A Little Vacation

Hello hello. I've had a fabulous time blogging every day for 31 Days. I've learned a TON and I hope you have too!

I'd love to hear if you learned from or just enjoyed my 31 Days to Better Home Photos, so feel free to leave comments. Let me know what you liked, if it was fun to read, or what you think I could have done better - I'm always trying to improve!

Anywho, I'm pretty tired from the marathon of it all, so I'm taking a week off to catch up on all of the scattered projects around my house. I will be back on Monday, November 7 with new DIYs and little treasures to share :)

(In the meantime make your own floral suitcases with this DIY from Beautiful Mess! If you're going on vacation, it might as well look cute!)

See you soon!!

31 Days: Day 31!

I've decided. I'm going to end on a sappy note.

I've talked a lot these 31 Days about how to make your home look prettier via your camera lens. Well, I have to say I'm not convinced by perfection because it's the imperfections that make us us. So, for my final 31 Days post, I want to say... just take pictures you love and forget about them being perfect.

Yep, bobby pins in a jar by my bed. Not beautiful, but that's how I roll and I like this picture.

I'm in school for my doctorate so I have books everywhere. I like books though...

A pretty box full of our not so pretty things :)

The cats never leave the pillows alone, but I don't mind. Better for cuddling.

So go and take your pictures. Love them and they will be loved, regardless of how "good" they are.

31 Days: Snapshot Sunday (Day 30)

This is it! The last Snapshot Sunday and the second to last 31 Days post!!

(from Louise Allana edited in Picasa - read the story behind the photo here)

(from Amanda at Colorful Goth - her outfit reveals are beautiful)

(from me! It took forever, but I finally caught a humming bird on our porch!!)

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who shared for Snapshot Sunday. You all are brave and superstars in my book. I'm so impressed with your pictures!!!

31 Days: Day 29

The big lesson for today applies more to life in general than to home photos - keep the camera handy! Some of the best pictures are spontaneous. If you have to go digging in your closet for your camera you might miss your shot!

I learned that lesson from Ashley at Under the Sycamore. She wrote a hilarious post about why she keeps her camera ready. While I don't want to spoil it for you (it's a super fun read) here's a little sneak peek...

"I heard water running in the kitchen and discovered my daughter with the hand washing obsession learned how to climb the cabinets.... Smile. Click. Smile. Dry everything up.... I groan, grumble, sigh and click because those are all part of the stories I want to capture. I would miss them all if my camera weren’t ready and nearby."

Definitely check out her site to see the picture she took - SO CUTE!

Here's a picture my Dad took of a perfect sunrise in his front yard.

That perfect angle of light was gone in a matter of minutes - he was so glad to have his camera available!

So keep your cameras out and snag that perfect moment!

Don't forget, the LAST Snapshot Sunday is tomorrow!! Leave a comment with a link to a photo you're proud of or email your picture to me at jen@insideways.com. It doesn't have to be something you've taken during the 31 Days Challenge, just something you're proud of. We can all enjoy and learn from each other's success :)

31 Days: Day 28

Our 31 Days are coming to an end, and it occurred to me... some of you are probably totally over it (when will it eeeeeennnnd?), but some of you might want to keep learning (you know, the crazy folk).

(Canon Camera Lens Mugs from the Photojojo Store)

Here are 5 great photography tip resources for all of you hard core studiers....

1. Photojojo! A super fun website that posts about photography from basic to super quirky - lens reviews to how to print your friend's face on cupcakes!

2. Digital Photography School! Super comprehensive and easy to use, Digital Photography School was started by the amazing Darren Rowse. If you need information, it will probably be here!

3. SnapBlog! This was formed more for product reviews and consumer awareness, but they have a ton of helpful how-tos as well. If you're looking to buy a camera or lens, they are a super helpful resource.

4. DIY Photography! These guys are the experts on camera hacks. For all you DIYers out there, check out their alternative solutions to expensive equipment.

5. Phototuts+! Like the name implies, these guys specialize in photo tutorials from beginner to advanced. They're all about educating and are part of the Plus Education Network.

