Point and Shoot. I Can Do That!

I consider myself a less-than-amateur photographer. At the same time, I consider myself a professional picture taker. I took one photography class in high school and I don't really remember a lot from it, other than the smell of the darkroom chemicals, which I came to appreciate. But when I do take photos, I'll catch them at an awkward angle, or I'll haphazardly find some good uses of light. Most of these accidents occur when I'm trying to balance a drink in one hand, and take the picture with the other.

I decided to stage some fun shots around an old book of poetry, including Poe's "The Raven", I found at the library, and spice them up for Halloween.

The wine with the funky label I happened to find the week before. And I used the leftover fabric from Lenny's cape as a backdrop.

After taking the pictures, I cropped and edited them with the photo software on the Costco Web site, where I then ordered the prints.

Here's what the full staging area looks like. Scotch tape holding the fabric up, and a corner of it tied to a chair. Oh, how classy.

I used scrapbooking scissors to cut the edges of some scrapbooking paper and black mat, then some spray adhesive to get the layered look.

I found some tea light holders at Ocean State Job Lot for $1 each. They used to have stained glass decorations on the back, but most of them had been stolen. It was a perfect holder for the pictures, especially since I knew I would be using battery-operated tea lights, so there would be no fear of fire.

(Ahh, look at that crafting mess all over my dining room. That only means one thing: It was a successful craft weekend.)