How to Make a Blog Button With Grab Box Code Underneath for Your Sidebar

Would you like to create a blog button with a grab box underneath, so your blog friends can grab your button to display on their blog? A blog button with the button code displayed underneath is a quick way for those who read your blog to capture your blog button for their sidebar and a quick link back.

Creating a blog button can be a bit tricky. When I first read how to create a button with the code underneath, it took me several tries before I finally got it to work. The directions I found back then weren't real clear. It really isn't hard but it can be a tad confusing when you first attempt it. I've broken it down into a few easy-to-follow steps, in case you would like to make one for your blog.

First things, first:

There are two things you must have prior to creating your blog button:

1. an image that you want to represent your blog

AND

2. A place to “host” or store that image.

The Image:

If you’re handy with Photoshop, Picnik (before it’s gone) or some other photo editing site (you'll find a list of them HERE) you may wish to create your own button image. If you’re not comfortable doing that, you can have a blog/graphic designer make one for you. Emily, The Blog Fairy, made the image I use as my blog button below.

When making the image that will act as your blog button, you don’t want it to be too large as that will discourage folks from taking it to display on their blog. Usually 125 x 125 jpeg is a nice size for a blog button.

A Place to Host or Store the Image:

Once you have the image/picture that will represent your blog, it will need to be hosted some place. Just as the photos you upload to your blog are stored or hosted at Picasa, the blog button you post on your sidebar for others to take will need to be hosted or stored some place, too.

I have found the easiest place to host images is with Picasa, since that's the same place the pictures you use on your Blogger blog are hosted. If your blog is a Blogger blog, the easiest way to have your blog button stored or hosted in Picasa is to create a “draft” post, and upload the button image to that post. You’ll never actually “publish” the post, it will remain a “draft” post forever because there is no need to actually publish it. You just need it stored somewhere and Picasa will do just fine.

There may be another way to host a blog button in Picasa without creating a draft post, but this way has worked well for my needs. It’s the same place I host the Metamorphosis Monday and Tablescape Thursday party buttons, too.

Next Step:

So, you've created your draft post and you've uploaded your 125 x 125 jpeg button image to it. Now you’re ready to create the code. Don't be intimidated...it isn't that hard. Promise.

Here's how:

Open a word document and copy and paste all the code you see below onto the document. You’re going to be making some changes to the code, so copying and pasting it to a word document just gives you a place to work on it.

So, let's get started. Go ahead and copy and paste all of this code to a word document...I'll wait.

</center>

Okay, got that done? Now, it’s very important that you follow the directions carefully for this process to work. If you accidentally erase a set of quotation marks or get a character out of place, your button will not work or look as it should. Unfortunately, with code there's not much room for error. If you should accidentally delete something, don’t fret. Just start over and give it another go.

Here are the changes you'll need to make to the above code to create a button with code underneath for your blog:

Step 1: In the two locations where you see the name of my blog, Between Naps on the Porch in purple, replace that with the name of your blog. It’s okay to type it with spaces just as you see mine written. Remember, you don’t want to accidentally erase the quotation marks.

Step 2: Where you see the blog address for BNOTP written in red in two places, replace that with your blog address. You can copy and paste it from the address bar when you bring your blog up on your computer. Again, don’t leave off the forward slash or any of the other parts of the address and don't add any stray marks. Just keep referring back to the code above that represents my blog button to see if you're leaving anything out. You just want to replace the part in red with your blog address.

Step 3: In the two locations where you see the blue code, replace that code with the code that represents your button image. How do you get this?
Here’s how:
Open up the draft post where you've uploaded/stored your blog button image, just as if you were going to “edit” the post.

Flip from the “compose” view over to the “html” view. Have you ever visited the html view of your posts? If not, it will just look like a bunch of code...similar to the code shown below.

The code you need is the code that starts with http and ends with .jpg. I’ve highlighted it in blue below on my image code. Yours should be located in about the same spot on your image code in the html view.

Copy just that section of your image code from the html view of your draft post and paste it into the two places where you see the blue code for my blog button, replacing my code with yours.

That’s it…you now have the code for your blog button. Save that word document where you can find it when you need it.

Step 4:

Now, you just need to add all the code you’ve created to your sidebar using the “html/javascript” gadget. Once you’ve uploaded it as a gadget to your side bar, click on "save" and it should look like this below: an image that represents YOUR blog (your blog button) and some code underneath that folks who visit your blog can "copy and paste" on their blog's sidebar for a quick link back to your blog.

