Since in the Philippines wedding venues are normally separate from the reception, wedding crashers are allowed to attend the wedding but there is protocol. During the wedding proper, you cannot make a grand entrance at the front door, you might become the focus of attention especially during the part of "whoever holds their peace".

For this wedding picture, I gate crashed the Manila Cathedral through the left side door. It was a really convenient entrance since I sat behind the string quartet.

The wedding was beautiful.  Since I can’t help myself, I took shots of the interior. Wedding crasher etiquette requires NO FLASH used.  Crashers are not allowed to disrupt the wedding.

After the couple walked out, I slipped out through the side door towards the front of the church. Unfortunately the couple was having their shots taken with the church as a background, so I had to wait at the back of the wedding photographers. It is  very bad etiquette to walk in front or behind the couple during the photo session.

Enjoy the result of my wedding crash photo opportunity.

So tagging along to the crew of the Goodfellas, I brought along my trusty Nikon 5700 (its my smallest Digital Camera) which is a cross between an SLR and a Point and Shoot.

To my surprise, I learned a great deal about mixing photography with booze and bars. These are tips I can share with you:

1. Clubs don’t always allow clients with SLRs to enter their premises.  My trusty Nikon 5700 occasionally was permitted except for those Clubs that are more strict in their rules. I had to leave my Nikon behind in the reception area for some of those clubs.

2. Lighting can be a problem in nightclubs.  Point and Shoot cameras are usually much slower to take photos than the SLRs in total darkness and using full Flash.

3. Timing is everything.  Using the No Flash feature of my point and shoot gave me some awesome shots but required timing the disco light to be flashed on. I wasted a lot of shots because my timing was a bit off and hence captured a lot of totally dark photos.

4. You get different results depending on the flash setting.  To capture these two photos of a bar drink in Manor Super Club using both the Flash and the No Flash feature of my point and shoot Digital Camera was tricky.

5. Bar surfaces will impact your results.  Some bars have lighted surfaces, some have unlighted, some are wood, some are stainless steel, some are glass . . . all these factors can make or ruin a perfectly good shot.

This set of photos was taken from a lighted table. The first one with full Flash and the second with No Flash.

If you are a photography geek like I am, carry your digital camera while clubbing to increase your indoor photography skills. 

After doing a couple of cross stitch projects, I already got bored doing the available patterns so I decided to make my own custom patterns. My first cross stitch pattern was a cartoon character which I made with 20 colors.

My early works look amateurish since my current cross stitch patterns are designed from photos. Seeing the sample beside this paragraph, you may wonder how a complex cross stitch pattern is designed from photos.

There are a lot of professional cross stitch pattern makers out there. In my experience, these patterns have a tendency to come out looking flat.

Most of my clients want their grandkids, wedding or pet photos done in a conventional cross stitch pattern.   Photos are sent to me via email or snail mail.

Always start with a great photo.  Original blurry photos will also come out as blurry.

Designing Your Cross Stitch Pattern

Before designing your pattern make sure you have the answer to these questions:

• How many thread colors do you want?
• How big of a project do you plan to make?
• What size is your cloth count?

My final patterns don’t  use back stitch or half stitch or 1/4 stitch, just pure cross stitch.  First  readjust the photos before making the preliminary pattern.

Next step is to check how many DMC colors you want.

Why DMC colors?

Because DMC has the greatest number of color shades versus the other brands. I have a complete DMC thread collection to choose my colors.

Next compute the final cross stitch pattern size. If you want a 15 x 20 photo, then you compute it by the cloth count. For example, a 14 count cloth is multiplied by 20 inches then you will get  280 squares to reach the 20 inch mark.

Producing Your Final Cross Stitch Pattern

Sometimes the finished pattern comes out as very dark or very light, so the pattern is adjusted again. Since I have been doing cross stitch for a long time, I can detect whether I still need to tweak the final pattern or not. 

When you have a final decision on the color shades used in the pattern,  either save the pattern in JPG or PDF.  Processing may take from 5 hours to a couple of days, depending on the original photo or JPG.

A vast majority of these files are sent via email. Why do I prefer sending these patterns as a whole digital file and not printed out? The reason is very simple . . . a majority of my clients either lose some of the pages or make a mistake in crossing out finished boxes. 

This gives them the security  that their patterns are also saved in their respective email accounts. They, also, have the  option of having their patterns printed out in bigger fonts. Not all of us have 20-20 vision.

