Fine Craft Guild .com » Photography

French Patisserie

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:53:00 +0000

May you find inspiration in the art of Paris’ world-famous patisserie house, Laduree, who creates refined chocolates, macarons and patisserie which taste exquisite and look like beautiful jewels, and which make glamorous gifts. Artists & artisans throughout time have been inspired by the colors and shapes of food. While renaissance painters may have preferred fruit for still lives, interior designers of 2011 can find inspiration in today’s fine food in Paris.

Showcasing …

Laduree !

(click on each image for a larger, close-up version)

Laduree – French Macarons

Laduree – French Patisserie

Laduree – Paris Shop Window Design

Laduree – French Chocolates, Candy & Patisserie Gift Baskets & Boxes

(no, this is not something to feed your dog!)

Click here for More FRENCH DESIGN from Paris.

Digital Photography Business

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000

If you love taking photos wherever you go: in the supermarket, on the street, at fairs, on vacation, and just about everywhere else, you probably stand a great stance to actually making an income from your digital photographic art.

I just read an old children’s book this morning, that explains how photography used to work…. I realize just how far we’ve come. No cartridges, no film, no this, no that, and most of all, no having to do everything so perfectly, as digital adjustments are so easy now. The world has completely changed. A digital camera and a myriad of photography software enable a current photographer to transform a mediocre shot into a masterpiece in not too much time.

As well, digital photography allows us photographers to take a thousand shots, each a tat different, so we can pick the best ones later, and merely ‘delete’ the bulk of the remainder with just a click of the button. If we can’t choose which we like best, we can digitally save the top 100. Digital memory is almost free when compared to the old way of having to invest in expensive film cartridges and negatives.

Based on this new technology, there are a number of ways that you could choose to earn money with your digital photographic art:

Make Money with Photos #1: stock photography. This is a growing field as more (digital) media is looking for illustration pictures. These websites, newsletters and magazine writers look for photos that are meaningful, that tell a story and that are fast, easy & inexpensive to obtain. There is also a growing number of stock photography businesses that you can work with to market and sell your photos.

Make Money with Photos #2: news photography. Newspapers have a need for unique photographs, namely those that capture a newsworthy event, person or situation. Think of a fire in a nearby forest, to the reunion of a family when a soldier returns from war. World news is of course the most glamorous, but remember that news is mostly local. Yes, even local weather photos can be sellable.

Make Money with Photos #3: photography for local business. Again, this is a step-up from working as a stock photography artist. You will work with local business to create mailer, sell homes, cars, home furnishings, garden benches, bikes or what ya might fancy. Usually, this gig starts as an opportunity whereby you help one shop for a small fee, and then get recommended and do photographic work for the whole shopping street over time.

Recommended

Photography Posing Secrets

A Resource For Posing A Model For The Camera.

Never Be Stuck For A Pose Again.

Make Money with Photos #4: wedding photography. If you love weddings and you love people, this is the ‘job’ for you. Start with being the ‘back up’ photographer at friends’ weddings. Then, as you get better and better at wedding photography, develop unique ideas, learn how to photograph people and create a happy and/regal mood through your photographic shots, you could be hired as the main professional photographer over time. Weddings are usually well-paid assignments.

Make Money with Photos #5: event photography. Again, liking to photograph people and being rather good at it are two pre-requisites for money making success in this niche. First, think of wedding-like events like christening or reunions, and then move up to corporate events from there. Sell your photos to event participants as well as the host, and even the press, if you’ve obtained signed model release forms.

Make Money with Photos #6: magazine photography. Magazines look for larger and higher quality photos usually. They hire professional photographers who have a portfolio. So, you too must develop a portfolio of your photographs. Tailor your portfolio to the style and nature of the magazine. This is a hard market to break into, however it is also one of the most lucrative and the one that can help you onto the road of fame as well.

Make Money with Photos #7: teach (digital) photography. Whether you get into eLearning, teaching online through email, blogs, videos or other private resource sharing that’s just for students. Earn money through advertisement on your digital pages and/or earn a fee from each photography student. There are a thousand of topics to choose from ranging from basic composition, to ‘how to use photography software’ to how to use the latest digital camera….

