December 22, 2024

GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Crockpot Apple Oatmeal

January 1, 2013 by

photo 3

I love this recipe!  You can throw all the ingredients in the crock pot before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning, breakfast is ready!  I made this Christmas Eve night and we woke up to a wonderful smelling house and had a delicious breakfast ready to go!  Because who wants to cook on Christmas morning?  This would also be perfect for Sunday mornings when you don’t want to cook before church.

What you need:

Two sliced apples (I used Golden Delicious)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 tbsp butter

2 cups oatmeal

4 cups water

crockpot

Directions:

Throw the sliced apples, the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter in the bottom of the crockpot.  Then pour in the oatmeal and then the water on top.  DO NOT STIR.  Cook overnight 8-9 hours on low.  Makes about 4 servings.  Depending on your tastes, you may need to add more sugar or butter to your individual serving 🙂

That’s it!  Easy peasy… and delicious!

God is great, God is good… let us thank Him for our food!

<3 Shauna

PS – you can also find Shauna on her personal blog at www.workhomeplay.net.

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GCH:What’s on Your Plate? – Easy Meatloaf

December 18, 2012 by

meatloaf_shauna

I found this recipe in my mom’s old recipe book the other day and thought I’d give it a try since she wrote “very good” on it 🙂  My picky husband even liked it and went back for seconds, which rarely happens!  It was very simple to throw together so it would make a great weeknight meal.  I paired it with some mashed potatoes and corn….   Let’s get to it!

What you will need:

1 envelope Lipton’s onion soup mix (I used vegetable soup mix since that’s what was in the pantry)

2 lbs ground beef

1 1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup tomato sauce

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

ketchup for topping* (see my note about this below…)

big bowl

spoon

loaf pan

cooking spray

Directions:

Mix all ingredients (except ketchup for topping) together in a bowl.  Spray or grease a loaf pan and place mixture in, smoothing out the top.

*If desired, spread a layer of ketchup on the top (NOTE:  my husband does not like ketchup, so I could not use this as a topping.  My picture shows a “nekkid” meatloaf! LOL)  I also had the idea to put a couple of slices of American cheese on top of the meatloaf a few minutes before it came out of the oven, but he 86’d that idea also.  However, I did smother my slice of meatloaf with ketchup afterwards while the hubby ate his plain.)

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes.

 

God is great, God is good… let us thank Him for our food! 🙂

<3 Shauna

PS – you can also find Shauna on her personal blog, www.workhomeplay.net.

 

 

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Baked Spaghetti

December 4, 2012 by

Baked Spaghetti

This is a very simple recipe, but it tastes great!  It’s a nice solution for those weeknights after work when you’re wondering what to make with the pound of ground beef in the fridge.  You probably have all of this stuff in your pantry and fridge already, that’s one reason why I love it!  I found this online and then tweaked it because my husband and I are picky eaters…  I hope you enjoy! 🙂

What you need:

1 – 8 oz package of spaghetti, cooked

2 tbsp of butter

1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese, divided into 1/2 cups

1 – 8 oz package shredded cheddar cheese

1 – 8 oz package shredded mozzarella cheese

1 lb ground beef

1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (the one I used was 24 oz)

13×9 baking dish

Cooking Spray

Pot or bowl for mixing spaghetti and butter

Spoon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray baking dish with cooking spray.

Brown ground beef, drain and mix with spaghetti sauce, then set aside.

Combine the hot cooked spaghetti with butter and stir until butter melts and coats the spaghetti.  Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, stir.

Arrange spaghetti in an even layer in the baking dish.  Then cover with the entire package of cheddar cheese and sprinkle that with 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.

Cover that layer with the browned ground beef and spaghetti sauce mixture.  Top that with the entire package of mozzarella cheese and then remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil cover and continue baking 15 minutes or until cheese is as brown as you would like.

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Yum!! 🙂

God is great, God is good… let us thank Him for our food!

<3 Shauna

_________________

PS – you can also find Shauna on her personal blog, www.workhomeplay.net.

