I have not hosted a non-hybrid challenge since August! My style tends to lean to the simplistic side of the spectrum. I also either tend to use just one photo (don’t like to waste space) or lots of photos (to help tell the whole story – afterall I took the photo for a reason – didn’t I ).

Today we are going on a simple journey, I hope you will join me! Simply follow the 8 steps to a fabulous page.

1. Use only new items that you have not scrapped with before.
2. Use 3 peices of paper – one of which should be patterned.
3. Add at least one row of stitches.
4. Use no more than 2 pictures (you can cut the pictures up as much as you want though – but remember we are taking a simplistic journey today).
5. Include an element of nature. You can use as many other elements on your page as you want but remember to keep it simple.
6. Be sure to tell the story. Have at least 3 lines of journaling.
7. Title your page in an unusual way, date if you like.
8. Add fabulous shadows and your finishing touches.

This is what I came up with following my directions. Love the final destination. This uses:
Dandilion Wishes from Jenn Barrette
Get Real – Realistic Drop Shadow Styles from Jenn Barrette
Fonts: Pea Paula Pepin and Pea Kiley

And here is what some of our CT has come up with… Fabulous stuff!!!

From Tanja:
This Is How I Roll by Wimpychompers Creations

from Sara
Forever Treasured: Bundle by WM[squared] & Sya’s Blueprints

From Melissa
 Spunky Monkey by Designs by Srah Bennett
Fonts- Pea Prochazka and Pea Stacy Fancy

From Bonnie
History Lessons, Chelle’s Creations (black paper & stitching); Black, White & Red All Over, Britt-ish Designs (starry paper & ribbon)
Elements: A Halloween Nightmare Add-On, Britt-ish Designs (owl); Date Stamped, Britt-ish Designs
Alpha: Tell Me More Kit, Chelle’s Creations (& ric rac)
Font: Amy, Jeni Hopewell
Template: EZ Templates 9, Erica Zane

From Amy:
Love Blooms by Jennifer Barrette
Get Real – Realistic Drop Shadow Styles by Jennifer Barrette

From Lori -
Stolen Moments/Jessica Edwards – 10 Tiny Toes “Angel”

From Becca:
Connie’s Mouthwash Mambo pack, and Connie’s Full of Grace kit

Here are the rules:

*You have until the end of March to post your entry. Be sure to post it to the “Roadmap to Scrap” gallery and link it back to the thread in the forum.

*No double-dipping! This challenge CANNOT be combined with any other ScrapMatters challenge or Speed Scrap. Your layout must be unique to this challenge.

*You can earn an extra point for using any new Scrap Matters product during the first week of its release. Be sure to note the new product in your layout description and your post in the thread on the forum. In order to get your bonus point, it does need to be noted on your forum post.

*You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but we love it when you do!

*I will draw one random person for an extra point, at the end of the month.

Krisi

Hello Henriette here with this months photochallenge and we will be talking about “camera shake” and “out of focus”.

From an article by Elizabeth Halford

There are may ways an image can be made unsuitable. Camera shake and poor focus are two of them. How does it happen? How can you prevent it? And what if you don’t even have one of those ‘fancy schmancy’ cameras?
This article is about how to prevent them from happening.

{Camera Shake}
Camera shake and the resulting motion blur are a result of the camera moving during the time of exposure. Which means that there is movement while the shutter is open and the sensor is gathering information. For particularly long exposures (like evening landscapes or trying to capture a waterfall in soft, beautiful motion), a tripod will be necessary. But even the movement caused by putting your finger on the shutter button can cause blur so you can use a remote control or set the self timer and take your hands off.
If you use a point-and-shoot, camera shake and blur could be a problem if you’re not operating in the appropriate mode. For instance, trying to capture running children in portrait mode will probably result in motion blur. Try sports mode.

For the DSLR users, the heavier the camera, the more stable it will be and less likely to be moving about due to hand tremor. Research proper camera holding and stance for maximum stability.
Some lenses have IS (image stabilisation) options which help to reduce camera shake (and battery life!)
Camera shake becomes less and less a problem the faster your shutter speed and the more light is available. If you’re in low light, opening your aperture to let in more light will allow you to quicken your shutter speed, but then you might have to battle poor focussing.

{Out of Focus}
My pet peeve is improper focus. I’m sure the majority of photographers operate in auto focus mode, unless they’re photographing still life. This means that we allow the camera to focus for us and it does it in a variety of ways.

If you use a point-and-shoot, the solution is pretty simple. You hold down the shutter button halfway until focus is achieved and then push it the rest of the way down. The only reason you’d be likely to end up with poor focus is, as I said before, you’re shooting in an improper mode. For example, you’re shooting a landscape in macro mode.
For us DSLR users, focus becomes another monster all together. Consult your camera’s manual and familiarise yourself with the focus modes and the focus areas because both of these factors result in proper focusing.

Ok and the challenge this week is: show one of your photo’s go wrong by camera shake or out of focus and maybe the reason why that happened!

Here is my not so sharp picture, in this case it was camera shake. My youngest wouldn’t stand still for a picture so I just took a snap very quickly and it shows !

Please read the posting rules too, especially about posting in the right gallery, thank you!!

1. Upload your photo (and LO if you have one) to the appropriate gallery, then please link it back to the challenge in the forum
2. Just one entry per person will be eligible for a point, one extra point can be earned for doing a LO with the picture and if you win the challenge you also gain one extra point
3. The pictures must be especially made for this months challenge
4. No double dipping with other challenges please

And here are the examples on how not to, from:

TanyaH666
Here is why this happened: I have to slow down my shutter speed ALOT to get enough light, to take pictures in my house without a flash. So if i move even a little bit while taking a picture i get blur. So that along with the fact that she wouldn’t stay still resulted in this picture:

even in blur her puppy looks cute!

And another one from:

hoo-rah
I think this blurry shot is the result of both a camera shake and improper focus. First, my daughter was in a fit of giggles when I was trying to take this, so she wouldn’t stop moving (happens a lot). Second, the auto focus and auto flash on my point and click had been adjusted (anonymously), and there was not enough natural light in the shot to get proper focus….hence, the blur.

And doesn’t her daughter still looks very sweet in that picture?

.