My lap crashed last night again, so I just wanted everyone to know that I did receive the following emails from:
Deanna, Nancy L., Brea, Pam, Gloria , Ellen, Mare, MJ, for Birthday Cards If any one is missing please send me another email. I also wanted to give some helpful hints on your photo's that I hope you will use if necessary. Your picture card can only come out as good as the photo that you send to me Most people have Windows Photo Gallery or some other type of photo editing to fix your picture. You can also download Windows Live Photo Gallery for Free. The Windows Galleries are great for lightening a dark photo, and for cropping off the excess backgrounds, which will also enlarge the subject in the photo, but does not give you the option for shadows and highlights. I prefer to use Windows Live Photo Gallery because it also allows you to lighten/darken the shadows, as well as the highlights, contrast, color and more. It is very very simple to use. Hint...Hint... LOL! Just beware that both Windows Galleries is for photographs only. They will not allow you to upload a .gif (animated) or a .png (translucent back) pictures. I use Irfran to file all my photo's, pictures, gif's, everything in it, yet I still have the ability to view them in my regular picture file and the Window's Galleries and other photo editing software that I have. It is a very simple photo editing software that is on your computer, and not on a web page.It's fantastic for down sizing those HUGE photo's that you can't see on your screen because it is so big!, plus a LOT of other great features I strongly recommend downloading it and it is free, it was designed to make simple editing very very easy and uncomplicated. http://www.irfanview.com/ Since these are birthday cards, a group shot of all of your dogs wouldn't be appropriate unless you celebrate all your pups on the same day. I know it is not easy to take pictures of our dogs, so just take your time. If I get one good shot out of 24, it's a miracle for me. Lol!, but that one shot says it all and it's worth it. So ladies, take a good look at your photograph, if it is to dark, then lighten it. If it is to big, then reduce it. If it is blurry or filled with snow don't send it to me, because I can't use it, and it takes waaayyyy too much time for me to even try to, like I did on a lot of the Christmas pictures, some of which I still wasn't happy with. Their was also many good photos too. The best shots for me to use are a clear face forward picture, a side profile, a full body shot that you can still see their entire face, including those ears! lol.. and a full body of the dog laying down. I can do so much more with a full body then one that is missing an ear or leg or paw, or a nose. That type of editing is okay for a couple of pictures, but not for 20 or more because I would never get to make your cards at that rate. Gloria and Nancy, your pics are always great. What brand name and model camera are you both using? Here's a quick story that will make you weep. I bought my first digital video camera last Christmas, took a couple of shots, but the best one's were the outdoor shots. So the first time I take it to the dog park, it breaks. I had it around my neck and when I went to bend down to grab Princess at the gate, the stupid man on the other side swung open the gate so he could get in and my camera swung into the gate and I hit my head on the gate too. So now the lens is jammed into the camera and the warranty wouldn't cover it because the damage comes under abuse. I wanted to punch that guy and the idiot never even said he was sorry for being so careless. When I first got Gigi, I couldn't wait to take some pictures and a video of her, so to say the least, I was so disappointed that day. But a complete stranger at the dog park saw and understood my disappointment and offered to take a few pictures and then send them to me via email. All the photos that I have of Gigi are from her and I was so grateful that we are now friends. I still don't own a camera, so all the picture cards of Gigi are all made from just a couple of good shots that she took. Happy photo taking!
