Photo Courtesy of UnderwaterCamerasPlus.com

I love the ocean and have always been fascinated with underwater wildlife.  I once tried to take some pictures underwater but didn’t have much luck.

So, when I saw this great article on taking underwater pictures I couldn’t resist. This article from the website, Underwater Cameras Plus, gives some great tips on underwater photography.  If you’re interesting in learning how to take great underwater pictures, then you should check out this underwater photography article. This article offers some practical tips to avoiding the following common problems that many underwater pictures have:

• Lack of vibrant colors- pictures have a blue or blue-green tint to them
• White circles or dots that look like snow covering the image
• Fuzzy or blurry pictures
• No sharpness between the subject and the background

If you’re interested in underwater photography, then this underwater photography article can certainly offer you some practical advice.

And, sorry about the fuzzy picture of the Dragon Moray Eel but I couldn’t resist his smile

Here are more of Dennis Daniels new spring frame collection that we just added to our website.

Enamel and Silver Plated Picture Frames

This year, Dennis Daniels is expanding their selection of colors and are offering some new colors as well as updating some existing ones. This popular frame with its enamel color and silver plated border is perfect for almost any picture. Each frame is surrounded by a silver plated silver border that shines brightly to offset the colorful enamel color. These beautiful brightly colors frames are now available in the following colors: black, green tea, midnight blue, periwinkle blue, red, rosy pink, slate grey and vanilla cream.

To see all of these beautifully bright and decorative silver plated picture frames,you can find them here:

• Silver Plated Black Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Green Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Midnight Blue Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Periwinkle Blue Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Red Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Rosy Pink Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Slate Grey Picture Frame
• Silver Plated Vanilla Cream Picture Frame

Letterbox Silver Plated Picture Frames

Like the Enamel and Silver Plated Picture Frames, these frames are available in all of the same colors but instead of having four sides of enamel color, the letterbox frames only have two enamel covered sides. This gives the letterbox frames a more informal look and requires that you use them for displaying horizontal pictures. The letterbox is available in two sizes, 6×4 and 5×7, and are designed to be displayed on a table top surface. The letterbox enamel picture frame is also available in the following colors:

• Black Picture Frame
• Green Picture Frame
• Midnight Blue Picture Frame
• Periwinkle Blue Picture Frame
• Red Picture Frame
• Rosy Pink Picture Frame
• Slate Grey Picture Frame
• Vanilla Cream Picture Frame

Art Mat Metal Picture Frames

This new style of Dennis Daniels frame has a thin metal frame with a white mat. This matted picture frame in black or white is perfect for displaying a photo to make it really stand out. It works great for framing photos that you want to give a more artistic look by using a mat. This frame is designed for displaying on a table and comes with a black velvet easel back stand. There are three sizes available: a 4×6 matted opening, a 5×7  matted opening and a 8×10 matted opening.

For more information on each of these photo frames, you can get more information by visiting each of the frames here:

• Black Metal Picture Frame with White Mat
• White Metal Picture Frame with White Mat

We are excited about being able to offer these new spring 2010 frames and will be offering even a few more new Dennis Daniels frames very shortly!

If you’re looking for a fun adventure for your kids to do outside in the beautiful weather, then you should consider a photography scavenger hunt in your backyard. This can be a huge amount of fun and can get your kids to better appreciate nature.

If you don’t know what a photo scavenger hunt is, it’s where you give your kids a camera and a list of things they need to find to take pictures of. Whoever, finds and takes the most pictures of the items on their list -wins.

You can do this activity with young children as early as five or you can create teams and include younger children as well. Just remember that you need to have at least one child who knows how to use a camera. And, if a child doesn’t have a camera, you can always use an inexpensive disposable camera.

Here are a couple of things to consider before you start:

1) Set boundaries of where the children can go. In most cases, your backyard can work great. Just remember that safety should always come first.

2) Set rules. Make sure that everyone starts at the same time and place. Also, set a specific ending time (even if no one wins) and a place where everyone must return to. Another thing you should consider is that each child knows that they shouldn’t take too many pictures of any one object. Try to have them take no more than 2 -3 pictures of each item on their list.

3) Give each child or team, a list of 10-15 objects to find. Give a mix of items so some items are easy to find while others are more difficult. For each item on the list, assign a point value to it based upon the difficulty of finding the item. While making your list be thinking of items that are fun to find and help educate as well.

If you need ideas for your list, here is a simple printable scavenger hunt list that HP put together that’s really cute if you want something that’s ready to print.

And don’t forget to take pictures of your kids on the scavenger hunt, so you’ll have something to put in a decorative picture frame to remember this fun day!

Getting your children involved in taking pictures can be a fun way for your kids to express their creativity and learn some great life lessons.

For me, I got my first camera when I was five years old. It was a little Kodak Instamatic X-15F camera. I not only learned how to take pictures, but I also learned a lot of important lessons. At that time, not many children had cameras so it really helped teach me responsibility and to appreciate my belongings.

These days, kids are more accustomed to cameras so choosing a camera for a child is a lot different. These days, many kids are more concerned with how the camera looks than the sheer joy of taking pictures.

So, here are a few things to consider when shopping for a camera for your child:

• Ease of use
• Camera size
• Camera features

When choosing a camera for your child, the age of your child really makes a huge difference. The younger your child, the simpler the camera should be with large easy to use buttons. The size should also be something the child can easily handle. For younger children, a little larger camera is better while with older kids smaller cameras are better. That’s because as kids gets older their fine motor control improves. In terms of camera features, you should choose a camera with very few features for a young child, but the older the child is the more features it can have. And since kids these days are so comfortable with technology, they should have no problem learning how to use a camera.