{ Tutorials }

 
December 20th, 2009

Must-Get Christmas Pictures Before the Tree Comes Down!

The Christmas tree can provide an excellent background for some really unique photos- here’s a tutorial on how to get some great shots before that tree comes down!

Christmas Tree Bokeh - Top Christmas Pictures to Get Before the Tree Comes Down!

1. The Christmas Tree Classic Bokeh

Canon 85mm 1.8
f/1.8
1/40 sec
1600 ISO

To get those big, beautiful, blurry lights, use your lens with the lowest aperture- For this picture, I used the 85mm 1.8, but the 50mm 1.8 or 50mm 1.4 would also work nicely.

Place your subject as far away from the tree as possible- we moved some furniture around so Howie could be about 8 ft away from the tree. The farther away the subject is, the bigger (and better, in my opinion! :)) the lights will look.

To take the picture, get as close to the subject as possible. You know how you can be so close to the subject that the lens won’t focus? I found that if I got that close, then scooted back just enough so that the lens would focus, the lights looked better. I have no idea why that is- I just preferred the ones that I took like that! :)

Christmas Tree Custom Bokeh - Top Christmas Pictures to Get Before the Tree Comes Down!

2. The Christmas Tree *Custom* Bokeh

Canon 50mm 1.8
f/1.8
1/15 sec
1600 ISO

Meep!! Little Howie surrounded by Christmas Hearts!! :) Custom Bokeh is my favorite new technique! :) No, I don’t have little heart-shaped Christmas lights on my tree… and I didn’t have to buy any special lenses or filters to get this look, either! All I had to do was use a little tape, scissors and paper- all the stuff I already have in my scrapbook room! :) And the best part is, you can have custom bokeh in any shape you can cut out- hearts, stars, mini Christmas trees- I even tried a snowflake! Come on, I’ll show you…

custom-bokeh-tutorial-1

Supplies You’ll Need

1. SLR Camera
2. 50mm 1.8 lens
3. Black cardstock
4. Removable adhesive
5. Scissors / decorative shape punches
6. Pencil
7. Tape

custom-bokeh-tutorial-2-3-4-5

1. To begin, take a strip of paper and form a ring around your 50mm lens- tape the paper together so that it fits snugly around the lens.

2. Take the ring off the lens, place it on a piece of black cardstock and trace a circle around the ring.

3. Cut out the circle

4. Cut a square in the middle of the circle (I used an Xacto knife, but you could just use scissors too. It doesn’t have to look pretty! :)). If you’re going to use a decorative punch to cut out your shapes, your square just needs to be as big as your biggest shape.

custom-bokeh-tutorial-6

5. So, now you have a ring and a circle with a square cut out of the middle. Tape them together like pictured above to form a “hood”. For the benefit of the picture, I put the tape on the inside so you can’t see it, but you could tape it on the outside too- it’s easier and it works just as well! :)

custom-bokeh-tutorial-7-8

6. Now it’s time to cut out your shapes! :) You can use scissors or an Xacto knife (or even a die cutting machine!) to cut out any shape you can imagine- I had these little punches that made it really easy.

7. Cut out your shape, being sure to leave enough room on the edges so you can attach it to the “hood”. I used removable adhesive so I could easily switch between shapes on the hood.

custom-bokeh-tutorial-9

8. Attach the shape to the hood and put the hood on your lens- when you’re all done, it should look like this! :)

Of course, I used a heart punch for the picture of Howie! :) Now I will warn you, I did have to use a tripod to take the custom bokeh pictures. Using the hood lets in less light, so you have to set your shutter speed slower to compensate- in my case, too slow to hand hold! But you don’t have to have a tripod. You could set your camera on a coffee table, tv tray, chair, bench, ottoman, whatever! Anything steady you can get your hands on! :)

custom-bokeh-snowflakes

Canon 85mm 1.8
f/1.8
1/8 sec
800 ISO

I loved how the snowflake punched turned out! Unfortunately by this time my models were thoroughly uncooperative, so I just had to take pictures of the tree. :P

Christmas Tree Bokeh - Top Christmas Pictures to Get Before the Tree Comes Down!

