I am not someone who is lucky enough to be blessed with a natural eye for photographs, and ...I'll be totally honest...before blogging and having a baby, I never really had an interest in photography at all.
I've always been all about the words rather than the visuals.
But photography is a huge part of life as a blogger - a lot of people don't like to read as much as I do and prefer a story to be told through photographs, so of course these need to be as crisp, high quality and pleasing to the eye as possible.
In addition to this, we are also often asked to review products for brands and part of our responsibility is to show the products in the best possible light....a photo snapped on a poor quality camera phone in a badly lit room is never going to reflect well on a product.
I still have such a lot to learn about photography - I am nowhere near as good as I want to be, and I simply can't afford to invest as much money into it as I would need to in order to have the best possible photos.
I would love to get a great DSLR eventually, but right now I have more important things to spend my money on and so the camera I have has to do.
I bought a FujiFilm FinePix Bridge Camera just after Christmas which was on sale for just £90 - it is definitely a big step up from the point & shoot Kodak I was using before, and has served me well so far. Hopefully it continues to do so until I can splash out on a full DSLR.
I have also recently invested in some photography lighting.
As Tyne takes up most of my daytimes, I don't often get chance to take photos during the day and even when I do, our house doesn't let in a lot of natural light and so I needed something to help me out.
These lights were under £40.00 for the pair from Amazon and have made such a difference....I can now photograph and film YouTube videos at night time when Tyne is sound asleep!
The biggest improvement for me has been the discovery of photo backdrops.
No matter how nice the photo set up, I don't think anything looks as professional or draws your eye to the subject better than a good backdrop.
I was very kindly sent 4 different Ella Bella backdrops from Pacon.com to try out, and they have been a dream to work with.
They are very similar to rolls of wall papers except obviously they don't tear as easily!
You can use them with a professional backdrop stand (Which is my next intended investment) but right now I just drape the backdrop over two chairs and roll it out to the length I need.
I have tried out the classic damask.....
The baby blue dots....
And the vintage wood....
And I honestly love them all!
Even when photographing very active babies like Tyne & Kier, the backdrops were so straight forward to use.
You can view Pacon's range of Ella Bella backdrops and where to buy them here.
COMPETITION
Pacon have very kindly offered FOUR lucky Sparkles & Stretchmarks readers the chance to win an Ella Bella Classic Damask back drop.
To be in with a chance of winning, just complete the Rafflecopter form below.
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Good Luck! (*Open to UK residents only) If you enjoy my blog, please consider following me on Bloglovin' Have you checked out my Super Sparkler Advertiser Mr & Mrs T Plus Three - A lifestyle & parenting blog?
