I pretty much exclusively use natural light for my images, because I love the variety and beauty it offers. I also love the challenge of working with what mother nature has given me to work with on any particular day!

However, learning to work with and see light effectively does take some time, so today, I want to go over some tips for working with natural light that is just for beginners. 

Let's get stuck in! 

Each month for 2017, I'll be sharing a monthly photo challenge that with either get you capturing your daily life,  improving your photography skills, or get you feeling more creative.  So, if you like the idea of a monthly short project, make sure you come back at the start of every month for your assignment!  

The last two months have been focused very much on capturing our daily life, so for this month's exercise we are going to switch gears a little bit, and focus instead on learning to think more creatively.   

And as you may have guessed, for this exercise, we are heading into the kitchen :)  

I started doing these case studies a few months as a way to show you the different journeys people take to get to where they are, and to shed some light on the ways you can grow your photography skills too!  Today, we are featuring the wonderful Danielle Stanley, who is also another long time reader of Live Snap Love.  I'm so thrilled to finally have her on the blog (I'm been pestering her for months!) as I have loved seeing her progress and how beautifully she captures her days. If you want to read more photography journeys, there's links to more at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy them.......Audrey xI

If you are reading this then you have probably come to the realisation that the taking of the image is just ONE part of the photography process.

The OTHER  part is post processing your images in an editing program such as Lightroom or Photoshop.

Most photographers will edit their images, even just a bit, because no matter how good a shot is straight out of camera, it can be made to look even better in editing :) 

When you start out, it can be hard to know which photography editing program or software you should be using. There is a wide array of programs on the market, but I am going to keep it super simple here and tell you about two - Lightroom and Photoshop Elements.  

Did you recently start to take photos of people OTHER than your family?  Yes? Then, let me guess how you felt.....

You found yourself getting more and more flustered, unsure of what you should be doing next, worrying that you haven't got any good shots and feeling like you really needed to hurry things along because you were really taking too long getting your settings right.

Did that sound at all familiar? I bet it did! Most people when starting out have those exact same feelings: like we are being judged by how long we take, and not knowing how to make the session flow, or feel confident throughout. 

So, in today's post, I am going to do my darn best to make sure that you feel calm and in control during your next photography session. 

Let's get going shall we? Read on! 

There are times when we will want more than just one picture of a event or activity, and there is where the photo essay comes in! Telling a story through images can be made much easier when we use several frames, rather than attempting to capture everything in just one shot.

To try to get the whole breadth of the story across, here's a shooting "framework" you can try to use to help make sure you  capture it all when taking multiple images of the same activity.

Lightroom is an incredible tool for photographers, as it allows you to manage your images, edit them beautifully, and share them with the world, all in one place. The downside is it can also be a little overwhelming at first simply because it can do so much! If you are new to Lightroom and not sure what it can do, check out this post on 8 Reasons to Love Lightroom even as a Hobbyist.  (Then get back here - I'll wait for you to catch up 😄) 

Today, we're diving into just a few of the biggest mistakes that new Lightroom users make when they first start using the program.  Honestly, these are the same mistakes that I have seen so many people make, and of course I've made them all myself!  

Ready to get crackin'? Great! Here are five mistakes people make when trying to use Lightroom - and what you can do instead. 

I have another photography case study for you today: the ultra talented Monica Dominguez Carlson.  Monica is another long time reader of the blog, and I so delighted to have her here, because she is a wonderful photographer who has come so far.  I started doing these case studies a few months as a way to show you the different journeys people take to get to where they are, and to shed some light on the ways you can grow your photography skills too!  Hope you enjoy them.......Audrey x 

Editing an image is an important part of the photography process, but if you are anything like me, you really don't have a lot of time to spend at your computer playing with your photos.  Using Lightroom is relatively quick and easy anyway, but there is a way you can save even MORE time by using helpers such as presets. 

A preset is simply an edit that has been "recorded" so that you can apply the same steps to any image you wish, with just one click of your mouse. This can save you a lot of time processing your images, as all you need to do is click on the preset and leave Lightroom to to do rest of the work moving all the sliders etc for you.  Kinda like having an editing servant 😄

Let's get 2017 off to a kickin' start shall we?!

I don't know about you but I always think that the start of a New Year is a great time to focus on the year ahead, and what we want to achieve. 

If getting better at photography is on YOUR list of things to do this year, then check out these 5 ways to level up your photography skills this year!

Want a creativity exercise that not only helps improve your photography skills but also helps you capture memories that you'll treasure? Then you'll love doing a "Day in Your Life" Project! 

Before I get into how to carry out this creativity exercise, I want to let you know that this is the first of a series of "challenges" that I'll be sharing right here on the blog, every month for 2017.  So, if you like the idea of a monthly short project, make sure you come back at the start of every month for your assignment.  (Read on the end of the post to see what to do for this one for January!)

A few days ago I asked a question in my Facebook group about what was the number one thing that was holding them back from learning photography.  Several of the answers that came up said an issue was they simply did not have enough time. 

Now, that is something I can totally relate to!

Time is definitely my most precious commodity these days, so I have to try to work smarter in the hours that I've got. I can't add any more hours into the day (although that would be nice!) - all I can do is make sure that I am being productive in the hours that I do have, and that I using the time to get the things that matter most done.

That's what I am going to at least attempt to help you with today - make more time for learning photography, and how to work smarter with the limited time that you do have.  

I have to say, it took me a looonnnng time to wake up to the benefits of using LIghtroom, but now it's an integral part of my workflow and I freakin' love it.  It is one of those programs that you don't really appreciate until you have been using it for a while and get to know all of the features, but once you do, you are golden! 

I know many people think of Lightroom as only being useful for professional photographers, but I can tell you that it is just as useful for a hobbyist.  Today we are going to have a little chat about the eight reasons to love Lightroom, even if you only take pictures for yourself.  

Oh, and you can also snag yourself a free Lightroom editing checklist! 

There are a few questions I see time and time again, and one of these is about which camera to buy. It doesn't matter whether it is for buying your first DSLR, or you are looking to  upgrade and getting the next "step up" up:  buying a new camera is a big commitment so it can get a little nerve wrecking to know which one to get!  It's also damned confusing out there, with so many options, and all having different prices and benefits, to know which is going to be best for YOU. 

It can be hard sometimes to make enough time for ourselves in our daily life to improve our photography skills, but one of THE best things you can do is simply practice - getting into the habit of picking up your camera every day for even just ten minutes can have an big affect on how well you understand a particular concept, or just building in some muscle memory so you start to instinctively know where all your buttons and dials are on your camera. No more fumbling around for you! 

With this in mind, I'm sharing an exercise today for beginners that will help you understand the affect aperture and depth of field has on your images, but one that will take you just ten minutes to complete. Short, sweet and straight to the point :)