The size of your cut-out will affect size of your custom bokeh- so play around with different shapes and sizes for all kinds of neat looks! :)

custom-bokeh-monogram

I even tried punching out a letter “B”! The possibilities are endless! :)

I would LOVE to see your Christmas Tree Bokeh pics!! :) Leave me a link to your pics in the comments- or share with me on Facebook! I would love to leave a comment for ya!! :)

Thanks for looking! :)

November 13th, 2009

A collage of clothes . . .

I was messing around making a collage the other day, and I came across this pretty cool action. It’s called Panos’s BnBig Picture- you can get it by clicking here and scrolling almost all the way down to the bottom of the page- look under the header “Frames and Mattes” and it’s #42.

It’s pretty easy to use- here’s what my image looked like before I ran the action. Basically you just put a bunch of square pictures side by side, with no extra space around any of the pictures.

This image has been shrunk down for web-sized viewing, and the action will still work on a web-sized image (you can grab this one and try it to test it out if you want), but I think the shadows turn out better if you start with a bigger image. Mine was like 2400px x 2400px originally.

When you have all your square pictures set up, just run the BnBig Picture action and it turns into this!

Pretty sweet, huh? :)

Now you can just use Photoshop, or Gimpshop or whatever to put your square images together, no problem- but if you have Lightroom 2, it’s even easier to make grids of pictures like the one above. Basically you just select all your pictures and choose “Print to File”- then you can pick one of their premade contact sheets and it’ll put all your images in a grid for you. Even if they’re not already square, you can just click a button and it will make them all square for you. :) Then instead of printing it out on your printer, it’ll just make a large JPG image of what you see on the screen. Super easy! :) I learned more about that trick from this tutorial here.

Now why on earth am I making a collage of a bunch of clothes?? :p

Well, it’s out with the old and in with the new! :)

abercrombie & fitch, j. crew, GAP, Old Navy, Ann Taylor LOFT, BEBE, American Eagle, Izod sweaters on eBay

I’m cleaning out my closets- and these are all going up for sale on eBay if you see one that catches your eye. ;) 

abercrombie & fitch, j. crew, GAP, Old Navy, Ann Taylor LOFT, BEBE, American Eagle, Izod sweaters on eBay

I’ve got sweaters, tops, jeans, skirts…

abercrombie & fitch, j. crew, GAP, Old Navy, Ann Taylor LOFT, BEBE, American Eagle, Izod sweaters on eBay

from Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew, GAP, Bebe, The Limited, Ann Taylor LOFT and too many more. :blush: 

abercrombie & fitch, j. crew, GAP, Old Navy, Ann Taylor LOFT, BEBE, American Eagle, Izod sweaters on eBay

My eBay Auctions

Ok, I’ll stop now. ;)

Well, I hope you found this little mini-tutorial fun and helpful! :) Thanks so much for looking! :)

August 11th, 2009

Add a Signature to Every Blog Post on your Blogger/Blogspot Blog

If you have a blog, you may be wondering how to add your signature after every post on your Blogger or Blogspot blog. This simple tutorial will show you how to do it in just a few easy steps! :) This method of adding a signature will add your signature after *every* post- even posts you’ve already written! This is not like the “template method” of adding a signature, which will only add your signature on the new posts that you make- and not the old ones. Oh and stay tuned ’til the end of the post- there’s also a tutorial on how to add a post divider after your blog posts! :)

So, to add a signature, first, you’ll need to create a signature image like the one above and upload it somewhere like Photobucket, TinyPic, Flickr, etc. Then…

1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard and click on Layout then Edit HTML.

2. Check the Expand Widget Templates box.

add signature to blogger

3. Click CTRL-F and copy and paste the line below in the search box to search for it in your code.

post-footer-line post-footer-line-1

It may say :

<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1>

OR

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>

Or something similar- either is fine. Just look for that line.