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Cornbread

November 27, 2012 by

One of my dad’s signature recipes was his cornbread and everyone who tasted it wanted the recipe.  This is not a sweet or cake-like cornbread; it’s simple and savory and goes great with a big bowl of chili or stew.  You can make these in a muffin tin as I did this time or you can pour the entire batch into a cast iron skillet for one big pone of cornbread.  Either way, it’s delicious.  Also, my husband likes to crumble up a couple of pieces of cornbread in a bowl and pour some sweet milk over it like cereal 🙂

You will need:

1 cup self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups self-rising corn meal mix

1 3/4 cup buttermilk

1 egg, beaten

Large bowl

Large spoon

Small bowl and fork for beating the egg

Whisk

12 cup muffin tin or cast iron skillet

Butter or cooking spray for muffin tin or cast iron skillet

Butter for the top of the cornbread

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well with spoon and/or whisk.  Make sure to beat your egg in a separate bowl before adding to the mixture.  I’m not sure why, but I accidentally added it unbeaten to my mix once before and the cornbread did not turn out.  Then pour mixture into greased muffin tin or cast iron skillet.  Bake in preheated 450 degree oven.  If using a muffin tin, bake for 12-13 minutes; if using a cast iron skillet bake for 20 – 25 minutes.  Use a toothpick inserted into the cornbread to determine if it is done.  Toothpick should come out clean.  If the top is not brown when done, put under the broiler for a couple of minutes until brown.  Take out of the oven and butter the tops of the corn muffins or corn pone.

I hope you and your family will enjoy my dad’s cornbread recipe as much as we do!  Please let me know how it turns out for you!

God is great, God is good…. let us thank Him for our food! 🙂

<3 Shauna

_____________________

PS – you can also find Shauna on her personal blog at: www.workhomeplay.net.

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? — Chicken Casserole

November 20, 2012 by

One of my favorite dishes that my mom used to make was her Chicken Casserole… she passed away in 2004 but I am blessed to have her handwritten copy of the recipe.  Every time I make it, it feels like she’s still here.  Food can bring back vivid memories, don’t you think?  I guess that’s why I like to make this recipe often!  I hope you will enjoy it too….

Here is what you’ll need:

2 boxes of Stove Top Stuffing… one Cornbread flavor and one Chicken flavor. (I only had Cornbread and Turkey flavors on hand so that’s what I used here… improvise, people! lol)

2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup… Note: my husband and I are picky eaters and we do not care for mushrooms.  BUT we do like the taste of cream of mushroom soup (weird huh?), so I strain out the mushroom pieces whenever I use it in a recipe.  But if you’re a mushroom fan, by all means, leave them in.

3 large chicken breasts

2 sticks of butter (I used salted, but use whatever floats your boat) – Paula Deen would be proud 😉

2 cans of chicken broth

9×13 baking dish

Extra butter or Cooking Spray to grease the baking dish

First – cook your chicken.  You can do this on the stove in a pot with water or broth.  I like to throw some frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker with water or broth (if I have some handy) and let them cook for 4-6 hours on high.  The chicken will be so tender you can shred it with a fork.  So that’s what I did here.  If you cook your chicken on the stove, you will need to dice it up into small pieces when it’s done.

While that’s happening, you need to get everything else ready in separate bowls.

Dump the two boxes of stuffing into a large bowl.  DO NOT prepare the stuffing as directed on the boxes.  Just throw the dry stuffing into a large bowl.  Then take your two sticks of butter and melt them in the microwave and add to the stuffing.  Mix it up good so the butter covers all of the stuffing.  Now set that aside.

Next, you want to empty your can of cream of mushroom into a medium sized bowl (strained or unstrained, that is the question… ) Save the can and fill it full of chicken broth, then mix that into the cream of mushroom soup.  I use a whisk to make sure it’s mixed well.  Set the cream of mushroom mixture aside for now.

Next, put the two cans of cream of chicken into a large bowl and again, mix in one “can-ful” of chicken broth with a whisk.  Set this aside also.