How to Be Pro

These are just 7 ideas here. However, to be a professional, your photos must reach a certain level of professionalism first. To get to that pro level, get yourself a copy of this free report "Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros". It explains how to Quickly & Easily Start Taking Awesome Photos With Your Digital Camera, Even If You Are A Complete Newbie. Learn Digital Photography.

Holiday Photo Cards

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:55:00 +0000

OK. Time to get the Christmas cards ready. Now. I know that my top 10 favorite people always get their Christmas cards either late, or on the day, because I’ll give them handmade Christmas cards by yours truly. And because they love me back, it’s ok that they are late-ish.

However, for my wider community I try to be a tat more professional and friendlier. In particularly now that I’m in Italy and further away…. read… the post office people need more time do their thing, I need lots of really good, personalized greeting cards for Christmas holidays, that give a feel of being handmade, …EARLY!

Thumbs up for TinyPrints

So, that said, may I introduce you to my online friends at TinyPrints. The cards that I’ve found at TinyPrints are as good as it gets. Not only are they are gorgeous, unique, personalized and really professional-looking, Tiny Prints offers personalized service and has no hidden fees nor charges (unlike others!). All that on top of the fact that they offer an affordable rate per card.

In sum, their Christmas cards are way more affordable than anyone else out there, and a sure pleasure to buy from them. Did I already mention personalized service? Well, don’t be surprised if the design artist who is working with your photographs is given you a call to quickly confirm a design detail with you, in case there’s any ambiguity. That you get your cards, exactly as YOU want them.

Tip: If you are a photographer, these cards are a particularly good way

to show off your photos and to market your business in the holiday season.

Gorgeous Christmas Cards

Here are my top 3 choices for this year, but they have over a 1,000 choices for Christmas / holiday season cards alone (See Tiny Prints 2010 Holiday Cards). I like these because they cover more than just Christmas (not all my friends are Christian: some are Buddhist, and some don’t celebrate Christmas but love their other holidays, etc.)

I like this funky font, and will pair it with a whimsical picture to extend the unique, fun & uplifting nature of this card.

This really unique greeting card could become a personalized memento that my friends & family like to keep with their Christmas ornaments… I love that it looks handmade and crafty.

Again, this card is really lighthearted and good for everyone. The font is really modern, making this into a light, yet professional contemporary Christmas card.

Now that you’ve read this far, please help me decide.

Which holiday card do you like best?

Looking forward to your comments below.

REMINDER

(to get your Christmas cards in order too:

Do not forget to order your own holiday cards **** HERE ****.

BTW. This is the LAST WEEKEND you can order Thanksgiving Cards and still be IN TIME!

Sea Shell Picture Frames: Not Just for Summer

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:22:00 +0000

As I love shell frames year round, I just want to remind you / set you free from any limiting thinking re seashells: seashell frames are not just for summer!!! When brushed with gold and silver paint, (or bronze) they are also appropriate decorations for Fall and as XMAS gifts. And in Spring, you can make some for summer, and see, they are year-round.

On my tour through France and Northern Italy, I’ve seen so many lovely seashell frames, and many rather elegant ones in the various castles, houses and home decorating shops we visited, that I was reminded of their timelessness and loveliness. Seashells just have a connotation of relaxation and freedom to do with your time what you like, that I like them around year-round.

Ready-made Shell Picture Frames, for Easy Decoration

These are just two of the many different shell frames that are available online. The easiest beach decoration is to simply order these. The next best option is to order a kit like the below (great for a classroom/summer camp). The most creative & fun option might be to take a day to go to the seashore and collect shells yourself!

Or, Make Your Own Sea Shell Picture Frames – Here Are Packs with All You Need

When I came across this set, I instantly thought to feature it on the blog. It’s a ‘classroom’ pack with all you need to make a dozen and a half frames. When summer is over, you can extend the fun summer memories when making these lovely shell frames. With a pack of 18, you have plenty to give them away to the grandparents, friends and others. Seashell frames make the perfect display for summer vacation pictures, so be sure to keep some for your own family.

