If you’re interested in getting creative with your photos, challenging yourself to try something new each week, all whilst improving your photography skills, and then I have the PERFECT thing for you: our Project 52 photography challenge for 2021!

A Project 52 isn’t as scary as it sounds, it’s simply a weekly challenge to get you up off your armchair and out shooting.

You get a weekly theme or prompt, usually just one one or two words such as “Leading Lines” or “Connection” and your job is simply to head out and capture a photo that fits the prompt, and then share it with a group doing the exact same thing!

See? Told you it was simple :)

If that sounds like something you’re interested in doing, here are all the deets…

This is a question I get asked all the time: “How do I get smiles from the kids, or stop people from looking awkward during a photo session?”

Let’s face it, most people just simply aren’t a fan of getting their photo taken, and find the situation uncomfortable, and kids often find the whole thing one big bore (and they’ve probably already been told to be on their best behaviour so they are already expecting the worst!) The result can be images that look stiff and awkward.

To help you get those relaxed happy family photos you’ve been looking for (and get those all important smiles from the kids) I’ve invited professional photographer Melissa Gibson to give me her tips on how she manages a session to make sure she gets the shots that people will love!

Are you in need of some Christmas photography ideas, or do want some tips for capturing Christmas morning, or perhaps you’d like a guide to photographing Christmas lights?! Or all three?!

If you answered yes, then good news, because this week we’re talking all things Christmas, with ideas, tips and prompts to help you beautifully capture the holidays.

I loooove photographing Christmas, because there are many lifestyle family moments to capture, traditions to record, details to focus on, and of course, the different lighting opportunities that come around!

So without further ado, let’s dive into our Christmas photography ideas, tips, and prompts….

We all love a good deal, which is why Black Friday is such a lovely time of year! If you’ve had your eye on something for a little while, then Black Friday is a great time to see whether there are any deals to be had.

But in case you’re not quite sure what to get, or just want some ideas, I’ve curated a list of black friday deals for photographers in 2020, so you can see what’s available. Some of these I personally use and love, and others I’ve included as alternatives for you, as they might suit you better!

I’ve also broken these by category, so you can dismiss some of these outright, for example if you’re not in business. Ready? Let’s go!

If you want to take your own family photos this year, either due to practicalities or budget constraints, then this is the post for you! I’m going to walk you through how to take your own family photos, step by step.

This is such a handy thing to know how to do, because it means you can take your own family portraits for things like holiday cards, or to hang on your wall, but also for other occasions, for example if you are holiday, or birthdays, when it might be too costly to hire a professional photographer each time.

Now, I’m not going to lie, it is easier to have a professional come in and take your photos, because they are able to simply focus on getting the best shot and making sure everyone is posed at they should be (after taking a set of family photos where my then-young son had his finger up his nose and I didn’t notice, you begin to appreciate these things ) rather than also having to worry about what they look like too :)

But of course, it is entirely doable to take your own family photos, so let’s get cracking on how to approach this!

When I ask in my community Facebook group what they are struggling with, without fail, I’ll get a ton of people who tell me that getting tack sharp images is a problem for them. So if you are having trouble with the same thing, believe me when I tell you - you are not alone, far from it!

I thought this would be a great topic to discuss, because I know that so many of you struggle with this, and because I totally understand that it can be difficult at first to get tack sharp images - I had the same problems that you are facing right now too, believe me :)

So in this week’s post, I wanted to give you a little bit of a troubleshooting checklist so that you can run through to try to diagnose your focus issues. Now, there are techniques and strategies over and above what I’ve outlined here that we can use to really fine tune our focus, depending on where and what we are photographing, but I wanted to go right back to the beginning to make sure that you have the foundation right, and then when you are ready, you can layer the most advanced techniques on top.

If you want to make this post really super actionable, I recommend that you grab a few images that you don’t feel are as sharp as they could be, and then run down this list to see if any of these common issues could be the source of your problem.

October is almost upon us, so it’s time to share some Halloween Photography Ideas!

This mix of fun and spooky Halloween photography ideas will give you some great prompts for photos you can try to capture, image examples you can look at for inspiration, and kickstart some ideas for Halloween photoshoots too!

Are you struggling with getting tack sharp images? Do you feel like your images are too soft and that you’re consistently missing focus? Then keep reading!

Today I’m going to talk you about just ONE reason why you might be struggling to nail focus, and that’s due to your lens needing calibrated.