If you haven’t already, shred or dice your chicken into another bowl.  Now you should have four bowls of ingredients waiting to be united in casserole goodness.  🙂

Spray or grease a 9×13 baking dish and start with a layer of stuffing mixture… use 1/3 of the mixture here.  Then add a layer of chicken… use 1/2 of the chicken here.  Now add in the cream of mushroom mixture then add another layer of the stuffing mixture… use half of what is left in the bowl.  Then add a layer of chicken, use all that you have left.  Then, add the cream of chicken mixture and then top with the last of the stuffing mixture.

Doesn’t that look amazing?  My mouth is watering just thinking about it…. now pop that baby in a 350 oven for 45 minutes or until the edges are bubbling and the top layer of stuffing is golden brown.

Mmmmm mmmm good!  I can’t begin to tell you how good this stuff is.  You just have to make it for yourself…. immediately.  It really is pretty easy to make too.  And this makes enough so that you’ll have leftovers tomorrow!  Hooray!  I’m so glad my mother left me this recipe…. now I’m off to go eat a huge bowl of it!! 😉

God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food! 🙂

<3 Shauna

PS – Shauna can also be found on her personal blog, www.workhomeplay.net.

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Biscuits & Gravy

November 13, 2012 by

Southern Breakfast with Biscuits & Gravy… mmmm mmmm good!

Today I’m sharing my recipes for biscuits and gravy, a Southern staple.  Any Southern girl who’s worth her salt has a good recipe for biscuits & gravy in her back pocket… everybody’s recipe is different and everybody thinks theirs is the best one 😉  Well I’m no different…. These are actually my dad’s recipes.  He loved to cook and had several of his own signature dishes.  Most every Saturday morning while I was growing up, I would awaken to the smell of bacon.  Mom and I would walk into the dining room to see a breakfast buffet set up on the table, including biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, and bacon.  He even made the hash browns from scratch!  I’m not that good, I use store-bought hash browns and I usually persuade my husband to make our scrambled eggs since his always turns out better than mine!

Let’s get started!

 

Biscuits

 

The Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour

5 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup milk

You’ll also need extra flour for your counter top and extra butter to butter the tops when they come out of the oven.

You’ll also need:

Bowl

Large spoon

Cookie sheet

Biscuit cutter or cookie cutter

 

Instructions:

First, mix the flour and butter together in a bowl, using your fingers to work the butter into the flour.  This will take a few minutes, so you can use this time to pray and thank God for butter 🙂 When it looks like little peas in the bowl, it’s done.  I have to admit, I hate getting all that mess under my fingernails, so I use a latex glove for this part.  I’m not crazy, my mother had me tested.

Next, add the milk and mix it in.  Then dump the mixture out on a floured surface and sprinkle flour on the top, then press it out with your hands until it’s about ¼ inch thick.  We like big, thick biscuits, so I leave mine thicker than this, it’s up to you.  Also, instead of messing up my counter top with all that flour, I use a very large baking sheet as my surface.  Then I can just take the baking sheet to the trash can and dump all the excess flour and eliminate all that mess on the counters!

Cut out the biscuits (you can use a cookie cutter or do what I do, I use a large drinking glass to cut them out) and place them on a cookie sheet.  No need to grease the cookie sheet, there’s plenty of butter in the biscuits to keep them from sticking.   Now you’ll notice in my photo above, one of the biscuits is quite large.  That’s what we always called the “pone”.  This happens when you get to the end of cutting out your biscuits and you have about enough dough left for one or one and a half biscuits.  Don’t bother pressing it out and cutting it again, just mash all the dough pieces up good with your fingers and flatten it out, then put it on the cookie sheet.  The pone is always the most desired biscuit of the bunch since it’s a little larger…. I always give this to my husband 🙂

Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes.  When the biscuits are finished baking, remove from oven and butter the tops.  If you make small-ish biscuits, this recipe will make 10-12.  But I like big biscuits, and I cannot lie  – (sorry I couldn’t resist!! LOL) so I only get about 6 biscuits from this recipe.  You can double it up if you want to make more.

 

Now for….