The pack is meant for teachers as an educational craft project. But consider it a great set, not only students for classrooms. You can use it with your own kids also. You don’t need to go to the beach to collect shells. They come with the pack. I think these packages make great home schooling projects. When used in the classroom or at home in your own ‘school’, kids can sort shells, learn about animals that live in them and develop an experience chart about the seashore. This kit comes with a free EduCraft Guide which describes this and associated edu-craft activities.

Specifically, this Educraft Shell Frames (Pk/18) includes assorted shells, easel-back frames, non-toxic glue and metallic paint, brushes, instructions & the EduCraft guide. Each frame is 2-1/4" x 3-1/4". For 26 bucks, I think that’s quite a good deal, as it makes so many presents.

Taking Your Craft a Notch Up

Of course, when you are doing it at home in a craft room filled with other craft supplies, be sure to add pearls, other seaside found shells. If you want the frames to look ‘fuller’ of shells, beyond adding those found at the beach, or make clay sea stars ahead of time and glue them on together with the shells. Regular beads will look like pearls when painted off-white/mother of pearl and paired with shells.

The Art of Creating a Beach Cottage

More articles on ‘how to turn your home into a beach cottage, a thousand miles away from the sea’ can be found here:

How to Live in a Coastal Cottage (many miles from the beach)

How to Print Sea Shells on Bed Linen ( and on Table cloths, napkins, tea towels, etc)

How to create a Beach Garden in a Pot

How to Make Sea Shell-Adorned Picture Frames (BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE ALSO!)

How to Make a reversible Beach or Picnic blanket (or if you prefer to quilt, go here)

How to Make a real Adirondack Deck Chair or a Linen Beach Chair

How to Make a Recycled Tire Swing

Beach Shacks MUST HAVE Baskets

50+ Cool Recycled Crafts – final part

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:46:00 +0000

Learn here how to make newspaper yarn, or T-shirt yarn…. It’s getting more and more creative! This last part of the series of ’50+ Recycled Crafts’ I’ve dedicated to a special category, i.e. on how to make recycled craft tools and supplies – some special tutorials.

Great Recycling Tutorials for Eco Artists

How to Make Yarn from Recycled Newspaper

How to Make T-shirt Yarn – EXCELLENT tutorial, and techniques can be applied to many other projects other than the one shown here.

Our 2009-2010 Directory of Free Recycled Craft Tutorials

How To Fuse Plastic (Bags): There are several tutorials on this, but this appears to be one of the best.

How to Make Your Own Dress Form – Ideal Tool for Refashioning Artists

Amazing Tool (Made from Recyclables) to Duplicate 35 mm Negatives – a Photographers’ Delight!

50+ Cool Recycled Crafts

Hope you’ll enjoy these and the other recycled crafts ideas & tutorials in this series:

1. Recycled Craft Ideas for Desk Accessories

2. Unique Furniture and Home Decorations Made from Recycled Materials.

3. Recycled Crafts for Kids

4. Personal Accessories Made with Recyclables

5. Recycling Crafts for the Garden.

Tutorial Polymer Clay Bracelet & Earring Set

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:55:38 +0000

A fun and easy polymer clay jewelry set make a great Valentine’s Gift for a girl friend.

Tip: You can use this tutorial as the basis, from which to make more complex designer jewelry. Even changing the colors to chocolate, powder blue and off-white will shift the style of the piece to be more grown-up.

Bead & Jewelry Making Materials Needed

A. 1 oz in each of the following colors: Granny Smith, Violet, Sunseteach of Sculpey III
B. 3 oz of Sculpey Ultra Light polymer clay
C.
5-in-1 Tool &
Super Slicer &
Super Slicer
D. Large needle
E. Beading elastic and earring findings

Directions for Making Polymer Clay Beads

1. Mix each of the colors with an equal portion of the Ultra Light clay.

2. Pinch off about 1/3 of the red/orange mix and form it into a small rectangle of color. Repeat with the other 2 colors, stacking the rectangles on top of each other.

