Learning to Photograph without "AUTO"

What a hassle photography is.

A joy, when it works out, sure...but a hassle none the less.

I've assisted a photographer friend in many weddings, and photoshoots and I've watched her fiddle around with the ISO, the shutter speed and aperture. All foreign terms, and frankly, my job was to make sure SHE was well taken care of, as well as the subjects of the photo...knowing how the camera worked, was never my concern.

So in deciding I wanted to find out.

OH MY GOSH. 

What a job.

Photography is hard, folks.

Now for starters, I don't own a DSLR.
I own a bridge camera.
It's a Fujifilm Finepix F1500. It's considered a "bridge" camera because has more capabilities than a point & shoot, but doesn't have the removable lens like a DSLR, amongst other things.

But lets be honest...in the 1 1/2 years I've owned it, I've never used it as anything BUT a "point & shoot".

Then Shannon at Aka Design wrote this post.

I felt so silly. I had assumed her photos were due to fancy schmancy DSLR like all the other bloggers seem to have, and here she was, sharing about how she has a camera EXACTLY. LIKE. MINE.

Wait? What?

You can take photos like THAT, with a camera that I OWN ALREADY?

You've got to be kidding me.

So I decided to do what I always do.
Listen to no one, read nothing, and fiddle.

Fiddle I did.

But really, I need to take an online course and read some books, fiddling is taking far too long to learn.

But here's some before & afters!

I tested on my dining room converted to a playroom/office bc it's got the worst lighting and I can never take photos in it.
All these were taken in NATURAL LIGHT, NOOOO flash!

BEFORE:

 AFTER:
(chalkboard is from this post)

Same room, now with the focus on my super clean *cough* work desk.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I haven't edited them ONE BIT...I really wanted to show you all how a little adjusting on a camera and using it in manual can make a difference.

WOW.

MUST. LEARN. MORE.

I also took photos from the streaked cupcake post in manual too.

Yah, I'm pretty darn excited.

Any tips you all wanna share with me?!

Streaked Cupcakes

This won't take long.

At all.

Want the cool effects of streaks in your iced cupcakes?

The method is so so so so so easy.

While your icing bag is empty, drop food coloring (or paint if you use gel type dyes) 

onto the insides of the bag, in various locations. 

Fill the bag with white/cream icing and decorate.

The results are beautiful.

Why is it that cupcakes are just so darned pretty to look at?

P.S. Wondering why the cupcakes & candles?

Because this little Mickey-loving Boy, my sweet Boden turned 2!

He has the flu, so as soon as he's better we'll be doing some "I'm TWO!" photos to share :)

May Sidebar Meet & Greet!

YAY FOR MAY!

Just me or does it feel like summer is dragging it's heels getting here?

Don't get me wrong, I love spring...

but I could do with more thunderstorms & tulips and less cold & rain!

Hope it's nicer wherever you are!

I'm so excited to introduce you all to some NEW faces over on the sidebar this month!

Remember you can join us on the sidebar at 50% off for all ads booked in May! 

Go to Advertising for more info :)

Without further ado, meet our featured sponsor LENA of Mom2MemphisAndRuby. Lena and I connected a while back, and she's great! Just adore her and her blog, and her edge. She's super fun and unique her blog is too.

Really refreshing.

Hello sweet friends of Sarah! I have to admit, I'm a bit of a obsessed fan of The Birds Papaya! Doesn't Sarah make the cutest stuff!? LOVES!  My name is Lena and I blog over at Mom2MemphisAndRuby... my very own quirky spot in the blogosphere where I share stories about my life and my family, with lots of fun, fashion and photography thrown in too!  My husband and I have been together for nearly 16 years (married nearly 2) and we live & raise our family in a small farming community in Quebec, Canada... he's a chef, I work in a office... and our life is simple {but amazing}, hilarious & sweet and throughout all the ups & down we wouldn't have it any other way!!

Blog  Facebook  Twitter  Bloglovin  Hellocotton

**********

Lets meet the rest!

 

BLOG | SHOP | FACEBOOK

~~~~~

   

SHOP

~~~~~

  

BLOG | SHOP | FACEBOOK

~~~~~

  

SHOP | FACEBOOK

~~~~~

  

SHOP | BLOG | FACEBOOK

~~~~~

SHOP | FACEBOOK

~~~~~

BLOG | SHOP | FACEBOOK

SHOP | FACEBOOK

BLOG | SHOP

BLOG | FACEBOOK

BLOG | FACEBOOK

BLOG | SHOP | FACEBOOK

SHOP | FACEBOOK

BLOG | SHOP | FACEBOOK

Thanks for taking a moment to support all these wondeful blogs & shops. 

They deserve it, and mean a lot to me :)

Much love friends!

Tea Towel Apron (for toddlers!)

A certain little niece of ours is turning one next month (HI CHLOE!)

And Although we already have her store bought gifts for her, 

her gift wouldn't be complete without a little something home-made.

Her Mama is a baker and so I thought I'd make something for Chloe to join her Mama in the kitchen with.

With only bias tape & a tea towel, I made an apron for her.

I started by cutting out pieces to create the shape

Then I placed the tea towel between the folds of the bias tape, pinned & sewed.

(This was all very approximate and in retrospect, I would have made the neck hole bigger, because it'll fit her now, but not past age 3 I'm sure!)

Now, it looks great, but it's way too long for a 1 year old, so I'll have to draw up the bottom and create pocket or something, but all in all, this was a fun project!!

Can't wait to see Chloe getting it all messy with batter & icing in the years to come!