Gravy

 

The Gravy

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 ½ cups water

½ cup oil (or bacon / sausage grease if you prefer)

½ cup self-rising flour

½ teaspoon salt

Pepper to taste

You’ll also need:

Bowl

10-inch skillet

Whisk

Instructions:

Before you begin, mix the milk and water in a bowl and set aside for later.  Then put the oil in your skillet and turn the burner on high.  When the oil is hot, add the flour and salt (and pepper if desired.  I always wait until it’s done to add pepper and more salt, but it’s up to you).  Stir constantly with your whisk until it’s as brown as you want.  I like brown gravy, so in order to get a good, brown gravy as my result, I have to let my flour and oil get pretty brown because after you add the milk and water, it gets a few shades lighter.  Just make sure you don’t let the flour and oil burn.  Burnt gravy doesn’t taste good, just a FYI 😉

When the flour and oil mixture have browned enough for your taste, quickly pour the milk and water mixture into the skillet and whisk rapidly.  Reduce the heat and continue stirring with your whisk to get all the lumps out.  When it gets to the thickness you want, take it off the heat.  My rule of thumb is to stick a spoon in the gravy and hold it over the skillet.  You want the gravy to cling to the spoon and slowly drip off back into the pan.  If it immediately drips off the spoon, it’s too thin.  If it clings to the spoon and doesn’t want to drip off at all, then it’s too thick and you need to add a little water to it.

Now you want to finish the rest of the fixin’s for your breakfast buffet…. Scrambled eggs, bacon (we like turkey bacon best), sausage, hash browns, or whatever else your little heart desires.  Pile it all on a plate, thank God for it, and enjoy.  I hope your family will enjoy this little taste of the South as much as mine does!

God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food!

<3 Shauna

_____________
You can also find Shauna on her personal blog, www.workhomeplay.net.

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Saturdays with Shauna: Photography! Week 4

November 10, 2012 by

Welcome to the final installment on Photography, and also my last “Saturday with Shauna” here on the Singles blog!  In the past three weeks we’ve covered why you should intentionally take more photos of your family and friends, tips on taking better photos, and making albums and wall photos from your digital images.  This week we will discuss archiving because let’s face it, computers crash.  You want to keep your images safe so when disaster strikes, you won’t lose your precious memories.

So after you’ve taken some photos, you download the photos from your camera or memory card to your computer, right?  That’s what most of us do, I believe.  That’s a great start!  You now have the images saved to your computer, but what next?  What if your computer crashes?  Here’s what I recommend:

Get yourself an external hard drive!  They connect to any computer via USB and you can get a lot of space for very little money.  For example, here’s a Seagate external hard drive on amazon.com that hold three terabytes for only $119.99.  Do you know how many photos you could store in three terabytes of space?  A LOT.  Totally worth spending a hundred bucks or so on.

So after you get yourself one of these, as soon as you download your photos to your computer you then want to copy your photos over to the external hard drive.  At this point, your photos are still on your camera, on your computer, and on your external hard drive.  Three places, but we’re still not safe.  You have to delete the photos from your camera/memory card at some point in order to take more photos, so you really only have them saved in two places.  But both your computer and your external hard drive could crash, so what else should we do?  Burn them onto a CD.

Your computer should have a CD drive that is capable of burning discs but if not, you can find USB CD drives fairly cheap.  You’ll want to keep blank CD’s on hand so that you can quickly burn a CD of your new photos.  Label it and file it away somewhere, preferably in a fire-proof safe.  Or if you already have a security deposit box at your bank, your CD’s would be a great addition to that.  If you have neither, you can pick up a small fire-proof safe at your local Wal-Mart or Target for around $30.  It’s worth the investment because not only can you store your photo CD’s in it, but you can also store important documents like birth certificates, marriage certificates, titles, deeds, etc.

At this point, we have our photos on our computer, an external hard drive, and a CD.  I’m assuming by now you’ve deleted them from your camera/memory card so you can take more photos 🙂  In my opinion, this is still not enough.  What if you lose your CD or it gets scratched or broken?  The last thing I’d recommend is storing your photos in a cloud drive online.

