The V Spot

Rants, observations, and home decorating... from a woman with no time for a blog.


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Make your bad photos work to your advantage.

August 24, 2011 27 Comments

I love photos! One of my favorite items to use when decorating my house is photos.  I have never been one to line the hallway with my kids’ school portraits (not a criticism if you do it… to each his or her own…). We haven’t had a whole lot of family portraits taken (the last time was in 2004, so we’re overdue, actually…) Instead, I tend to use impromptu group shots or candids… something a little unexpected.

We’ve all taken pictures that didn’t turn out like we wanted… too light, too dark, too blurry, too weird, funny angle, etc.  Don’t automatically delete them. You might want to try looking at them in a slightly different way.  Embrace the flaws in the picture and use it anyway…

A few years ago at the beach, I was playing around with the zoom feature on my camera.  I took these two photos:

Blurry.  No using the sharpen feature on these puppies… but there was something about them that I liked.  So I had them enlarged to 8 x 10 (which made them even more blurry) and I framed them.
I love how they look.  They remind me of those hazy, lazy summer days at the beach that roll into one big, blurry summer memory.  (Sorry, about the treadmill in the picture, but if I’m too lazy to run on it, I am certainly too lazy to try and get it out of the way for the shot.)
You know what can happen if a two year old gets a hold of your camera…?
Look at those lips!  Could you just die?!
Fortunately, Handsome Hubby has a good eye and he got the camera back safely and took a few more fun close-ups of Baby Grant.  We switched them from color to black & white and popped them into a frame.
I love this.  I think something like this is much more fun and has much more character than a line up of studio portraits would be. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Again, personal preference here…)
One of my very favorite “bad” photos wasn’t even all that bad.  I can’t show you the original because it was from my pre-digital camera days. (Yes I know I can have them scanned. It’s on my To-Do list.)  It was a self-portrait photo that Handsome Hubby took.
  • It was by a window on a stair landing (so not a very pretty background)
  • It was taken in the early morning (so beautiful, rosy lighting but I was without make-up. Gah.)
…But I liked the overall composition of the shot, and I loved the way our eyes lined up. (I must have been standing on one of the stair risers above him…)   So I had a custom mat cut and framed just our eyes.
I have gotten quite a few compliments on this matting over the years.
I love that you can tell that we’re happy and smiling, even without seeing all of our faces. I love that I can look at this picture and it will immediately conjure up not just the physical memory of where we were and what we were doing, but the emotional memory as well.
And maybe that’s why I’m not a big fan of the School Picture Line Up or the Olan Mills Watch The Birdy Specials… those types of photos are great to chronicle the passage of time, but they don’t capture any emotional memories.  And I’d rather decorate my house with those.
Check the bottom of the blog to see where I link up.
also Home Stories A2Z
Weekend Bloggy Reading

Filed Under: Accessories, cheap and easy, Crafts, decor, distressed, frames, Handsome Hubby, Let me help you, photos, quirkiness, Tips & Tricks

Comments

  1. Andrea @ The Greenbacks Gal says

    August 24, 2011 at 8:21 PM

    I love that you did the photos fuzzy. Sometimes not quite perfect is perfect!

    Reply
  2. Richella says

    August 24, 2011 at 8:30 PM

    Yes ma’am! This is wonderful! I predict that around the blogosphere you’ll soon be seeing lots of photos matted so that just the eyes show. 🙂

    Reply
  3. MiMi says

    August 24, 2011 at 8:32 PM

    I do this all the time…I actually AIM for the random and candid shots…but I’m a horrible “print ‘er out and get it framed,” person.

    Reply
  4. Becca @ R We There Yet Mom? says

    August 24, 2011 at 8:57 PM

    I LOVE THIS!!! My house is FULL of candid shots!!!

    Sharing!

    ~Becca

    Reply
  5. Maggie @ Midwestern {Sewing} Girl says

    August 24, 2011 at 9:34 PM

    LOVE that you do this, Viv…my house if full of un-posed shots, too…my favorite photos of my kids are the ones that were taken BETWEEN the times they were supposed to be posing…;) Love the one of you and your dh…;)

    Reply
  6. Denyse@Crazy Beautiful Life says

    August 24, 2011 at 9:37 PM

    Love Love Love it!!! I am the same way…my house is full of random shots…they are my favorite…It’s probably why I don’t ever have family portraits taken..

    Reply
  7. gail says

    August 24, 2011 at 10:47 PM

    awesome photos! (now that you’ve framed them and made them art!)

    gail

    Reply
  8. Emmy says

    August 24, 2011 at 11:52 PM

    I am a photographer but I am right there with you, which is why I don’t shoot “studio” shots hardly ever.

