One question pops up time and time again when people first consider moving to manual mode, which is:
"How on earth do I keep up with changing my settings when shooting in manual mode, and my kids are running about all over the place?!"
I hear ya!
It is a little bit more tricky to be sure, so in this post I'm going to give you a few tips that will hopefully help make the process of keeping up when shooting in manual mode just that little bit easier.
Read MoreIn my free Facebook Group the other day, someone asked a question that I know pretty much everyone thinks when they are first starting out (myself included!) which was:
“Why do I need to worry about getting the exposure right in camera, when I can fix it in Lightroom / Photoshop / Post Processing?"
Such a great question! And it's true, with digital photography, we are very lucky to be able to fix a vast amount of mistakes in editing software, and exposure is definitley one of them.
But there are few reasons why you will want to at least attempt to get exposure as close as possible to being correct in camera, and that my friends, is what we are going to go over today!
Read MoreHey fellow Lightroom users!
As you are no doubt already aware, in order to use a photo for something we can't do from within Lightroom, such as sending to your favourite print lab, or maybe making a copy to post on your blog, we need to EXPORT it from Lightroom.
Although it's pretty darn quick to export photos from Lightroom anyway, we can speed up this process even more by creating our own export presets, and that's what I'm going to show you how to do today!
Read MoreHands up if you'e ever thought to yourself.....
"oh, well, that person shoots with a professional grade camera, that means I need to invest in gear to get good photos"
or
"Well, this photographer I met in the park only shoots in AUTO so I don't need to bother to learn manual mode"
or even
"I can learn this all by searching Google - it knows everything" (😉)
Did you put your hand up? Yes? Well, don't worry, a few years ago I would have been right along with you!
That's why today we’re talking about all the myths that people believe about learning photography - and why you should ignore them!
Read MoreWelcome back for another creative challenge! If you are new to the blog, every month for 2017 I will be posting a creative exercise / mini photography project for you to do. So if you like the idea of a monthly flex of your photography muscles, come back at the first Tuesday of every month for your assignment. You can of course do these at ANY time, so at the bottom of this post you will find links to the previous challenges too!
For this month's creativity exercise, we are going on a Scavenger Hunt!
Read MoreYes, it's time for me to share my photography journey with you!
I realised that I have all these wonderful guests on the blog, sharing their stories, and I've never really shared mine. So, I've taken the exact same questions I ask everyone else, and answered them!
Yep, I sat there and spoke to myself.
It was worryingly pleasant.
Read MoreThe headline says it all! Today, I wanted to show you 12 Lightroom before and after examples of images that have been edited exclusively with LIghtroom.
Why?
Because one common misconception about Lightroom is that it is mainly for image management, or for making simple editing adjustments like exposure and white balance, but that you really need something like Photoshop to edit your images creatively.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Once you get to know what can be done in Lightroom. you will be amazed at just how much you can do in this program. So, yes image management is a HUGE benefit to using Lightroom, but don't make the mistake of thinking that is ALL it can do.
Read MoreI know that for many of you, your number one enemy in your photography journey is not having enough time! I can totally relate to that, as I sometimes feel like I am trying to cram 50 hours worth of chores into one day. I have spoken before about how I try to manage the time I do have for photography more effectively, so today I'm going to tell you about how Lightroom has also been a key part of helping me get more done, in less time.
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Welcome back for another creative challenge! If you are new to the blog, every month for 2017 I will be posting a creative exercise / mini photography project for you to do. So if you like the idea of a monthly flex of your photography muscles, come back at the first Tuesday of every month for your assignment. You can of course do these at ANY time, so at the bottom of this post you will find links to the previous challenges too!
For this month's creativity exercise, we are going to switch gears a little bit (again! I like to mix it up 😄) and consider how we can document our lives, or the lives of the people we love, through photography.
Once again, it's a simple idea: we are going to do this using a "currently" list. It's such a wonderful way to document what your life looks like right NOW, and not only that, but it will get your creative juices flowing as you need to decide how to capture these thoughts, feelings and actions. So, it's documentary, but with a creative twist!
Read MoreLearning photography is so much fun, but it can also be hard work! There is so much to learn and take on board, that it can feel a little overwhelming.
In this post, I'm going to give you just seven quick tips that you can take action on TODAY that will help give you better photos. So, for each tip, you also have an action item - there's no sitting around being an armchair photographer here 😀
Ready? Let's get stuck in!
Read MoreWe all know that learning a new piece of software can be daunting - this is especially true when we're talking about Lightroom, which has so many modules, panels, buttons and options that you might not even know where to start!
It has taken me quite a few years to figure out Lightroom, and right at the beginning I really wish I had someone leading me through the process step by step - it would have saved me so much time and allowed me to concentrate on getting good images, rather than sorting out my mess!
Read MoreWelcome back for another creative challenge! If you are new to the blog, every month for 2017 I will be posting a creative exercise for you to do. So if you like the idea of a monthly flex of your photography muscles, come back at the first Tuesday of every month for your assignment. You can of course do these at ANY time, so at the bottom of this post you will find links to the previous challenges too!
This particular exercise is absolutely wonderful for those times when you are feeling a bit creatively blocked or stuck in a rut - you know those times when you just aren’t feeling motivated to pick up your camera, and when you do you feel like everything you take looks blah and boring.
The reason we are having this creativity exercise this month is this is because that is EXACTLY how I have been feeling of late!
Photography has been a major part of my life for a long time now, and between writing blog posts, doing live streams in the Facebook group, answering questions, recording lessons and creating courses on the subject, I feel like the actual part of taking the photos is something that I have fallen out of doing! I know that this feeling is pretty common with professional photographers, because their creativity in essence becomes their job, which in and itself can get repetitive. However, it can - nay, it WILL - happen to everyone, regardless of whether you are a hobbyist or a seasoned pro.
So, for this exercise, we are going to be limiting ourselves with how we shoot (because believe or not limitations HELP your creativity!) but only with regard to location and time.
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