There is an awesomely overwhelming amount of information to be had out there, so don't stop learning! Or if your brain is finished with photography for now, you can always use these sites as go-tos for your specific questions. Basically, there will be an answer out there for your photo questions and needs - yay!

The LAST Snapshot Sunday is this week! I would love to share your favorite picture for the big photo finish of this series. Send a picture you've taken that you're proud of to jen@insideways.com, or post a link to your favorite photo in the comment section. It doesn't have to be something you took during this series, just something you're proud of so we can all inspire each other :)

31 Days: Day 27

Four more days left! Four. I can see the finish line...

With these precious remaining days, I wanted to be sure to go over a really tough room to photograph... the bathroom...

(This is a picture of my last apartment's bathroom which was beautiful. I just can't start this post with pictures of my current bathroom.)

Really this post is for any really tricky room in your house. The bathroom is just the number one most horribly difficult room to photograph in my current apartment.

First of all, it's just not a cute room, and since I'm a renter there's not a ton I can do about it. Secondly, there is NO NATURAL LIGHT. None. It's all about the tungsten in there. As we've discussed, this makes photo taking much harder. Plus, it's a very small room - how do I even get the angles I want!?

Well I have a few tips for overcoming these problems and have attempted to take pictures of my ugly bathroom for your viewing displeasure.

1. Adjust your white balance: If you're not working with natural light and you can adjust the white balance, do it! Here is what my camera thought white looked like before I fixed it.

Not white camera, not at all. But it didn't know better until I told it so.
From yellow to white...

2. Don't use flash: It may be tempting because everything is so dark in there, but don't use your flash. With all of those reflective surfaces, the flash is bound to be super noticeable. Let your photo editing software add in the brightness. The chrome faucet, towel rack, and cabinet hardware would have been a big problem not to mention the mirror!

(How do you like my fabulous laminate counter top? *dripping with sarcasm*)

3. Clean: Yes, clean for the pictures, but also clean because you are about to get all up in your bathroom's business. Since it's a small room, you can expect to be on the floor, by the toilet, kneeling next to the sink, you name it. Clean for your pictures and for your health.

4. Try try try try: Since it's a tricky room, give yourself permission to take two or three times as many photos as usual. Just keep taking them until you start to see things you like. It might take a while, but that's just the nature of tricky spaces.

5. Crop: I didn't know this would be in this post until I started editing my pictures. Because it's so difficult to get the angles you want in a small space, not many of the pictures looked the way I wanted them right out of the camera. Well the crop function saved my behind. Take this picture...

Here's the angle I took with the camera. I don't love it... but with a little cropping...

There's something I can live with!

There you have it, a lot of work for a little room. Which room is the trickiest in your home?

31 Days: Day 26

I LOVE going to antique, consignment, and thrift stores. Even if I just window shop, it's so fun to imagine the possibilities of having all of those treasures in my home. When I get to bring something home? Forget about it - so excited.

I love sharing my finds through pretty pictures, but how do you highlight a particular piece in your home?

This has everything to do with the composition in your photo, or how you use light and the angle of your photo to direct someone's eye. Ok yeah I know... not such an obvious thing from that description...

So let's look at pictures!

This is a lamp DIY that I've never taken good pictures for. So for today's post, I've taken a bunch of pictures and we can talk about which ones showcase the lamp best and why.

I usually like to have three pictures of anything I'm showcasing: an object-centered shot to just show you the thing, an artsy closeup for fun and visual interest, and a wide shot that gives the thing context in my house.

Object-Centered 

I'm not head over heels about this shot, but I think it does a really good job of just showing you the lamp. It's clear and pretty, just not particularly compelling. But then again, I just want you to see the lamp, so it's not necessarily going to be a stunning picture.

This object-centered shot is very to the point. There is the lamp, which is good. But, what I don't love about it is that the photo is portrait instead of landscape. It's just a personal opinion, but I think landscape pictures look a lot nicer on the internet because they fill out all of the negative space. Portrait shots have a lot of wasted space.

Artsy Closeups

I like this closeup a lot. It highlights the bingo letters in the lamp and looks really bright.