Why store your photos online?  Because if your computer crashes, your external hard drive is damaged or lost, and your CD is scratched and can’t be read, you will still have your photos online.  Most online storage websites back up your data also, so chances are pretty good that your photos will always be there when you need them.  Some websites charge a fee, so you may need to shop around to find one in your price range.  Here are some examples:

Flickr – you will need to pay for a Pro account in order to save uncompressed photos.

Photobucket – free unlimited photo storage (with file size limits).

Mozy – paid online data backup, not only for photos, but for all your files.

These are just a few, I’m sure if you do a Google search you can find more to choose from.  There are lots of pros to having cloud storage, but a major con is that websites can be hacked and your photos could be viewed or even stolen.  So even though I recommend it in addition to your computer, external hard drive, and CD storage, you will have to decide for yourself if the risks and costs are worth it to you.

So there you have it.  I hope you have found this series helpful in your photographic journey!  Please be sure to share some of your photos with us on the Facebook community group page and also leave a comment below!

<3 Shauna

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You can find Shauna blogging about her other hobbies such as knitting, crochet, and cooking on her personal website, www.workhomeplay.net.  She also blogs on GCH: What’s on Your Plate? on Tuesdays.

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Pumpkin Bread

November 6, 2012 by

Today I thought I’d share my Grandma Jessee’s recipe for Pumpkin Bread.  My grandma was born in 1902 and died in 1994, which made her 92 years old.  She was the sweetest, God-fearing woman you’d ever want to meet.  For most of my childhood, she lived right next door to us so I’d go over there and hang out with her and help her cook, or watch her “stories” with her.  She always made this recipe around Thanksgiving, so whenever I think of fall recipes, this is my default.  I’ve made a couple of changes to her original recipe to modernize it, such as the Pam Baking Spray and using Self-Rising flour, but the taste is identical.

My Grandma Jessee

Now if you’re like me and have picky eaters in your house or family members with nut allergies, you can choose to omit the raisins and/or pecans.  I made several loafs yesterday – one with raisins and pecans, one with raisins only, one with pecans only, and one without either raisins or pecans.  It’s delicious either way!  I hope you and your family will enjoy this recipe!  Please leave a comment if you make it and let me know how it turned out for you!

PS – a tip for you about eggs… my mother always taught me to crack my eggs into a separate bowl instead of into the bowl with the other ingredients.  This is for two reasons – if you get any shell in there, you can pick it out and also, if you happened to get a bad egg, you won’t ruin your entire mixture by cracking it directly into the bowl! 🙂

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin

4 eggs

1 tsp nutmeg

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 cup oil

2/3 cup water

3 1/3 cup self-rising flour

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped pecans

 

You’ll also need:

Very large bowl

Pam Baking spray

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Spatula

2 – 9x5x3 loaf pans

Mixer

 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except raisins and nuts, mix well.  Then fold in raisins and nuts.  Spray 2 – 9x5x3 loaf pans with baking spray.  Divide batter and pour into each pan.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

ENJOY!! 🙂

_____________

You can visit Shauna at her personal blog for more recipes, crafting, and other fun stuff!  http://www.workhomeplay.net

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Saturdays with Shauna: Photography! Week3

November 3, 2012 by

Welcome to week three of Photography!  Last week, I gave you ten tips on how to take better photos and the week before, I talked about why you should take more photos.  This week, we will cover what to do with all those digital images you now have!  If you’re like me, my photos have generally lived on my hard drive or the memory card.  Not anymore!  I’m making it my mission to print photos and make albums, cards, etc. with my photos from now on!  Are you with me?

First of all, you need prints.  When computers crash a paper print is still there.  Sure, a physical print can be ruined, torn, lost, etc.  But treated properly, a print can last a very long time.  Plus, prints can be more easily enjoyed than digital photos that you have to pull up on your computer or other device in order to view them, especially if you have elderly relatives who are not computer savvy.  If you take the time to print your photos and decorate your home with them and fill albums with them, then others can easily enjoy them along with you!

Look around your house.  How many photos do you have displayed?  Only a few?  None?  That describes me.  For a former photographer, I’ve been really lazy about displaying my own family photos in our home!  If you look around and see many photos, then good for you!  You are a few steps ahead of us! 🙂  For those of us who have little to no family photos on display, we need to get busy.

