Making fun and easy videos

by Lara I've been wanting to make fun little videos of the kids for awhile but I often get derailed when trying to figure out how I would do it: what software would I need? Where do I find copyright free music?

Then I remembered a program I've seen a lot of photographers use and decided to try it out : Animoto.

It was easy as anything.  Free if you're happy with videos that are 30 seconds or less or for $30 for the year, you get access to more themes and you can make your videos as long as you want.

It was super straightforward to figure out and within minutes I had made this video:

Then I saw they were advertising their iPhone app so I downloaded that and then created another video right from my phone (nothing could be more convenient since my phone and iPad are where I take all my videos of the kids)

Have you ever played around with making fun little videos of the kids? What do you use?

Do you take the time to take video?

by Lara I'm not great at remembering to take video of the kids, heck, some months I'm not good at remembering to take photos of the kids.  But every once in awhile, as I look back through the videos we HAVE taken I realize just what a wonder the videos are.

Memories

Videos are a great way to remember more than just what your kids looked like at that time in their lives.  The way they sounded, just how much they could talk or not talk, the excitement of learning to walk, etc.

It's so lovely to just look back at those times and remember

Juliette at 13 months

Kiernan, 4.5, singing waving flag

For Christmas Kiernan got a very funny/gross gift. I recorded us trying it out :)

Entertainment

As much as I love the videos for the value of wonderful memories I sometimes wonder if the bigger memories isn't the HOURS of entertainment we can have watching the videos again! The kids ADORE watching videos of themselves when they were younger!

Quinn, 6 months old, gets the giggles

Kiernan was an early talker - here he is at 13 months. I think he sounds clearer here than one of my 2.5 year olds ;)

How

A lot of smart phones can take videos - does yours? I have a flip camera which makes it very easy to take a short video and upload it without needing to download anything off cassette. Whatever way you use, just remember to capture the little moments. And share them - we'd love to see some of yours!

Do you take video of your kids?

Kids in the Capital Christmas Home Tour

by Carly

Stemming from a conversation over at the Kids in the Captital Facebook group (if you haven't joined yet but are interested, you can find all the details here) we're thrilled to host a Christmas Home Tour for the first time. Now before you start panicking about strangers parading through your home this holiday season, here are the details:

This virtual tour will take place on Friday, December 16th. On that day you'll find a post here with a Mr. Linky at the bottom. Prior to December 16th, decorate your home for the holidays (if you're celebrating something other than Christmas, by all means, please participate) and take some photos, as many or as few as you like. You can show off just a few of your favourites, or take us through your entire home - it's totally up to you!

Post your photos on your blog, on Flicker, Tumbler, or even a public Facebook Photo Album. Anywhere you can link to them in order to share with our community. Feel free to share some background stories on your photos, a favourite holiday recipe or even some decorating tips you've learned over the years - it's all up to you! On December 16th, come back here and post your link on the Mr. Linky.

Then, in the comfort of your own home (and I prefer in the comfort of my pj's), you can curl up with a mug of eggnog or hot chocolate and start touring!

Just a few guidelines . . .

Please do post photos of your holiday decorating, whatever your reason for the season.

When posting outdoor shots, you may want to consider ensuring house numbers and the like are obscured.

If you're so inclined, it'd be lovely if you left a short comment (where possible) on the blogs/albums you visit.

Happy decorating!

Carly has red hair and occasionally the temper to match.  She loves potatoes, rainy nights, photography, her husband and her 5 year old son, Jacob.  Probably in reverse order.   She also blogs.

Photography : time to hit print

by Sara If you're like most parents you probably have hundreds if not thousands of photos stored on your computer or your camera's memory card.  And if you're like most parents the most recent photos on your walls are probably from two years ago.

With digital photography it's a lot easier to take and store photographs but it also makes it a lot harder to print and frame them since you can see them anytime you want on your computer.

Here's my advice: Just do it!  Just print your photos.

They don't need to be professional shots; they can be any photo you love, like, or even just a moment you want to remember.  They don't have to be huge: 5x7 or 8x10 will do.  They don't have to be expensive; may I suggest Costco or www.kodakgallery.ca (they ship to your house for $2.99)? They don't need to be professionally framed; all my frames are the Ribba series from IKEA (a nice 8x10 frame, with mat, is $12.99).  If the thought of creating a symmetrical arrangement is stressful then just hang them willy-nilly in a cluster at different heights and different spacing's so that the chaos looks intentional ;)  Or hang just one on each wall (make sure its proportional to the wall - the massive two-storey space in your living room needs more than a 5x7): I hang most of my 5x7's on the those awkward 1.5-3 foot spaces in between doors and rooms.

