If any of you out there are not quite ready to say goodbye to summer yet I have a suggestion for you. Let’s take a little time to create with our summer photos and videos so we can hold onto those memories. Fun memories of family vacations, warm summer nights, melting ice cream, bare toes in the sand, and all the things that make summer so special. I have three photo project suggestions to share with you. Three suggestions that I hope will be quick and easy for you, so they can get done and you can enjoy your photos.
Print your photos
Ok. Let’s start supper easy. The first of my three photo project suggestions is to pick out a few of your favorites, print and then hang them up. You could update photos in frames or pick out some new frames. Either way, you can now enjoy them, quick and easy.
If you’re looking for something different, consider printing your photos on different materials. I really like the company Photo Barn. They are a small photo printing business in Tennessee. What they do that I love is they offer printing on different materials including wood, burlap, and canvas. I found them after a hiking summer vacation and I was looking to print a favorite photo on wood. I got this printed and I just love it. It fits the picture and the mood just right. I have my eye on their photo cubes for our most recent summer photos so stay tuned.
Photo Books
Making a photo book of your summer photos doesn’t need to be time-consuming. You can make it as involved or simple as you want it to be. The trick to making it quick and easy is to first pick out your favorite photos. Do this before anything else and the whole project will move faster. Next, pick your printing site. My two suggestions would be Blurb or Printique, but pick what works best for you. From here most printing sights give you an auto load option in which the program will automatically load the photos into a layout for you, do this and you’re done! If you want a little more control or have some more time, you can pick out the layout and place the photos yourself and if you want some more detail you can add journaling. It is up to you!
Home Video Project
Now, this is the most time-consuming and technical of my three suggestions but if you have precious video clips, putting them together in a video would make a great way to enjoy them and share them with other family and friends.
Just as with photo books, my first step is to pick your favorites. Then before the video leaves my phone I review and clip out the unwanted video at the beginning and end. I find it’s easier to work with shorter clips and it decreases the file size to something more manageable. At this point, if you’re on a Mac, load the video into iMovie. If you want to add music make sure you license it, you can’t just add your own. Take a look at Soundstripe or MusicBed for licensed music. Load up the music and video and clip away down into the important parts of each video clip. I will admit there is a learning curve to this suggestion but I have found many YouTube videos for help when I get stuck.
This is my big public service announcement. ENJOY YOUR PHOTOS and VIDEOS. You take the time to take them and I am encouraging you to do something with them so you can enjoy them. If you want to do this but it is just not something you can manage now I am here for you. I offer custom photo book and video services. Check out my services page for more information. They could also make wonderful and meaningful holiday gifts!