4. Under that line, paste this code and change IMAGE URL to the url address of your signature image (it’s the Direct Link on Photobucket).

<img src='IMAGE URL' style='border: none; background: transparent;' /><br/>

add signature to blogger

5. Preview it and Save it! You’re done!

If your blog background isn’t white…

This tutorial doesn’t cover the making of the actual signature, but I will give this tip for blogs that don’t have white backgrounds- here’s how to make a signature so it doesn’t have a white background around it and it will blend in with any background! :)

If you use Photoshop, when you create a new image, make sure the “Background Contents” says Transparent. Then create your signature, and when saving, go to File > Save for Web and Devices.

Make sure you save the file as a PNG-24 and that Transparency is checked. The white and grey checkerboard must be around your signature for it to work! :) If you save it like this, then no matter what background you put your signature on, it will blend in (and not have a white background around it).

add a signature to blogger

Want to know how to add a post divider after your blog posts?

Add a post divider to blogger

Follow this super-easy, thorough, and beginner-friendly tutorial from Megan at Shabby Blogs!

While you’re there, take a look around! :) Don’t forget to check out her *awesome* shabby blog backgrounds and shabby blog extras!! :)

Here’s one of the new backgrounds she just added. Wouldn’t this make the *cutest* recipe blog background *ever*??? :)

recipe blog background

If you’ve been thinking about starting a recipe blog, now is the time to do it!! And gosh darn it, send me the link to it ASAP!!! ;)

Thanks for looking!! :)

April 27th, 2009

How To Use a Custom Font for Your Entire Blogger/Blogspot Posts

Okok. So you want to change your *entire* posts to a funky font. Well, it can be done… Sort of.. I can’t figure out an easy way to change the font of your existing posts, but it can be done for any new posts you write.

click here to see a live demo of what this tutorial does

First- the boring stuff. Disclaimers. Warnings. Etc.

  1. This tutorial is a continuation of my How To Use a Cute Font for Your Blogger Post Titles, so you’ll have to do all the stuff in that tutorial before this one will work. :)
  2. I don’t really recommend writing every single post, all the time, the entire thing, in a custom font.
  3. sIFR is best used for changing titles and headers, not entire blocks of text.
  4. It will make your page load slower.
  5. It will make your page be all jumpy and crazy-looking as it’s loading.
  6. It won’t look perfect- you can only use one font color/size for everything you write and there may be some extra spacing/padding at the bottom, but there’s no that I know of to get rid of it (see what I mean about the padding on the demo).
  7. I kinda like plain, easy to read fonts for the main content of a blog anyway.
  8. If you created an account with Geocities, be sure and read this!

So! If that doesn’t bother you and you’re totally ok with all of that and you still really want to change the font of your entire blog posts… Then this tutorial is for you. :)

First, if you want to use a second font, different from your post titles for your main blog posts… Go to your blogger-sifr.js file and find the lines that look something like this:

var kevinandamanda = {
src: 'http://username.webs.com/fontname.swf'
};
sIFR.activate(kevinandamanda);

Copy and paste a duplicate of that right underneath it.

1. Convert and upload a new SWF font file, then replace the URL for the current SWF file with the URL to the new font.

2. Change the two instances of kevinandamanda to blogpostfont.

So when you’re done, it may look something like this:

var kevinandamanda = {
src: 'http://username.webs.com/fontname.swf'
};
sIFR.activate(kevinandamanda);

var blogpostfont = {
src: 'http://username.webs.com/anotherfont.swf'
};
sIFR.activate(blogpostfont);

Next, paste this down at the bottom of your blogger-sifr.js file:

sIFR.replace(blogpostfont, {
selector: '#main-wrapper h3',
fitExactly: true,
tuneHeight: -5,
css: ['.sIFR-root { color: #000000; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; }'
,'a { text-decoration: none; }'
,'a:link { color: #000000; }'
,'a:hover { color: #000000; }'
],
wmode: 'transparent',
ratios: [6, 1.93, 10, 1.92, 13, 1.86, 17, 1.82, 21, 1.8, 29, 1.79, 32, 1.78, 33, 1.77, 36, 1.78, 43, 1.77, 44, 1.76, 47, 1.77, 70, 1.76, 71, 1.75, 74, 1.76, 75, 1.75, 76, 1.76, 1.75]
});

Now if you didn’t use a second font and just want to use the same font you’re using for your blog post titles, then you’ll need to change blogpostfont back to kevinandamanda.

