Starbucks and Full-on MANUAL MODE! Yay!!!

Ok, so I'm not one to shout from the rooftops, blowing my own trumpet....  I like to think I'm quite modest about my photography.  I'm far from knowing it all and even farther from being incredible at it, BUT, I do think I'm quite good, sometimes great (that's about as boastful as I can get).

 

I love to think about how far I have come in the last 18months though.  I came out of full  'auto mode' faaaaiiirly quickly, thanks to my Mum who bought me a place on a course that taught me how to prioritise either for aperture (depth of field within an image) or shutter speed (capturing/freezing motion).  This was a huge breakthrough for me.  The course also taught me how to use the focus points on Mr Click too so I've been telling my camera what to focus on from almost the beginning of my Adventures with Mr Click. :)

 

Now, let's skip forward by 12months.... I've been reading and practising, and reading, and practicing, and reading, and.... Ok, you get it!  And it's only been in the last few weeks were I have thought - Right, that's it!  I'm going MANUAL!  Gotta say, I never want to go back; I understand my camera.  And I'm thrilled.

 

The following images are of my little Miles.  And they are the first set of images that I set out to capture completely manually, setting up everything on Mr Click myself.  I chose this moment as I sat opposite him enjoying his weekly Starbucks treat to just go for it.  He was focussed on devouring his marshmallow stick and babychinno which gave me a great chance to click away while we made small (3 year old) talk.  I love how I made every decision, rather than the camera doing it, on how each image should look.  These photos won't win any awards.  They are purely self indulgent and to most won't 'mean' that much, BUT to me they are so much more.  They are the beginning of a new chapter, my next level of learning and a huge step into being the best that I can at something I have such passion for.... 

 

Hope you like them.  (*warning - they might make you want a marshmallow chocolate star treat! - I totally do......)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for looking! ~ Fleur X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Straight Out Of Camera and Processed/Edited....

I'm not sure I know anyone who doesn't edit their photos.  Whether its popping on a sneaky filter before an Instagram post or cropping out something unwanted from the frame...  I'm in the process of learning as much as I can about Photoshop CC.  I know the basics, but there is tons to learn.

I take my images in RAW format so that the clarity and definition is there, which helps.  And I can make certain manipulations within Photoshop to tweak my images.  I have learnt so far though how important it is to get the shot 'in camera'.  It makes tweaking much less work and means that I'm hopefully going to get the image results I hope for when I'm looking through my viewfinder.

Because I'm constantly photographing and editing, I rarely look back and compare my SOOC shots with their Processed final edits.  So that's what I've decided to do here with some of my recent work.  It has been on my mind as a blog entry since speaking to a member of my family who was complimenting me on my processing skills, particularly how I am able to create a blur effect on certain parts of the image and leave the important parts in focus....  That was great to hear, but I don't currently know how to do that in Photoshop (see... tons to learn!), I'm happy to say that I do that 'in camera'.

I love the following images.  I hope you enjoy them too.  I also hope that you can see that I don't often do too much editing.  Just a bit of 'tweaking'.

SOOC

I now think I prefer the SOOC version of this shot in comparison....  The colour pops more.  However I chose B&W purely because I was editing all of our recent holiday photos as B&Ws.  As you can see.  I got the focus points set 'in camera'.

SOOC

Looking at this you can probably tell what I've done.... I straightened it up slightly so that the lines fell better within the final image.  I also upped the saturation to the centre of the image and brightened it so that is where your eye is drawn.  My final tweak was to add a slight vinaigrette to the bottom edges, again to draw focus up to my Hubs and Son. 

SOOC



Not much tweaking here... A tiny crop and then a brightening to a more natural skin tone.  Love my mini make-up assistant!



SOOC

Only cropped...

SOOC

Love this photo...  I found the background and highlights too distracting on the SOOC shot, so I went to good ol' B&W for drama (the expression is brilliant!), made a tad darker and added a touch of vinaigrette again just to draw the eye to where I want it.

SOOC

Not a lot changed here.... Only the colour.  I just made it warmer and more homely.

Thanks for looking ~ Fleur x

Reliving summer.... Our day at the races!

Every summer my husband takes off a couple of weeks to spend time with me and the kids while they're off school.  Every year we have great intentions of amazing days out and adventures and new fun things that we can do that we haven't done as a family before.  Usually though, and not really like me in character, our plans are left to the last minute and we have a panic over where we can go and what we can do and what might be weather dependant with three young children...

 

Well this year I kicked my usual 'planning ocd' into super-sonic and booked things a good couple of months in advance - all we needed to hope for then was that the weather would be kind.

 

We had a short week in Devon (coming soon to my Blog), a theme park day out and a family day at the Races; Haydock to be precise.  It was fab.  Mr Click came too and we had a brilliant time, as you can see.... 

 

Let's do this Team Davies!

Soaking up the atmosphere...

First race soon... He's keeping his fingers crossed for a winner!

Oh dear... No winner!

So we spent a while cheering you up in the sand pit.

Lilli making an..... anthill?

Having a play with shutter speeds when I can :)

Poised and hopeful for the next race...

Yay!  A winner!  With her winnings!

We got close to catch the last race... What a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking ~ Fleur

 

 

 

 

 

At home with the Murrays........

Meet 4 year old Fraser and his parents, Sian and Ian.   They are one fun loving family and the fun is about to get intensified by the soon to be arrival of twins!  Yep - that mummy to be has double trouble going on in her beautiful bump.

 

These guys just played and did their own thing while I clicked away...   Looking forward to more brilliant shoots with them!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking ~ Fleur

Olivia Hope Baird..... Turning ONE!

I've had three 'first birthdays' with my kiddies.  It's a big milestone isn't it?  They go from a gloriously delightful babe in your arms to a crawling, sometimes walking time bomb looking for trouble in a blink of an eye!

Now this little girl, Miss Olivia - has her turn to do just that.  I'm honoured that I have known her as babe in arms, 6 month old giggler and now a crawling (looking for mischief) ONE year old...  A beautiful baby girl with eyes so blue you swear you could swim in them and a smile so bright it would light up the darkest of days.  She is loved unconditionally by her wonderful parents and I'm looking forward to seeing her grow and flourish with every birthday from this one.

Thanks for looking ~ Fleur x