The Live Snap Love Show

If you're heading out on holiday or vacation this year, then you might be wondering what photography equipment to take with you....and what you should leave behind. We all want to take pretty much everything with us, because each bit of our photography kit, whether that be our lenses or reflector or flash, each serves a purpose, and we want them available should we need it. BUT, there's usually li...

Today I'm going to be talking about a form of photography that really opened my eyes to the beauty that is around me every single day, even in the most mundane elements, and that is macro photography! You may have considered giving macro photography a try, but you maybe don't want to spend hundreds of dollars getting a macro lens, or at least not yet, and are wondering if you can take macro photos...

Learning photography can feel really overwhelming and that it has taken a million years - I know from experience! How long should it actually take until you feel comfortable saying you're a photographer? Everyone is unique, but teaching over 2,000 students in the Auto to Awesome program has given me a damn good idea! This week's episode talks about my journey, the time OR money that may go into le...

A lot of times you may not be getting your photos as sharp as you'd like and you might stop and think, do I need to calibrate my lens? Today's episode will shed some light on this! I'm covering what lens calibration is, how to know if you may need it, and how to know if you need to do it right now! We will also discuss a little test for your lenses, and guide you on HOW to calibrate - should you n...

Thinking about starting a photography business but not sure what you need to do first? Then today's episode is going to be a goldmine of information for you! I'm going to share with you 5 things you'll want to have in place before you start a photography business so that you can get off on the right foot.  You can always get fancier later, but these 5 areas will allow you to start to make money fr...

On this episode of Photography Made Simple, we delve into the great debate between prime and zoom lenses, and how to decide which one is right for you!  We explore the advantages and disadvantages of each lens type, such as the difference in maximum aperture, background blur, sharpness, flexibility, image quality and more. So which should you get? As the decision of whether a zoom or prime is righ...

On this episode of Photography Made Simple, we're diving into the importance of your camera's metering mode, by looking at what each ones does, and how to choose the right one for your specific situation. You'll learn about the three main types of metering modes, as well as the less common partial and highlight-weighted modes. We'll also cover the benefits of spot metering, which can be extremely...

On this episode of Photography Made Simple, I tackle the common issue of glasses glare in portrait photography. Whether it's adjusting the direction of light or the subject's head, there are several in-camera solutions to minimize glare. We'll also discus the pros and cons of editing glasses glare in Photoshop and when it's appropriate to ask a subject to remove their glasses - and when it's not....

Are you still taking most of your photos on Auto because you're too scared to make the move to shooting in Manual Mode?   I'm guessing that you already know that if you want to get those pro-level photos,  you need to start to take control of your camera yourself.  The good news is that your camera has some features that allow you to begin to very, very gently move away from Auto and start to gain...

Do you struggle with light in photography, either because you find yourself sticking to the same "safe" light over and over again, or because you struggle when the light is more challenging?  If you're nodding your head, then don't worry, you're not alone! We ALL struggle with light in the beginning, because it can be so changeable and versatile that we need to understand how to work with light in...

In this episode, I'm talking about how you can make your photos - even of everyday scenes - look more interesting and creative. This podcast episode actually came about when I asked our followers recently what you would like me to talk about, and one of those was on how to make a scene look more interesting, rather than mundane.  I think we can all struggle with creativity from time to time, but t...

Being able to identify, understand and modify light is one of the most important skills you can master in photography! When you can harness ANY available light effectively, you can turn your everyday, mundane scenes into something magical and awe-inspiring, get more creative images AND make you feel inspired to pick up your camera every waking moment! Plus, knowing and understanding light will hel...

This week on the Photography Made Simple podcast we're going to be talking about lenses, specifically, my 3 favorite and most used lenses for child and family photography.    I use these lenses all the time for both documentary / lifestyle photos, where I take photos of our everyday little moments, and for child and family portrait style photos.     In this episode, I talk about each lens, why I l...

In this week's episode, we're talking all about how to capture joyful images of children.   Although I love ALL types of photos of children, from documentary style one to posed shots, I have a special place  in my heart for shots where the child looks joyful, happy and carefree.     That's because to me, that's such an important part of childhood - there's nothing quite like the fun a child can ge...

If you have a Canon or Nikon 50mm F1.8 lens and not getting the results you want, then take a listen to this episode! I'm giving you 7 different tips you can use today, to help you get the sharp, awesome images your 50mm lens is capable of taking.  We're talking all about the f numbers you can use, what might be wrong if your lens starts whirring or having trouble focusing, how to get sharper phot...

If you're feeling in a rut with your photography, or you just don't feel inspired to pick up your camera this episode is for you! I'm sharing with you a quick, 30 minute photography challenge you can do that will help you break out of your photography rut, Plus I'm going to give you some prompts for inspiration whilst doing it, so you'll have everything you need to feel inspired and creative again...

I know that switching to manual mode can feel a little scary, and it can feel hard at first - especially if you're not sure whether you're doing it right! But it really does make a huge difference to your photos, which is why I want to help you make the switch.  So today I'm going to share 10 things with you that I wish I'd known when switching to manual mode that will hopefully take away some of...

In this week's episode, I'm sharing how you can take beautiful studio style portraits at home, using nothing more than natural light and an expensive backdrop to create a simple yet effective home studio.    In fact, this is exactly how I set up my own studio, and I am thrilled with the results! I'm going to cover everything you need to have in place, using either what you already have, or cheap a...

Do you ever find yourself feeling like you're being pulled in 10 different directions all at the same time when it comes to learning photography?   If so, don't worry, you're not alone! I spent the first few years of my photography journey focusing more on what OTHER photographers were doing, rather than focusing on my own photography journey.    The problem with this is it can send you down compl...

Photographers LOVE talking about camera gear, such as lenses, camera bodies, tools and accessories, so as a new photographer it can be confusing to know which photography tools are "must-haves" and which you can leave on the shelf! In today's episode, I'm talking about the 4 photography tools that I consider must-haves, because they will help you get better photos, save you time and make your life...

Do you really need to edit your photos, and how much difference does it actually make to your images? That's exactly what we're going to talk about today! I'm going to break down the 4 reasons why editing your photos is an important part of the photography process, and how it can take your photos to the next level. I know editing is a whole other world of things to learn and master and as such it...

One of the things that used to REALLY confuse me when I first started learning photography was all the different camera lenses that were available, and trying to figure out which lenses would work best for the photos I wanted to take. As we all know, lenses aren't exactly cheap, so we always want to make sure that we get the best lens for our genre and style of photography! That's exactly what we'...

Style and voice are two things that photographers, and artists in general, talk about a lot, but what does it really mean? What is your style, and what is your voice? And since this often isn't a concrete thing that you can grasp hold of, learn how to do in a tutorial, or have someone else show you, how do you even start to find your photography voice? That's exactly what we are going to look at t...

A year ago I switched from my trusty Canon 5d m3 to the Canon R6 mirrorless camera, and one of the first things I did was to change some settings that I consider crucial before I can even start to think about shooting. In this episode, I'm going to share with you the 10 settings that I personally change when I get my hands on a new camera,  so that I have my camera set up exactly the way I want it...