I don’t know about you, but trying to get my pups to pose nicely together for a Christmas card is somewhat challenging.
I’m not a big holiday decorator. I figure, you spend hours setting up the tree and decorating it, packing decorations up so you can add the Christmas decorations and then a month later, you have to take everything down. One year I had Hubby put lights on the house and when it came time to take them down I said, “Why bother, you’ll only have to put them up again next year.” So we left them up.
BUT this year. This year I found the cutest decorated lamp posts at the Home Depot and couldn’t resist buying them!
Siriusly, check this lamp out.
It is a lamp post or the entrance to Narnia?
I was so excited to get these up in front of the house that I had Hubby set them up on Sunday. And then brought the dogs outside for a Christmas card photo shoot.
Except:
- I’m not a photographer.
- I forgot about the front door being reflective glass.
- I didn’t bring anything out to cover the ugly concrete.
- I didn’t frame the pictures well and got my house number in most of them.
Well that’s crappy. The door is open, the house number is showing and look at all that ugly concrete.
Not bad, except for the ugly concrete and the bare ground and door reflection. At least they’re both looking at the camera.
I decided. Let’s try some single shots.
Sampson isn’t always comfortable sitting anymore so I thought let’s try him lying down.
Remind me again why I’m lying on this cold concrete?
Poor Sampson, he looks so sad, and of course there’s that ugly concrete and the door reflection. Yet the house number is almost covered up. Maybe if I keep trying I’ll get a decent photo by Christmas.
Next I tried a single shot of Delilah.
Really? You know I don’t like lying down on command.
Oh Delilah. She hates being told to lie down. Notice how stiffly she’s lying there. And her expression…well her expression tells me she thinks she’s in trouble.
I finally decided to try and work with an online photo editor and see what I could come up with. Here’s the finished product.
Damn pic monkey! I need a premiere account to add a hat to the snowman.
Cropped the photo and took most of the concrete out, cut the house number off added the snowman to cover the reflection in the door and frosted the edges. Not bad, eh?
So why then can I not order the cards? Do you struggle with things like this? Is it trivial to be so concerned about the Christmas card picture?
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Those lamp posts are totally adorable!
Those lamps are just fabulous. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
We always look forward to something fun for the Christmas card. Some years we do singles, some years we work together. We have a ton of ugly concrete on our post today, but you need to distract away from it. Even the garage pics are really ugly, but you have to get the eyes to focus elsewhere. Love those lamp posts! Do they move? Try putting one or both in the snow and taking the photo there maybe? It is all a process. Mom is kind of sick of decorating too, but we still do a bit of it.
I love the lamp posts. I think you needed more snow, snow makes everything look better!
I think they came out very nicely. I tend to just pick a picture for the cards I send to family and friends rather than trying to pose the dogs. I do plan to try for posed pictures for the blog. We will see how that goes…
Mommy always says photo editing software always makes Thursday a day to be thankful! BOL
Nice job!
BOL…I Know how you feel – I did a whole post last year on the Christmas photo outtakes…
I don’t do cards anymore, but it’s nice to have some Christmasy shots. I think the one you ended up with is pretty darn good.
OMD, you’re my twin who says what I won’t. Sounds like Christmas around here. Except you actually ended up getting a cute picture at the end. 🙂
I wonder how much it would cost to hire Ms. Taleteller from Tales and Tails to come out to shoot custom Christmas pictures?
I LOVE the finished product! What’s the saying? Something like “if it was easy we wouldn’t appreciate it as much” … or something to that affect.
Totally love it and you know, the hatless snowman isn’t a deal breaker for me (but I also didn’t mind the faint reflection on the door either). The fact that you tried (and tried) speaks volumes. When I had multiple dogs, shooting for the ubiquitous holiday card was always a 3 ring circus. Props to you for getting it done with the 2 of them! Have wanted to check out Pic Monkey more and your post has been great inspiration. Many thanks for that tip!
P.S. If you’re a member, you can download that photo on Costco’s website and pick up your cards in a day (or you can take it in and do it at their photo kiosk). I do it every year and you just can’t beat the price or selection. Happy howlidays to you! 🙂
Love those lamps! I tried our photos this past weekend…oy. Sophie is actually very tolerant and has a wonderful sit stay. But Swyatt bounces around trying to get his treat (apparently not something he does when the daycare asks for a sit for photos…the brat!). He bounces on Sophie, she gets mad, chasing ensues, no photo. So I tried individual shots…I got a few decent photos (hard to photograph a black dog indoors without flash which makes for laser beam eyes). Swy finally stayed when I held his dinner hostage for a sit stay…I ended up with some beautiful lighting (xmas tree flow in the background), his very cute bandana and a sad looking dog cause he wanted his food. Sigh I may give up!
Cameras and I parted ways years ago and not having one has spared me much of the frustration you describe so hilariously. I do love the expressions on S & D that you managed to capture. Like they will do anything you ask, but they don’t have to enjoy themselves.
You are correct, that concrete is bugly (butt ugly). 😉 Maybe try placing a fleece blanket over it to cover it up – something red, green or white would be nice. I really really like that lamp! I am going to try a photo shoot with Blueberry and the tree, but I’m not holding out much hope. I always think my sparse decorations look nice until I see the picture of them and then I realize just how pathetic they look.
You left the lights on the house?? Total redneck move – but I love it and I’d do the same. That, my friend, is why I have never put lights up.
I know what you mean, both with the decorating and with getting the dogs to pose for pix. I’m not even sure I want to bother with any of it this year. I’ll worry about it next week, maybe. But I do like YOUR pix. And I like the lamps, too, even though I normally don’t go for that kind of stuff.
The final product is perfect! Pull the trigger and order the cards. Why does a snowman need a hat? What’s his head going to get cold?? He’s made of snow! It looks great. Cupcake is a camera whore. Getting her mugshot for a card is just another day in paradise around here.
Hahaha! So funny!
I use Costco’s online photo creator to make and order my pics. 🙂
OMD we Love the Lamps…. and every Single ONE of the pictures EXCEPT fur the LAST one where that EVIL snow FREAK is sneaking up behind our FURENDS… THAT is just WRONG. Just sayin.
I’d say you’re being a little hard on yourself for those photos. They are still pretty freaking charming, and the dogs look sweet. A lot of these photo programs have ways for you to correct for red eye, and even an “ehnance” button that makes everything look nicer right away. I think you can achieve this with the editing tools on instagram if you’re taking photos with the phone. If you’ve got a traditional camera then iPhoto has all of this if you have access to a Mac.
love the photo shoot. and I always forget about the reflective glass to when I am taking pictures in front of my fireplace and I do the same as you do and photo shop something in front of it. If I notice I am in them when taking them I will stand off to the side and snap the pictures and not get me in them.