Thursday, October 29, 2009

How I Almost Went Crazy Taking a Picture of a Wreath

 Originally posted in October, linked Nov. 24th to Red Writing:



I didn't know what to name by post today.  I could have also used "Why I Don't Judge What Books People Want Anymore."  Much better, huh? 

You see, when we first opened the bookstore, I was pretty critical of what books people wanted.  Especially when people wanted books on digital photography.  Oh sure, I could understand the reasoning behind wanting a book about old-fashioned photography, with all the settings you had to change and all.  But with a digital camera you just point and shoot, right?  Wrong.  I learned that last night. 

I took 36 (yes, I counted) pictures of my finished wreath trying to get a picture.  After about 20 shots I realized that I could change the settings on my camera from Auto Adjustment to Twilight or High Sensitivity.  Duh.  I never knew what all those different settings were for.  So without furthur ado, here are some pictures.  Don't judge.  I never said that after all the effort any of the pictures turned out good!

Here's some of what I started out with.  I got all my ornaments at the Dollar Tree (everything's $1) except for the tiny ornaments.  I got them at Hobby Lobby ($1.99/pack @ 50% off). The wreath was $6 or $7 at Michaels.



Here's the wreath almost completed. (I took this one at the bottom of the stairs from the den to the kitchen.  I think it's one of the better shots).


One of the pictures during the first series.  This is on auto adjustment.



Here's the same shot as above, taken looking down on my kitchen table, but on another setting.  I think this setting is called twilight.  (If you look closely you can see our light fixture in each of the shiny ornaments.  Reminds me of Disney's Cinderella when she's scrubbing the floor and wishing she could go to the ball and suddenly she has a chorus of Cinderellas who live in the bubbles singing with her.)



Here's another one I took at the top of our stairs on the high sensitivity setting.




The only thing I really need to do is get something to cover up the spots of naked styrofoam.  At least I spraypainted it red before I started.


Poor photo quality aside, I know the wreath is still not perfect.  It sure doesn't look like this one.  But as The Nester says, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." And Shane said it was great and to stop while it looked good.  I don't think he really realized what it even was, though, because he asked me when I was going to hang it up.

Ok, on to something else that doesn't involve a glue gun (see, in my rant about the camera I didn't even START on the glue gun.)

6 comments:

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

Can I just say I am IMPRESSED that you have made a wreath already. Gold star for you! =)

I'd love to make one of these. I saw something similar on Eddie Ross last year as well. Very clever. =)

Thanks for visiting our blog.

Abbie said...

Very cute! I'm going to attempt one like this in next couple of months. I collected my ornaments as they went on sale in January. I hope it's as pretty as yours!

Jayne said...

Love the wreath and love the camera story! I've struggled endlessly with my digital camera. Finally learned to redo every pic in PhotoShop. Lot less stressful!
Christmas Blessings,
Jayne at mysongwithin

Kelly said...

Your wreath looks great! I love that you did it in one color, I'm in the middle of making one like yours now but ran out of the christmas balls. Just discovered your blog throught the Red Writing 12 weeks of Christmas project!

laterg8r said...

what a beautiful wreath, even if it is hard to photograph - we have the same camera :D

Amy @ Design-Aholic said...

Gotta love those red ornament wreaths! ;)