I was starting to worry that I had ‘bigged up’ this workshop a bit too much and that my excitement levels were making me get carried away, but oh my gosh it was a wonderful event! My partner in crime on food photography workshops is Nikki Hill, who hosts them in her beautiful home and […]
Yes, really! To be honest I’ve never had any doubts. Photography can a very absorbing and mindful activity, slowing down to observe what is around you, consider the light and create an image that lets you remember the moment. Then the yoga or pilates helps us to unwind, be in the moment, leave any day […]
I ran a new workshop for the first time on Saturday – a Focus On Composition – and it was obviously a topic people wanted help with. Both dates booked up within days of me releasing them. Composition scares people a bit with all its rules and terminology. How do you improve your composition and […]
It’s funny how life works out isn’t it? Call it fate or luck or pre-ordained destiny, but 15 years ago, Mark, Helen and I were all working for the same international healthcare company. Our paths crossed every now and again in meetings and at conferences and we shared similar aspirations for our lives: advance up […]
My Facebook photography group Love Your Lens have done themselves proud again with their images for the January photography challenge #WEATHERED. 75 different people posted hundreds of images and I’ve selected some of them (in the collage above) to critique and to pick out my overall favourite. Watch and listen to the critique on the […]
January, I have to admit, is not my favourite month. It’s long, I’m usually skint, I have to do my tax return (which I should have done last May I know!), it’s cold and damp and dark. And yet, it’s supposed to be a time for new beginnings, goal setting, resolving to get fit, budget […]
It’s National Make Your Dreams Come True day today so I thought it might be useful to get you thinking about your photography goals or dreams. We’re already almost halfway through January and, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably already ditched a few of your New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t tend to make any […]
A product photography workshop could do this for you too! I want to praise a little welsh ceramics business and shop to the skies today. I’m talking about Glosters of Porthmadog in North Wales. I’ve been admirers of theirs for a few years now, as I have a troubling addiction to artisan jugs, bowls, plates, […]
A few years ago I wouldn’t even have tried to take photographs like this with my phone. It was simply too hard to get a sharp, non-grainy, well-exposed image. A D-SLR produced much better results and also created such lovely soft focus backgrounds. Fast forward to today and I now consider my smartphone to be […]
All the ingredients for a fabulous food photography workshop. Autumn is my favourite season for lots of reasons: it’s my birthday and that means we get to go out for a few nice meals; the light becomes super gorgeous; nature produces the most glorious colours; cuddly jumpers come out of drawers; fires and candles are […]
Photo collages are a great way to tell a story or showcase several images together. And adding text reinforces the message, whether it’s for business or personal use. I create this type of collage on my tablet or phone using some great apps: Snapseed to edit, Layout to create the collage and Word Swag to […]
Well I’ve finally got round to launching a YouTube Channel for Love Your Lens and the first video is an introduction to my ‘go to’ photo editing app, Snapseed. I absolutely love this app and can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s intuitive to use but is more sophisticated than it first appears. And did I […]
There comes a point when you’ve mastered the technical stuff enough to get exposure right and you understand what makes a shot feel well composed. But you know that’s not really enough to satisfy your own aspirations and it’s not going to make your images stand out. You want to know how to take your […]
And do you know where you want to get to? People take up photography for different reasons and not everyone is on any kind of path with it. The camera can be just a tool to record moments so that they aren’t forgotten. But for others it’s a passion that drives them to seek continuous […]
Moody food photographs are all over Instagram and Pinterest and it’s a style that looks set to stay for a while. So, it’s no wonder that lots of people want to give it a go. However, unless you know a few techniques and tips, it can be hard to achieve the look. In this blog post you […]
I’ve got a LOT of different food photography backdrops and am always on the lookout for more! They make or break an image, so they are vitally important. This is what I’m looking for: A matt surface. Any shine or lustre is incredibly difficult to work with. An interesting texture or pattern but without really strong […]
C for CONFIDENCE – it’s hard to photograph people you don’t know. I’m not comfortable with it, but there are some amazing shots to be had if we could just get over our fear. So I want you to go for it this week. I’ve had a go over the last week, knowing this topic was […]
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) In the last post we discussed how HDR techniques can be used to reveal the details in highlights and shadows by using the HDR setting on the camera or by editing the image in various types of software. To be honest we only really scraped the surface of this vast topic. HDR […]
