Hi,
If you are a bit like me and enjoy a little bit of DIY jobs at least when it comes to crafts, maybe not to put up your own book shelves. :) I love it when you get gifts when you can tell there have been some thought put into it and not just a random tie or a pair of socks. (oops I gave my hubby a tie for Christmas) Ok so don’t do as I do, do as I say :-)
While you still have your Christmas decorations up take advantage of it and plan next years Christmas cards already now.
It does not have to be difficult, go and get your christmas ornaments,
choose some of your favorite ones, if you have children it can actually be some of the ornaments that they have made in the past that can make a lovely and sentimental christmas card both at the same time.
This is my daughters first Christmas so we don’t have any ‘special’ ornaments yet only what I bought at ACE hardware last year.
What you need to make this Christmas card:
- A camera (does not need to be a dslr, any camera will do. It is all in the composition)
- Christmas ornaments
- Printer (or go to your local Kodak shop)
- Computer (not necessary if you go to your local Kodak shop, unless you want to add text to the photo, but I think your local printing shop can actually help you with that as well.)
- Hard thick paper (you can get this in your local stationary shop, or Carrefour and Hyper Panda also have them)
- Scissors or paper knife or paper cutter
- Glue
- Ruler (to make sure you cut in straight lines)
- Large piece of paper or sheet (for your background so can be anything that you would like to have as a back ground colour in your photographs, can be your christmas tree as well)
Ok there are a few things that you should think about when arranging your ornaments. If you have really shiny ones then you will probably get a reflection and see everything that are behind the camera. Such as yourself and anything else. I for example saw myself with my tripod and my washing that was hanging on a clothe horse behind me to the side.... Not what I want all my friends to see in their christmas card.
This is what my set up looked like. I used my washing basked upside down to get the ornaments off the floor. You can also use a table or what ever you have at home that is suitable for you.
Once I realized that I saw myself and how messy the room I used was I started to dislike all the ornaments that had a reflecting surface. You can of course edit those areas in photo shop but my motto is to get it right in the camera so that you don’t create extra work for yourself afterwards, as much as you can at least.
Also remember to dust off your ornaments to make sure they look really nice. Because in a photograph you see everything. I saw on some of mine that a strand of my own hair was stuck in it I was very annoyed with myself that I had not seen it when I composed the photograph. Since I had missed it I edited it out in photoshop afterwards.
When you compose your photograph think of if you would like some text to go on the photograph it self. You then need to ‘save’ some space in your photograph for it so that you have the same background. If you add more space afterwards in photoshop or other software you will be able to tell that you have done exactly that.
Here are some finished photographs. You now just need to print them in the size you want and glue them to a card and post them.
You can of course give me a call and I can come and take a family photograph of you and your family and use that on your christmas cards. Tel. +971 (0)55 107 89 88 Ask for Helen
I can also help you with printing your own A5 size Christmas cards they are folded and plain inside. I have a professional printing company that I use for that.
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