Do you have a test blog? If you have a test blog, try out your new button code on the sidebar of your test blog. If you don't have a test blog, go head and try adding it to your real blog. If it doesn't look right or part of it is missing, just start over fresh. It took me several attempts before I got it to work so don't worry if it doesn't work the first time.

You can use this tutorial to make a blog party button for folks to grab whenever you are hosting a blog party on your blog. Of course, you may want the image to be a bit larger for a party button.

You'll find additional blogging tips under the heading Renovations/Tuts category at the top of this blog. Just scroll down until you see "Blogging Tips and Tutorials."

Happy Blogging!

Clearing Out the Computer Graveyard

What do you do with your old computer when you purchase a new one? When I began working from home and decided to purchase a workhorse "desktop" computer, my still functioning laptop became the downstairs/kitchen/screened-in porch computer. It's a handy place to quickly check e-mail, moderate blog comments or pull up the latest movie releases before heading out the door on a Friday night.

Back in the day when a computer was a much larger financial purchase, whenever a new computer entered our home it was because the old one had either died or had become slow and outdated. We used to joke when our son was a teenager that we were sure the gaming folks were in cahoots with the computer manufacturers because we seemed to always be updating our home computer for the sole purpose of keeping up with the speed and memory requirements of the latest computer games Santa had delivered.

In the excitement of bringing home a new computer, little thought was ever given to the old one. It always went the way of its predecessors, relegated to the unfinished area of the basement. Over the years the basement gradually became a graveyard for defunct computers and printers.

Source

Over the past few months, I've been in a purging mood. If it "ain't" being used...it's out of here! (Said with the enthusiasm of the late Skip Caray calling a home run headed over the fence at Turner Field.)

Every so often our area has a county-wide electronics recycling day. I'm not really sure why they do that since it's free to take your electronics for recycling any day of the week. That tells me there must be some value in the metal or whatever it is that's inside a computer.

The main thing that has stood in the way of my attempts to clear out the basement computer graveyard was concern about personal information that could still be on those old computers. With identity theft ranking as one of the fastest growing crimes and in the news on a daily basis, I knew I couldn't take them for recycling without first doing something about the hard drives. Too risky.

I called a local computer megastore where one of the computers had been purchased many years ago. They quoted a minimum of $65 to wipe the hard drive of just one computer. Since I had two towers and a laptop, that was definitely more than I cared to spend. Once again, the computer recycling dilemma was put on the back burner.

Recycle Day at the local highschool:
A week or so ago I checked my mailbox and discovered a flyer announcing a computer, electronics, paint and paper recycling day at a local high school. I called the contact person on the flyer and asked if there would be anyone there who could help me open up my computers and retrieve the hard drives. He told me to come on down. He felt sure there would be some computer guys there that would be willing to help me with that. This sounded promising!

I had often thought of trying to open the computers by myself to retrieve the hard drives, but I had always quickly dismissed those thoughts because 1. I didn't know if there was something inside that could be dangerous if touched AND 2. I had no idea what a hard drive even looked like.

That morning I arrived at the school about 9:20 AM, 20 minutes after the starting time stated on the flyer. There was a short line of about 4-5 cars. I decided to come back since I was supposed to be at a photography class in about 35 minutes and I didn't want to be late.

I arrived back around 11:15 and found a long line of cars. The recycling was supposed to go on all day and the school was not far from my home, so I decided to leave and come back again later in the day, hoping the line would be shorter by then. A monsoon came, a torrential downpour, and I wondered if the recycling would still be going on when I returned. Perhaps I had missed my chance to finally get the computers recycled.

On my third trip back it still looked like this, but I stayed this time and found the line moved quickly. It snaked around the corner, down a short distance and into a side parking lot.

Upon entering the parking lot, I drove around to the huge recycling truck where I stood and watched three large kitchen bags of old bank statements, bills and canceled checks dating all the way back to 1978, get shredded. The flyer had said they would shred your papers while you watched. At some point they had apparently gotten way behind, maybe during the monsoon, and folks had just started leaving their stuff.

Not this girl. Call me paranoid but I stayed and watched. I'd rather stay and watch than get a new "part-time job" as our local consumer guru, Clark Howard, warns. Clark always says, if your identity is stolen, you have yourself a new part-time job for at least the next three years, undoing all the damage that's been done. Yikes! I don't need any part-time jobs.