I have several poster-size enlargements in my living room / dining room / studio and those photos haven't been rotated or changed in over a year.  I'm hoping to get some new shots from our upcoming family photo session to replace the ones that are framed.  The rest of the photos in the house (mainly 8x10's) are changed every 4-12 months.  The photos I take down are either passed on to family members, put in an album, discarded, or, for larger prints, stored in an Artist Portfolio & Presentation Book (like this one, available in different sizes at Michael's).

I think choosing which photos to print is often paralyzing: it's not perfect; not everyone loves it; I'm not sure if I should choose this one or this one; I don't know where to hang it etc.  As a photographer, I still face the same dilemma - too many photos, not enough walls, not enough time.  My first step is always deciding where I wanted to hang photos, choosing what size frames I wanted on those walls, and then choosing the photos to fill those spaces.

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 5-year-old ” firefighter” and 3-year-old “monkey”.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.

Social Media Monday : Flickr

by Angela So, it is Monday and you have some lovely photos from your wonderful weekend family foray...

...that you would like to share with your family

...that you can't wait to blog

...that you would like to crop and convert to black and white...and fix that red eye your son is suffering from;)

...that you would like some input on, to find out why your night shots are so shaky

Which photo sharing site can you join where  you can find all this and so much more?

Even a group dedicated to *kids in the capital* readers and contributors? Flickr of course.

Flickr.com is a photo sharing website, acquired by Yahoo, that offers sharing and storage services. Last year it was purported to have had  5 billion images uploaded to the site.

A menu of basic services are available with a Free account ( 300MB of photo uploads, 2 video uploads and participation in 10 groups ).

A Pro account can be had for 24.95 a year, providing unlimited online photo and video storage, tools to keep your photos organized, a choice of privacy levels, photo editing capability through picnik, online print services from snapfish and the ability to upload your photos directly from your Flickr stream to your blog or twitter. And more.

What Flickr also offers is a community. From beginner to specialized pro, there is a group for everyone...and everything. Regional groups are popular, like Positively Ottawa and Canon EOS Digital Ontario, as are theme or inspiration groups like Bench Monday, Face Down Tuesdays, Six Word Story or a number of groups dedicated to 365 projects ( a photo a day for a full year ).

There are also groups available specifically to women photographers, teen photographers, film shooters, Polaroid enthusiasts...any arena that a photographer could hope for. Some groups exist to showcase work only while others allow and encourage you to interact with fellow members. The Flickr Central group is a good place to start for general information.

Uploading to Twitter or posting a public photo your blog is as easy as clicking a tab above your photo, once you set up your profile. The embedded photo then links right back to your Flickr stream, where you can introduce your readers to more of your work.

Social media with a photographic twist. How awesome is that? There is flickrmail, tagging and commenting available on photos. You can also link your Flickr to your Facebook and get creative with  photo mosaics and so much more through * bighugelabs*.

The potential for fun with your photos on flickr is huge.

There are also several apps available for the iPad to make your Flickr experience that much more enjoyable.

And with thousands of photos being uploaded from across the world every minute...yes, thousands a minute...there is inspiration to be found at every turn.

Our own *kids in the capital* blog has had a Flickr group for a while now.

In it's original form, it provided a place to share photos taken for photo challenges designed to inspire our photo taking, introduced on the blog in the Spring of 2009. Now, for 2011, we are expanding the scope of the group. We are inviting all *kids in the capital* readers and contributors to join our Flickr group. The group is family friendly and welcomes photos of your families enjoying Ottawa area activities, celebrating holidays or just hanging around the house:). Looking to improve your photo taking skills? Ask questions in the group - there are several experienced photographers already in the group, happy to share tips and ideas.

The *kids in the capital* flickr group is  linked to the blog, allowing the group photos to be showcased in the sidebar. We have a great gang of writing contributors that share with the blog, and now the group has a place for it's photographers:).

Signing up with Flickr only takes only a minute or two and is a fabulous option for anyone looking to connect and learn and socialize, all around the the photographs you make.

See you in the group!

Angela is mom to a teen, tween and toddler, wife of an intrepid businessman, master of two big dogs and she loves her camera-baby very much. She is a displaced montrealer living in Long Sault, Ontario. She blogs at From the Dock.