Once you have finished your first custom photo cross stitch project, you will never want to return to mass produced patterns.  Any photo can become a work of art. 

We went by car to the chapel of Hubberholme (St Michael and All Angels). It was a scenic trip and we passed many historical sites along the way.

When we reached the inner roads, they were only large enough for 2 small cars to pass. Some of the Hubberholme property is surrounded by 4-5 ft tall stone walls. These are not cement walls but natural stones stacked on top of one another.

I managed to acquire a free brochure of the chapel titled "Discover Churches in Wharfedale" by Mike Harding, so some of the pertinent Hubberholme Chapel details came from that brochure: 

"The rugged and remote forest chapel with its short, unbuttressed Norman tower, has a very remarkable rood loft  of 1558, one of only two to survive in Yorkshire (the other being at Flamborough). There is a rare polygonal font: the pews are made by "Mouseman" Thompson of Kilburn. The writer, J B Priestley, is buried here."

Took a photo of the interior of the chapel around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The only light that came through was from the glass paned window and the front door. By taking a shot from the left portion of the altar, I managed to get some details of the interior but not a very clear shot of the glass window.

The insignia of Mouseman Thompson looks like a very small mouse carved at the left side of the pew near the bottom. 

The tombstone of the writer is located on the right side of the entrance of the chapel, which is partially obscurred by the chopped off trunk of a tree. A tip for taking photos of structures like these is to walk around and get the best angle.

What I regret is not taking additional film for just that sort of trip. It was a once in a lifetime look at some of the off the track tourist spots.

What makes Michael Jackson’s music videos unusual is his use of digital enhancement.  Graphics techniques commonplace today were new concepts for music videos.

A favorite of mine is the video of the song "Black or White" which reportedly cost millions to produce. The almost seamless morphing of the faces from all races from one to another made a lot of people sit up and say "wow."

Today we see this innovation in video games and video manipulation software. Facial recognition software used by the current popular shows like CSI, Bones and others is a crossover from Michael Jackson music videos.

I was always waiting for Michael Jackson’s newest hit so that I could watch his current videos. Watching his videos was an education in state of the art graphic techniques. Michael Jackson was a loss not only to the photographic arena but to the world.

Before building a custom home, drive around communities with the particular home style that you love and shoot digital photos. Always have a camera available even if you only have a camera phone.  You never know when you will see a feature that you want to include in your design.

We recently built a craftsman style home.  The above photo was part of our inspiration portfolio. We gathered hundreds of photos of craftsman homes, prairie windows, siding, colors, dormers, floor plans, stone work, fixtures, driveways and craftsman columns that we liked.  

Photos will help you zero in on your favorite choices. Here are a few tips to help you gather your inspiration portfolio:

Note Home Locations

One mistake that we made when capturing photos was failing to record the location of our inspiration homes. Since we took photos in various areas of our city, we often wanted to return to a particular house but we didn’t have the location.

Sometimes you will want to go back to get a photo at a different angle or to ask questions.  Without the address, you could be out of luck.

Ask Homeowners for Advice

You may want to ask a homeowner questions like the manufacturer of their windows, siding, roof or doors.  You might even want to know the name of their architect. 

Telling a homeowner that you love their home goes a long way.  We found many reliable subcontractors just by asking for references.    

Visit Model Homes in New Communities

When you look at home plan books, it is hard to get the feel of room sizes and the flow of rooms.  Fireplaces, window seats and bead board which make a craftsman home unique have to be seen in perspective.  By walking through model homes, you will discover perfect room sizes, layouts, traffic patterns and conveniences that you might miss from studying plans.

Gather interior floor plans and community brochures.  Note features that you want to include in your design. Use your digital camera to record rooms and exteriors that you don’t want to forget.

Take Online Tours of Homes For Sale

Online tours will allow you to look at hundreds of homes in a short period of time.  You can visit homes for sale all over the world with the click of your mouse. 

You will get a wealth of ideas.  Use SnagIt to gather photos and organize your photos in a Google Picasa folder.

Reduce Costs Building Your Dream Home

After only a couple of hours of discussion and handing our builder consultant our inspiration portfolio, he  came back with a near perfect design.  Without doing a lot of the legwork, we would have paid more billable hours for consulting and design changes.  Plus we wouldn’t have gotten our dream home design. 

