The Live Snap Love Show

Although I don't always want to remove day to day clutter from my frame (for example for more documentary photos) there are times when I want a cleaner, more streamlined look to my images than my cluttered, messy home will allow!  Over the years I have come up with lots of tricks to help me create beautiful, clean photos in less-than-picturesque environments, from my home, to clients home, or even...

Are you planning on taking your own family portraits this year, but not sure how to go about it? Then listen to this week's episode as I walk you, step by step, through how to take your own family photos!   Being able to take your own family photos, either for a traditional portrait to hang on your wall, for your holiday cards, or just to have a snapshot of your family at this stage of life,  is a...

In this episode, I'm talking with an incredible photographer, Pam McIntyre, who was actually a student of Live Snap Love many years ago, but has gone on to do amazing work in all different genres. The story of her photography journey is an interesting one - she had a highly technical job in a male dominated industry, and took up photography as a way of having a creative outlet.  She then recently...

Have you heard people talking about Lensbaby lenses, and wondered what they are, and why the heck you might want one?  Or maybe you've already been thinking about adding a Lensbaby to your collection but not sure which one you should get, or even if they are the right choice for you? I have coveted a Lensbaby for years, but was never sure which one I wanted, or what the difference was between the...

In this episode, I'm answering a question from one of our listeners, Emma, who wanted to know a little bit more about documentary and lifestyle photography, and what the difference was between the two. She asked: "I'm never sure whether to call myself a lifestyle or documentary photographer. I like capturing unposed shots, and more candid moments, but I'm not really sure of the difference between...

I know from personal experience that when you first start out in photography, it can often feel very overwhelming and frustrating, and for many new photographers, this leads to you giving up, thinking you might "never get it" or that you're just not cut out for photography.  Which is why I want to share with you 11 things that I think you should know right at the start of your photography journey!...

Fall is one of the best times of the year for portraits, whether that be of your child, your family, your pet, maternity or any type of portrait!  That's because nature creates a fantastic backdrop for us in fall (or autumn in you are in the UK) with the leaves on the trees turning into beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow,  creating a vibrant, warm, cozy look to our portraits. So in this we...

One of the questions I get a lot from my students was about lens filters, so I created a free training for them inside our student community, the Live Snap Love Insiders Club. But I thought that you would probably enjoy it too, so today on the podcast, I'm sharing the audio of that free training. Although it was obviously created with slides to show. you examples, I still think it will be incredib...

Have you heard the terms aperture, f-stop and depth of field and wondered what the **** they all are, and how they all work together? Then this is the podcast episode for you! Today, listen is as we go over what Aperture is, what the term F-stop means, and how this impacts your depth of field, and how this changes the look of your photo. (Want to see pictures? See the full show notes for this epis...

In this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of our brand new community for our students! We recently moved our student community away from Facebook, and into a new home on our course website.  Today I want to get into what you'll find over at the new community, and why we made the switch, and how you access the community if you are a student, and what to do if you're not! In this episode we...

Learn how to get started with macro photography, from which gear you need, to camera settings and composition!  Macro photography has been an unexpected joy for me in my photography journey. . It allows you to see the world in a whole new way, and appreciate the beauty that can be found everywhere if you get close enough!  So many people come to me and say that they would like to try macro too, bu...

How to find more time in your day for learning photographyWhenever I ask people about what the number one thing is that is holding them back from learning photography, one of the most common answers I get is not having enough time!  I can definitely relate to that - most of us are struggling, trying to juggle several plates at the same time, so learning photography can get shunted down to the bott...

The 5 must-know editing tips to help you edit your photos like a pro!    If you have been following Live Snap Love for a while, you'll know that I LOVE editing photos. It's a HUGE part of photography for me, because it's another area where I get to be creative, or get the photo looking exactly the way I want it to look! Editing is like the icing on the cake or the seasoning on your food - you migh...

How many times have you heard that in order to get the best photos, you should try to shoot in the Golden Hour, in other words, the hour right before sunset or just after sunrise? Probably a lot!  However, many times, we simply cannot shoot at that time of day.  Maybe we're taking our kids to the beach or the park later in the day, or we're photographing a wedding that is happening in the afternoo...

There has been a lot of chatter recently about the use of AI in photography, especially as Photoshop's AI tools have been growing steadily, and very recently both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic introduced a new generative AI tool inside Lightroom, making it even more accessible to use AI on your images. So where do YOU draw the line when it comes to the use of AI in photography? I'm definitely no...

Over my 17 years of practicing and learning photography, I have had plenty of a-ha moments or changes I have implemented that have totally changed my photos for the better.  So today on the podcast I am sharing just three of these, but these three are ones that you can do today (as in right this minute!) and they don't require any new equipment,  spending money or learning anything too complicated...

In need of a new photography project for summer? Then I've got you covered!  In this episode of the Photography Made Simple podcast,  I'm giving you 4 ideas of photography projects you can do that will help you document summer, get more creative photos, or just motivate you to pick up your camera.  Whether you are photographing your young family, or you're retired and capturing your travels or you...

The way that you show movement or motion in your photos can give your images a totally different look and feel,  and today on the podcast, we are looking at all the different ways you can capture it!  Using motion is a great way to make your images look more creative, have stronger compositions, or just play and have fun!  You can choose to freeze the motion, have motion blur in the background, ha...

As much as I love using Lightroom Classic for editing my photos, it doesn't mean that it can do absolutely everything you need! There's a damn good reason why Adobe bundled both Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC together in their Photography Plan - because when you have access to both programs, you can do absolutely anything your little editing heart desires! But when should you use Photoshop...

Choosing a lens can feel like a difficult and overwhelming task- there is so much choice that it can be hard to narrow it down and decide which would be the best lens for YOU.  Let's face it, lenses are expensive, so it's an important thing to get right! Although you can always sell your lenses if they turn out not to be the one for you, it's easier and more cost effective to get it right the firs...

This week's episode is a little bit of an indulgent one, because I'm talking all about the courses we have at Live Snap Love, and the biggish changes we are making to these in 2024, and what we have coming up! If you are new to the world of Live Snap Love, then you'll learn exactly what courses are coming up, so you can see what might suit you based on where you currently are on your photography j...

Do you know how to find beautiful, dramatic, interesting light for your photos? Light is EVERYTHING in photography. Good light will illuminate your subject, draw your eye to what you want the viewer to focus on, minimize distractions, make images more dramatic or magical, give them a three dimensional quality and just generally make our images more compelling and unique. Thats why learning how to...

Learning how to use and modify light is essential for taking your photos to the next level in photography because how you use and control the light will determine how your photos turn out!  One tool you can use to modify and shape light is called a reflector.  If you've heard people talking about using a reflector,  but weren't quite sure what it does, or indeed whether you need one, then I create...

Light is the single most important element of your photo, and is one that  can lift a mediocre, mundane scene into something incredible and awe-inspiring. That's why learning how to use light to its full potential is so incredibly important if you want to take your photos to the next level.  However, I understand that working with natural light can seem a little overwhelming at first, because you...

"What do all these numbers on these camera lenses actually mean?!"  This was one of my very first questions I had when buying my first DSLR and I don't mind telling you, it took me a little while to figure out!  So in this week's episode, I'm going to break down what the numbers on your camera lens actually mean, so that you can figure out how a particular lens will perform,  and therefore whether...