How to Photograph your Pet

April 21st, 2008

I an earlier post, I listed some cool tips for taking pictures of friends, family, and general landscapes.

 

After seeing so many people walking their dogs in the park this last weekend, it occured to me that getting a decent photograph of Fido or Fluffy can be difficult, if not close to impossible.

 

Read on for some interesting ways to capture your best furry friend on film (or digital pixels).Cute Pet Pics make great FotoSticksCute Pet Pics make great FotoSticks

 

Stop "Green Eye" Syndrome- When a person takes a photograph, and the lighting is bad, often times their eyes will appear as two bright red, shiny, (and kind of sinister) orbs. With pets, a lot of times the eyes will flash a weird green instead of red. The best way to avoid this would be to try to use natural light as much as you can. Since "green eye" is caused by the angle of the light from the flash hitting the eye, cutting out the flash completely is the best way to totally avoid the situation. If you must use a flash,  put a thin piece of cloth over it to reduce the glare.

 

 Pose Pretty- When posing your pet, keep your pet's personlity in mind. You may have a hard time getting super hyper Sparky to lay down for a laid back shot, or lazy bones Heathcliff to take an action shot. Tailor the pose to what is natural for your pet for the best results.

 

Give Props- Using props can be great with photographing a pet, as the right prop can really convey your pet's personlity. Getting a picture of Rover with his favorite red ball, or Muffy with her most treasured ball of yarn can show the playful, loveable, or zany nature of your pet. Plus, props can also be used to get your pet's attention, or to get them to look in a specific direction.

 

Cute Pet Pics Makes GREAT FotoSticks

 

4 Cool Themes for Your Bedroom

April 9th, 2008

The Bedroom is an important addition to any home.

 

Whether you live in a house, apartment, or dorm, your Bedroom is your personal space to relax, re-group, destress, and prepare for tomorrow's challenges.

 

Since the Bedroom serves so many vital functions, it is important that your Bedroom is a personal reflection of your personality and style.

 

It can be hard to express that fabulous sense of style on a tight budget or with limited resources.

 

Here are 4  great themes that can get your room up to speed with your personal style without breaking your ever-so-fragile bank account:

 

Safari Living- This fun theme works well for anyone who appreciates nature...and maybe has a little wild side themselves. It is really easy to make your room into a styling Safari.

First, you may want to paint your room a bold green, or deep brown.

Teenage, or pre-teen girls may want to go a little more girly with a bright pink, or magenta color and use that color pattern for any Leopard/Tiger/Zebra Cool Cheetah Bedprint accesories.

You should be able to find a decent paint for $12-$20 at your local hardware/paint store.

Next step would be to transform your bedding into something wild with either a new Tiger Print comforter, or a DIY comforter cover. Comforter covers are super easy to make, even if you have the most basic sewing abilities.

Buy a couple of Tiger Print sheets or thin, velour blankets, sew them together on 3 sides. Slide your old comforter inside and either use ribbon, buttons, or velcro to close the last side up. DIY comforter covers can be made for $20 tops.

Either buy some funky, faux fur pillows, or  do DIY throw covers using the comforter cover trick above to revamp what you already have.

Take this idea from interesting to great with a Wall Sized FotoStick of Leopard Spots stuck on the wall behind your bed.

Accessorize with fun items like Elephant Statues, a Giraffe "Piggy" Bank, or any other cool nick nacs you can find. A lot of times, you can find these things at thrift stores or dollar stores.

 

Old Hollywood Glam- This theme works well for any movie or theater buff and is super easy to pull off.

For starters, you should think about Silver, or Gold paint, depending on your taste , you may also want to either use one of those new paints with glitter in them, or DIY by splashing some glitter on freshly painted walls.

 Next, make a bed set fit for a true star by getting a satin comforter or DIY with the easy comforter cover described earlier- except, this time, use shiney, satiny material in classic black for a silver room or deep bronze for a gold room.

For throw pillows, go for glitter, satin, and velor. Playing with texture can be pretty cheap when you DIY with easy hand made throw pillow covers.

Top this exclusive bed off with 3 mirrors placed horizontally, over the bed, in place of a head board. This is an ultra chic, and unexpected twist that will add plenty of drama. Silver walls can get either framless, or silver framed mirrors. Gold walls can get either a mirrors with deep, mahogany frames, or gold framed mirrors.

Get Warhol-like graphics on the cheap by using Photoshop to create sweet artwork of classic favorites like Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean.

Up the coolness factor by putting your artwork on FotoSticks and displaying them for all to see- in true star fashion.

