pictures

This last week I was struggling a lot again with feeling inspired to go out and take my daily photos. But they say this challenge is our challenge and to not beat ourselves up over it! So while I didn’t go out everyday, I did practice some new techniques when I did. And that’s what I would like to share with you all!

This is one of my favorite photos from the Maternity session I did for one of my best friends. I don’t have much experience yet with portraits or maternity but I was very happy with the outcome! Do you take portraits? What is your favorite way of posing people? My favorite is to get them to naturally laugh. Do you have a favorite lens? time of day? One tip I have is to not take photos of people mid-day, the light is too harsh and your subjects are often squinting (not good for pictures).

Photo taken in Laguna Beach. Was loving the rocks!

Sunset in Laguna Beach, CA. Was practicing using filters for the first time. Was pretty happy about being able to aim my lens at the sun. And I really like the reflection on the ground. Do you use lens filters? I definitely want to practice with them more after this!

This photo is what I was most excited about! I have been trying to achieve this type of photo for a long time now and couldn’t figure out the right lighting/settings etc. They say it everywhere but its true, lighting is EVERYTHING when it comes to photography. Have you tried taking pictures of the water moving like this? How difficult was it for you to achieve? I’ll tell you it took me 4 months to figure this out! Yeah, now you can see why I was so excited lol!

Well hope you all enjoyed this last weeks photos! I am going to move the photo-a-day challenge to my Instagram so be sure to check it out. But if you aren’t on Instagram don’t worry I will be continuing to post my favorite highlights here! If you are doing the challenge, or just excited about your photos be sure to tag me/ or share them here!! I would LOVE to see them!

Hope you all have a great week!

Photo a day WEEK 1: I did it guys! I have to be honest I wasn’t too sure most days. But I finished all 7 days and I’m excited to share with you what I’ve got! I also decided to give these photo topics an extra flare by doing a theme! This week I wanted to do silhouettes, but the weather didn’t want to cooperate with me. So I went with black and white instead. I haven’t practiced B&W shots too much so it was a fun challenge to think of what would look good without color.

From Below

Day 1: For my “From Below” topic I took a trip to the San Clemente Pier. The weather has been so gloomy so I thought it would make for a good black&white photo. It wasn’t my favorite shot as I tried to be quick, the tide was higher and I didn’t want to get trapped lol.

Create a scene

Day 2: I don’t know why but I LOVE pictures like this. It is my second favorite to Candid shots. On a walk with my little family I saw this moment and couldn’t help but snap a pic. I think it turned out pretty sweet for a quick little sneak it quick picture.

Just a hint

Day 3: Okay so this one isn’t black&white but I did mess around with my editing to try and tone down the colors so you mostly see just a hint of the green and yellow. For this picture I used a slow shutter speed. I waited about 10 minutes for a car to come and change the street lights to green because I loved how the green glared off the wet ground, and with the slow shutter speed and quick changing lights it caught the light turning from green to yellow. That was a cool bonus I wasn’t expecting and I do like to turnout!

On the Ground

Day 4: For those who don’t know me… I will use any excuse to photograph my dog. He is just so cute!

Looking Up

Day 5: Just looking up into the trees, wondering what it would be like to have skills of a monkey and just climb to the top.

Where I Stand

Day 6: For you fellow dog owners… where we stand is usually not too far from our furry children.. especially when we have food!

Re-create

Day 7: Maybe you all have seen those add’s for elephant pants.. maybe not. But I saw it and fell for it instantly. Who wouldn’t want a pair of elephant pants to lounge around in and sip your tea/coffee?! PLUS $1-$2 goes to help stop the poaching of elephants. Double score! So I re-created their add.. in b&w to go with my theme… and added my yummy yogi tea instead of coffee. My yogi words of wisdom this packet was “let things come to you.” A good reminder for the days I don’t feel very Inspired.

And that was my week! I made it! That was rough I gotta tell you. I think the hardest part for me is staying inspired to go out and snap pictures when I just get off a long days work and REALLY just want to lay on my couch and netflix binge. But they say that it will get easier the more I put it into routine. Are you doing the daily photo challenge? Have you wanted to try it out? What photos/scenes do you think of when you see the following categories? If you are doing the challenge Tag me in your Instagram photos I would LOVE to see them! Or share them with me here! Hope you enjoyed!

Toodles!