There is not a thing we would change about our finished home.  Knowing exactly what you want, will save you from regrets and heartache.  

Continue Capturing Photos During Construction

You may only build one custom home in your lifetime.  Don’t miss taking photos throughout each building stage. 

Make sure to get pictures of wiring, pipes, footers, framing, etc.  These photos may help you show housing inspectors that you followed code guidelines.  Plus photos can be helpful for adding stereo speakers, lights or wiring after a few years.

Make a Photobook

Friends and family will be curious about the process of building your home.  You can compile a photobook of your experience including the inspiration photos for your house and pictures of wonderful subcontractors that helped you build your dream home.

Selling your home in a difficult market can be a challenge.  Most savvy home buyers browse online so your home’s virtual tour will either help attract buyers or drive buyers away.  In many cases, your house will be pre-sold if a buyer falls in love with your virtual tour.

Realtors usually hire a professional photographer for their virtual tours.  Unfortunately these photographers rarely will give you extra time so you need to completely stage your home before they arrive.  Here are a few tips:

Take Your Own Digital Photos First

Home owners get so used to looking at their homes that they are blind to the flaws. Photos help you study your home objectively from a buyer’s perspective.  

Is there a garbage can or kitchen appliances that should be removed?  Do your rooms look like Southern Living or a horror show? 

Make staging corrections and retake your photos until you are satisfied.  If worse comes to worse, you can provide your own photo to replace a professional photo that doesn’t meet your approval.

Study Other Virtual Tours

You can often get ideas from virtual tours of model homes and other Realtor listings.  See what others are doing right as well as what they are doing wrong.  You can get free ideas from your competition.

Use Magazines for Inspiration

When we moved into our new home, a friend cut inspiration photos from magazines like Southern Living, Coastal Living, Better Homes and Gardens.  She matched the concept of the professional photos with our existing furniture and decorative accessories.

Without spending a dime, she made our home look like it had been decorated by a professional.  Never would have thought to use pages from a magazine as a guide to the placement of accessories but it was actually a brilliant concept.  Using her method, you will end up with a photo perfect interior design for your virtual tour. 

Neutralize Your Wall Colors

If a potential home buyer’s furniture clashes with your wall colors, your chance of making a sale is greatly decreased.  Even though paint colors are easy to change, buyers don’t want to work so they will often pass on a home that doesn’t fit their decor.  Appeal to a wide spectrum of buyers with neutral colors.

Spark Imagination

Make buyers imagine living in your oasis.  Beautiful fresh flowers, fireplace aglow, candles lighting your bath spa, Nature Channel showing on your wide screen TV and festive dinner plates adorning your dining table will make your virtual tour stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Throw a Party 

A friend sold her home after a year on the market when buyers came through just before a party.  She wished she had staged her home for a party 12 months before.  Any staging that helps a buyer feel what it is like to enjoy your home with friends and family will make your home memorable.

Remove Clutter

Nothing looks worse than children’s toys, clothes piled on the floor, dirty dishes and too many knickknacks.  I remember touring a home for sale where every inch of the house was filled with dolls.  It was surreal to have thousands of tiny eyes staring at us.  You want your home to be remembered for its assets not for its clutter.

Minimize Furniture

When we sold our home, friends could hear echos because our rooms were so bare.  People are buying the bones of your house not your furniture. You want enough furniture to look homey and enough empty space to make your rooms look bigger.

Accentuate the Positive

Do you have a lake, mountain or woods view?  Don’t hide it with curtains . . . showcase the best features of your home.

Do you have sun room where buyers would enjoy reading a good book or spending quality time with their families?  Stage for relaxing or fun activities.

Do you have a great deck for barbeques? Make sure your buyers can relax on your deck and contemplate how they will enjoy grilling steaks with friends.

When we recently staged our home for sale, Realtors touring our house only had positive feedback.   In a down market, our home sold in two weeks. 

Once you list your home for sale, it is no longer your home but a buyer showcase.  Most of us don’t live like Martha Stewart, so stage to attract buyers through your virtual tour.

Being a night owl, you will only catch me taking sunset photos.  One time a friend dragged me to workout at 5 a.m. Came home and slept the rest of the day . . . ruined my day.  Have never made that mistake again.

