As we near the end of summer, I reflect on the summers from
my childhood and the activities that I thought were so great; some of which, I
now think that they weren’t as exciting as I remember. Looking back on this summer and the
things we have done as a family fondly.
Since we didn’t do a big vacation this year, I wanted to make the most
of our “staycation.” I asked the
kids about their favorite events and was surprised at their answers. This got me thinking about my article
and I wanted to share my thoughts about summer photos and layouts.
To really make the most of the wonder of childhood, it’s
important to look view summer through their eyes. Imagine you’re seeing things for the first time, or bigger
than life. Take photos from their
perspective or take photos of how they are seeing them. Capture their favorite moments and
their excitement when seeing new things.
TECHNICAL TIP:
Light, our most important consideration, is in abundance in the
summertime. Use it to your
advantage! The sun is high in the
sky and as bright as can be. Shoot with your subjects back to the sun or late
in the day. Photographers love the
“golden hour” – the hour just before sunset.
Another fun idea is to add some whimsy to your photos. In this example, I used my Lensbaby Composer Pro with the sweet 35 optics to
add blur. It’s a perfect way to
really show the magic of the moment.
You can
also use the blur features to mimic the tilt-shift effect.
Other ways to add whimsy to can be done within Photoshop when editing
the photos. Try a Black and White
conversion to add moodiness, or increasing/decreasing the contrast, depending
on your mood and photo. And, what better way to add whimsy than
to grab an action shot! Missed it
the first time? Don’t worry, kids
love action shots and are always willing to try it again, and again, and again.
Another great idea is to hand the camera over to the
kids. As I was pulling up photos
for my Project Life pages, I came across this gem that my daughter took on one
of our short trips when I’d given her my phone to play with. I love that instead of looking out the
window at the passing scenery, she was watching me. I look at it now with fond memories of our little trip and
can’t help but smile.
Here is another example. My son took this photo of my husband and I relaxing at the
pool. Going to the pool was a huge
hit for the kids; so thankfully, we spent a lot of time at there this summer.
And one more example of a photo my son took. The advantage of letting your kids take
the photos is that you get to be in some of them, and at the same time, the main subject is my daughter and her excitement as she points out the monkeys at the zoo.
Now that we’ve looked at summer through the eyes of our
children, let’s highlight them in our scrapbooks! I’ve chosen A template from the Summer Time set by Jimbo
Jambo Designs. This template shows
a perfect blend of highlighting the photos with my journaling to tell the story
of our day at the fair. I used
papers from Gina Miller’s Whisper
set and a Journal Card from Valorie Wibbens’ Cotton Candy.
The Circle of Life template
is simply perfect for the carousel LO for the opposing page. Here, I used papers and elements from
Vintage Carnival by Sahlin Studio & Jenn Barrette.
