurry” or “Ohhhh, now I see why I was out of focus!”
I’m with Peppermint on this one! You’ll have plenty of time to play after to get the photos you want. Let your camera do the work for you on Easter.
Look for great light and have fun!
I know you’re both right, ~sigh~, I’ll have to curb my enthusiasm. I’ve just always been a “sink or swim” kind of gal with a tendency to dive right into the deep end! I look forward to learning lots in your upcoming classes, Katrina.
Well…you could always go with Aperture Priority Mode (A on your dial) and just watch that your shutter speed is around 1/125th of a second
We had our Easter Egg hunt with friends this past weekend, and as I was taking the candid more artsy pictures of my kids I saw everyone else getting their cheese pictures with the blown-out blinkies on the back of their cameras set in auto. I was grateful for what I’ve learned in photography and memory keeping, and that I was capturing more of the moments of my kids’ lives, and not just the cheeses. Then our dear friend, an older Brazilian lady whom I don’t understand much of what she says without a translator, wanted a “cheese” picture with our family. I handed off my camera and had to get the settings right and tell the user how to use back-button focus, and I wondered if it was all worth it. I actually LOVE the cheese pictures that came of it, even though it was seriously a hassle. Without her insistence on a picture (which we actually thought was a marriage proposal because our Portuguese is that bad) we wouldn’t have one with her. As much as I don’t understand her at all, and my husband only knows Spanish, we all love her and without that cheese picture we may not have any pictures with her. She loves our kids and is always wishing that she had my hair, and she seriously just beams love for everyone around her, language barrier and all. Because I knew my settings, and had my light scoop, we got a great “cheese” picture that I will cherish. So, I’ve gained an appreciation for the occasional cheese pictures, and I actually want to incorporate a few more into my flow.
Thanks for a good show. I will definitely listen to this one again!
Photography will always be about the memory
Cheese or not!
Since you all talk about Rad Lab every episode, I commenting on the newest show.
I use Rad Lab within photoshop (cs6.) I haven’t gotten into lightroom yet, mostly because I haven’t figured out it’s awesomeness yet and I am really proficient in PS. When I have tried to use rad lab inside lightroom, mine opens the same windows and takes the same amount of time and photoshop. What is the advantage of using it in lightroom then? The only advantage that is glaring me in the face is the ability to automate quickly.
I’m using a macbook pro with 4gb of ram. Steph-I have both pc and mac and I don’t get the hype over the mac either. I get the color wheel/beach ball spinning all the time. So annoying. Why is Mac better again?
Being able to use RadLab inside Lightroom is purely a workflow thing for me for photos that are just going online – Flickr, my blog, Instagram, etc. I have export presets in Lightroom that automate a lot of file prep and I depend on them. After using RadLab in Lightroom I can use my “export to blog” preset and it automatically sizes it down to a long edge of 580px (my blog specs), renames it to a standard structure and drops it into a folder outside my catalog. Actions or scripts in Photoshop would accomplish the same thing, I’ve just become very dependent on Lightroom for these things.
I’ve found that if I’m processing a photo for a scrapbooking layout or for Project Life purposes that I send the image over to Photoshop and edit it in RadLab over there. So I do a little of both! But prior to finding out that I could use it in Lightroom, RadLab was messing up my workflow a bit purely for those photos that are only destined for online.
I just like having the option to use it in both!
Hi guys, another great show !! I am brand new to digital scrapping–just dipping my toe in the waters. I have paperscrapped for over 15 years. I just found the digi files in January and this show a short time after that. I have started back at episode 1 and have made it up to number 14 while catching the new shows each week also.
I wanted to comment on photographing kids. My “kids” are college age and I do not get a lot of opportunities to photograph every day times with them. They were both home at Spring Break and brought lots of friends. I of course wanted to take lots of pictures. I had a few staged photos but wanted some candid shots. I got out my Paparazzi lens (500 MM–I use for bird pictures). The kids were outside playing with kites and horseshoes. I set up on the second floor balcony a took about 150 pictures of all of the happenings. There were some awesome candid pictures in the bunch!!
Some times you have to be sneaky to get the good shots!!
Great advice! Love that you used your bird lens!
Hi Digishow Ladies,
Great show! I love Katrina’s website and took her Your Holidays Captured Through The Lens class last December — it was really great, and got me interested in learning even more about photography. I love getting the 365 prompts in my inbox every day!
I wanted to share another amazing photography resource that I discovered through your show. I was listening to some back episodes, and came across Episode 28 with the wonderful photographer Sarah Cornish (My4hens). I started following her blog and on FB, and she recommended a website and forum for photographers called ClickinMoms (www.clickinmoms.com). I have only been a member for a couple of months and am addicted to the forum! ClickinMoms also has amazing photography classes. In just 4 weeks, Lynne Rigby’s Shooting 101 class has transformed my relationship with my camera. It covers not only the basic exposure triangle, but explains white balance, metering, the zone system, finding the right lighting, and composition in a way that’s easy to understand and apply for consistent results in manual mode. I will never shoot in auto or program modes again! Similarly, there are lots of great workshops and shorter “breakout sessions” on photo processing, getting good skin tones, etc, that range from intro level to sophisticated enough to teach seasoned pros. It has made a huge difference in my photography. So thanks for a great episode, and for all of the wonderful resources you bring to your listeners!
Lightroom / Radlab – I’ve wanted radlab forever but I always thought that was specific to photoshop. I’ve held off getting the lightroom filters because it was something different than what everyone was praising about radlab. Guess what??? List Girl has answered my prayers. She did a video about using Lightroom and Radlab together – just go to you tube and search on list girl, Editing Photos using RadLab inside Lightroom. The best part was that I purchased it on sale for $99 and then used ali edwards 15% off discount code 1488ALIEDWARDS bringing it down to $84. So stinking excited! I will be editing photos all weekend. Now if anyone could tell me some of their favorites I’d be forever grateful.