Before we start though, I should start out by saying that most of the time, our images are soft due to user error, not our equipment. There are so many factors that go into getting a tack sharp image (and can stop us from getting one) that it’s far more likely that you have gotten one of them wrong, rather than the lens be the problem.

That said, if you are not consistently getting the sharp focus you want, it might be an idea to quickly test your lens, that way you’ll know whether you have a problem with your equipment or not.

If you do, then you can calibrate your lens to fix the problem, or if you don’t, at least it will put your mind at rest that your equipment is fine and you simply need to learn the strategies that will help you get tack sharp focus!

Fall is almost upon us, which means it’s time for some fall photo ideas! These fall photo prompts will give you a great jumping off point to inspire you own ideas for fall mini sessions or photoshoots, whether that’s capturing your own family, or photographing someone else’s, or just capturing the elements that make up fall (In other words, not a person in sight)

So without further ado, let’s jump into our 10 fun fall photo ideas and see if we can’t spark some ideas for you…

It's always fun having guest bloggers here at Live Snap Love, as it gives you a chance to learn something new, or just in a different way from me! So, today, we have Simon from Refractique on the blog to give you an introduction to lensball photography. Over to you Simon!

I came across lensball photography when I was perusing Instagram. As a landscape photographer and someone who loves to travel I came remember seeing some beautiful landscape photos from all around the world featuring the lensball. I was filled with wonder and have been hooked since! I even started a business to share this joyful hobby and distribute it!

It adds another dimension to virtually any type of photography however I most like using it in landscape photos because the wide angle lens the crystal ball provides. Check out the tips below if you’d like to learn more about lensball photography!

Ahhhh, Lightroom presets. One thing that divides many photographers is on the use of presets, and whether you should or shouldn’t use them.

I sit firmly in the middle - I think presets are amazingly wonderful, when they are used the way that they were intended: to speed up your workflow, so you can edit quicker, or share a particular workflow with others. There’s no way I could get as much done is as little time as I do, without the use of presets! I use them all the time, and can’t imagine editing hundreds of photos without them.

Unfortunately, many people see presets as a substitute for learning how to edit, and that is NOT what I believe presets should be used for. I strongly believe that you should learn how to edit FIRST, get to know Lightroom inside out, then use presets as a way of getting more done in less time.

I’ve also bought a few preset packs over the years (when I was first starting out with editing and didn’t really know what I was doing) and some have been great, and others have been awful and a huge waste of money. Spending your money on learning how to edit rather than on yet another set of presets will give you much more bang for your buck, because you’ll then be able to edit any photo, exactly how you want it, without relying on presets.

But let’s take a look at exactly WHY I think you should learn how to edit before using presets!

This blog post had been on my “brain dump” list (where everything single idea I’ve ever had for a blog post goes!) for a while. I figured now, when the challenges of homeschooling, working with home AND looking after your family means you probably have less time to yourself than normal. (Not that you probably had a ton of free time before!)

As I strongly believe that it is SO important that we continue to find time for ourselves and our hobbies (even if it may feel frivolous for some right now) during this lockdown period, I wanted to give you some tips on how you can continue to practice and learn photography, and make the most of the time you DO have, even if it’s not as much as you would like!

Do you feel nervous about sharing your photos with others? Do you worry that others will judge you, your skills and your creativity, and find you lacking? Do you fear that they’ll think “who does she think she is - Annie Lebowitz?!” and that somehow you’re not yet a “real” photographer, so you shouldn’t be sharing your work? 😬😬😬

If you are frantically nodding your head then you’re most definitely not alone - because I feel the same way too!

You might not know this because I share my photos every single week here on the blog, and again throughout the week on Facebook and Instagram, but that doesn’t mean that I actually enjoy doing it - it just means that I’ve gotten over the fear of sharing over the years, and feel confident that at least I love what I’m doing, even if no-one else does!

Catchlights are SO important in photography, as they add life and depth to the eyes in your portraits.

Eyes that look full of life and that sparkle are those that have catchlights in them, so for successful portraits, you’re definitely going to want to get catchlights in the eyes!

You can get catchlights in all sorts of lighting situations, from window light, to sunny days to studio lighting, but for today’s tutorial, I’m going to stick to using wonderful natural light, and how you can get catchlights in your portraits, both indoors and out.

Today we are diving into macro photography settings, tips and ideas! If you have been meaning to try out macro photography for a while, or you’re just curious about which settings to use, then you will love today’s post!