Sunset is one of the best times to capture vibrant photos with warm hues in the fading light.  Here are a few tips:   

1.  Be Prepared

You won’t have time to figure out the perfect spot for your photo during the brief peak colors of your sunset.  Also, remember that a mountain or building can obstruct the colors of your setting sun.  Set up your tripod and decide how you are going to frame your photo in advance.   

2.  Patience Makes Perfect

Vibrant colors are on display for only a minute or two so be prepared to capture sunsets at their peak.  Take a series of shots because a few seconds might make the difference between an average photo and a picture perfect photo.

3.  Go With The Flow

In the photo on this page, a canoe appeared at the peak time.  Sometimes unexpected surprises can be a blessing.

Today I was photographing a garden for a landscape website.  My golden retriever decided to plant himself at the edge of my frame.  Was trying to get him out of the way and he wouldn’t budge.  After a few minutes, I realized that this was a rare opportunity when he was actually posing for the camera in a paradise setting. 

Be flexible and have eyes to see opportunities that come your way.  Note your ever changing surroundings.  You may discover that a bird flying overhead or a kite unexpectedly appearing outside your frame is your real Kodak moment.

4.  Camera Settings

Bright colors can sometimes confuse your auto mode setting.  Experiment with landscape mode for colorful sunsets.

5.  Use a Tripod

Low lights may require longer exposure times.  You can’t go wrong with a tripod. 

6.  Crop Your Photos

Often an ordinary photo turns into extraordinary after cropping.  Many times I have had to use photos that I didn’t particularly like for web articles.  After cropping and Photoshop adjustments, photos often take on a garden magazine look.  Professional photographers crop to accent their focal points and stories. Use their secret for your photos.

7.  Continue Photographing

Even after the sun has gone down, continue to look for opportunities.  Street lamps glow.  Car headlights bring a stream of light.  Stars shine.  Skylines come alive with city lights.  Homes can take on a Norman Rockwell feel.  Your award winning photograph might come after the sunset in the waning light.

SnagIt is great for capturing any image on your screen and pasting it in Word, Outlook or FrontPage.  You can even save your snagged images for uploading to a blog.

Below are 4 simple steps to make the Florida vacation postcard in this article.

Step 1

Display your image.  In this case, a picture of my golden retriever from his Florida vacation a few seconds before he took a swim.  Not easy to get a dry picture of a golden retriever next to water.

Step 2

Drag your mouse over the area that you want to include in your postcard.  Your snagged area will be transferred to your SnagIt Editor

Step 3

Choose the Draw Tab in the SnagIt Editor and click the big A.  Type your words.  If you don’t like the font, highlight your words and right click to see Font, Color, Size and Bold options.  Hudson font was used for the words in this postcard.

Step 4

Choose the Send Tab and Click Email.  If your default email client is Outlook you should see your postcard embedded in an Outlook Message

Making this postcard took me less than 1 minute.   You can personalize the message for your own free Hallmark card shop.

If I am working with images for print, I usually open up Adobe Photoshop.  However for almost any quick email image, SnagIt is my program of choice.

Enjoy!

For years, I have been a fan of this program.  SnagIt is always the first program loaded on any new computer of mine. 

SnagIt Constantly Improves

Just when you think this program can’t get better, Techsmith releases new versions.  Each release gets better and better.

SnagIt developers use their program to collaborate so they are always dreaming of improvements.  Their innovative programmers add goodies in each version so update often. 

What Does A Snagged Image Look Like?

Below is an example of an image of this website that has been captured, annotated and resized in SnagIt.  Capturing and annotating images to share with others is the most common use of SnagIt.

SnagIt Examples

Here are a few ways to use SnagIt with your digital pictures:

1.  Snag and annotate your photos for online collaboration with business associates

2.  Snag and share your photos via MSN messenger

3.  Embed snags of your photos in Outlook, Word, PowerPoint or Excel

4.  Send your images to Flickr

5.  FTP to your blog or website directly from SnagIt

6.  Combine images to make a collage using the SnagIt editor

7.  Record videos and slideshows of your photos

8.  Provide mockups of web pages by snagging and combining images to direct web designers

9.  Test design ideas by capturing images and rearranging

10.  Chronicle your work history via images

11.  Point to changes on an image for graphic artists.

SnagIt offers free tutorials on their website which demonstrate how to use their program. 

SnagIt Summary Review and Rating

Most of my friends have taken my advice and tried SnagIt.  With their first Snag they are hooked.  Like me . . . they can’t live without this amazing program. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this program a 10+.