Create a Modern Family photo

Do you guys watch the show Modern Family? We love it.

The show’s credits show the family members holding frames with photos of the other family members inside. I was thinking what a cute holiday card photo this idea would make for grandparents, when I decided I’d like to do it myself.

Below, my sister is modeling our thirteenth weekly rookie mom challenge.

Take yourself to a place where you can pick up a large frame to hold in front of your body. I suggest an Aaron Brothers, Target, Michael’s, or your local specialty frame shop.

Bring a friend to take your picture, ask a friendly stranger, or use your camera’s self-timer. If you are particular about photography, you might have a hard time with the fluorescent lights of a superstore. Together, Heather and I were bold enough to bring a frame that we had no intention of buying up to the front of the store where we were able to use the natural light coming in the front door, but the pictures are stuck on a camera for which I have no card reader.

Once you’ve got a photo of yourself with a large frame, how are you going to execute the layering of the two photos? Here are some suggestions:

Use Photoshop or ask a friend who has it and knows how to use it.
Print the pictures and use scissors and glue to get crafty. When you are done, you can scan the collage so that it’s back on your computer for sharing purposes. This will also give it a flatter, more complete look.
Try an online picture editing tool like SplashUp.com. If you are new to this type of program, the steps you’ll need to take are after the jump.

Make sure to share your photos with us when you complete the challenge

How to create a photo within a photo using Splash Up:

Go to File, Open, and browse for your photo. You may need to Zoom out to see what you’re doing. Below I have put a red circle around the Zoom function and the Rotate function in case you need to use either of those.

Now open a second image, the photo of your baby. Select the photo of the baby, copy and paste it onto the photo of yourself. Use the upper left button on the left sidebar that looks like a dotted rectangle (known as a marquee tool) to select the part of the photo you want to place in the frame. Use the Edit menu to find the “copy” option.

Go to your image of yourself and use the Edit menu to “paste” the baby’s photo.

Your baby’s photo is now a layer on top of the photo of you.

The two buttons you need to get the baby’s photo into just the right place are the arrow, which will allow you to drag the baby layer around and the rotate which will make tilting the photo possible. You might need to rotate the top layer to align it with the frame.

When the smaller photo is at the correct angle, click the “apply rotate” button at the top of the application.

To make any further adjustments to the background photo, you can use the layer window that is already displayed on the screen to toggle back and forth between which layer you are controlling.

So there’s your Week 13 challenge.

To re-cap:

Leave the house and head for a store that sells large frames.
Take a self-portrait without your baby in it.
Return home and make a collage either on the computer or by hand.
Post your photo on flickr.com (in the rookiemoms group), your own blog, or the Rookie Moms Facebook page.

Not ready for this yet? Start with our very first challenge.

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.