I took Clark's advice years ago and froze my credit with all three credit bureaus. I encourage you to consider freezing your credit, too. Don't just sign up for a monitoring service, which usually only alerts you after your credit has been breached and the damage is done. Consider freezing your credit with all three credit bureaus. It inexpensive to freeze it and costs very little to thaw it when you need to. That way the bad guys aren't going to get very far if they do get their hands on your personal information. You can read more about freezing your credit and how you can thaw it temporarily when needed, HERE and HERE.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the giant mountains of computers, printers and electronic devices that were being loaded into the huge trucks. There were so many, they were piled up all around the trucks. It was amazing! Apparently, I wasn't the only person who had a computer/electronic graveyard going on in their home.

The computer recycling guys were super nice. They unscrewed the two towers I brought and showed me the hard drive. I didn't have my camera with me that day, so I took all the photos you see in this post with my camera phone. If you're like me and don't have a clue what the inside of a computer looks like, here's the inside of one of the towers. You can see the hard drive there on the right. (note arrow) This was the big 386 tower. Computer towers are so much smaller now...this computer was quite the dinosaur.

And here's the inside on the e-machine. By the time this computer was made, towers were getting a lot smaller, closer to the size of today's computers.

The computer dude gave me this hand ax/hatchet and I beat the living daylights out of those hard drives. lol Hey, he told me too, so I did! As he handed me the hatchet thingy, he said, "Remember all the times it froze up and had to rebooted? It's payback time." ;) I think this was the hard drive out of the 386 tower.

This may have been the hard drive from the laptop or maybe this was the e-machine...forgotten now. Anyway, I took my aggression out on it, too. ;) So, if you take your computers apart, here's what you're hard drive looks like. Apparently, this is the brain of the computer and where your data is stored.

What do you do with your old computers when you recycle them? Do you pay $65 to have the hard drive wiped? Or, do you take them apart and reenact this hilarious scene from the movie, Office Space?

Watermark Photos the Fast & Easy Way: Welcome to the 158th Metamorphosis Monday!

Watermarking photos...that's a big metamorphosis I've just recently started making to photos you see here on BNOTP. In the past I never worried too much about placing a watermark on the photos I post. I loved it when folks used a photo and linked back to BNOTP.

But recently readers of BNOTP have e-mailed me with links to tablescapes and other photos showing up on professional websites as their own. My pics have even turned up in eBay ads. I think often it's done in error, or at least I'd like to think so, but either way I knew it was time to get busy watermarking the photos I take and post.

There are lots of tools available for watermarking pictures, but today I'm going to share the two I like using. If you have a system you love, please share it in a comment. It's so wonderful when we can share and help each other.

Watermark Option #1: Watermark in Live Writer, Cost: Free
Do you create your posts in Live Writer? If not, you may want to download Live Writer (LW) and give it a whirl. LW is a very popular program for creating blog posts and once it's created, you can send the draft to Blogger or publish it to your blog. LW was really popular before Blogger updated their posting process. Now that creating a post in Blogger is a lot like creating one in LW, I'm not sure if LW is still that popular with those who post on the Blogger platform. A lot of folks who have Word Press blogs do still use LW.

If you use Live Writer for creating your blog posts, you may already know you can watermark your photos in this program. I knew you could watermark your photos in LW, but I didn't know there was an "automatic" preset option for that. I had been doing it one photo at the time which took forever. Ugh. That's how I came to find my other favorite way to watermark pics...but more on that in a sec.

Thanks to Kristi who blogs at Addicted 2 Decorating, I recently found out it's possible to set LW where it automatically watermarks every photo you upload to a post. Yay! Did you know you could do that? I had no idea. I was thrilled to discover this and may go back to creating my posts in LW to take advantage of this feature.

Here's how watermarking in Live Writer works:
To watermark photos in Live Writer, you upload a photo to the post you're creating in LW. Once the pic is loaded to the post, click on the photo and a "format" menu appears where you'll see the "watermark" option. (Note the yellow arrow below pointing up at the word, "watermark."

Click on the watermark option and a screen will open up where you'll type your "text" watermark, pick a font style and the size you want your watermark to be. That's it.

Note: Live Writer will not allow you to upload and save a "custom" watermark that you or a graphic designer has created. It just lets you add "text" watermarks to your photos.

Now, here's the awesome part...the part I just found out you can do when using Live Writer to watermark photos.

If you don't want to watermark every single photo individually, which takes forever, you can click on "Set to default." (Note the other yellow arrow in the photo below.) If your default watermark ends up covering something in your photo, click on the photo, then click on "watermark" and you can choose to move the location of your watermark for that one photo.

You can also remove a watermark on a photo by clicking "Revert to original" which is above the "set to default" option or by clicking on the photo, selecting watermark and deleting the text in the box. That will come in handy if a photo gets watermarked that you don't want watermarked.

