Sunday, February 3, 2019

Valentine Photography Ideas


I hope you like pink and a bit of red!

I had a ball photographing for Valentine's Day this year!

I began early, because I was shooting for my creative friend Terri's
amazing blog Champagne and Grace

Head over there for more Valentine Love ♥

Then she posed for ME!


I really love when I have a model because it 
adds life to photos...even if you just use body parts...ha ha!

I found these AMAZING cookies already baked and decorated at Target...LOVE!


I left up my white Christmas tree with the pink lights
to use for bokeh in Valentine photos.



It's really great if you can get your child or
a friend to pose for you.


I created the extra sparkle with fairy lights that run on batteries!

You can find these everywhere including Target, Michael's, and I saw them at Kohl's.


Target has all kinds of wonderful seasonal props in their 
dollar bins as you walk in the door.  

These wooden hearts were a dollar and they have little clips on the back:


This cute heart mug was $3!



I went wild shooting that gorgeous
pink cake!

I am such a PINK girl!!!


Are you seeing all the fairy light
bokeh in these photos!


I found this heart-shaped plate and mug
at the thrift store for pennies!

That is a valentine PEEP in the cup!


Shot this on my snow table with the Target cookies.

Write in a greeting to share on your social platforms.



I also painstakingly made these cookies...
darn, I'm missing an artistic gene for that kind of work,
but I still like how they look in photos!



Get out your camera and create something 
special for Valentine's Day!

Make cards, or simple greetings you share
via email or on social media.

Much LOVE to you this Valentine's Day!

Photography Snow Fun


Living in Michigan...the WINTER state, 
this has been a tough week!

First we got 8 inches of snow,
then a ferocious Polar Vortex swooped down and
plunged us into record-breaking cold temperatures.

But, as you can see in the photo above, 
I still go out with my camera and I LOVE shooting in the winter snow!


Where I live, we hit 22-below-zero f, but others
bottomed out at 56-below-zero!

It was brutal, yet I was super excited to get some snow to play with
on my snow table!

I have shared my snow table in past winters, but here are some 
creative new ideas for using a snow table.


I set up a card table on my back porch when snow is in the forecast.

I cover it with a plastic table cloth that I clamp down so the wind doesn't
carry it away.


Now, I'm ready for some fun with my camera in the snow and I don't 
have to crouch down to ground level!

With the temps so frosty, the first thing I wanted to try was
photographing frozen bubbles!


I tried it on a day that was too windy and only this next bubble stuck:


I like to poke my finger in the top of the bubble after it has frozen,
to create a hole.  This really shows that it is frozen!

See that glittery snow around the bubble on my snow table?

That's white glitter!!!  

I sprinkled it around the bubble to add sparkle!

The next day, there was no wind, but it was 5-degrees...
perfect for frozen bubbles!




Try shooting the same bubble from different angles and even
when it finally collapses!


Look at the pretty glitter.


I shot these with my 50mm lens and got better
results shooting with a small aperture like f8 or f11.

I also wanted to photograph some snowflake ornaments
I picked up at the after-Christmas sales.

I simply stuck them in the snow and staggered them back.


These work great for backgrounds if you want to add text.



I also found these snowflake bulbs at a thrift store for 59-cents!

So easy and fun to photograph them on my snow table
and use these photos to post fun messages on social media.



Also at the after-Christmas sales, I found gingerbread kits 
at a super discount,
 including these cookies that I decorated with puff paints
 so I can keep these
and photograph them year after year!


I made some for Christmas,  Valentine's Day and winter.

I simply gathered some fun items to photograph the cookies on my snow table!



I decorated a pre-baked gingerbread house the same way and photographed
it on the famous snow table adding pine and fairy lights for a pretty glow!


Look around your house for things you can photograph on your
snow table.



The creativity is endless and you will have some really fun
photos to post on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

See how those snowflake ornaments add to the scene?


I also made these cookies and used them as winter props!


Save some room on the side in some of the photos for a message!


I hope you get some snow for a snow table,
but maybe not enough to bury your feet!


What a difference a day makes!
It got up to 40-degrees and the next day, my snow table was empty!

Waiting for the next big snow...