Accessorize with an old school coat rack topped with boas and feathered hats (all easy thrift store finds), or with a  classy chasse lounge (which can be faked with an old day bed with strategically arranged pillows).

 

Sports Domain-  Are sports your thing? You can create an awesome sports theme with a little bit of cash and a little elbow grease.

This room can begin with a variety of different paint colors- the main color of your favorite team, your high school/college school color(s), or even just basic red or blue.

Make a statement with the bedding in this room with a comforter with your team's logo, or a DIY comforter cover made with patches of each of your favorite teams' logos/mascots- think "Louis Vuitton" signiture logo bag, just made with your team's logos....on a comforter...this is very "now" and a definate creative twist no one is expecting.

Get throw pillows in the shape of your favorite sport (or even a variety of sports). You can find basketball, soccer, and baseball pillows for cheap in the children's department at most mass retail stores like Wal-Mart or Target.

Throw some FotoSticks of yourself & your team in action on the walls to add a personal and unique touch to the room without losing the sporty edge.

Accessorize with active items to enjoy sports any time. Hang an old basketball hoop up high in one corner, or put a nerf "dart" board up with velcro darts.

 

Under The Sea- This fun theme is sure to please any ocean lover or beach bum.

Start with a blue/green paint for the wall. This paint should be luminous, and can either be purchased that way, or you can DIY for cheap by starting with naturally Luminous Tempera Paint.

Create a bed set fit for King Triton himself by buying a Sea Foam colored comforter, or DIY with a Sea Foam colored comforter cover.

Instead of a head board, get some Green, Blue, and White tulle/wispy fabric at a craft store and put three nails in a triangular pattern above your bed, where the head board would be. Place the Tulle on the nails, until you get the desired effect- which is a super sweet, crown-like "head board" for your A cool under-the-sea panoramic makes a huge statementbed.

For throw pillows, play around with texture, like velour, satin, or faux suede. As long as you stay true to the color family, you can get really creative with the textures.

Get a Panoramic under water scene on a FotoStick, and make one whole wall look like 1000 leagues under the sea.

Accessorize with live Gold Fish in a cool fish bowl, or a couple of Beta Fish (in different fish bowls, of course). Fish are super inexpensive and easy to care for- Plus- they are the only pet that is basically approved for any living situation.

Another sweet way to add to your ocean is by cutting star and fish shapes out of a lamp shade, and using it as unqiue nightlight. This can either be done with an existing lamp, or you can get a cheapie at the local dollar store.

How to take A Perfect Picture

April 2nd, 2008

Have you ever captured a once in a life time moment on camera and felt totally psyched about it; only to be let down when the picture is printed and you discover that your "sweet shot" is out of focus, blurry, or just totally off?

Well, it has happened to me too many times, so I went out and found some super useful tips on how to snap the perfect picture every time.

Read on for tips and tricks that will revolutionize the way you take pictures:Digital Camera

  • The most important thing is to begin with a nice, steady camera. You can acheive this by either using a tripod, propping your camera on a smooth, flat surface, or standing with your weight evenly distributed, and holding your arms against your body, and the camera against your head. 

 

  • Next, you should practice the "Rule of Thirds". This means that instead of centering your subject, you are breaking the total canvas into thirds, horizontally, and vertically. To get that money shot, place your subject on any point where the horizontal/vertical lines cross. 

 

  • Always be sure to keep the horizon level. When you have a strong horizon line, like in an ocean scene, it is important to keep it balanced in relation to the subject. Try to keep the horizon line a third of the way into either the top or the bottom of the shot, depending on the picture that you are taking. 

 

  • Get close enough to your subject to fill your frame. Only get the images that you are trying to capture, by moving in close enough to block other things out- like the weird guy in speedos behind your friends on the beach.  While zooming in on your subject can work, it looks more natural and creates a more clear shot, when you are physically as close to your subject as possible.

 

  • Be creative with frames. Get some tree branches in the shot on an overcast day, or some rose bushes on a clear sunny day. This adds dimension and interesting points of view to a shot. Even including something as simple as the side of a brick building can take your shot from ho-hum, to WOW

 

  • Some tricks to remember with lighting- The worst time to take outdoor pictures on a bright, sunny day is from 10:00am-3:00pm; when you want to capture a silhouette, take your picture with the light source coming from behind or above your subject; the perfect lighting for a close-up shot is when the sky is hazy, or overcast. The grey, hazy lighting is very flattering and the subjects will not have to squint in the sunlight. 

 

  •   Play around with different angles to get fun,unique shots. Climb on top of a chair and have your friends look up at you for a cool faces shot, or lay down on your stomach and look up at Rover to get a cool pic of the family dog. 