If you don't use Live Writer to create your posts for your Blogger or Word Press blogs, check out Watermark Option #2 below for watermarking your pics.

(Click on any pictures below to enlarge)

Watermark Option #2: Visual Watermark, Cost: $20...a one time charge

Since I didn't realize you could set Live Writer to automatically watermark all photos when they are uploaded, I went in search of another way to watermark my pics. I spent one evening trying out a lot of watermarking tools before I found Visual Watermark. I'm not trying to sell you on VW...I'll just share how it works and how it's different from watermarking via Live Writer. You can compare it to the system you currently use, as well. Visual Watermark isn't free...it costs $20 which is a one time charge.

How Visual Watermark is different from watermarking with Live Writer:
Here are a few of things that Visual Watermark does that you can't do with Live Writer: 1. You can have a custom watermark created by a graphic designer (or create your own) then save it to VW to use as your watermark. 2. You can create and save multiple watermarks in different sizes, colors, font's etc... in VW to use for future watermarking sessions (more on that in a sec) 3. You can watermark a gazillion photos in seconds because you can watermark in batches and it will save your watermarked pics to a folder of your choosing for future use as needed.

Here's how Visual Watermark works:
It's a fast process to watermark using VW, but this tutorial may make it seem complex because I've broken the process down into such detail, including how to edit a watermark after it's in place. So don't let this tutorial make you think it's complicated...it's not.

For our example today, we'll watermark 4 photos of a Valentine's Days table setting, as if I were planning to use them in a post. To watermark the photos in VW, you first open up the VW watermarking program on your computer. See the white section there on the left. That's where we'll upload or drag the pics we wish to watermark. I love the drag method...it's so fast.

To upload pics to Visual Watermark, you just highlight all 4 photos by clicking Control-A and then just drag them over to the white section of the VW screen. You can drag 1 or 100...however many you wish. Or you can click on "+ADD" and upload as many as you wish at one time from a file on your computer. I prefer the drag method since it's so fast and easy.

Here's how it looks when all 4 photos are in Visual Watermark. The first photo is highlighted on the left, so that's why you are seeing that photo visible on the right.

Because I've already been working in Visual Watermark for a couple of weeks, I've have already created several watermarks in different sizes and colors. Next we'll just click on the down arrow in the menu and select "Open" which opens up all the saved watermarks. (If you wish to create a new watermark, you click on "New Watermark.")

You can tell the watermarks I've created because I've named them all BNOTP. I've created some gray watermarks and some white watermarks. Gray comes in handy when the picture is really white at the bottom where I like to place my watermark. I've also created them in different sizes to better fit some of the photo sizes I upload. Oh, by the way, VW also has lots of fancy, unusual watermarks you can use...you'll see those options listed below, too.

Once I select the watermark, it looks like this below. See how it's kind of covering the plate since the watermark is on the right. If I wish, I could create a separate watermark and save it for when I wish to watermark pics on the left. Then I could just click on it in the list above and use it, instead. You can save as many different watermarks as you wish.

But let's pretend I haven't saved a left sided watermark. No problem, I can just edit this one. To do that, I just click on "edit" at the top of the screen.

This box opens up with lots of options for editing the watermark. I can select to move it to the right, center it, move it to the top or place it in the middle of the photo. In this case, I chose to move it from the right side... (note the arrow)

...to the left side. (note the arrow)

Then I just click on "apply changes" and here's how it looks once it's been moved.

Now I'm ready to tell Visual Watermark to watermark all the photos as I've indicated. Before I watermark them, I can click on each pic in the white box on the left and see how the watermark is going to look once its been added.

When I click on the word "Watermark" (note arrow) a box pops up and gives me several options. I can tell it to watermark all the original photos OR to watermark copies and save them in a separate file within the main file, or anywhere I wish on my computer.

One of the cool things about VW is the ability to watermark in batches. If needed, I could have dragged/uploaded 50 photos over to VW and when I clicked on "Watermark" it would watermark all 50 in seconds. Sometimes I'll drag over the vertical pics and watermark them. Then I'll drag over the horizontal pics and watermark them. I've found the vertical and horizontal pics look better with different size watermarks. It took me a few sessions to get used to the program but now I can watermark a bunch of pics in a matter of a couple of minutes, if that long.

