Photo By Emilie Workshop

Well, since I’ve started a blog, I thought I better BEGIN to learn how to take good pictures (since blogs are all about having good pics to look at!!)  I’m borrowing my dad’s old camera to see how I like it so I can decide what I want to buy.  The camera I’m borrowing from my dad is a Nikon DSLR with lots of buttons that do cool things, I’m sure, but I just don’t know what!  I know NOTHING about cameras except that you point at something and push the button, hoping to get a good picture.  And if you take enough pictures, one of them is bound to turn out okay, right??!! 

 

Last year I met a darling photographer, Emilie, at an Oh Sweet Sadie! boutique and I put my name on her e-mail list, so I’ve received a few e-mails from her about different photo shoots and classes she offers.  She sent one last month about a Blogger/Etsyer workshop that really peaked my interest, so I decided to go, hoping to learn how take better pictures of my parties or other cool things I find or make.  The workshop promised to teach us how to NOT shoot in auto mode and have your product shots turn out great every time.

The workshop was 2 hours and it was WONDERFUL, seriously!  First, Emilie showed us some examples of good and bad photos she found on Etsy and the web, and described what could have been done differently to make the bad ones look better.  Then we went through the 3 main settings you should be manually adjusting on your camera to get great pictures and talked about light and how to use it, and then we did some practice.

Here are some examples of my pictures when I first started practicing (they are pretty amazing, huh??!!)

And here are the pictures AFTER a little help from Emilie and some practice:

Okay, so I realize they’re not perfect or anything, and I guess I won’t call myself a professional photographer just yet, but they are definitely BETTER than before!

Thank you Emilie, for the great workshop!  I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to improve their photography skills!!  Emilie also offers a 4 hour photography workshop geared more towards portrait photography.  That’ll have to be next on my list!  Check out her website here for upcoming workshops and her blog for photo tips!