    Reply
  9. Rebecca says

    August 25, 2011 at 2:19 AM

    Two Christmases ago my whole family was in Cali again at the same time, after many years of us not. So of course we go to the beach. And, of course it rains. 😉 It was dark and overcast and my camera was not loving me. We had a bunch of umbrellas and I got everyone together and snapped a few shots for as long as the kids would stand relatively in the same location. I ended up with a fun silhouette looking photo that I probably couldn’t have got if I had tried. It’s printed, framed and hung.

    Reply
  10. Megan says

    August 25, 2011 at 4:40 AM

    Love this! Ha! Love your blog tagline, I have no time either, in fact I really shouldn’t be leaving you a comment our visiting your blog, but here iam, new follower and all. 🙂 tweeting this post too
    Megan @ http://www.beautifulbitsofgrace.blogspot.com

    Reply
  11. Shawn says

    August 25, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    I have a mixture of both candid and professional pictures, and even some that look professional that I took using a tripod and the timer setting. I love the one of you and HH, they don’t say the eyes are the window to the souls for nothing and your soul looks happy!

    Reply
  12. M.O.T.B says

    August 25, 2011 at 2:06 PM

    Awesome! You are right they look great!!!!

    Reply
  13. Amber says

    August 25, 2011 at 5:27 PM

    Candid shots do have a lot more personality than professional or staged ones do. I realized in particular this past weekend that I look better in candid shots than me posing like a doofus. How are you supposed to pose?? I don’t even know!!

    Reply
  14. cALyPsO says

    August 26, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    Super job!!! I love the pictures of baby boy and the couple eyes. Excellent work. Way to go…now… to go through my pictures… all 4,000 of them..

    Reply
  15. anestinthemaking says

    August 26, 2011 at 9:58 PM

    Great ideas! I especially like the last picture of y’all’s eyes! I saw your linky on Delightful Order and wanted to say hi!

    ~Kristi

    Reply
  16. AndreaLeigh says

    August 26, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    these are great shots! sometimes i get too caught up in getting the perfect shot… I should take a closer look at the ones that aren’t so “perfect”.

    Reply
  17. jacky @ small garden love says

    August 26, 2011 at 11:57 PM

    Those photos are beautiful. What a great idea, finally a solution to bad hair day photos.

    Reply
  18. Madigan at madiganmade says

    August 27, 2011 at 12:18 AM

    I’m a huge fan of candids! Love your creative ways to display them, too. The one of your eyes… so lovely. It makes me want to smile!

    Reply
  19. Ann Marie | white house, black shutters says

    August 27, 2011 at 3:22 AM

    Amen to your last little tidbit. I’m kinda ashamed to admit that I’ve only taken my 2 yr old and 1 yr old in for professional pictures once. And the photographer photoshopped out my daughter’s faint stork-kiss birthmark on her forehead. She’s beautiful, and you photoshopped her!?

    Didn’t order pictures, never went back, don’t have the money, love the candid shots much better anyways…

    I love that I can feel the happiness from your pictures. Great post! 😉

    Reply
  20. Designed By Dee says

    August 27, 2011 at 11:55 AM

    Beautiful shots!!

    Reply
  21. Tanya Anurag says

    September 1, 2011 at 4:30 AM

    I got your point and will keep that in mind now on.

    We have a link-up party going on – Tea Time Thursdays @ Kreative Korner. I would really appreciate if you’d link up some of your awesome posts there. Hope to see you at the party.

    http://tanyaanurag.blogspot.com/2011/08/tea-time-thursdays-4.html

    Reply
  22. LeeLee says

    September 2, 2011 at 4:39 PM

    New follower! 😀

    I always love when I upload a pic that looked crappy on my camera and it comes out even better than what I expected or what I was intending to do.

    Reply
  23. June Scott says

    September 3, 2011 at 1:07 AM

    Great ideas, Vivienne! I especially love the “eye” shot. What you said about capturing the emotions in addition to the memory was great! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  24. Molly says

    September 3, 2011 at 5:11 PM

    Love this! I like the way you can find the beauty in anything, and these all turned out great! 🙂

    Reply
  25. elise says

    September 5, 2011 at 3:40 PM

    These turned out great! What a fun idea for displaying your pictures. Love it.

    Reply
  26. Jordan McCollum says

    September 5, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    These ideas are fantastic! I have tons of those toddler self-portraits (and will probably end up with lots more)–what a great idea!

    Reply
  27. Faith, Trust, and a Little Pixie Dust says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:32 AM

    Brilliant! I love the eye shot especially. Thanks for linking this great project to Fab Friday!

    Warmly, Michelle

    Reply

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