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When you’re in front of the video camera, you want to look your best. Here’s some tips on what clothing looks best on video:

I was recently working on a project in Adobe Premiere Elements that had multiple scenes. Each scene had a video clip, title page, music, sound clips, and voice over narration. To keep each of these scenes together (timed correctly), you can group them. That way, if you need to insert something in the middle of your video, you can do so without messing up the layout of the rest of your video.

To group items, hold down the SHIFT key and click each item you want to include. Each item you select should stay highlighted. Then, right-click and select GROUP from the menu.

If you need to ungroup them, click the scene you want to ungroup, right-click, and then select UNGROUP.

A family photo can be a great addition to a video scrapbook. It can be pretty pricey if you go to a professional photographer. Plus, you might have to worry about copyright issues if you use another photographer’s photo in your video scrapbook. So here’s some great tips on how to take a great family photo yourself.

• Get your family members close together. Try to get everyone’s heads close together for a close up.
• Make sure everyone wears bright solid colors. Plaids, stripes, and polka dots can be very distracting.
• If you want a picture outdoors, try to take your photo in the morning when the sun is just rising. The lighting is better at this time. If you’re not a morning person, the second best time to take a photo is in the evening just before the sun sets.
• Shoot with the sun behind you. But make sure that your family is not squinting.
• Take lots of pictures. Vary up the poses if everyone is cooperative.
• Make sure the background is not distracting.
• Once you get the “keeper” shot, get your family to ham it up and take several silly shots. This will also be fun to put in a video scrapbook.
• Use a tripod to steady your shot! If you don’t have one, you can buy one for less than $20. You’ll use it more than you think. Plus, most tripods will hold both video cameras and digital cameras.
• Don’t line up your family members in a row. Arrange them in a natural pose to add interest.

That’s all I can think of right now. If you have any other tips, please share them by leaving a comment.

I recently put together a Video Scrapbook for a friend. He brought a huge stack of pictures over for me to scan in. I went right to work. After I had scanned and cropped all the pictures and imported them into iMovie, I noticed that several of the pictures had smudges and streaks on them. I then checked my scanner and realized that the glass was dusty. Uggggh! I guess I hadn’t used it in a while. Most of my pictures are taken with a digital camera now so I haven’t even needed my scanner.

So it was back to the drawing board for me. I had to re-scan all the pictures. Now I will always remember to check the glass on my scanner before I start a new job.

First of all, let me apologize for not posting yesterday. But I had 33 people at my house for a Super Bowl party. It was a lot of fun. But I’m super tired now! Since I still have sports on the brain, I figured I would give you one of my favorite things to do when videoing/photographing my children in sports.

Make sure you get video/photos of your child getting ready for the big game. Get him/her putting on their shoes, eating a healthy snack, doing stretches, putting hair up in ponytails, etc. This will add an extra element of interest in your video scrapbook.

If you plan on editing your video on your computer, DO NOT use the special effects (fades, dissolves, wipes, etc.) built into your video camera. You can easily add these special effects using your video editing software. You will be able to better control where these effects are placed and be able to time them better if you are adding music to your video.

I used to love to use the special effects on my video camera. However, I usually ended up cutting a lot of it out and wasted a lot of good footage.

Be cautious when using the date/time feature on your camera. If you have it turned on while recording, the date and time are imprinted on the tape and cannot be removed at a later date.

I use this feature when preparing to shoot a video. I turn the date and time on and record for about 10 seconds. Then, I turn it off before I start shooting the actual video. This 10 seconds will give me enough information about the tape if I have to come back to it a later date.

Here’s a great tip I onced learned for videoing pets. Get down on their level. See the world as your pet sees it. Set your camera at their eye level or below to get their point of view. This will add a lot of interest to your video.

When my husband and I bought our first camcorder several years ago, we didn’t take time to label our miniDV tapes. This resulted in a huge drawer filled with miniDV tapes. We had no clue what was on each of them and were overwhelmed with the thought of having to go through all of them.

I decided that something had to be done about it or we would keep adding to the drawer and probably would never view these tapes again. So here’s what I did to start the huge organization task ahead of me.

Organize current tape(s)

First, I started with the tape that was currently in my camcorder. I labeled it S1 (for Source 1). I then bought a small notebook and created a log for my tapes. In the first column, I put the name of the tape (such as S1, S2, etc.). In the next column, I put the date/date range of the tape. In the next column I listed the contents of the tape and any special notes. I carry this notebook in my camera bag so I can update it when needed. I also created an Excel spreadsheet on my computer. Occasionally, I update this spreadsheet with the contents of the notebook for a backup.

Organize master tapes

When I finish editing a video on my computer, I always copy the video back to a master miniDV tape for safe storage. (I also create DVDs of the video for friends and family. However, it is best to archive the master on a miniDV tape.) I label these tapes M1, M2, etc. “M” stands for master copy. I created an Excel spreadsheet on my computer with the following columns so I know what is on each tape: Name (such as M1), Date(s), Contents of Tape, and Special Notes.

Organize old tapes

Next, I started organizing that overwhelming drawer full of tapes… which turned out to be a lot of fun. I enjoyed reminiscing about old times. I had almost forgotten how tiny my children were as babies. Before I labeled the tapes, I created an Excel spreadsheet with the following columns: Date(s), Contents, and Special Notes. As I watched each tape, I jotted down the appropriate information in each of the columns. Then, I labeled each tape according to the date it was created in the following format: 2002Jan-Feb. When I finished logging all the tapes, I was able to sort the columns based on date.

Storing tapes

Once I organized my tapes, I needed a safe place to store them. I also wanted them to be easily accessible if I ever needed to review them. I purchased a Bryco 50 Tape Mini DV Storage Rack

on Amazon that was perfect! It holds up to 50 tapes and you can easily view your labels on the spines of the tapes.

This storage rack easily fits in our home safe so I know my tapes are always safe from fire or water damage.

Do you have any tips?

If you have any other organization/storage tips you would like to share, please leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.

Occasionally, you may need to scan photos from newspapers to add to your video scrapbook. Since the photos may be old and probably won’t be too sharp, you will need to clean them up to look better on screen. Here are some tips to get the best quality possible:

1. Scan your image as line art (or about 72 dpi). 
2. In your photo editing software, blur the image slightly and then sharpen it.
3. Change the color to black and white to strip any color out.

Use your photo editing software in moderation. Take small steps at first and increase the effect until you get the effect you want.