I don't recommend watermarking your "original" photos because you may wish to use them one day somewhere without the watermark. I always choose the option of watermarking and saving copies in a separate file. (see below)

When I click OK, here's how the file on my computer looks now. You see my original 4 photos that are still left unmarked and then there's the file I have named WM that contains the same 4 photos but with watermarks. This will come in handy later if I wish to use the watermarked photos again in another post. They will be here watermarked and waiting.

As mentioned above, you can watermark your photos with anything you wish, including an image or a professionally designed watermark. Just playing around, I downsized my blog button and uploaded it to VM and watermarked a few pics.

Summary:
Now that I've discovered I can set a default in Live Writer so it will automatically watermark all my photos as soon as I upload them to create a post in LW, I may make that my primary method for watermarking pics. One size doesn't fit all, so I'll have to see how that works since sometimes I'll need a watermark to be a different color, a different size, etc... In Visual Watermark, I can create and save lots of different watermarks to use for different situations, like watermarking on the left, on the right, with a custom designed watermark, in different colors like gray, white, red, blue, or with one of the fancy watermark designs/styles available in VW.

Pinning:
A few folks have asked if it's okay to pin these posts...yes, please do! You many pin anything you see here at BNOTP, even if I don't have it watermarked, yet. I hope to eventually get all my pics watermarked...but that may take a while. So pin away and enjoy. ♥

Now, please share...what are your favorite programs for watermarking photos?

Click HERE to read about the photography equipment I currently use.
Click HERE for links to 11 photo editing sites...alternatives to Picnik.
Click HERE for 9 Tips for Better Blog Photos

Coming soon:
How I edit photos prior to using them in a post
How to make a blog button

Looking forward to all the Before and Afters for this Met Monday!

To receive the latest posts, as well as updates about blog parties, subscribe via an RSS Reader or have BNOTP delivered right to your Inbox. You'll find links to subscribe via RSS and Email on the sidebar to the right. Thanks for reading; so glad you are here!

Reading this post via e-mail or RSS feed?
*If you are reading this via email or RSS feed, to view all the Before and Afters linked for Metamorphosis Monday, click HERE.

Metamorphosis Monday:
If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday you will need to link up the "permalink" to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then just copy and paste the address that shows up in the address bar at the top of your blog, into the "url" box for InLinkz.

In order to link up, you'll need to include a link in your MM post back to the party.

If you'd like to include the MM button in your post, just copy and paste the Met Monday button to your computer or grab the html code from underneath the MM logo under the "BNOTP Parties" header at the top of this blog.

PLEASE DO NOT type in all caps...it spreads the links waaaay out. Thanks!

Let's try something fun today! Please visit the person who linked before you and after you...that way everyone will get some visits. Hope you'll visit more, of course.
Welcome! Thanks for coming to the party!

9 Tips for Better Blog Photos

Over the past year I've gotten a lot of emails/comments asking if I would share some information about taking photographs for blogs. I've been a bit reluctant to write this post because I'm totally an amateur in every sense of the word when it comes to the subject of photography. But I'm happy to share what I have learned. Just please keep in mind, I'm still learning, too.

I'm writing this post as if I'm talking to a person who has just started blogging and has never really taken many pictures before, because that's where I was three years ago when I began blogging. My husband had always been the picture-taker in the family so I was pretty lost when it came to photography. I still am for the most part, but I am trying to learn more with each passing day.

I hope these basic tips will inspire you and you'll find them helpful as you take pictures for your blog.

1. Photography = Lighting.
If you only learn one thing about photography ever, just remember it's all about the light. Photography begins and ends with lighting. Lighting will make or break your photographs. I didn't know this when I first began taking pics to share on the site, Rate My Space, which was several months before I got brave enough to start blogging.

You know when it hit me...when I had my ah-Ha moment about the importance of lighting? I was taking pictures of this beach themed tablescape with an early digital Olympus camera that had "live view." I took a photo and the photo looked okay. Then I tilted the camera the teeniest, tiniest bit, took another photo and the picture was brighter.

Beach table setting: View HERE

The only thing I had done differently was to just ever so slightly shift the angle of the camera. Why did that matter? Why did it make the second photo brighter? That's when it hit me...it was all about the way the light had entered the camera...the way the camera had perceived the lighting on the porch.

That's it! LIGHT! Light was the key, the deal breaker that determined if a picture would be bright and crisp, or dim and blurry. That was a HUGE moment for me. You may be shaking your head thinking everyone knows this, but I didn't.