This closeup is really interesting. There's lots of color and texture, but the picture doesn't focus on the lamp very well. It's more like an interesting view of my porch from the couch...

Wide Shot

Here is a photo of how the lamp lives in my space. I like this picture a lot because you can see a lot of context, but the lamp is still really central to the photo. 

This shot is nice, but I've gotten too far out and the lamp isn't a very central part of the photo anymore. Just a couple of inches back, but it makes a huge difference!

So there you have it, three ways to highlight a particular piece in your home! Pick one of your own treasures and try it out - it's a lot of fun!

31 Days: Day 25

Some of my favorite blog posts are DIY tutorials. Even if I don't want to try the project myself, it's so neat to see how someone tackled a challenge! In my humble opinion, the best tutorials have TONS of pictures. Well how do you take good pictures for tutorials?

I'd like to pass on a couple of tips I've learned from seeing many tutorials in great blogs.

1. Use a background: although your house may be a wreck from your project, taking a little time to make your tutorial pretty makes a huge difference. One great technique is to use a background for your pictures. I learned this from Smile and Wave. Rachel often puts a pretty fabric on her table as a backdrop to her DIYs. It makes things look so much better!

Here's how it looked when I tried that technique...

It's bright and fun AND you can see everything really clearly! Of course, you may have to lock up the kitties to pull this off...

I ironed this fabric and it totally didn't matter...

2. Stage your pics a little: the DIY process isn't always pretty, but your pictures don't have to be totally honest... I think it's ok to be a little tricky and stage your tutorial pics. In the picture above, you get the idea that I'm measuring to find the middle of that block of wood from how I laid everything out. My hands and sloppy pencil marks don't even need to be a part of it.

3. Number your pictures: Let's be honest, a lot of people skim pictures instead of reading all the text. Might as well make them as clear as possible by adding numbers. Don't want anyone to get lost after all...

4. Pretend your clueless: Never forget that the person reading your tutorial might have no clue of how to do what you've done - which is exactly why you've made a tutorial! Be sure to cover all of the important steps AND less important steps. There's nothing more frustrating than getting lost in a tutorial you'd really like to try.

One DIY I'm particularly proud of is my Scrabble Tile project. I'm so happy with how it's turned out and that it was even picked up by Apartment Therapy! Well, I was so excited when I did it that I didn't take ANY tutorial pictures - bummer... Today (for this post), I recreated those steps and I can update my tutorial with pictures!! Hopefully I'll be able to share the new version with you tomorrow - a live action version of pics for tutorials! Keep an eye out...

31 Days: Day 24

There has been so much learning going on in this 31 Days Challenge! We've gathered a lot of basic knowledge and have experimented a ton. We'll there's another way to learn

Learning by the book... check
Learning by trying... check
Learning by... OBSERVING!

I would bet we all do it almost every day - surfing our favorite blogs and browsing Pinterest - but maybe not with an eye for learning about taking great photos. I would really encourage you to skim through your blogs or your Pinterest boards today and pick out a few photos. Ask yourself "why do I like this?"....

(from desire to inspire)

I really like how this angle shows off the chairs and manages to minimize the much less cute refrigerator in the background. That would be a great strategy for me to try when I take photos of my kitchen.

(from Design Sponge)                                   (from Gen Proebstel)

These two pictures give you a hint of the space instead of showing you everything at once. It makes me want to see more and probably helps hide any problem spots in the room.

(from Bloesem)

This picture is really symmetrical and under-styled. While it wouldn't be a great way to show a "this is how I live" photo, this is a great way to display a collection for a photo.

So, those were just a few photos from my I-have-way-too-many (you can never have too many) Pinterest photo hoard collection. If I'm ever having trouble getting a picture to look the way I want, I just stop on by Pinterest and get inspired. Also, I highly recommend any of the blogs linked above if you're looking for more inspirational photography - they are the masters.

Another place I'll stop by is Emily Henderson's portfolio. She was a stylist before she became an HGTV design star, so her portfolio is full of GREAT styling inspiration. Here are some of my favorites.

Do you have any photographers, designers, or resources you go to for inspiration?