You can still play around with the font size and color.

Save the blogger-sifr.js file when you’re done customizing.

Next, to get this to show up on your blog: Write a new post and  switch over to the Edit Html tab.

use a custom font for your posts and titles on your blogger/blogspot blog

Wrap any text that you want to appear in your custom font with <h3> tags, so it might look something like this:

<h3>This text will be converted to a cute font!</h3>
This text will appear in the default blogger font.

That’s it! :)

click here to see a live demo

I will try and answer questions in the comments. (Please leave a link to your blog, or send me an invite if it’s private.)

If you got this to work on your blog, please post a link to your blog here so others can see an example! :)

If you found this tutorial helpful, I’d love it if you put one of my blog buttons on your blog! :)

April 25th, 2009

Geocities Is Closing!

Important Update for those who changed their blog fonts and used Geocities! I just found (a little over a week after I wrote my tutorial, what timing, huh? :p) that Geocities is closing and will be terminating all of their accounts later this year. This means that if you still have any of your font-changing files hosted at Geocities, they will be deleted and the custom fonts on your blog will stop working. But don’t worry! I’ve found a new place (Webs.com) where you can upload your files. (Now don’t go closing on me next week, Webs!)

Basically, here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Create a Webs.com account (Use Advanced HTML Mode)

2. Save the sifr.css, sifr.js, blogger-sifr.js and any SWF files that are currently in your Geocities account and upload them to your Webs.com account

3. Upload a new file, index.htm to your Webs.com account (right click and chose Save As to download the file)

4. Go to the Edit HTML section of your Blogger Dashboard and find the previous Geocities code you pasted. Delete all that and replace it with this:

<link href='http://username.webs.com/sifr.css' media='all' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
<script src='http://username.webs.com/sifr.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://username.webs.com/blogger-sifr.js' type='text/javascript'/>

Where username is your Webs.com site name.

After that your fonts should be functioning just as before. If for some reason it stops working, check and make sure all the files uploaded correctly to your new Webs.com account, and then make sure when you deleted the previous code / pasted the new code in your Blogger Dashboard that there were no typos, you didn’t miss anything, etc. If it worked on Geocities, it will work on Webs.com! :)

*I mentioned that you will have to upload a new file, index.htm. Webs.com will delete all accounts that don’t change their index.htm file within 15 days of opening an account, so to be safe, just upload the one I have provided for you. :) You can also view that file to get some extra tips and tricks for editing your blogger-sifr.js file.

If you need more in-depth instructions, I have updated the tutorial with pictures to reflect the Webs.com changes.

Ok, enough about that. :D

Thank you *sooooo* much to everyone who added a kevinandamanda button to your blog! :) I am so grateful for all your support! I went and looked at every single one of your blogs this week and all of your blogs are totally awesome looking and I am honored that you would put my button up there! :D

Now we have a winner of the $25 gift certificate to SuzyQ Scraps’s store at Enchanted Studio Scraps!!

Congratulations to #31 Annette Bowers! :)

blog-giveaway-winner

The 3rd link did it! :) Annette, the Birthday Calendar on your blog is SO cute!!! :)

And with that- I’m going to take a long, hot bath. ahhhh. This morning Kevin and I decided to take the puppies on a spontaneous hike up to Laurel Falls in Dayton, TN.

Laurel Falls Dayton TN

We had a blast (especially Miley & Howie) and it was really beautiful up there. It was a relatively short hike (2.5 miles to the falls), but the last mile or so was straight. up. I mean, really. I felt the burn. :p I haven’t moved since we got in. Hopefully I’ll make it to the tub.

Buy replica designer handbags and replica designer wallets.