 

  • Create "Leading Lines" that lead in to your subject. Try playing around with things in the background like the road or poles to create a frame, or line that points to your subject.

 

 

Top Ten Images on College Dorm Walls

March 19th, 2008

Anyone who has ever attended college, or even visited one knows that dorm rooms and hallways are usually packed with poster, pictures, stickers, and anything else that can be attached to the walls.

And if you are super observant, you may have noticed that the same posters seem to show up in nearly every dorm in someone's room.

I've collected the top ten list of posters/pictures commonly found on college dorm walls, and can honestly say that I have seen every last picture on the list...or at least some kind of variation throughout my college years.

So read on, enjoy, and feel free to add to the list if I'm missing anything!

 

 

1. Bob Marley- This Reggae God graces the walls of every self respecting on campus hippy-hands down, nationwide.Wall Art

 

2. John Belushi's Animal House "COLLEGE" Pic- You know you've seen it, and maybe even own it- and we ALL know of at least one Fraternity guy who has it on his wall.

 

3. Muhammad Ali- Very common graphic that can be seen on your average, boy next-door's wall.

 

4. Inspirational Quotes- "Footprints", "Don't Quit", "Serenity Prayer"....you know the drill.

 

5. The Metamorphosis of Narcissus, by Dali- A favorite among art, film, and theater students...we all know an "artsy" person with this painting on their wall.

 

6. Periodic Table of Mixology- Last seen in those guy's who threw that huge floor party's room.

 

7. Girls/Guys- Models, Celebrities, Generally Gorgeous People, are classic staples that can probably be found in just about every other dorm room wall.

 

8. Scarface/Al Pacino- Too many guys have this poster!

 

9. The Beatles, Abbey Road- On every "serious" music lover's wall...whether they have ever actually listened to The Beatles or not..

 

10. Katsushika Hokusai’s “The Great Wave at Kanagawa”- I'll admit, I've only seen this poster once. But I have a sneaking suspicion that if I had gone to school on the West Coast, it would have been a daily staple.

 

 

FotoStick’s New Wall Sticker Site Launch

February 12th, 2008

After a lot of hard work we finally launched our new wall sticker site!

 

Yes, only two weeks behind schedule too. After a couple of months of work, we're all happy to be live. For anyone that has been through it, they'll appreciate the significance of only being two weeks behind.

 

Here's a screen shot:

 

FotoStick Wall Stickers


Now that it is up, we're ready to grow. Watch for all sorts of new changes and additions. FotoStick is very versatile and over the next few months you will see all sorts of ideas.

 

Most of these ideas come from our customers. That's another role we're going to take on. Helping to promote our customers and their businesses. If you have any ideas or a business story related to our wall stickers, please feel free to email us. We'll see what we can do.

Groundhog’s Day- Yeah!

January 30th, 2008

Hello to Everyone!


Here at FotoStick we are looking forward to....Groundhog's Day!


That's right. Groundhog's Day is the most unappreciated, overlooked, and "under-celebrated" holiday around, and we think that is just wrong.


Just think- In a few days, we will know if beautiful, warm spring is almost here, or if we are going to suffer the tundra of winter for a lot longer.


Groundhog's Day is especially important for those of us in the Northeast, who are like living in Antartica right now. We all have our fingers & toes crossed that on February 2nd, our little furry pal goes running scared from his shadow.|


We might even have to plan a Groundhog's Day party..you know, we could all wear weird tales, and random whiskers...maybe eat some grass--


Well...maybe we'll hold off on the party until after he sees his shadow.


In any event, we are going to do something to celebrate Groundhog's Day- maybe launch our brand new website in it's honor???


Got any comments, ideas, interesting anecdotes about groundhogs? Leave us a comment, and share your wisdom!


Over and out-

Happy New Year

January 10th, 2008

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

 

We have a TON of cool things happening this year at FotoStick and we can't wait to get rolling in 2008.

 

The first thing that we're doing is revamping our website into basically the most awesome site you will ever see. I mean, we have a pretty good site right now, but we have put our collective heads together and have come up with something extra stellar for our FotoStick users.

 

Plus, we have been working overtime on new product development, and we are going to make it easier than ever for you  to get the FotoStick that you want any time you need it.

 

We have so much going on here that I can't even begin to list them all...and some things are top secret status right now any way, and who am I to ruin a good surprise?

 

So, keep an eye on FotoStick this year and enjoy all of the changes!

 

And, don't be afraid to post feedback, comments, or even cool photographs to this blog...we'd love to hear from you.

