The number one frustration I hear from photographers is that they struggle to get the images they see in their head, or at least consistently! Sure, they may luck out from time to time and snag a great shot, but they can’t repeat it, and their photos never end up quite looking the way they wanted them to…

If that’s you too, then you are not alone! I literally spent years feeling the exact same thing, so believe me when I tell you that I totally get where you’re coming from :-)

There are usually the same key areas holding you back, and stopping you getting the photos you want - and it’s usually because you believed a certain myth around photography. One that allows you to stay in your comfort zone than take the steps you need to take to get great photos.

That’s why in this blog post, I’m going to set the record straight about what it takes (or more specifically what it doesn’t take!) to get the photos you want - and what myths might the ones holding you back…

When we think about AUTO mode in our cameras, we usually just think about the mode that allows us to balance our exposure, since, well, it’s the one called AUTO :-)

But your camera has lots of automatic functions that you’ll want to move away from, so in this week’s blog post, we’re talking through what they are, and most importantly, why you want to stop using them!

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times and situations where you MIGHT want to use some of these automatic features - but honestly, those times are few and far between, so let’s check these out, so you know what to stop doing….

I’ve spoken a lot about just how darn important it is to learn how to shoot in manual mode if you want to get great photos, and today I want to teach you how to do that - step by step!

Yep, that’s right, for all you AUTO (or semi-auto!) lovin’ folks out there, you’re going to take the first step in taking control of your camera, by learning how to shoot in manual mode!

So, grab your camera and let’s get started!

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed when learning photography - let’s face it, there is SO much to learn, and so much information available online that you can sometimes feel like you’re drowning in information.

But the truth is, although there is definitely a lot to learn, if you can focus on just five key areas in photography, you’ll get better photos. And if you are new, they can even be done one after the other, as you want to layer on the knowledge, not take random pot shots from each area and try to fit them together (doesn’t work too well!)

So today’s blog post is what you need to focus on to become a better photographer. Do just these five things, and by the end, you’re photos will look freakin’ amazing, I’m telling you.

Ever wondered what the difference is between a full frame and crop frame sensor?

How those differences will ACTUALLY affect you, and overall, which one is best?

Well, good news! This is exactly is what we’re going to dive into in this blog post.

If you want to change the colour of something in your photo, for example, a t-shirt or a pair of shoes, lip colour or even a background, it's pretty darn easy to do in Photoshop!

The video below shows you a simple technique you can use to change an item’s colour.

In the video, I show you how you could change the colour of the background, and use the exact same steps to make her lips pinker, just to show a couple of the different things you could use this for - but remember, you can use this on ANYTHING.

(One caveat though, please note that this works best with solid colours - anything that has a pattern or graduation won’t work nearly as well)

Although I’m a big fan of unposed “lifestyle” or documentary images, I can’t deny that i love a good portrait shot too!

So this blog post, we’ll cover the best camera settings for portraits using natural light - either indoors or outdoors.

Please note that if you work with studio lighting, or use flash, your settings are going to look different from the ones below. But since I love natural light, and I’m guessing that most people who read this blog use natural light, that’s what we’re going with :-)

We’ve all done it - taken a picture where we’ve overexposed the sky, either by accident or to try to ensure our subject is correctly exposed. But, fret not, as you can quickly and easily fix an overexposed sky in Lightroom - and in just three (or even two!) simple steps….

And that’s exactly what I’m going to show you how to do today!

Photoshop is seriously filled to the brim with wonderful tools and shortcuts that can make editing our images a breeze, allow us to get more creative with our images, add a little extra magic and sparkle, and make huge fixes that are simply not possible with Lightroom.

But unfortunately, because it can do so much, it’s not exactly easy to learn 😔

That said, there are tools and features that you’ll find yourself using time and time again in Photoshop, so after a while, although it’s still a beast of a program, using it does become so much easier when you have some basics down.

So in this week’s blog post, I’m going to share just 3 must-use tools in Photoshop, especially selected for those that are new to the program, because they are SO simple to use, and because you’ll use them all.the.time.

With summer officially just around the corner (at least it is if you are reading this as it goes live!) I’ve got a lazy and breezy summer themed blog post for you today 😃👙☀️🍦🍹

I noticed a definite dip in how many photos I took each year just after my son started school. No longer could I just pick up my camera at any time of day - I had to try to squeeze in photos in the morning (unlikely, since I’m never organised enough to find myself with a spare 5 minutes before school starts) or having to wait until he got home, which in winter, meant it was already getting dark.

So, for me, summer is a time when I tend to take a lot more photos since we don’t have to get anywhere in a rush, and where I can take photos all day long if I feel like it.

I also read something that resonated with me (and if you have kids I’m pretty sure it will resonate with you too) that we only get 18 summers with our kids. That’s SO crazy to think of it like that, right? It makes me just want to bottle up each and every summer. Since I can’t do that, capturing them as best I can is the next best thing.

So, in honor of aiming to capture another one of our 18 summers together, I thought it would be fun to compile a summer reading list for you, all with posts that should help you get better photos of your kids this summer.

With Summer officially starting soon (yay!!!) I thought it would be fun to celebrate with a little Instagram photo challenge to help you document your kids this summer!

I've created 36 photo prompts, all with a summery vibe, and all with the goal of helping you take better photos of your kids (and maybe try out one or two new ways of photographing them too!) and document the season.

All YOU need to do is go out, capture them, then share them!

I’m a big believer in both shooting regularly to improve your photography AND of capturing our time with our kids, so this challenge should be a great way of doing both. Plus, it’s a great way for everyone to share their photos and get to know one another through the hashtag!

Do you ever feel like sometimes you’rre just winging it when you pick up your camera?

That you get all flustered and not quite sure what you should be doing….?

….So you end up just clicking and hoping?

Then this week’s blog post is for you!

I wanted to break down some of the things you should be thinking about when you take your photo - many of them before you even lift the camera to your eye - so that you can shoot more purposefully, and most importantly, get better photos.

So we’re going to go into FIVE questions you should ask yourself when you take your photo. There are more of course, but these are the big ones, the ones that can make or break your picture, so let’s dive into those now…

It’s no secret - I freaking love Lightroom. I love how much you can do in the program, how fast it is for editing your photos, and the whole end to end organisation thing just makes me want to kiss my computer screen.

But that doesn’t mean it can do absolutely everything.

There’s a damn good reason why Adobe bundled both Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC together in their Photography Plan - because when you have access to both programs, you can do absolutely anything you’re little editing heart desires!

Lightroom is definitely the must-use photo editing software for both professional and hobbyist photographers, simply because it has absolutely everything you need to mange, edit and share your images in one place (and in waaaay less time than other software) .

Because it can do SO much, you can easily find yourself a little overwhelmed at first. But, as with everything else in photography, you can start by learning a few simple tools. And that’s what I what to cover here today!

Whether you want to shoot a portrait or a landscape or a documentary-style photo, you’ll want to choose the best lens for the job!

With an array of lenses to choose from, it can be hard to know which one to pick, and which will suit your photo best. As I have far too many lenses to choose from, I thought i’d go through my thought process when picking out a lens for a particular photo. Of course, there may be other reasons why I pick a lens (versatility for going away on vacation, or weight if were going on a trek) but the two MAIN reasons are the focal length, and the aperture.

Let’s go into the four questions I ask myself (which you can totally steal, I don’t mind) for choosing the best lens for the job.