HDR stands for high dynamic range and is used to describe images that have a very wide tonal range, with very bright areas and very deep shadows. A typical bright sunny day or perhaps a dark scene with a shaft of sunlight. HDR has also come to mean a way of shooting and / or editing […]
I’m taking a slightly different approach with this post and not taking you through all the classic composition rules for landscapes. I’d like to concentrate on WHY you are taking the photograph and what you should CONSIDER before you press the shutter. I’m a huge advocate for slowing down and thinking before you click away and end up with […]
DEPTH OF FIELD A landscape typically has a broad depth of field with focus throughout the image. In order to do this the camera needs to use a small aperture (high f/number). Here are a number of ways of making that happen: BEGINNERS: Use the landscape setting if your camera has one (usually found in Scene Modes). […]
PHOTOGRAPHING SUNSETS Everyone likes to be able to capture a sunset; it’s such an iconic image and a thing of enormous natural beauty. It can be tricky to get the picture to look like the scene in front of your eyes, so here are a few EXPOSURE tips: EASY – FOR BEGINNERS: Try using the automatic SUNSET mode […]
Backlighting – when the sun is directly in front of you and lighting the back of your subject – can produce some very pleasing and striking results. You can use backlight at any time of the day, but when the sun is high in the sky and shadows are very strong, you may struggle to […]
From snapshots to great shots… There’s nothing wrong with snapshots – if you think about it they are photographs taken in an instant, grabbed quickly, not planned, spontaneous. And many great shots have been taken in exactly that way. But any shot is weakened by being out of focus, poorly exposed and badly composed. To avoid […]
How you use colour in an image can make the difference between a “so what” snapshot and a powerful image that provokes a reaction in the viewer. Try to take images where the colour(s) is (are) the element that makes them work so well. Bear the following in mind: THE COLOUR WHEEL. Colours opposite each other […]
The reason that textures play an important role in photography is that they add depth, dimension and interest. An image without different textures in it could look flat and bland. There’s no shortage of textures to photograph, as you will find, but if you can bear in mind the following points you may make your […]
Triangles can be used in different ways to create a striking composition. In the image of the couple above their heads and shoulders have created a symmetrical triangle, which makes the image feel stable and harmonious – exactly the feel you want for a young couple in love.
5 family photo shoot tips We all want lovely photographs of our family don’t we? And as our children grow older, we can foresee the day when they will have left home to pursue lives of their own. This was the case with this lovely family, where the oldest daughter will be heading off to […]
How to edit images and add text quickly on your tablet or smartphone. I love posting images to Instagram and Facebook wherever I am – on holiday, in a nice cafe, with a client. I really like the immediacy of it and I know that it benefits my photography business being active on social media even when […]
Well the inaugural Love Your Lens guided photography walk took place on Saturday and I hope it will be the first of many. I met up with six members of the Love Your Lens Facebook group at the famous Chester Cross next to a lively puppet show. Everyone was looking forward to seeing what the […]
Practical street photography tips for “newbies” I was in London last week, having won a four day trip! We had an amazing time sightseeing, eating, drinking and of course, photographing. I decided to try my hand at street photography, well aware that it was out of my comfort zone. I learned a lot and thought you might find […]
Life is busy at the moment, what with “keeping house” (whatever that means), feeding and entertaining two teenagers, packing and unpacking after two weeks away and running the business. I do manage to snatch precious “me” and “us” time but the over-riding feeling is of a whole load of plates in the air about […]
What a fabulous day this turned out to be! The idea to hold a Fine Art Photography Course came to me when I first visited The Botanist in Alderley Edge late last year. It is a beautiful and unusually styled venue, with botany and gardening inspired props and plenty of distressed and stained wood panelling. If I’d […]
WiFi connected SD cards – what are they and which one is best for you? One of the features I love the most about my Sony A7 camera is the wireless function, making it possible for me to shoot an image, transfer to my phone, edit it quickly, apply a watermark and post on social […]
How to photograph crafts Do you have beautiful products that you lovingly hand craft and sell? That you are proud of and passionate about? That people love when they see them in your shop or craft stall? Now for a harder question. Do the photographs of your gorgeous products do them justice? Do they stand out from the […]
How to photograph fireworks One thing I’ve never got round to photographing is fireworks. I’ve admired other people’s shots but it’s always felt like too much hassle to me, to lug a tripod around, set it up in the middle of crowds of people, mess about with camera settings in the dark and keep an […]