The first step is looking through all your digital photos and picking out your favorites that you would like to see hanging on your walls or in albums.  When I used to make albums for my photography clients, I would start by making a new folder on my desktop (or anywhere, just remember where you put it).  Then I would look through all the photos and copy the ones I knew I wanted in the album into the new folder.  That way you have them all together in one place.  You can always delete this folder later after you’ve made your prints.  You could make separate folders for events or occasions or a folder for each of your kids and add photos to it throughout the month.  At the end of the month (or whatever time period you decide on), you could make an album for each event or for each child.  If you keep on top of your current photos this way, it makes the process much less painful.  But for those of us who have thousands of photos from years past to sort through, you will just need to set aside a day or maybe a full weekend to do this.  Don’t just say you’re going to do it either, write it on your calendar.  Schedule the time to do this and get it done!

Now that you have your photos together, look at them again and decide if you’d like to make larger prints of any of them for your walls.  Most people think an 8×10 is a “large print”.  Think again!  Take a look at the image below, borrowed from catewatersphotography.com, which compares print sizes.  An 8×10 looks puny in comparison to the others!  And on your wall, it will look tiny and be barely noticeable.  So when it comes to wall prints…. GO BIG!

Photo from: http://catewatersphotography.com

So you have your prints picked out for your album and you’ve selected a couple to print BIG for your wall 🙂  Where do you print them?  Personally, I find that many photo labs at the discount stores have color issues.  They may have cheap prints, but you get what you pay for.  Try to find a local lab that takes the time to calibrate their machines daily.  Their prints may be a few cents more but it will be worth it, plus you’re supporting a local small business!  You could also submit one or two photos to several local labs and compare the colors to see which one you prefer.  If you just can’t find a suitable lab in your area, there are some good online labs you can go to.  Just upload your photos, select print sizes, and submit.  Easy peasy!  My favorites are mpix.com and shutterfly.com.  These labs also offer photo canvases, which will really make your photos look like a work of art!  They are usually a little pricey, but if you have a special photo you really want to show off BIG on your wall, a canvas is worth the extra money!

You can also make albums and photo scrapbooks online through many different websites like mpix.com and shutterfly.com.  So if you’d rather do that instead of making individual prints and compiling your own album, go for it!  The options are endless!

The bottom line is that you have to make an intentional effort to manage your photos.  Set aside some time once a month or once a quarter, whenever you can, and get it done.  Remember, your photos are a legacy that will be cherished for years to come by your children and their children, etc.  I have several albums that belonged to my parents from the 50’s and 60’s and I’m sure they didn’t think they were anything special.  But I do and I’m so thankful they took the time to organize their photos into albums so I could have them now that they’re gone.  So if not for yourself, do it for your kids and grandkids!

Next week, our final week on photography, I will give you some pointers about photo storage, for both prints and digital images.  You’ll want to know how to preserve your digital files so that in the event of a computer crash, you won’t lose them.  And you want to make sure your printed photos will survive for many generations to come.  Your homework is to review some of your past digital photos, pick out some favorites and print them! 🙂

<3 Shauna

PS – you can visit me on my personal blog for recipes, knitting, and other fun stuff!  www.workhomeplay.net

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Saturdays with Shauna: Photography! Week 2

October 27, 2012 by

PHOTOGRAPHY

Last week, I explained to you why it’s so important to take pictures of your loved ones and to do it often and I hope you’ve taken my advice and have been intentionally capturing your memories!  This week, I’m going to give you some basic tips so that your pictures look less like snapshots and more professional and interesting, no matter what kind of camera you have!

 #1 – What’s in the background? 

A cluttered background = a bad picture! (photo swiped from Google, so I blotted out the child’s face)

Pay attention to what’s behind and around your subject!  If you’re taking pictures in the living room and there are toys all over the floor behind your subject, the photo is going to look cluttered and the background will distract the viewer from your subject.  To avoid this, simply move your subject!  Or if you are able to, remove items from the background.  You want a simple background so the viewer’s eye is drawn to your subject, not the junk behind them 🙂

 #2 – Get down on their level! 