3. Cut the stack in half and re-stack the two halves together.

4. Press the stack back to it’s original size and shape. Cut the stack in half again. The layers become smaller and more numerous. Set the two stacks aside.

5. Pinch off a small portion of the green mix and roll it into a ball. Then, roll it to form it into a cylinder. The cylinder should be about the same length and height as your stack.

6. Cut even slices from your stack and lay them around the outside of the cylinder, laying them to reach from one end to another and making sure that the colors alternate.

7. Once the entire surface of the cylinder is covered, gently squeeze the cylinder, or cane to press the slices into position.

8. Place the flat part of your hand on the cane and begin to roll it back and forth on your worksurface. Grasp each end and gently pull to lengthen the cane. Continue rolling the cane until you reach the diameter you wish to make your beads.

9. Repeat steps 5-8 with the two other colors to create 3 canes.

10. Slice your beads from each of the three canes.

11. To make a hole in each bead for stringing, twist the large needle half-way through each bead. Turn the bead and repeat from the other side until the holes meet. Place each bead on a sheet of plain paper so that they don’t touch. Repeat with your other beads.

12. Roll several small round “spacer” beads from your remaining colors of clay and pierce them with your needle tool.

13. Place the sheet of paper containing your caned beads on the baking tray and then add your spacer beads. Bake according to the Sculpey III package directions. Allow the beads to cool.

Directions to Make a Bracelet

String your beads onto the jewelry elastic until you have enough beads to encircle your wrist. Tie a double knot in the elastic and pull it tight. Trim the elastic, leaving a ¼ inch selvage.

Directions to Make Earrings

Thread a caned bead and a spacer bead onto a header pin. Trim the header pin, leaving ¼ inch remaining. Grasp the top of the header pin with your round nose pliers and roll the pliers TOWARDS you to create a loop. Add your earwire before closing the loop entirely.

About Sculpey III Polymer Clay

Sculpey III has the same excellent handling qualities as regular Sculpey, only it’s softer and more pliable, making it easy to condition. It bakes to hardness in the oven at 275°F (130°C) for 15 minutes per ¼” (6 mm) thickness. It requires no painting. Individual colors are sold in 2 oz (57 g) blocks.

This polymer clay comes in 5 different sets:
1. Sampler Set — Contains 30 assorted Sculpey III colors in 1 oz (28 g) blocks. The Sampler Set is a great way to try out a lot of colors without buying individual blocks.
2. Classic Colors Set — Contains ten, 2 oz (57 g) blocks. White, Black, Chocolate, Blue, Yellow, Red, Beige, Emerald, Purple, and Just Orange.
3. Bright Ideas Set — Contains ten, 2 oz (57 g) blocks. White, Hot Pink, Purple, Turquoise, Violet, Lime, Lemon, Atomic Orange, French Blue, and Red Hot Red.
4. Naturals Set — Contains ten, 2 oz (57 g) blocks. Vanilla Cream, String Bean, Granny Smith, Just Orange, Elephant Gray, Pottery, Hazelnut, Stonewash, Tomato Red, and Sunset.
5. Pearls and Pastels Set — Contains ten, 2 oz (57 g) blocks. Gold, Pearl, Light Pink Pearl, Light Blue Pearl, Silver, Ballerina, Spring Lilac, Sunshine, Pale Pistachio, Elephant Gray.
Each set allows you to create unique jewelry styles.

You can purchase online Polymer Clay at Amazon or at Dick Blick (click on image above).

Tutorial: Sculpey, a polymer clay manufacturer

Anthropologie for Less: 5 Decorating Craft Ideas

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Apartment Therapy is starting to be ‘like me’ once and a while. Today, I looked at the Anthropologie January 2010 Catalog through their eyes, and this is what I found: 5 contemporary craft projects to make your home Parisian & splendid!

