Iowa City Press-Citizen from Iowa City, Iowa • Page 6

NATION FRIDAY, December 1 7, 1 993 6A Iowa Ciiy Press-Citizen 7 h- Front yard decorations Tips let you escape lousy holiday photos 1 A WftiSD nil and what's on either side. In other words, compose the picture before taking it. This is the way to make sure the lamp isn't sprouting from Uncle Bill's head. Fill it up. Get close to your subject and fill the viewfinder with the image.

Don't shoot from across the room. Long-distance shots usually are dominated by everything ex cept the main subject. Get the red out. The red eyes often produced by flashes result in hideous photographs. That usually occurs when a flash is used in a room that is very dark.

A person's eyes are dilated in dim light, allowing the! burst of light from a flash to bounce off the cornea in the back of the eye, producing a red inW age. Turn on lights in the roibm if possible. That will allow the1 pupils of the eyes to contract. Bouncing the flash off the cerl1 ing instead of aiming it at the subject also eliminates red eye. Get charged up.

Put fresh batteries in your camera for the holidays, and keep spares on hand. Know your stuff. Understand the capabilities of your camera. Know the focal distance and the power of the flash. Beers also recommends buying camera equipment from a reputable shop that is knowlr edgeable.

Don't expect top-notch advice from a clerk at the discount store even for point-andj-shoot cameras. Associated Press This house in Corpus Christi, Texas, is in an exhibit of photos at the National Museum of American History. The Christmas decorations feature Santa orbiting Earth in a spaceship, a mechanized doll playing carols on a piano, and a motorized seesaw. When Patoski came to photograph Richardson's house, he was right out front with a guest book, getting everyone who came by to sign. "He had people sign that book from as far away as Japan," Patoski said.

She finds out about most of the displays by word of mouth, stopping in local convenience stores, asking anyone and everyone where to look. Since 1973, Patoski has taken almost 750 photos of Christmas displays. She hopes one day to turn them into a book. the brightest and most original Christmas lights. She thinks the decorations are a unique form of American folk art.

She also thinks that, for some people, they're the only chance all year to be playful. "I think there are a lot of locked-up Rubes Goldbergs out there creative people who just have no other outlet," Patoski says. Take Bill Richardson of Noc-ona, Texas, who for years went to great lengths to create highly unusual displays out of odds and ends he scavenged. Exhibit 'Merry Christmas America: A Front Yard View of the Holiday' will be at the National Museum of American History through Jan. 2.

He covered old pantyhose racks from a drugstore in bright strings of lights. He filled jars with red and green liquid and propped them up to catch the reflections. He hung the tops of tin cans from a tree in his yard. REG. $5.75 Russell Stover Assorted Chocolates Assorted varieties.

1 -pound box. llershey's Chocolate Candy Special selection including Holiday Miniatures, Kisses, Your Choice Sass Osco Sale Price on display Museum exhibits American folk art WASHINGTON (AP) Each Christmas on a roof in Corpus Christi, Texas, Santa orbits the earth in a spaceship, while in the yard below a mechanized doll plays Christmas carols on a piano and a motorized seesaw covered in Christmas lights swings endlessly up and down. In Los Angeles, a house wrapped completely in foil, and then draped in hundreds of white Christmas lights, reflects and reflects to blinding effect. Come December sometimes even 'earlier Americans decorate their property for the holidays. Some do it sedately, some over the top.

Some houses glow like highway truck stops from more than a mile away. And some attract so many visitors that the neighbors file suit. Usually you have to drive around back roads to find these Christmas wonders. This month, they're at the Smithsonian. Sixty photographs of front-yard Christmas decorations line the walls of a gallery at the National Museum of American History in a new exhibit: "Merry Christmas America: A Front Yard View of the Holiday." They're the work of Christina Patoski of Fort Worth, Texas, who has wandered the country for the past 20 winters, searching out Catalog retailers glad Sears gone Gannett News Service For the first time in nearly 100 years, the Sears catalog isn't making Christmas wishes come true except for other catalog retailers.

The Sears catalog, a bit-of-everything book, stopped taking orders, in May. The "Big Book" and the Sears' "Christmas Wish Book" were dropped when Sears got out of the big catalog business. As soon as Sears tool: its last order, revenue for other catalog companies like Spiegel, Fingerhut and Montgomery Ward jumped. J.G. Penney says that by August, revenue was up 7.1 percent from the year before.

November's revenue rose 20 percent. Sears gave up 6.5 million active customers and $3.2 billion in catalog revenue, which made it No. 1. "The slack left by Sears was easily and happily taken up by other companies," says Arnold Fishman, of Marketing Logistics, a Highland Park, 111., catalog consulting firm. Here's where Fishman estimates Sears' revenue has gone this year: J.C.

Penney got $300 million, giving it $3 billion in revenue. One reason: It began accepting Sears' Discover Card. Fingerhut and Montgomery Ward nabbed $300 million in revenue by creating a joint venture, which sells to Montgomery Ward credit card customers. It is on its way to building a $500 million annual business. Spiegel, which had 1992 revenue of $1.6 billion, picked up $200 million.

It targeted Sears' customers by acquiring the New Hampton catalog group for $40 million. New Hampton's 3.5 million customers are less affluent than typical Spiegel customers and more likely to have been Sears customers. Another 200 small catalogs have split $800 million. Sears may have kept a big chunk of revenue as much as $600 million. How? By encouraging loyal customers to shop at Sears stores and by sponsoring small specialty catalogs.

Food Drink Friday Saturday Dec. 17 Dec. 18 PRIME RIB DINNER V4 Gannett News Service Ah, memories of the holidays captured in photographs. There's Uncle Bill with a lamp growing out of his head. Aunt Sally looks like she's attending a wake instead of a holiday party.

Gleaming, red eyes make baby Bobby look like the child from hell. Little cousin Mary well, it appears that someone inflated her head and shrunk her legs. And the smiles on the twins' faces make them look like they visited the orthodontist on a bad-hair day. So, another holiday season, another batch of lousy photographs. What to do? Follow some of these easy tips from Valerie Fate Beers, operator of Studio Royale in Fort Collins, Colo.

Don't say "smile," "You can get a spontaneous smile if you get the child thinking about something fun, rather than 'I'm getting my picture Say "money," or "macaroni and cheese." This trick also works on adults. Get down. Adults often take pictures looking down on children. This usually makes a child look up in an unnatural pose. It also distorts the size of the head.

It's also true when photographing someone who is sitting. Enjoy the view. Don't just point and shoot. Look at what's behind the subject to 9 ounce bag 9 Baileys Irish Cream or Di Saronno Amaretto 750 ML Your Choice Brandy or Clan MacCregor Scotch 750 ML Your Choice NOW! 7 Locations to 36491 St Ave. SE Town Country 330 Westdale Mall 4116 Center Point Rd.

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