House Warming

December 17th, 2007

Wonderful World o’ Winter

 

Hello All:

 

The FotoStick bloggers finally have moved from our home page to our own spot, and we are so excited.

 

It kind of feels like when you first move from your parent's house and into your own pad- we are happy, enthusiastic, and looking forward to a future of fun times and freedom!!

 

Well, not so much the freedom part (we were always free to blog as we liked), but we are looking forward to keeping the world updated on the cool things going on with us here at FotoStick. We will be posting awesome pictures, sweet decorating ideas, and general discussion about everything from digital art, to oil paintings.  And from time to time, we'll even give our expert opinion on the latest and greatest bands, shows, and CD releases. So, stay tuned, add feedback, and enjoy.

 

Welcome to the official new home of the FotoStick blog team.

Cool Kitchen

December 6th, 2007

Looking for a cool new way to display your favorite memories?

 

Check out this great idea sent to us from a creative FotoStick user in Boston:


Kitchen%20Wall.jpg

"I decided to decorate my kitchen wall with fotostick images because I  spend so much time in there - hanging out with friends and cooking.  Having a wall of pictures to look at, laugh about, and remember  special occassions has been so fun. Plus, everyone that comes over  looks for themselves on the wall. Some friends have even started  counting who is represented on the wall most!"

"Having fotostick makes  it easy to change out old pictures for new pictures and add new  occassions to the wall. Plus, all the steam and heat from cooking  doesn't bend my pictures like those I used to keep pinned to the  fridge."

Nancy Webster Gleason

Photo’s from FotoStick Instructional Video Shoot

July 23rd, 2007

Here are some photos shot during the making of the instructional video. This large photo-poster of Mt. Katahdin is a wonderful demonstration of our large-scale digital printing capacity!  

 

 

 

 

 
Fathead 
 

 

 

 

 

 If you have trouble putting one of these larger posters up, having a friend to help is always an easy full-proof way to complete the process. Once the poster has been mounted, smoothing out wrinkles takes only a ruler and a few seconds. 

 

 

 

 

 
 
FotoStick 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Enjoy!
Team FotoStick

 

 

 

 

 

Big News!

July 17th, 2007

Hello All! Team Fotostick here again. We wanted to share some exciting news with you. Firstly, our website is being redesigned as we speak, and the new exciting changes should be finalized soon! We promise you will love the new look. Secondly, featured on the new website will be the commercial we just finished, along with a three minute instructional video about using FotoSticks! Check out these pictures from the shoot:

 

 

 Custom Stickers 

 

 

This picture shot during the commercial, features the sneaky younger sister stealing the FotoStick from her old brother’s binder. She continues on, and slaps it on her Dad’s car as seen below. You can really put these things anywhere, and they won't harm any surface! 

 

 

Custom Sticker 

 

 

More to come,

 

The FotoStick Team

 

Patriotism

July 5th, 2007

Building the country out of quarters was pretty cool; getting the FotoStick picture of it was even cooler. Enjoy the photograph, and happy 4th of July.



Patriotic Stickers

Tomas

 

Green Shadows

June 29th, 2007

Well, there is no castle behind this green, but this 5th hole's undulating slopes will take you and your under-par round for a ride. (Maybe on the Bogey-Train?) Although the ball sitting close to the pin was not mine, every client leaving my office (that notices the photo on the wall) has the impression that it was!

 

Photo Stickers 

 

Thanks for the photograph FotoStick, Bethany

Speaking of Ireland…

June 28th, 2007

Golf Anyone?

 

Since the outside of my office does not look like that beautiful Irish view, I will post a few pictures of what I have been day dreaming about. Speaking of Ireland, this first picture is of a castle on the Tralee golf Course in South-Western Ireland. The hole sits right infront of the castle, and is a beauty.

Photography Stickers 

 

Even though I double bogied the hole, a blown up version of this picture sits on wall at home.

 

Thanks FotoStick, 
Andrew

Welcome to the FotoStick Blog

June 28th, 2007

Thanks for visiting the newly opened FotoStick Blog. We want to make this a fun "photoblog", BUT! feel free to post images, stories, or anything that suits your fancy.

Stickers 

 

As your workday comes to a close, check outside your window. Does it look like this?

 

Well, all of us here at FotoStick would like to hope so. Sadly, this is not the view outside of our office. This picture was taken by one of our staff in County Kerry, Ireland. Every now-and-then, us here at the FotoStick team will post some interesting photos for you to enjoy.

 

Also, watch the blog for special promotions, and contests that could be fun, and save you money on www.fotostick.com, the world's center for Photos that Stick!

 

Thanks again for visiting!

 

Over and Out,

The FotoStick Team