For those of you who are not fortunate to live near an Anthropologie store, here is their online catalog. However, I have to admit that going through an actual Anthropologie store with its myriad of interesting displays is a real treat! It’s kind of a mixture of walking through the house of an artist friend, of going to a really good flea market and of visiting a contemporary design house’s display store. You get the picture, it’s wonderful, unique*, and you feel you somehow belong there.

* Yes, I know, there might be stores just like or very similar to Anthropologie. However, for me looking at a closed Anthropologie shop window display is often more inspiring than going over to a neighborhood department store that’s actually open. Anyhow, you get my drift. To me, Anthropologie stores are quite unique/. I heard they even have outlet stores with discounts, coupons and all, so if you are really not handy yourself, you can ‘buy’ Anthropologie for less. However, for the rest of us:

let’s be inspired by Anthropology’s latest catalog and make some lovely home decor craft.

Spot the 5 Craft Ideas from Anthropology

Stacked Suitcase Side-tables: These are pretty simple to recreate with a stack of artistic & vintage suitcases.

Depending on how stable they are to begin with, we suggest you have something handy to tie them together when need be: rope, zip ties or, bungy cords.

I actually has these in my home, so let me add:

2) Folding Chairs with Bohemian Upholstery. And we don’t mean ‘simply upholstered’, but applying patchwork ~ mix-matched upholstery for a truly bohemian, yet sophisticated home decor effect. Ready-made they cost $200 a chair.

Love these as much as we do? Good. Apartment Therapy features a step-by-step tutorial for making such bohemian-styled upholstered folding chairs. I’m putting this project in my personal file-folder, as I really like this idea for summer.

Meanwhile, I get to work out a style & color scheme and collect swatches of fabric. And of course shop at Spring flee markets for a set of outdoor folding chairs, or if need be, whiz over to IKEA for some inexpensive summer finds.

With a staple gun this project is said to take only 1 hour per chair once supplies are assembled. Sounds good to me. The free craft tutorial is here.

3) Make Your Own Cool Wall Art with Oversized Photos and Framed Fabric. Framing fabric is easy, and you can find tutorials for them all over the web including here: make your own fabric panels. Basically, you buy 4 stretcher bars at any craft shop or a ready-made inexpensive canvas,stretching the fabric over the canvas, stapled at the back. Easy as pie.

If you want something a little bit more original, you can use Purl bee’s tutorial on how to use embroidery hoops to make swatch portraits. It’s her picture on the right here. You’d think she’d work for Anthropologie looking at this.

OK. While framed fabric is a low-tech craft, wall-sized photos is a completely other thing. You may need an online service like Rasterbator that divides up your photo into a grid of PDFs that you can then print and piece together. Or, you can quite easily do this by yourself on the computer, if you are a Photoshop whiz. Perhaps I could write you a tutorial on how to do this in the near future…

4) Dresser with Stenciled Numbered Drawers . If you like this numbered dresser but not it’s nearly $1000 price-tag … gag…., well then it’s time to do some serious garage sale shopping and make your own.

It’s fairly easy to stencil letters & numbers onto furniture, a little craft project that can modernize your entire room.

Find our own tutorial on how to make your own stencils here. It’s not only easy, but also real fast. The effects are amazing. For this project, you could probably use these alphabet stencil sets. This is a set with the alphabet in 4 sizes, and this is a link for alphabet stencils in all sizes and in 3 different font: Helvetica, Stencil Roman, and Brush (very nice). Pick the ones you want. Note however, that if you want really oversized letters, you will probably need to make your own. Lucky for you that larger stencils are easier to detail.

5) Indoor Clotheslines. Any mom knows that indoor clotheslines hung against the wall with an abundance of pins are a must-have to deal with the abundance of school crafts.

However, they are not just for kids. Actually traditionalist photographers have been using them ‘for ever’ to hang-dry their pics, Hip teens and tweens can whip up a changed decor by rotating their gallery of inspirational magazine pages, photos. Seamstresses and other artisans have used clothespins & lines to sort & store fabric swatches. Naturally, we all could just use them to show off our latest Anthropologie nighties.