From then on, I would take a gazillion pics when I took photos for the blog because I never knew which pic would be THE one...the one that had been at just the right angle to capture the light streaming onto the porch or into the room. Since then I've acquired a much better camera and camera technology has come a long, long way, just as it has with computers. Cameras have sensors inside (think of the sensor as film) and the sensors in today's cameras can handle lower lighting better than ever. Which leads me to another tip...

2. Buy the best camera you can afford...Save Up, it's worth it.
If you want to take great pictures, buy the best camera you can afford. Save up a little while if you need to. Tell your children/husband/wife/boyfriend/friends in lieu of birthday gifts, Christmas gifts and flowers for Mother's Day, you want a gift certificate to B & H or Amazon. Save up those gift certificates and when you have enough, buy a great camera and you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

I think it was Scott Kelby who said you could put Walmart golf clubs in the hands of Tiger Woods and he would still beat the pants off us if we were playing with the best clubs money could buy. But since most of us are not the Tiger Woods of photography, don't handicap yourself. Give yourself the gift of an awesome camera and you'll definitely have a leg up when it comes to taking pictures for your blog.

3. Never use the built- in flash on your camera.
I never use the built-in flash on my camera. I keep my Nikon camera on this setting below...the little lightning bolt setting. It's basically an auto setting, but without the flash.

Source

There's a way to alter the strength of the built-in flash on a camera, but I don't think it's a very efficient or easy method for getting just the right lighting for your pictures. I've found when I'm taking photos inside my home, it's easier to just take them during daylight hours, turn on lots of lights, open the shutters/curtains and use additional lighting like soft boxes to bring more light into the room. I also switch over to manual mode when necessary...more on that in a sec.

Here's why you don't want to use your built-in camera flash. Take a look at these next two pics taken of the porch decorated for the 4th of July. The first one was taken with the flash turned on. Feels washed out and kind of lifeless, doesn't it? It has that "3rd degree-interrogated under the hanging light" look . I'm sure that tablescape is guilty of something and we are gonna get it out of it, one way or another.

Here's the same scene, taken in "auto" mode in natural lighting, without the flash. It's much more pleasing to view...more inviting. So unless you're a professional photographer with one of those fancy flashes that you can meter (I don't have one yet but would love one) don't use your flash on your camera.

4. Movement is the enemy.
A lot of cameras today have a little switch you can turn on that helps to compensate for small movements of the camera when you're taking a photo. On my Nikon, it's called VR-Vibration Reduction. On a Canon, it's called IS. No matter how hard you try, you're going to slightly move the camera when you press down on the shutter button . So use that little switch if your camera has it. It will help a lot, especially in low lighting situations where any movement will lead to blurry pics.

Source

Consider using a tripod for stability. If you can't or don't want to use a tripod, try to brace your hand on a chair back or against a wall or something to eliminate movement as much as possible. I confess, I almost never use a tripod because I'm just too impatient. I routinely pull a chair out from a table and brace my hand on the back of the chair for tablescape photography. I've also been known to lean against a wall to brace my body or arm. If there's nothing to lean against or to brace your arm against, stand with your feet a little apart and tuck your elbows down into your body for more control.

If you take an overhead shot or something where you can't brace your arm/body, take several pics in a row as fast as your camera will allow and chances are a few are going to be in focus. Also, you can place your camera strap around your neck and pull it forward until it's taunt, and take the photo that way. That will also offer a bit of stability.

5. Take A LOT of pictures.
I used to feel bad about taking so many pictures of one scene or one craft project or one tablescape, to get 15-20 to share here on the blog. I would think to myself, if I were a better photographer, if I understood how to use my camera better, if... if...if... then I wouldn't have to take so many photos.

One day I was listening to THIS interview between Tim Ferriss and Chase Jarvis, a professional photographer and guess what I discovered? I discovered professional photographers take a gazillion pics, too! What? Really? Chase said he takes lots of pictures when he's photographing a subject or scene. In fact he said, "That's the dirtiest secret in photography. You've got to take a h*ll-of-a-lotta of pictures to get the ones you want."

Granted, Chase probably gets a lot more usable or fabulous photos than you and I do, but still, it's nice to know that even great photographers have to take lots of pictures to capture those few we end up seeing in magazines or online.

If you wish to hear that part of the interview for yourself, click on THIS link and fast forward to around the 33 minute section of the interview. Listen for at least two minutes to around 35.10 to hear how many pics professional photographers take. He goes on to talk about taking pics with phones...fun listen. It will make you feel a lot better about all those pics you're taking to get the few you actually end up using on your blog. Yes, it's a pain to have to sort through them all later to ferret out those 10 or 15 you plan to use, but when you write and publish that post, you're going to be so glad you took the time. And so will your readers.

