Welcome 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.

Today we are going to go right back to the very beginning for any brand new photographers out there, and lay open the foundations of capturing an image - exposure.

We’ll look at what exposure is, what the three elements are that allow us to control it, and finally how they all work together in something called the Exposure Triangle.  

This is literally Step 1 in learning photography (and in fact is the very first lesson in my Auto to Awesome course!) but although it's fundamental, it can be anything but easy to grasp! So it might take a few read throughs before it starts to make much sense if this is your first time learning about it, but don't worry, it does get easier as you move on 😃

So without further ado, let's get crackin'!

Welcome 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!

For this month's exercise, we are going to use an often overlooked composition tool - framing. 

Framing your subject is ja really powerful way to bring your viewers attention to what’s important in your image, while also bringing an extra element of interest, so it's a great composition tool to be able to pull out of your back pocket. 

The good news is it’s not hard to do, it's only a question of being able to see the possibilities around you when shooting - and that's what this creative exercise will help you do! 

When I ask members of my Facebook group what their biggest struggle with photography is, the same thing comes up time and time again: lack of time.

I completely understand that it can sometimes be hard to find time to physically practise photography on a consistent basis - in fact, as I write this, I don't think I have picked up my camera for at least a couple of weeks either 😀.  If you are anything like me, you will probably also find  that the only time you really get to yourself is after the kids have gone to bed, which maybe isn't the time we want to whip the camera out and start taking photos!

The good news is you can still improve your photography skills without necessarily needing to have a camera in your hand. So if you find yourself with only a few minutes to spare during the day, or find that you get get most of your "free" time when everyone else is sound asleep, here are some other ways you can improve your skills without even needing to take a photo. 

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!)