When hung with fancy stuff, clotheslines are called ‘garlands’. And I’ve just featured a tutorial for tiny lettering garland to hang inspiring quotes around the house.

What’s Next?

Go check out ‘I have a dream …’ – paper garland
Visit our cool retro bean bag tutorial
Tweet about us on Twitter (ID: Freecraft)
Become a Facebook fan (ID: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fine-Craft-Guild-dotcom/256820222832 )

Craft Calendars 2010

Rose — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:40:00 +0000

It’s January 1. Time for a new calendar.

While I’m all for recycling old calendars and creating your own calendar (In fact, I have an article on how to make your own desk calendar, and will soon post some new scrapbooking page layouts for this calendar), I could not help it but just needed to whiz over to Amazon, to just ‘have a look’ at what they are having.

And yes. Many beautiful, fun & funny top calendars are already on sale. Here are some of my favorite craft calendar finds that are jam-packed with beautiful design ideas and craft projects for the new year.

Never Not Knitting Page-A-Day Calendar 2010	Origami Page-A-Day Calendar 2010
Cynthia Hart’s Victoriana Calendar 2010	2010 Wall Calendar: Anne Taintor
Ansel Adams 2010 Wall Calendar	Environmental Art 2010 Wall Calendar: Contemporary Art in the Natural World
Family Craft and Activity: A Year-Round Calendar of Crafts: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar (Day to Day Calendar)	Award-winning Quilts 2010 Calendar: Featuring Quilts from the International Quilt Association
Easy Scrapbooking: 2010 Wall Calendar	Sewing: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
Besides these lovely inspirational and instructional craft calendars, I also found the ‘always good’ calendars of Boynton & Dilbert…, and for sure, I don’t know which one to choose… Let me mull over it for a day.	Quilting Block & Pattern-a-Day: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
Mom’s Family Calendar 2010	Dilbert 2010 Desk Calendar

How to Photograph Pumpkins

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:54:00 +0000

When it comes to photographing pumpkins anyone can benefit from photography tips that can make your seasonal photos look more professional.

I thought to share my tips with you here so you too can create lovely, original photos of your own pumpkin creations of the lavish seasonal displays by others.

1. Tell a Story. Creating a series of photos from pumpkin patch, to assembling tools, assembling siblings, bloopers and happy accidents as well as of the final products, will make great scrapbooking material and a great souvenir.

Another story you could tell is one of the trick-or-treat experience and take pictures of your own as well as of all your neighbors pumpkins. They all will sure like to see your photo album afterwards. Perhaps you can share your photos online with them (depending on how close you are with your neighbors.)

2. Originality Matters. If you created a highly original pumpkin design, than that should be the feature of your photo. If you instead are not such a ‘whizidiwow’ carver, you can make up for this by taking a more original picture of your pumpkin. Combining your pumpkin with fall foliage works wonders and is highly recommended. As is a bed of hay and bright red, yellow and white flowers. These are the perfect complementary colors for your pumpkin.

3. Get into it. Close ups are definitely called for, and what you will want to do is create just a hint of a background, a hint of the shape of the pumpkin and the essence of the pumpkin carving.

To accentuate your carving, place a candle in the pumpkin, turn off outside lamps and photograph the pumpkin in such a way that you can not see the flame directly but just its glow. It makes for nice shots.

Photography Case Study

Compare the first photograph here of the heart-eyed pumpkin with the funky smiling one on the right here. In this case, because there are several candles inside that pumpkin on the right, it tells a story of having been lit all night and it must be late by now… However, aesthetically, I still prefer the first shot as it’s a cleaner, better shot.

4. Tune in on Twilight. Avoid having to use your camera’s flash. It makes ghosts out of your pumpkins. Many pumpkins can be very nicely photographed with daylight, when they are not lit themselves. Personally , I find that early dusk offers the best photographic opportunities. Morning mists can also be interesting.