6. Go for a surprise view.
Everything I've learned about photography, up until very recently, has been through trial and error. I think just reading my manual, reading tips online and getting out there taking photos is the only way to really learn the ropes.

One day back in June 2009, I accidentally discovered how cool it was to try and capture a scene from a "different" angle, a surprise view. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I dashed home from work, wondering what tablescape I could quickly create for Tablescape Thursday. It was a Wednesday evening and TT would need to go up by 9PM. I had just over 3 hours to create the table setting, take the photographs, sort through the photographs, crop and edit them, put them in an order that made sense or told a story, load them to the post and write the post. The pressure was on.

It was so pretty out, I decided to create a table setting on the tiny bistro table out on the deck. I had never placed a tablescape on the deck before so this was going to be fun...and different. I remembered a tablecloth I had purchased at a thrift store a few weeks before, so I dashed upstairs, found it in the linen closet and decided to create an all white table since the table cloth itself had lots of pattern.

I was using my old Olympus which wasn't the most sophisticated camera, but the lighting was nice that evening under the shade of the trees in the backyard. As I played with the table setting, I tried to figure out how to get some of the flowers on the deck into some of the pictures I would be taking. I wanted to give the viewers of this tablescape the feeling they were outside surrounded by flowers and had just come upon a pretty table all set and ready for a special dinner. There wasn't enough room on the tiny table to add a single pot of flowers. So, I moved some geraniums a bit closer and decided to crouch down behind them to take a few pictures.

When I sat down at my computer to look at the photographs I'd captured, I loved this new perspective. The glimpses through the the flowers drew you in and made you want to come closer. It felt as if words would ruin the mood the pictures had created, so I searched online for a poem that would feel appropriate. I found the most enchanting poem about faeries called The Faerie Ball. You can see this tablescape HERE. That was the day I discovered the magic of taking photos from unusual perspectives.

I've had a lot of fun with this "capturing scenes from different angles" thing. For example...in this table setting...

I took a pic through the handle (monkey's arms) on the pitcher. (View this table setting HERE.)

Different perspectives will draw out the personality of your subject. (View this table setting HERE.)

Give your readers an up-close view from a fun angle. (View this table setting HERE.)

Frame a view or a scene in an unexpected way.

Your reader will feel like they were there with you, peering through the gate into the beautiful back yard. (Take this historic home tour HERE.)

Capture a room from a different angle...peering over the shoulder of an old friend. ;)

7. Use the Cheater Bar, also known as the Goldilocks bar.
Do your eyes glaze over when folks start talking f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO. Yeah, mine too. I understand the basics: a lower f-stop = a bigger aperture (the size of the opening of the lens) and thus, lets in more light. A slower shutter speed will keep the lens open longer, again letting in more light. And by raising the ISO setting, my camera will be more sensitive to the light that's available, which unfortunately also compromises the quality of the photo by allowing for more "noise." I get all that, but don't ask me to walk into a room and immediately rattle off the ideal f-stop, shutter speed and ISO for the situation. Ain't gonna happen. That will take time, experience...and lots of practice.

So in the meantime, until I get my Ansel Adams on (in my dreams) I've been using what I lovingly refer to as the "cheater bar." It has a real name....Nikon calls it the "electronic analog exposure display." Now you know why I call it the cheater bar. ;)

Here's how it looks on a Nikon camera...note the graduated line with the plus and minus sign.

Source

And here's how it looks on a Canon camera. When I'm faced with a lighting challenge, like trying to take a photo of a room while facing directly into windows on a sunny day, I'll switch over to "manual" mode and use the cheater bar to capture the photo.

Source

Before I discovered that little bar, when I took pics of my future office from this angle, the pictures always looked like this...dreary and dull. This is such a bright, sunny room, but you would never have known it from my photos. I was up to my eyeballs in wallpaper removal when this pic was taken, so learning to adjust settings on my camera wasn't real high on the ole priority list. On the auto setting, my camera "saw" alllllll that sunshine coming in through the windows and compensated for what it thought was way too much light. Result: underexposed photo...just too dark.

Later, when life was a bit more under control and I was motivated to solve the exposure issue when taking pics of the office, that's when I discovered the electronic bar display. (When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.) It allowed me to finally gain more control over the exposure of a photo in a difficult lighting situation without racking my brain with f-stops and shutter speeds. Do I hear an Amen?

So, here's how I use the cheater bar. I take a picture in my usual auto/no flash mode. Then I look at the photo I took in the live view display. If it's too bright/over exposed or too dark/underexposed, I'll switch over to manual mode, which is the M setting on a Nikon.