One of the best ways to improve your photography is to take photographs as often as you can, ideally daily or at least several times a week. This isn’t as hard as it seems as most of us carry smartphones everywhere and can practise our craft with those too. Setting a photography project is a […]
This is quite a tricky composition rule to explain and it’s one that we probably apply unconsciously, as our minds seek balance in images and art. A balanced image feels right, pleasing and stable. In a balanced image there is perhaps some symmetry and the main subjects have equal weight or importance in the shot. An image […]
One of the best ways to improve your photography and elevate your shots from snapshots to great shots is to improve the composition of your image. This can initially seem too much to think about on top of the technical stuff like shutter speeds, apertures and ISO values. However, if you slow down and try to apply […]
I often find myself recommending “superzoom” lenses to students on Love Your Lens courses and one to one lessons and thought it might be useful to take a closer look at them. First off, what does “superzoom” mean? The term is commonly used to describe a lens that goes from a wide view to a […]
In just over 24 hours I’ll be heading to a beautiful mountain village in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy to photograph a wedding for a lovely couple who live in the UK but are marrying near where the groom was born. I’ve photographed lots of weddings in the UK and one a long time […]
I have never stopped learning and developing my skills as a photographer and I don’t think I ever will. Technology won’t stand still (!) and there will always be new subjects to explore: wildlife, landscape, low light or night time photography, macro photography, architectural, travel – just some of the areas where I’ve only dabbled […]
I’d like to introduce you to Marie. She’s a grandmother to two very lively toddlers (I should know as I’ve photographed them!), happily married to Brian and enjoying her retirement. She’s well known in the family for her baking and started a private blog for family and friends some time ago. Marie came to me around […]
Markets are great places to practise your photography. There are so many interesting and colourful subjects and people generally don’t mind photographers snapping away. At the Easter Sunday Makers Market Knutsford people were in such high spirits in the long awaited Spring sunshine, that there were broad smiles all round! A few market photography tips […]
I’ve been in the new studio 3 whole months now and it’s marvellous! It’s changed the way I work, given me a new lease of life, awoken my creativity and given me back my mojo! I’ve posted quick snaps along the way: befores, afters, durings, pictures of courses, shoots and a party, but I’ve not […]
Pancake Day has fallen in the school holidays – yes! We’ve got time to do it properly, which means Abii indulging in a spot of baking, me in a bit of pancake photography and the boys (Nic, Sam, Ferb and Buster) in stuffing their faces! Mixing the perfect batter was down to Nic, with no […]
I’ve been having fun recently with a lens that I bought about 5 years ago, played with a little and then shoved it in a camera bag and forgot all about it. I dug it out after seeing a few posts on social media and realised that these quirky little lenses now have a massive […]
6 months ago we decided to convert our garage into a natural light photography studio and office. Here’s the story in pictures. I still can’t quite believe we did it! I had a clear idea from the outset how I wanted it to look and used Pinterest to collect all the ideas. Click here to […]
The wet and mild conditions of Autumn provide the perfect growing conditions for fungi and this exceptionally mild Autumn means that there’s lots around at the moment, without having to look too hard. They have their own kingdom completely separate to plants and animals and there are tens of thousands of different kinds. They are fascinating to […]
Like it or not Hallowe’en is growing in popularity every year and if your children are anything like mine, the opportunity to dress up and be allowed to accept sweets from complete strangers is the ultimate in fun. Their costumes get more elaborate each year, as do the decorations in our house, even spreading out […]
In the first of this series we looked at How to Photograph Trees (click on the link if you missed it). This time we’re going to concentrate on how to photograph Autumn leaves and capture their many glorious colours, shapes and textures. It’s all about the Light. Well of course it is as without light we wouldn’t have […]
I LOVE Autumn (or Fall, for our friends across the pond!). Summer is fab while it lasts but around the start of September I yearn to wear fleecy jumpers and knitted hats, to walk through woodland, seeing my breath as white clouds, kicking through fiery coloured leaves with my wellies, spotting weird fungi on tree stumps and […]
On a very sunny Tuesday in mid-September I headed off to Bluebell Cottage Gardens for the last flower photography course for this year. It made a change to be 100% confident in the weather forecast and not be mentally preparing a plan B in case it poured down. The sunshine was streaming into the tea rooms as […]
I had a lesson with one of my favourite clients today. Marie has been having one to one photography tuition with me for around 6 months and shoots confidently in Manual and is creating some really lovely images. She initially wanted to concentrate on how to photograph her grandchildren and how to get better pictures generally, […]
