Understanding aperture and what it does is extremely important in photography, as it will help you understand how to balance your exposure when shooting in manual mode, and also how to control the look and feel of your images by controlling your depth of field. So, in today's post, I’m going to look at what aperture is, and how you can use it to get more creative with your photography!

The holidays can be such a busy time, and we can get so caught up in trying to get everything done that it's easy to forget to capture this special time of year! So, for this Christmas, I've created a list of 31 photo prompts to help you document your december, and capture the spirit, beauty and traditions of the season

One question I get a lot is how to get your subject sharp and perfectly in focus, even when they are moving.  This can be tricky, especially if your subject is a child - the movements tend to be more erratic and therefore harder to pin down!  (Not to mention the fact that they don't take any instruction, grrr) 

However, if you follow some simple tips, you should increase  the number of "keepers" you get - so without further ado, here's my tips for taking sharp photos of moving subjects..

As winter draws in, I often find myself shooting when there is low, or limited light.

After shooting through the summer when light is abundant, I personally love the opportunity to shoot images that are taken with very little light, particularly when I convert these to black and white - there's something about low light and monochrome together that tugs at me, which is why you will find all of the examples in this post converted to black and white! 

But, hey, you can leave them in colour too :) 

Here are some tips for low light photography: 

When you first start out in photography it seems like you have a million questions buzzing around in your head - how do people get those blurred background? Why is my subject out of focus? Why don't my portraits look good? Why do my images have that strange colour tint? 

 So, in this post, I've tried to take the most common questions I've been asked from beginners over my (many!) years of blogging and teaching photography, and give you the answers! In most cases, I've linked to a post here on the blog which goes into more detail for you on that particular subject so you can get all the information you need. 

Ready? Let's go!

At the end of yesterday's post on the 6 different ways to set white balance, I promised some comparisons between a few of the different methods outlined there, so here they are!   I'll be comparing Auto White Balance, the Preset settings on the camera, Kelvin, Gray Card , and the ExpoDisc .

Getting white balance right in camera is an extra step when shooting, but it’s so worth it to get rid of all of those wonky color casts that make your photos look awful! Whilst you can always change your white balance later in processing, it’s much easier to get it right in camera, and will save you a ton of time in editing, promise. 

Here are six different ways to set your white balance when taking your photos.

If you have children that love getting their photo taken, then I totally envy you!  As my son has grown up and developed his own (strong willed) personality, he has also grown more resistant to getting his picture taken.  Of course that is fine – I mean, who wants to have a lens in their face everyday? – but as a mother who wants to document our family life, it can be downright tricky at times! However, I have my ways of making sure I can still take lifestyle shots, either by ensuring his co-opration, or by being sneaky :) 

So, if you are one of those who have children who either cower or complain when the camera comes out, here are my tips for getting lifestyle images of your children, whilst ensuring that they are still comfortable with it.  

I been making a photo book a year for a couple of years now, and over that time I have (unwittingly!) developed a shooting style that helps me more easily develop page spreads that look good together in my family photo books.  I still end up with a few pages of random photos, but for the most part, the pages look more like they were "meant" to be together, and I can put the thing whole together more quickly.

This is what I aim for when shooting day-to-day stuff that I know will make it into my photo books, but I think the following tips would apply if you are a lifestyle photographer and want to be able to sell photo books too. 

As winter draws in, I do find myself shooting indoors more often, which presents it's own set of challenges - working in smaller locations, and dealing with less light are the two that spring first to mind!  I used to shy away from shooting indoors, but as much of our normal, everyday lives take place indoors,  it was important to me to get more comfortable with shooting there! 

Here are my tips for improving your indoor photos: 

One of the main benefits of owning a DSLR is the ability to change lenses to suit what and where you are photographing.   

As you progress beyond the kit lens, and start to look at adding to your lens collection. one age old question pondered by many always crops up. Should I buy a zoom lens or prime lens?  

It's a very difficult question to answer because there are a lot of factors to take into consideration: your preferred shooting style, your available budget, and what your main subjects are going to be. 

Hopefully what I can do here today is give you some things to think about when you are comparing the two!

Ready? Let battle commence 😀

Let me preface this post by saying I am by no means an expert at using flash. I know people who will use it during the day, or can light a scene in the pitch black using one speedlight and an umbrella, or use several as slaves and masters (?!)

I am not this person. 

I only dig the speed light out when the days get shorter, and natural light indoors becomes less, and I need to supplement the existing light - that's it!

But as I'm willing to bet that is why most lifestyle photographers reach for their speed light, I wanted to give you a guide to use to use flash for this very purpose.  

The other thing to note is that for this to make any sense whatsoever, you really must understand your exposure triangle and how everything goes together - but for the purposes of this article I'm just going to assume that you are confident about what each of the elements does :) 

(Oh, and If you are unsure about why you would even want an external flash unit, i wrote about this recently with some examples here so you can read that first so you have some background!)

With all that caveats neatly out of the way, let's start on how to use flash! 

Although you might not think so, Pinterest can be an amazing resource for photographers when used in the right way!  It can be a wonderful source of inspiration,  whether you need some ideas for planning for a session,  a little help when trying to define your own style, and can even help you create your own inspirational images! 

I know many people think of Pinterest for photographers in a negative way, because they either compare themselves to the photographers on there (and think they find themselves lacking!), or they try to re-create an image they have seen down to the last detail and wonder why it doesn't good as the original. 

But Pinterest can definitely be used as a force for good - you just have to know how to use it :) 

In this post, I'm going to give you some ideas for ways you can use Pinterest to help you get the most from this platform for growing your photography skills and creating gorgeous images.

One of the things that draws me to lifestyle photography more than any other kind is that I love detail shots.  Whilst I also enjoy a good portrait - and I think that they are just as important to photograph too - I believe detail shots can be just as beautiful as any other type of images, and as it requires you to slow down and be a little bit more purposeful when shooting, really allows you to see the beauty in your everyday life. 

Here are some tips for helping you capture the details in lifestyle photography. 

When we are first starting out, we tend to take images from the same position all the time - from standing. (When shooting children, this means we are generally shooting down on them) Whilst this is fine for some images, most of the time we will want to get down and shoot on the same level as our subject. Doing so allows you to create more of a connection between the viewer and the subject, and can add a bit more impact to an image.