Week 6/52: Flare

So, this week's theme was meant to be an opportunity to improve on incorporating lens flare to my portraits in a beautiful, and creative way. Like this photo here from the engagement shoot I did with Catherine and Matthew last August. But...when the sun doesn't show face for the 2 days you're out and about in daylight, it's kind of difficult! Which meant I ended up with this completely shameful photo, taken in the car, on the way home from Edinburgh/St. Andrews on Saturday afternoon...when the sun decided to make an appearance as we drove through DUNDEE, of all places. It's great what a bit of colour tweaking on Photoshop can do to liven up a photo, still, not quite the beautiful image I was hoping for...and I can only promise that in the hopefully not too distant future I will capture an image that is everything I was hoping to create this week!

 The theme for week 7, being the week of Valentines Day, is obviously going to be Love. That's a very broad topic, so have fun if you're taking part!

Week 5/52 : Just A Peek

I think this was a bit of a half hearted attempt for this week's 52 project...I kept changing my mind about what exactly I classed as 'just a peek', and I kept thinking up things that could really be classed in a different theme for another week. So, yeah, I think my photos for this week will suffice.

Next week's theme is 'Flare'. I was gonna specify it to 'Lens Flare', but if anyone wants to participate and portray 'Flare' in some other way, they're totally welcome to! I myself would like to experiment with lens flare :)

Now...considering the time, I should probably get out of my pyjamas.

Laura's Shoot - Part 1

I have beautiful friends, did you know?? Last Thursday I headed out to Crathes Castle (shocker...) with my wonderfully good friend Laura to take some pretty photos, it's got so many amazing spots for portraits! We did the shoot in two halves, with two different outfits in two different parts of the Castle grounds. The first shoot was a casual outfit (but totally amazing! I went and bought the same pair of jeans the next day), down beside the loch. Have a look!

 B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L!

 Love this next shot too...

 I can't remember what I said to her here...but I love her face.

I told her to smile at this point...and so, she did, and then I said "Great, now it's back to the car!" I should've said that first because she got super excited! She'd been out in the cold for quite a while by that point, doing an amazing job I have to say :) Thank you, Laura!

Despite telling her she could warm up in the car for a while, and tuck in to our delicious Blueberry Cheesecake Muffin...I spotted a wee bridge round the corner that I've never noticed before, and made her get out the car again! Haha. I used actions by Paint the Moon Photography for these shots, as I only just remembered about them now. This is the first time I'm actually posting photos using another photographers actions rather than attempting my own version...you can tell the difference big time, I think! I'll get there eventually...

I hope you liked them! Part 2 will be on the blog next week...or maybe even in the next 2 days...

Sarah's Tea Partay

I LOVE a good Tea Party! It's my wonderful sister's birthday tomorrow, so today we had a Tea Party with the family out at Sarah and Dave's, and it was simply amazing! Lots of delicious goodies covered the table on beautiful cake stands, and the room was filled with the pretty things that Sarah has made for their home. She's a talented lady! Here are just a feeeew photos...

And after lunch we all made our own Lips and Moustaches, which created the best kind of family portraits...

  

Happy Birthday Sarah!xx

Week 4/52 : Express Yourself

I've been looking forward to doing this photo ALL WEEK, and it didn't disappoint. It was great fun! I always wonder if my neighbour across the road can see me out their front window when I'm running around the back garden with scarves over my head, or running back and forth from the camera to the bench holding props, or doing handstands ...if they can, they surely think I'm a complete weirdo. I'm also usually chuckling away to myself.

It's not too late to post up your own interpretation of 'Express Yourself', I'd love to see them :) Happy Friday!!

Next week's theme is 'Just A Peek'!

My New Hat

This post is going to be rather random...This year I want to make more use of my lighting kit, and get some practice with it, and the past couple weeks I've thought about setting it up and doing some more crazy self portraits. So when I bought a beautiful new hat the other day I thought it was the perfect prop to get me going. The photos are all pretty similar, I should have incorporated more props...*note to self for next time*

Here are a couple shots before I got started with the make up, and I've not done any post production on Photoshop with these ones...

Having the remote shutter release was a massive help! I was still going back and forth to see if I was actually in the frame, but focusing was far easier!

I absolutely love these next two shots...yes, I'm wearing lipstick in the first...and then it came off when I added the eye makeup as I didn't want to go too overboard...ha...

And I don't really have much to say about the rest of the photos...I can't believe how many I'm posting...

And here are a couple black and whites to mix things up...

So...I successfully set up my lighting kit and had some fun! Apologies for the number of me's in this post...I'm planning on branching out and doing lots of themed shoots with beautiful people throughout the year, indoors and outdoors to get practice with natural light and studio lighting. 

Hope you're all have a good weekend :) I am now, very happily, going to step away from the laptop, and my face. Haha.

Week 3/52: The View From Down Here

Is it really week 3 already?! I think this project is gonna make my year pass even quicker than last year...jeepers. So, yeah, this week's theme was 'The View From Down Here', and Tanya may have stolen one of my photos spots, but I had another one up my sleeve. Haha. I do still really want to go check out that library though, it looks amazing!

The first image in the set is in The Academy shopping centre in Aberdeen. I often wonder how many people walk under this spot without realising what they're missing when they don't look up. I love it! The others images were taken at a forest that's on the road between Kingswells and Cults. The tree on the left was amazing! It was a holly tree...that was like a spider...well, it actually reminded me of the creepy things from Alien...haaa. Yum. And the sky shot was taken down at the beach front, I was hoping to get a photo of the big wheel, but the carriages haven't been put back on it yet.

Next week's theme is 'Express Yourself', and you have to sing the song while you do it!