We spent the second week of our summer holiday at my brother’s cottage in Marazion, Cornwall, with its famous landmark, St Michael’s Mount. Our accommodation is undergoing major refurbishment and we had been warned to have an “indoor camping” experience. It proved to be far more than this, with a beautiful kitchen, designer chairs in […]
Aberdaron and Abersoch with niece, great niece and nephew. Camera: Canon 350D with Tamron 28-300mm lens We’re having a two-centre holiday this summer, with a week on the Llyn Peninsula and a week in Marazion, Cornwall. You might think we’re mad choosing two locations so geographically far apart, but there was method in the madness! […]
When Sarah Gardner of Sarah Gardner Photography put out feelers via her Facebook Group as to whether anyone would be interested in a collaborative styled photo shoot with our teenage daughters, I jumped at the chance. It took all of two seconds to persuade Abii; the mention of hair stylist and make up artist did […]
I’ve been to two wonderful Cheshire gardens this week and taken lots of photographs as you can imagine. I was accompanied to each garden with a different man (!), both also armed with cameras and reached some interesting conclusions that are summed up by the sculpture above. Two photographers looking at exactly the […]
We all know this, right? We all know the statistics from Facebook: Posts with photos on Facebook generate 53% more likes and 104% more comments than those without. And the two fastest growing social media services are image based: Pinterest and Instagram. These apps are now widely accepted as extremely effective platforms for businesses to communicate with […]
Our little cornish break came to an end all to soon, but I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Glendurgan, a National Trust garden, on the last morning. Miraculously I was able to drag Abii out of bed and persuaded her to come with me (anything was preferable to packing). This is a garden more about […]
Helford Passage is a lovely spot on the Helford River, offering everything you could want from a little seaside hamlet, a decent pub, boat hire, ice creams, crabbing, a tasteful gift shop and a dozen gigs! These are fast, narrow rowing boats and there’s obviously a thriving community of them in Cornwall, judging by the […]
Saturday promised to be a glorious sunny day and we had planned to head to a beach for a spot of boating, crabbing and exploring, but talk of a display by the Red Arrows over Falmouth changed our minds. It was windy on the harbour but we found a gem of a cafe with […]
340 miles door to door… seven hours (including stops to collect a teenager from a sleepover and obligatory leg stretching, Costa coffee buying and loo breaks) in the car with an over-excited dog. All made well worth while when we saw the view from the living room window of our home for the next few days. The two […]
Most of my blogs are about how to take better photographs, but it’s time we looked at what to do with the ones you take. What do you do? Share a few on Facebook, send some to grandparents and every now and again print and frame the special ones? Gradually your hard drive gets full and […]
The RHS Tatton Flower Show gets scribbled on the calendar 1st January each year and we haven’t missed one yet, but this time it was pipped at the post by The Chelsea Flower Show, booked before the calendar was even out of its packet. A few glasses of wine and a bracing walk on a North […]
It makes a change for me to write a blog that doesn’t feature my own photos, but I just had to share the beautiful photos that Mindy takes of her children. Mindy enrolled on a programme of one to one courses with me about 18 months ago,because she loved photography, had a decent camera (a […]
Schoolbag in hand She leaves home in the early morning Waving goodbye With an absent-minded smile I watch her go With a surge of that well-known sadness And I have to sit down for a while The feeling that I’m losing her forever And without really entering her world I’m glad whenever I can share […]
Family trips out to gardens are a rare event these days, with Tweenager preferring to launch sheep at buildings on Minecraft and Teenager happy to spend all day watching Dr Who re-runs. But I managed to entice them away from their screens with promises of penguins and flamingoes in nearby Mobberley. Nic and I had visited […]
In this blog you will learn how to make a photo collage with Picasa, the free photo editing software from Google. I love picture collages and use them a lot! I’ve got framed collages with holiday pictures hanging in the downstairs loo and one beautiful large one of black and white pictures of the […]
An interesting read if you’ve ever asked yourself why is Pinterest good for business? I thought I came late to the Pinterest party (about a year ago!), especially when I read all the much publicised statistics, but when I mention it to people I meet through the course of the day, I feel very much […]
I love babies and (most) kids and for some crazy reason I like to earn a living by chasing them around with a camera, capturing natural photos of them and selling them to their parents. Newborn babies are my favourite subjects as they don’t get about so much and because they are without exception […]
Hi – I’m Jane, thanks for clicking on my brand new blog, Love Your Lens. You might guess from the name that it’s got something to do with photography! I’ve been a professional photographer since 2007, mainly lifestyle, on location (couldn’t afford a studio!) portraits of babies and children, with the occasional dog thrown […]