When taking photos of kids or pets, try getting down on their level when you take their picture instead of standing and looking down at them.  When you’re on their level, you get a new and interesting perspective in your photos.

 #3 – Don’t center! 

Imagine a grid in the frame to compose your photos

Try putting your subject off-center in your photo.  It creates more interest than having your subject right in the middle of the frame.  Imagine a grid in the viewfinder of your camera and try placing your subject at any of the points where the lines intersect.

 #4 – Get a little closer! 

Fill the frame for beautiful close ups! My son, Gunnar 🙂

Try moving in closer to your subject…. Fill the frame with your subject’s face for a beautiful close-up!  If your camera has a zoom feature, you won’t even have to move closer to them, just zoom in.

 #5 – Try not to use the flash! 

Photo swiped from Google, so I blotted out the girls’ faces… but you can still see the flash shadows behind them. Not pretty!

Using your camera’s on board flash creates background shadows, which are a tell-tale sign of a snapshot.  If possible, place your subject in a well-lit area where flash is not necessary.  If you must use a flash, diffuse it.  For example, wrap some bubble wrap around your camera’s on board flash before you take the photo.  This will scatter the light and eliminate the harsh shadows.  There are many creative and inexpensive DIY ways to create a flash diffuser, just Google and pick one to try!

 #6 – Watch the light! 

Photo swiped from Google, so I blotted out the person’s face… but you can see an example of dappled light on her arm. You wouldn’t want dappled light like this on her face, so pay attention to the light while shooting.

When taking photos outdoors, pay attention to the light and how it falls on your subject.  If you have your subject facing the sun, they will squint their eyes, which doesn’t make for an attractive photo.  If you have them in the shade of a tree, for example, watch to make sure there isn’t dappled light on their face.  The best times of day to take photos is early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the sun is not high in the sky.  FYI, Late afternoon sun produces a beautiful “golden” look in your photos.  If you’re taking photos in the middle of the day and it’s sunny out, you’ll have to be more careful.  If you notice your subject is squinting, ask them to turn in a circle and stop when they are able to open their eyes fully.  Or ask them to move to a shady area cast by a building or a tree.  Another FYI, overcast days are the BEST days to take portraits outside!  The clouds act as a natural diffuser for the sun 🙂

 #7 – Be bossy! 

Who doesn’t love Journey?? 😉 When taking group portraits, don’t be afraid to tell your subjects to move where you want them!

When taking photos of several people, don’t be afraid to be bossy!  If you think it would look better if Uncle Joe moved over a few inches or you need Aunt Betty to stand behind someone, ask them to move!  It’s your shot, so feel free to direct your subjects in order to get the best shot possible.

 #8 – Be bold! 

Experiment with your camera’s settings!

Don’t be afraid of your camera.  Experiment with settings and read your owner’s manual.  If there’s a particular shot you want to take but don’t know how (for example – night photography or fireworks), just Google it and find out how others do it.  You really can’t mess up – there’s always the “delete” button!

 #9 – Use what you’ve got! 

You don’t have to have the fanciest camera on the block, just use what you have!

Don’t think you can’t get good photos just because you don’t own the newest DSLR with all the bells and whistles.  Good photography happens because the person behind the camera has a unique perspective and knows how to get the most out of whatever equipment he/she has.  You can have the latest and greatest DSLR but if you don’t know how to use it, you won’t produce good photos.  So, even if all you have available to you is the camera on your smart phone, don’t despair!  Read up on all the features your camera has and use them!

 #10 – Practice makes perfect! 

Practice makes perfect!

You can read all you want about how to take good pictures but you have to get the camera out and experiment with what you’ve read and experiment with the settings on your camera!  And if at first you don’t succeed, try again!  Keep practicing and implementing these tips and others and I promise, your photos will improve!

I hope you will use these tips and get out there and take some photos!  I want to see photos posted in the fellowship group on FB this week! 🙂  Remember, you have the opportunity to preserve your precious memories, so do it!

<3 Shauna

Shauna Jared’s personal website is www.workhomeplay.net.

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