Source

I'll take a photo in the manual setting and then I'll adjust the setting on the ~~cheater bar~~ "electronic analog exposure display" to a lower or higher setting based on whether the picture looked too bright or too dark. You could move it until the camera balances it in the dead center, but often I find I need to adjust a bit more one direction or the other. Just keep taking pics and adjusting/moving up or down the bar display until the photo exposure looks just right. Maybe we should rename the electronic analog exposure display, Goldilocks. We want our photos to come out not too ~~hard~~ bright, not to ~~soft~~ dark, but juuuuuust right. ;)

By the way, the method for adjusting the exposure setting on the electronic exposure display (+ and -) on a Nikon is...

...by turning this little wheel shown below. It moves the exposure setting to the right or to the left. Not sure how you do it on Canons or other cameras...just check your manual for that. It should be a readily available control...nothing you have to go through the menu to accomplish.

Source

Sometimes I'll take several photos moving the indicator a little to the left or a little to the right because your picture can look very different in live view than it does once you download it to your computer. That way, I'll have pictures taken with different exposures from which to choose. You can also accomplish this with bracketing...but I'm not ready to learn that just yet. It's good enough for now that I know it exists. lol Baby steps, baby steps.

This exposure adjusting method is not always fool proof for capturing the perfect photo, but it does help. I'm looking forward to the day where I can look at the subject and lighting situation, size it up and just know what setting the camera needs to be on. But for now, the Goldilocks bar works pretty well.

Update on 2-5-12: I've just started reading the book, Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. In that book he says the most common aperture (f-stop) most folks use is f/8 or f/11. So if you're going to switch over to manual and use the exposure display in difficult lighting situations, before you do, put your camera in aperture mode and select f/8 or f/11 as your aperture. Then switch on over to M (manual) and take a photo. If it's too bright, adjust the exposure down toward the minus side. If it's too dark, increase the exposure display more toward the plus side. Hopefully using the analog exposure display will come in handy until you become more familiar with shooting in manual mode.

Bonus Info: If you're curious, once you download the photo(s) you've taken to your computer, you can right click on a photo, select "Properties," click on "Details" and you can see exactly what aperture (f-stop), ISO and shutter speed your camera chose for the photo you took. That might be a great way to eventually get a feel for what settings work in certain situations or rooms in your home.

8. Give your photos a feeling of balance: Rule of Thirds
In photography there's this thing called the Rule of Thirds. You can read about the rule of thirds, HERE. Basically, you want your photographs to feel balanced. Have you ever looked at a grouping of items on a table and it looked off balance...something just didn't feel right? You moved a few things around and aaah, balance. It's a lovely thing and you know it when you see it. You also know it when it's missing.

Photos can feel the same way...balanced or off kilter.

Here's a photo I did not use when I posted this "Children's Party Table" for Tablescape Thursday this week. See how out of balance it feels...downright top heavy, isn't it?

This was the photo I used below. Often you can balance a photo out by doing a little cropping, but not always. That's why you want to take plenty of photos so you'll have plenty to work with.

When you look through the view finder, keep the "rule of thirds" in mind. Look for balance. Occasionally, when I'm moving around a table taking pictures for a tablescape post, I'll lean down and a view will enter the viewfinder that I just know is going to make for a nice picture. Fill the frame and look for balance.

9. Have fun and don't get discouraged:
When you first start blogging and you're visiting other blogs, you can sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed. It can seem like there's so much to learn and so much to know. Don't ever compare your blog with the blog of someone who has been blogging longer, even if it's just 6 months longer. If you took a look at the photos I took when I first began blogging, you would feel MUCH better. Trust me on that. :)

With each day, you will learn a new little trick or an easier way to do things. Your photos will get better and better. Let me tell you a big, big secret...the most important secret to growing a successful blog. Here it is: Don't stop. Keep working, keep learning and keep sharing. The rest will take care of itself.

Coming soon...
•The program I use to watermark my photos. It's easy to use and watermarks in batches.
•How I edit photos prior to using them in a post

Click HERE to read about the photography equipment I currently use.
Click HERE for links to 11 photo editing sites...alternatives to Picnik.

betweenn

How to Make a Blog Button With Grab Box Code Underneath for Your Sidebar

Clearing Out the Computer Graveyard

Watermark Photos the Fast & Easy Way: Welcome to the 158th Metamorphosis Monday!

9 Tips for Better Blog Photos

Blog Archive

Total Pageviews