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Seasonal Photography Tips for Better Fall Photos

The seasonal changing of the leaves creates a whole new visual playground for us photographers to enjoy each fall. For nature photographers in particular, it’s the dream season. Rainy skies, multi-coloured leaves, and crisp landscapes are easy to come by this time of year—it’s just up to you as the photographer to capture and frame those beautiful fall elements.

One of the best ways to save and showcase your seasonal photography is with a personalized photo calendar. Each month, proudly display a new photo you captured that truly embodies the season. For fall, we imagine a picturesque shot of vividly-coloured foliage, or maybe a moody, rainy landscape shot. The choice, of course, is yours.

The best prints start with the best photos, so as part of our Seasonal Photography series, our LDExperts are sharing their tips for achieving better fall images. The goal is to provide you with a starting point to improve your shooting, so that by the end of the season, you’ll have some beautiful new photography to add to your own personalized photo calendar. And stay tuned for more posts in the series for tips on shooting in winter, spring, and summer!

Fall Landscape Composition

Four simple ways to add impact to your scenic shots:

Rule of thirds: divide the scene into 3×3, and place important features along the third lines or where the line crosses.
Leading lines: the viewer’s eye will be drawn along lines such as roads, rivers and fences, so compose the shot so that the lines lead to the subject.
Frames: look for ways to surround the subject with natural frames in the scene, such as the branches or trunks of trees. This helps draw in the viewer’s eye.
Foreground interest: look for mossy river banks, clusters of flowers and textured rocks to lift the bottom of the frame.

Fall Rainy Landscapes

Begin with:

Exposure mode: Aperture Priority
Aperture: f/11-16
Shutter speed: Automatically Set
ISO: 100-400

Keep in mind:

You’ll be dealing with slow shutter speeds; use a tripod and a remote release.
Apply exposure compensation of +1/3 to +2EV to brighten up the scene.
Fit a lens hood and use a waterproof cover to protect the camera and lens.

Key advice: Take plenty of microfibre cloths on the shoot and use them to keep the lens’ front element clear of raindrops.

Fall Landscapes with Flash

Begin with:

Exposure mode: Manual
Aperture: f/11
Shutter speed: Varies
ISO: 100

Keep in mind:

Low natural light levels on a dark stormy day or at sunrise or sunset will make the light from your flash appear more obvious.
Choose a scene that has a suitable subject close to the camera.
Set an appropriate shutter speed to slightly underexpose the background.

Key advice: Although pop-up flash may work well, a powerful flashgun off-camera will enable you to blend in the light better.

Our Photolab Experts are happy to help turn your beautiful fall photography into something special you can display. Visit us at your local London Drugs to get tips on creating your own personalized calendar, or get started on your own by ordering online or at our in-store kiosks!

Celebrating Life and Special Milestones Through Photos

Life is filled with all kinds of defining moments and milestones. From birthdays to anniversaries, and even funerals, these moments in time are an opportunity for us to appreciate and celebrate the life we have lived.

For over a hundred years, photos have been an essential way of preserving life’s moments, allowing us to look back and celebrate each and every one of them. What has changed in those one hundred years, however, is the expanded variety of ways to showcase those precious photos.

Milestone Birthdays

Every birthday is special, but milestone birthdays, like the 30^th, 40^th, 50^th (or even 90^th!) birthdays, are extra special. A great way to commemorate that special year is with a Poster Collage or Photo Book of their best moments – from birth to now.

Dig through old snapshots to find some adorable baby photos, some of the awkward teen years, and some that are more current. In the end, you’ll have compiled a collection of photos that tells the story of their life…so far! We even offer a variety of birthday templates, to help design and customize your Photo Book. Wrap it up as a gift, or put it out on display at their birthday party so guests can flip through it.

If you need some help digitizing a collection of old photos to add to your Poster Collage or Photo Book, our Photo Scanning Box Service will make the process seamless. Just fill the box with up to 800 photographs and documents, bring it back to your local London Drugs Photolab, and our Experts will digitize them for you.

You can even use those digitized photos to create all kinds of other birthday gifts, from personalized t-shirts and puzzles, to photo calendars and jewelry boxes.

Anniversaries

Whether it’s your first wedding anniversary or your 15^th, you’ll want to make that relationship milestone special. Why not celebrate by surprising your significant other with a gift that truly captures your love?

If you’re planning to give your hubby or wifey a traditional anniversary gift, we have a few suggestions that will show them just how much you appreciate the time you’ve spent together.

1^st year: Paper

Don’t just go with regular old paper for your first anniversary, gift them luxe, glossy photo paper! Choose from any of our Photo Books, Enlargements, or Poster Collages and customize with your favourite photos together. Your wedding photos are a good place to start. In fact, we have lots of wedding-themed templates you can use while personalizing your photo gift.