As a side note, please have list girl on again soon. I think I’d have tossed PL down the drain by now if it wasn’t for her and scrappi jedi.
Cheese is just another photo type and often having cheesy photos is better than having no photos. I’m very flexible about what photos I get — if the kids want to do cheese, that’s their thing of the moment and they’ll outgrow it and I’m glad to have these photos too.
I appreciated the tips in this episode (that were mostly reminders of what I’m *supposed* to be doing). When I was younger (read: one child), I used to get down to his level and take pictures from all sorts of angles all the time. Now that I am older (read: three children), I’m a lot lazier and tend to pick out a single, fairly central, spot to stay in while I take pictures. (Not being able to be in three different places at once might have something to do with that too. I still get on the floor if they are all playing together or if I’ve decided to focus on only one of kids.)
My current single biggest problem is that when I attempt a group shot, I can’t get all of the kids in focus together. There was a little bit of discussion about group shots, but it went by quickly.
I’m hoping that getting out of auto mode will help with my focus issues and I signed up for Katrina’s Life Captured Through the Lens class hoping that getting out of auto mode would help, but I haven’t had time to do any of the lessons. (I did read through the first one and was ready to move onto the second when I realized I was supposed to get out my camera and do an exercise. LOL I’m still stuck right there because I figure I won’t learn much without actual practice.)
Anyway, I love episodes with Katrina and this episode was over too quickly. Thanks for the fun!
Peppermint — I have an older Nikon DSLR and I’m pretty sure the Daylight Savings Time switch is a convenience thing, not automatic. Once your time is set, you can flip the switch and it will adjust the time in the proper direction based on how you set it. If you set the time with DST ON, then when we go back to standard time, you can turn it to OFF and your clock will update automatically. It would be good for me, since I can never remember which way to flip it, except that I leave it on Daylight Savings Time all of the time. I want an accurate date but I haven’t come across a need to have the time synchronized and haven’t noticed it was off.
Ahhh. You’ve made my day! Thanks for the great comment!
As usual, I loved this episode; it made my drive from the middle-of-nowhere Nevada to back home MUCH more enjoyable!
I loved the part of about giving your camera to the kids to see what would happen. Last spring, I was at the Long Beach Aquarium with my DIL and her 3 little ones. We were bored waiting around for the rest of the group, so I started taking photos with my D40. My grandson, Silas, 5 at the time, asked if he could take some pictures, too.
I thought, hummm, why not?
I put the strap around his neck, told him to look through the viewfinder, look at us, wait for the red light, and press the shutter. He took some of my most favorite photos EVER of me. I think it is because I wasn’t afraid of looking silly to him, unlike my fears when adults take my photo. I look silly to my grandlings ALL THE TIME!
Here’s a link to my layout:http://digitalscrapper.com/forums/gallery/data/500/My-Favorite-Photographer.jpg
AND, I just registered for Katrina’s Exposure class! Can’t wait!
How can you not smile when a little one wants to photograph you! I LOVE your perspective! What a good grandma you are!
I had to laugh listening to this episode and the “cheese” photos. My dad took photos of me all when I was growing up and you will rarely find one with me staring at the camera smiling/posing. That is just how he took photos and that is all I know. So I hate when someone looks at the camera when I am shooting, which my mother-in-law does all the time! lol! She also does not like any photos of the kids except the school shots where the kids are sitting with their hand on the laps smiling at the camera and I have had really expensive/interactive photos taken. I’ve learned not to give those to her. lol!
Then I had to smile about the funny faces. Now my little guy is making all the funny faces and being silly and I LOVE it! I also love that he is wanting to take photos of things and will tell me to take our photo of the day.
My daughter wants to smile pretty. But that is her. I really love the photos of her when she isn’t looking.
Hello ladies. Even though I’m not a digital scrapbooker, and barely a “scrapbooker” at that, I love the show… mostly because it feeds my inner geek. I’m finally catching up on the past few weeks. I think this is my first comment on a show, but thought maybe this perspective might be worth the share?
After just listening to y’all chat about how much your children dislike having their photos taken… it struck me that neither do you like having your photo being taken?!? Maybe there’s a connection? Of course, I am not blessed with children (yet). Both my husband and I are only children, and we live far away from family, so I actually don’t have many children in my life to know any better… but in just thinking about my own experience of childhood into adulthood… I’ve always LOVED having my picture being taken. Even when the pictures are unflattering because I figure it’s all part of my story. This includes my great days and the days when I look like crap. And I’m always surprised years later at photos that I thought were unflattering… that they actually captured a part of myself I hadn’t seen.
It could just be a cultural difference, because I am a first generation American. But maybe if we embrace having our own pictures being taken, good and bad, the next generation might as well?
But what do I know? I was exceptionally lost during the last part of the show about zone exposure?!??! Since I don’t know anything about photography, white balance, aperture, f-stops, etc… I just smile and nod when you ladies get to talking about that stuff. I’m usually pretty happy with photos from my Android phone and have been using them exclusively for Project Life this year.
Love the show. Thank you for the thought-provoking conversations.
~”Non-Schmoe” Marilyn
I think “feed your inner geek” would be a great tagline for the show. I like your perspective on this subject – I’ve considered that myself. It all stems from insecurity, on some level, and adults certainly don’t hold the patent on that. I think my son’s annoyance with photographs, a lot of the time, has to do with the fact that it’s distracting and/or he’s never quite sure what he’s supposed to be doing. He feels some sort of pressure to be interesting, because I think we all face that pressure in day-to-day life. Being ordinary is scary.