If you want to take night shots of your lit pumpkins, bring a little tripod along. There is not substitute for the stillness that this little device offers. Sure, some of the best cameras of today are really able to offer you a great shot without flash nor tripod, but for most of us and most of our cameras the tripod will be a must. The tripod also allows you to zoom in better and blur the background a lot, while your pumpkin stays in focus.

If your camera offers the option, use the film/setting for low light, and as I said, turn off your flash. If you can control your shutter speed, ensure it will be open longer so that the film/camera capture all of the light. Old fashioned non-digital cameras would use: f/15.

5. Go for Abundance. The more shots, the better. Particularly when you have a digital camera (who doesn’t?!) Be sure to load your battery the night before Halloween and empty your memory sticks so that you are ready for Halloween. Be sure to check your neighbors. Don’t just photograph your own!

(Note: the West Vancouver pumpkin carver who carved this slogan barracking for his favorite team had already carved several hundred pumpkins as a fundraiser by the time he did this one. I became more creative as time went on. This sure is a unique carving. He makes all his pumpkins within days prior to Halloween. It’s quite the carving marathon… Pictures of his work make great gifts….)

6. Hot out of the Oven. Make sure you make some pictures of your own carving creations right after they are finished. This way the pumpkin is fresh and will look its best. Photograph your own pumpkin from all angles and simply pick the best shots. They might not be what you expected.

7. Extend Photo Life. This year’s photos make great illustrations for next year’s Halloween party invitation or goodie bag decorations, scrapbooking backgrounds, etc, etc. Be creative in your use of your photos and you will find that blowing them up of making them minute in size offers new and creative ways of using your photos.

8. Patchwork. I find that pumpkins in pumpkin patches almost always look great. Be sure to include a handful of pumpkin patch photos in your array. As in these shots you will want to show the relationship of the pumpkin with its surroundings, go for contextual shots.

What’s Next

Halloween 2009: Many More Craft Ideas

Check out the Best New Digital Camera for Pumpkin Shots

Most Popular Digital Camera

Fine Craft Guild — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I was just over at Darren Rowse’s digital photography site (digital-photography-school.com) to see what is going on technically in the world of digital photography, that would be of interest for my craft crowd here.

Turns out he did a review of the most popular digital cameras in the first quarter of 2009, listing Digital SLRs, Point and Shoot Digital Cameras, Lenses, Accessories and digital photography Books in order of sales.

Let me highlight the best part: the Digital Cameras.

10 Most Popular Digital SLR Cameras (DSLR)

The Canon Digital Rebel XSi was by far the most popular camera. The next 6- most popular cameras after that were equal in rank. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II barely made it in:

#1. Canon Digital Rebel XSi — the all time winner

#2-7: Nikon D40,
Nikon D60,
Nikon D80,
Nikon D90,
Canon EOS 50D, and the
Canon EOS 40D.
#8. Sony Alpha DSLRA350X
#9. Pentax K20D
#10. Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

A range of excellent cameras. I am given you links to the detailed specs of those that have remained very popular on the market throughout summer 2009. Check them out.

What’s Coming Down the Pipeline? Canon G11

If you are in the market to purchase a digital camera today, I would for sure check the list above. And I would look at the upcoming Canon G11, which will the latest in Canon’s popular G series.

You can pre-order this lastest model digital camera in the Canon G series, for the amazingly low price of $499. The Canon G11 will be released this October, which is just a month or so away.

Why Bother?

The features of this camera will be really attractive to more advanced amateur photographers opting for a compact camera:

10 megapixel high sensitivity CCD sensor
RAW shooting mode for unlimited editing options
28-140mm image stabilized lens
2.8 inch tilt ‘n’ swivel LCD screen
Flash Sync of up to 1/2000th of a second
Digic 4 image processing (a truly groundbreaking successor)
HDMI connectivity.

. This is really a camera for photography professionals on an amateur budget.

Next Step

Hop over to read the detailed specs of the various Digital Cameras mentioned here.

Then, with your new camera, come back to this site and win any of the digital photography contest posted here, or explore some digital art & photography projects. Ideas aplenty on this site.