Want an easy way to add a little drama to your photographs? I shot this image of Kelly and besides the teen drama she really pops on this image against the blue background.

The only thing besides a flash unit for your camera are some CTO (Color Temp Orange) gels. For this shot I used Rosco Cinegel Roscosun CTO Full and Rosco Cinegel Roscosun CTO 1/2 combined together. The shot was done outside on a cloudy day for the background texture with a wide angle lens.

First start by setting your White Balance in your camera to Custom and set the color temperature to Tungsten or 3,200 K. Then shooting in Aperture priority mode adjust the EV +/- value to under expose by 1 and 1/3 of a stop or – 1.3. Add the filters to your flash. I just added them one on top of each other and taped them over the flash head or use a holder if you happen to have one and shoot away! The flash itself was in manual mode set to full power.

Don’t forget to set your White Balance back to Auto or normal when done.

Our photography so often focuses on tack sharp images perfectly in focus. What if we go the other way? What if we capture motion? What can that show us? What stories can motion tell?

Whether intentional or accidental movement in our photos can bring them alive. It might give them an ephemeral look, creating a feeling of curiosity or mystery for our viewer. It might show emotion of the moment. At a recent benefit I watched friends danced and snapped several photos. They were sharp and you could see expression, but they just didn’t capture the moment as I felt it. I exposed for her face, ignored the fact my shutter speed was too slow and captured something I liked even more. Something that said she was alive and excited about the moment.  Life is movement and motion. How about capturing some on a page?

Good Times

If you shoot in Manual mode, you can easily slow your shutter speed down. If you want to try Shutter Priority, try setting your shutter speed for 1/50 a second or slower. The slower the shutter, the more movement you will capture. If you are on Auto, try switching to the Landscape mode on your camera. Your shutter will slow down and grab motion for you. Play with it until you get an effect you like.

Share your motion in the PageKraft: Write True+Click Gallery.

Congratulations to lindapiersma. Her layout Wandering LT - Kailua has been selected as the featured layout of the week where she won a $ 5 DesignerDigitals Gift Certificate for product of her choice!

This week’s Adobe Photoshop or Elements tip of the week is now available on video. This weeks tip is on Temporary Zoom Tools in Photoshop and PSE.

I love how this week’s inspiration layout by Amy (aka MyMalloryBoys) literally turns a traditional scrapbook page design on its head:

Not only has Amy built up a blocked layout vertically rather than horizontally, she has also placed thinly cropped photos at the top at bottom of the page. Add in the cute thought bubble and the lovely patchwork effect of the patterned papers and digital stitching, and you have a unique and eye-catching page. Part of the fun of digital scrapbooking is the ability to resize, crop and move around photos and elements and try out limitless numbers of possible designs so make the most of that and try something unexpected now and then!

And in the meantime, you might like to try a scraplift of this creative, fun page just as Lisa, Sharon and I did:

Credits: layout by Lynn, Kids Are Cool Wordart by Ali Edwards, Journal Strips No.01 by Katie Pertiet, To the Woods kit by Lynn Grieveson.

Credits: Layout by Sharon, Samara Paper Pack by Jesse Edwards, Stitching by Anna Aspnes, Botanic Gardens collection Tailed Journalers, Home and Garden kit, Fine Lines Borderlines No.04, Roughed Up Solids Eggplant Harvest paperpack, Letterbox Edgers brushes and stamps by Katie Pertiet.

Credits: layout by Lisa, Spot Dots brushes and Stamps No.04, Splatters No.02, Negative Sleeves No.02, Date Spots, Clock Parts No.01, Notebook Edge Frames, Stitched Journal Strips, Basic Paper Alphabet: Chocolate and Whimsy Words No.06by Katie Pertiet, Stitching, T00th fAiRy element set, tOOth fAiRy wordart and tOOth fAiRy pattern paperie by Anna Aspnes, Hint at it No.05 brushesby Lynn Grieveson, Fasten Its No.03y Pattie Knox, 12inch story stripsy Ali Edwards, Just Linens paperpack No.07 by Michelle Martin.