2^nd year: Cotton

Get creative with your second anniversary gift by ordering a Canvas Gallery Wrap. The textured print surface is made of cotton, so you’ll be on the dot with the traditional anniversary gift, plus your other half will be super impressed that you’ve turned a photo of you two into a piece of fine art for your home!

9^th year: Pottery

A Photo Mug is the perfect way to fulfill that traditional ‘pottery’ anniversary gift, while also making them something thoughtful and personal. Just pick a mug colour (their favourite colour, perhaps?), a few photos, and some text (your anniversary date?) to completely customize your gift. It’s sure to impress!

10^th year: Aluminum

The traditional ‘aluminum’ anniversary gift is meant to reflect your marriage’s resilience. What better way to share that than with a beautiful photo, printed on one of our highly durable Aluminum Metal Panels? Pick one memory you’d like to showcase from your 10 incredible years together, or if you can’t choose just one, create a collage with all your favourite moments.

15^th year: Crystal

Just when they think you’ve run out of great anniversary gift ideas…you gift them a beautiful, personalized Photo Crystal for your 15^th anniversary! A truly unique gift that showcases a favourite moment in time together. Choose from our selection of photo crystals, or our crystal ornaments (we think the heart-shaped ornament or crystal with base would be especially fitting).

Funerals

There’s a reason funerals are often called a ‘Celebration of Life’. It’s a time when family and friends can come together, in memory of someone special, to celebrate a life well lived.

A very touching way to help preserve and celebrate their memory is with photos. Start by combing through old photo albums and digging through shoe boxes full of old photographs. To make things a bit easier, use our Photo Scanning Box Service to have up to 800 photos and documents digitized for you by our Photolab, so you can easily personalize all kinds of beautiful photo keepsakes with the digital files.

To create a truly sentimental and heartfelt memento, personalize a Photo Book with images of their life, and blank sections for family and friends to add personal message and stories by hand. It’s a keepsake the family can take home at the end of the funeral service, and read over the kind words from supportive family and friends.

Another thoughtful gift for the family is a personalized Fleece Blanket. The cozy blanket will feel like a warm hug, as they cuddle up in the memories of their loved one. Choose one photo, or a selection of photos, to feature as a collage on the blanket’s surface.

Need a little help creating your photo gift? Speak with one of our Photolab Experts at your local London Drugs! Or, if you’re ready to go, you can start personalizing your gift on our Photolab website, or at any of our in-store Photolab kiosks.

4 Simple Ways to Organize Your Life in 2018

Hi everyone, Amanda here again from The Mommy Mix.

I’m not going to lie or try to pretend I’m something I’m not, when it comes to being organized I’m a hot mess mom! I’m lucky if I can remember to send in my kids’ milk orders on time and unless I have an appointment written everywhere I’ll most likely miss it. Not this year, 2018 is going to be my year to get organized and stay that way. It can be your year to get organized too if you join me in following some simple steps.

KEEP A LIST

When it comes to remembering things that need to be done you can pretty much guarantee that they’re going to pop into your head at the worst times; while you’re lying in bed, out shopping, sitting at work… Make sure you’ve always got a Notepad and pen nearby so you can start a list and every time your memory decides to start working you can add a quick note about the task you need to get done. You can make your “reminder notepad” super personal to who you are and what (or who) motivates you with your own images and text.

FIND A CALENDAR THAT WORKS FOR YOU

Whether you’re looking for something that allows you to enter specifics or you just want to circle a few important dates, you need to find a calendar that works for you. At the London Drugs Photolab you can create unique and personalized Photo Calendars in a variety of themes and styles with your own pictures that can also act as reminders of birthdays or any other special events in your life. The calendars span 12 months, but you can start the calendar on any month, so you can create new calendars any time of year!

MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDAR ASAP

If you’ve chosen a Traditional, one of the Coil Bound Photo Calendars or even something compact like the Desktop Photo Calendar than I’m sure it’s safe to say you want to be able to track details, and now you can. Remember the lists that you’ve been making; transfer anything from it of importance on your calendar, write down any bill payment due dates plus don’t forget birthdays, anniversaries and appointments. Make it a point to look at your calendar at least once a week.

WRITE IT WHERE YOU’LL SEE IT

You go in your fridge every day, right?! Stick a Magnetic Memo Board to it so every time you go grab the milk for your morning coffee or cook dinner, your bake sale tasks, appointments and special days for the week will be staring you in the face every day!

What tips do you have for getting organized in 2018?

For more personalized organization tools visit the London Drugs Photolab online, in-store, or simply download the London Drugs Photolab App (available for both iOS and Android devices)!

Seasonal Photography Tips for Better Fall Photos

Fall Landscape Composition

Fall Rainy Landscapes

Fall Landscapes with Flash

Celebrating Life and Special Milestones Through Photos