Welcome back for another creative challenge! If you are new to the blog, every month for 2017 I will be posting a creative exercise / mini photography project 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 creativity exercise, we are going on a Scavenger Hunt!

Yes, it's time for me to share my photography journey with you!

I realised that I have all these wonderful guests on the blog, sharing their stories, and I've never really shared mine.  So, I've taken the exact same questions I ask everyone else, and answered them!

Yep, I sat there and spoke to myself.

It was worryingly pleasant.

The headline says it all! Today, I wanted to show you 12 Lightroom before and after examples of images that have been edited exclusively with LIghtroom.

Why?

Because one common  misconception about Lightroom is that it is mainly for image management, or for making simple editing adjustments like exposure and white balance, but that you really need something like Photoshop to edit your images creatively.

Nothing could be further from the truth! 

Once you get to know what can be done in Lightroom. you will be amazed at just how much you can do in this program. So, yes image management is a HUGE benefit to using Lightroom, but don't make the mistake of thinking that is ALL it can do. 

I know that for many of you, your number one enemy in your photography journey is not having enough time!  I can totally relate to that, as I sometimes feel like I am trying to cram 50 hours worth of chores into one day.   I have spoken before about how I try to manage the time I do have for photography more effectively, so today I'm going to tell you about how Lightroom has also been a key part of helping me get more done, in less time. 

Welcome back for another creative challenge! If you are new to the blog, every month for 2017 I will be posting a creative exercise / mini photography project 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 creativity exercise, we are going to switch gears a little bit (again! I like to mix it up 😄) and consider how we can document our lives, or the lives of the people we love, through photography. 

Once again, it's a simple idea:  we are going to do this using a "currently" list.  It's such a wonderful way to document what your life looks like right NOW,  and not only that, but it will get your creative juices flowing as you need to decide how to capture these thoughts, feelings and actions.  So, it's documentary, but with a creative twist! 

Learning photography is so much fun, but it can also be hard work! There is so much to learn and take on board, that it can feel a little overwhelming. 

In this post, I'm going to give you just seven quick tips that you can take action on TODAY that will help give you better photos. So, for each tip, you also have an action item - there's no sitting around being an armchair photographer here 😀

Ready? Let's get stuck in!

We all know that learning a new piece of software can be daunting - this is especially true when we're talking about Lightroom, which has so many modules, panels, buttons and options that you might not even know where to start! 

It has taken me quite a few years to figure out Lightroom, and right at the beginning I really wish I had someone leading me through the process step by step - it would have saved me so much time and allowed me to concentrate on getting good  images, rather than sorting out my mess! 

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.