Education

3 Ways to Improve Your Photographs For Christmas Day

Christmas is the time to connect with our friends and family, eat together, exchange gifts, and play games. One of the best ways to immortalise these memories is by taking pictures, and you’ll find that even the most camera-shy among us want to be snapped in their Christmas party hat.

However, it’s important to ensure these photos are of the highest possible quality. This way, you will be able to look back on them in years to come and remember the happy memories. Let’s take a look at how to improve your photographs for Christmas Day.

Choose The Right Camera Settings

Camera settings can seem intimidating to those of us without much photography experience or knowledge. However, they are actually fairly simple to understand, and knowing how to best optimise your camera settings will allow you to take much better photos at Christmas and beyond.

You’ll need to think about things like exposure, focus, white balance, and colour balance. Many modern cameras and camera phones will set these for you automatically, leaving you free to snap away. But to get the best results, you should take the time to manually adjust these settings to best suit your particular situation.

Choosing the right settings will give you high-quality, professional-looking photos that can be uploaded to your social media and then printed into a collection by using a photo book maker.

Pick The Best Subjects

Christmas can be fun, but it can also be a hectic time. A house full of extended family members can get rowdy in good ways as well as bad. It can be easy to take photographs of everything in sight, but the best way to improve your photos is by choosing your subjects carefully.

Think about form and composition and watch how things like light and colour interact with one another. Instead of trying to take a photo that captures the entire scene at once, focus on individual moments and build up a collection of singular memories that can be grouped together to represent the full Christmas experience.

Head Outside

Christmas doesn’t just need to be spent indoors. Heading outside for some fresh air can be the perfect way to clear the head after a busy day and can help you get a head start on working off that extra festive weight.

Make sure to bring your camera outside with you. Taking some outdoor pictures can act as the perfect accompaniment to snaps of indoor festivities. If you’ve been lucky enough to have a white Christmas and there’s snow on the ground, even better! Take some pictures in the snow to complete your Christmas collection. Just remember to wrap up warm!

Conclusion

Everyone loves a Christmas photo. Whether you’re printing them, posting them on social media, or giving them away to friends and family, ensuring your photos are the very best they can be is incredibly important. Use the correct camera settings, choose the perfect subject, and head outside for some snowy snaps.

Movies Reviews

All In: Miracle at St. Bernard’s film about Faith, Family and Football

All In: Miracle at St. Bernard's film about Faith, Family and Football

All In: Miracle at St. Bernard’s is a film by Gregg Backer & Evan Kanew, releasing on VOD December 13th! This was such a heartwarming film that speaks to the value of high school athletes, faith and community support. 2018 was a winning season at St Bernard’s in Fitchburg, Massachusetts despite rumors that their school is in dire financial crisis and in jeopardy of closing down for good after serving their community for multiple generations.

I went to Catholic school from grades 1-9. It was small and survived off dioceses support. If less families come to church and donate, the funds are hard to supplement. It is hard to support a financially failing school and St Bernard’s had to get very creative in only 1 year to try and save their school.

I couldn’t imagine my school closing back when I attended Catholic school myself. We were all close- we were small classes and we learned and prayed together as well as saw each other in mass on the weekends. Shutting down a Catholic school is like splitting families up. It is the saddest phenomenon that seems plaguing across the country. The neighboring school, who they played in the 2018 championship game, sent letters to families informing them of their closure. St Bernard’s would be the single Catholic school left in the area unless they also fail to raise funds. Then an idea hit….

The synopsis of All In: Miracle at St. Bernard’s is about faith, family and football. This documentary chronicles a tiny, 100-year-old Catholic school in Fitchburg, Massachusetts struggling with insolvency
yet defying the odds at a time when the Church was shuttering similar institutions nationwide.

It’s the underdog story of a working-class community and the state’s smallest football program rallying in pursuit of an impossible goal: to save their school from closure by the Church.

The Bernardians faithful needed a miracle. So they set about creating one. All In follows the
dramatic campaigns to raise money and enrollment as well as a magical football season
that together saved a beloved institution.

Watch All In: Miracle at St. Bernard’s on VOD (Video On Demand) channels. Amazon link to watch!

Education

Back to school planners for Teachers and Students

Back to school planners for Teachers and Students

We are entering another school year. Last year was the first full year post-COVID and it was a crazy, busy school year! I kept organized and then things would get disorganized so I had to stop and reorganize over and over again. That is the work life of a high school bookkeeper and ASB Secretary. I LIVE out of my planners! I keep an open calendar for district dates but my agenda is for the Athletics and ASB events scheduling. I am using The Happy Planner – 2022 Modern Wild Classic. I loved this quote and design.

The Happy Planner has so many designs and organizational products and planners for teachers, students, employees and parents. For 2022, The Happy Planner is featuring Monday-Friday design dated specifically for the school year, as well as horizontal box spaces and checklists. If your schedule is always different then they have undated planners to create your own day by day scheduling.

Look at these 2022 – 2023 designs below. What a great gift for students and teachers to start their year off right! I love the disc binding in my planner. When my desk gets out of control with forms and other papers and receipts, I can spot my planner easily. On every page, the spaces in the monthly calendar, checklists and notes are always the perfect size for notes and my handwriting.

Get organized in 22/23 with the planners, stickers, boards and more at The Happy Planner online shop and they are also available on Amazon.

Education

2022 Back To School Guide

2022 Back To School Guide

Another year older- another grade to master! Whether you have a child entering preschool or high school or perhaps you are going back to school, we have you covers. From preschool to college, these topics will guide you into a 22/23 school year!

All in 1 spot. The best posts all school-related are linked below. You will want to bookmark this page to come back as I add more posts almost daily!


These Megamats from TCG toys are a great floor mat for classrooms or at home to ignite imaginations and engaging play! Great for preschool to kindergarten.

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Studying at Home: 6 Tips To Study Without Distractions. Great for high school to College!

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Sending a College student off to extreme climates? If you are going from mild weather to extreme cold or hot, make sure you send them with the right skincare products for the elements such as these MongoKiss lip balms from Eco Lips.

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Turn off the TV and video games and grab a game the entire family can get into. From entertaining toddlers to bonding with the teens, the ToDo Game is an award-winning Australian activity cards that promote meaningful conversations. Great for all ages!

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Designed for women of all sizes and shapes, the apparel of Taylor Jay is comfortable and ever changing as we move through life. Oakland, Ca. designer Taylor Jay wanted to create styles for every women-every one of us! This makes a great gift for the College students heading off on their own!

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New at Patagonia stores and online is a children’s book about protecting sea life and recycling. The book is called, Better Than New: A Recycle Tale / Mejor Que Nuevo: Un Cuento de Reciclaje (by Robert Broder).

Read more!


For 2022, The Happy Planner is featuring Monday-Friday design dated specifically for the school year, as well as horizontal box spaces and checklists. 

Read more!