Having a little trouble getting your head around Aperture and Depth of Field?

Don’t worry, it happens to us all!

But it’s SO worth taking the time to understand completely, because the aperture you choose can have a BIG impact on your images (as you’re about to see)

So what we’re going to do today is an exercise that can help you see how different apertures affect how your image LOOKS.

Ready? Let’s go!

It can be a really daunting experience to move away from the AUTO modes on your camera, but you really must if you want to get great photos!

And the first step is to move to something called Aperture Priority Mode. This will help you get more control over how your images turn out, but as it still leaves you with the “safety net” of the camera balancing the exposure, so you don’t need to worry about that just yet 😉.

We’ve a lot to get through in this blog post, so let’s get crackin’!

Have you heard the aperture when learning photography, and wondered what it is?

Or what that has to do with the term F-stop?

And just what the heck depth of field is?!

Then you’re in the perfect place! In this blog post we’re going to go over what Aperture is, what the term F-stop means, plus what depth of field is and how we can use it for creative photos!

Ready? Let’s dive in!

We’ve all felt it at one time or another - we’ve got no idea what we could even take photos of, every image we DO take seems boring and “snapshotty”, and we’re left wondering if our creativity has got up and gone.

For some, just putting down their camera works a treat, and for others, such as myself, a small but firm kick up the pants is needed.

These creativity exercises are those kick in the pants, so pick one, and get out there and start shooting!

Lifestyle photography is without doubt my favourite genre of photography - one where you can capture an everyday moment or scene beautifully, and freeze that moment in time.

On the whole, this is how I capture my family every single day, rather than waiting for milestone moments like birthdays or the one-a-year family photos (which I love too, but in a different way!)

But of course, lifestyle photography has it’s challenges too, so here’s my five top tips for getting better child and family lifestyle photos.

I get it, we can all feel sometimes like it’s harder to take photos when we are stuck in at home, rather than in the great outdoors.

But there are loads of opportunities for capturing great photos of our kids indoors as well as out.

So today, I’ve come up with 8 ideas for photographs you take of your children at home, along with a few tips and tricks for each one.

Ready? Let’s go!

Do you wish you could stop fumbling with the settings on your DSLR, and instead know EXACTLY which settings to use for wall worthy photos?

How would you like to be able to take images that are beautifully lit and perfectly in focus, and look professional and polished?

And do you wish you could develop the skills you need to beautifully preserve your family memories NOW, so that you can finally be finished the learning part and just get on with the fun part of photography - taking photos?

If the answer to those a big resounding YES, then I have the very thing for you!

This question “how long does it take to learn photography?” is one I’ve gotten in different forms several times over the last few years….usually by people who are feeling SO frustrated because they’ve spent months learning all they can, but still don’t feel like they have reached their goal.

Learning photography really can be overwhelming and frustrating, and sometimes we feel like we might not ever get there, or we’d just love to skip forward on the learning part and get the photos we want NOW.

So, just how long does it take to get good at photography, or at least good enough to take decent photographs?

Read on, and find out!

Whenever you try your hand at anything new, you are bound to make a few mistakes along the way! And learning photography is definitely no exception.

Although making mistakes can a good thing, as it helps us grow and learn as photographers, that doesn’t mean you have to make them all 😉

You can take advice from people like me, who have spent years learning and practising photography, and in my case, also spent the last seven years teaching OTHER folks how to do it too. That way you get a bit of a leg up so you can reach your goal more quickly, and with waaaay less frustration than the rest of us.

Without further ado, let’s crack on with 7 of the most common mistakes that new photographers make, so you can avoid them.

Have you ever found yourself wondering if the reason your images are always slightly soft or out of focus could actually be down to your LENS?

I know I did! For a while, back when I was just starting out, I missed focus on so many of my images that I began to think that surely my lens MUST be broken.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting the perfect image only to find it is that teeniest bit out of focus, so if you have a nagging feeling that your lenses may be at fault, then there is something you can do: test your lenses to make sure that they are focusing where they should.

If nothing else, this quick test will put your mind at rest that everything is working properly, or, in the worst case scenario, make you aware of the problem so you can fix it!

So, when you’re ready, let’s dive into how to quickly check the focus of your lens for front or back focus issues.

Are you feeling completely overwhelmed with all the things you need to learn in photography?

Do you find yourself confused about where to start, or what your next step should be?

Then you are most definitely not alone! I know exactly what it feels like because I was there too.

I remember feeling like I was being pulled in 10 different directions at once, seeing all these different paths to I thought I needed to go down and learn, with shiny new camera gear pulling my eye away from the prize with promises of better photos.

It can be a confusing and frustrating time for sure, and if you are not careful, you can find yourself wandering aimlessly around the internet, picking up random “tips and tricks”, learning lots, but not actually moving forward and getting better photos.

So I wrote this blog post to help with that, by breaking down the areas you should be focusing on FIRST, because they will help give you that solid foundation on which everything else is built upon.

In today’s blog post, I’m going to give you some tips for storytelling photography, PLUS a framework that you can shoot to that will help tell your story through your images.

But, first, what exactly IS storytelling photography?

For me, storytelling photography is when we go deeper with our photos to not just show a scene, (for example a landscape) but when we actually use our images to tell a story, from beginning to end.

Although in many cases you may be able to tell a story in just one frame, there are many times when we want more than just one solitary picture of an event or activity, or we NEED more simply because one photo just couldn’t possibly get the full breadth of the story across.

This type of photography can be used for absolutely anything - it definitely isn’t limited to “big” days like weddings, birthdays or big adventures! (Although of course those are fabulous times to use this too!) Even the smallest everyday moments like breakfast or bath time can be turned into a story, so without further ado, let’s first go over the 5 step framework for telling a story in your images….

One of the questions I hear a LOT is this:

“Which camera should I buy next? Should I buy this one, or that one, and how do they compare? Is this REALLY going to be an upgrade from my current camera?”

That question is the inspiration behind this week’s post, because I want to really break this down so you can feel confident when spending your hard earned cash. Let’s face it, camera gear is NOT exactly cheap, so making mistakes can be costly.

Making mistakes is all part of learning photography. In a way, it's how we come to realise what we cannot do, and what we need to spend some time focusing on - so you should never feel bad about making mistakes, it's all part of the process of achieving your goal!

In this blog post I wanted to share some of the mistakes that I have made in photography over the years, and most importantly, the lessons I have learnt from them!

I think these lessons are applicable at ANY stage of your photography journey, whether you are a beginner or a more experienced photographer, and will hopefully have the same positive impact on you as they had on me.

Let’s dive in…

Are you still shooting on AUTO, or one of the semi-automatic modes like Aperture Priority?

Are you wondering WHY anyone bothers to make the switch to manual mode?

There are three damn good reasons why learning and using manual mode will improve your photos, and I’ve gone through them all in this video!

My hope is that if you understand WHY you do something, the whole thing will make so much more sense.