create.share.love

Through the Lens | Spring

Today (which is actually yesterday when you are reading this blog post) I grabbed my camera* and went outside to take some spring photos. The weather was perfect. Not too sunny, not too dark - just perfect. Although I'm living in the middle of a city I still found plenty of flowers which started to bloom. Sometimes you just have to look a little bit closer.

Whenever I make photos around the neighborhood I feel a little bit weird. I don't know, when I'm on vacation in an other city I have no problem with making photos of everything. But back home, it's so different. I'm not living in a city where there are tourists so I'm probably the only person who makes photos around here. And I get attention. Today I decided, I don't care. Let them think I'm crazy. At least I have some photos they don't have. 

* I took all these photos with my Nikon Coolpix P7000.

Through the Lens: Florence

I spent last week in Florence with my sister. We had an amazing time together and we felt in love with this city. Next week I talk more about where we stayed, which sights we visited, where we ate delicious lunch and dinner and where we bought some great souvenirs.
But for today, I let the photos speak.

through the lens

We spent a long weekend (Thursday evening through Sunday morning) in a wellness hotel. It was extremely relaxing. During these four days I stayed offline which was a great experience. I turned my phone off and didn't care which time it was, if there was an update on Instagram or if I got an email. We took long walks, talked about many things, ate fantastic food and spent a huge amount of time doing nothing. This is that kind of quality time I need more in my life.

I love how this photo turned out. I put my camera on the ground and it focused a little bit before us.

From time to time I ask someone else to make a photo of us. And most people don't mind at all.

One evening there was a fish buffet and we tried an oyster for the first time.
And it was definitely the last time. So not my taste.

And on Saturday morning we got snow! I didn't convert these photos to black and white. This is what we actually saw.

All photos were taken with my camera and my phone. (Except #3 which my boyfriend took)

Behind the Scenes - how I edit my photos

I wrote about the Camera I use here. And about how I make photos for the blog here.

I use two different cameras. My phone camera and a Nikon Coolpix. So there are two different ways I edit my photos. In general I don't edit my photos much because I want to keep them as close to the original as possible. There are awesome filters out there you can use on your computer and/or on your phone but normally I like them for a few months and then I have enough of them.

Photos from my phone camera:

For my project life I use almost exlusively photos from my phone. I edit them directly on the phone with the app PicTapGo. It's easy, fast and has a lot of different options. For photos made in the daylight I mostly use Brightside to lighten them up a little bit. For photos made inside the house with lights on, I use Awake and Crispity. This way I can remove the orange touch of the photos you get from the light. But I try to avoid making photos with lights on because they are always worse than daylight photos. 

Photos from my "big" camera:

For my blog I make all my photos with my Nikon Coolpix. And I edit them in Photoshop Elements 10. There are two different ways how I edit them.

When I make product photos inside my house how I described it here I only make them brighter and sometimes have to remove the blue touch.

To make the photo brighter: Enhance -> Adjust Lighting -> Shadows/Highlights or Brightness/Contrast

To remove a color touch: Enhance -> Adjust Color -> Remove Color Cast... Then you can click on the are where the color isn't right. 

For photos made outside I use The Elements Collections by A Beautiful Mess. You get 10 different actions for Photoshop Elements and they are awesome. I mostly use Nico and decrease the Bright Boost around 50%

Please note, I ddidn't have any formal training in Photoshop Elements nor do I think this is the best and only way to edit your photos. It's just what works for me.

Behind the Scenes - how I take photos

As you already know, I don't have a fancy camera. And with my photography set up it's the same. I use what I have and make the best out of it. I am no professional at all and take a lot bad photos. But this set up worked very well so far.

There are a few tips to share for taking good photos: (this is just what I've learned along the way)

1. Never ever use the flash of your camera. Your photos look so much better without it.
2. Find the best spot in your apartment where you get the most natural light. In my case it's in front of our balcony. We have there indirect sunlight in the evening and that's perfect to take photos. I just open the door to get more light inside.
3. Observe the light in your house. At different times of the day it looks different in every room. I know for example, if I want to take an in progress photo of me working on my Project Life spreads in my office, I have to take it in the late afternoon because the light is the best at this time in that room. When you know, when and where the best time is to take photos in your house it makes your life so much easier.
4. A white or wooden background is what I use most. Whenever I take photos of my art journal I use a white background. I think it looks best because the focus is truly on my art journal and not on the background. A busy background makes your photo busy as well.
5. A reflector is very important too. You can use almost everything as a reflector as long it is white. Here I used those Project Life boxes as a reflector. The job of the reflector is to reduce the harsh shadows. It makes such a huge difference.

I try to remember these rules when I take photos for my Instagram feed as well. I don't style them like I style my photos for the blog, but I always make sure to have great natural light.