This weeks Shoot Share Inspire Challenge, has the theme 'Hands'.  Capture the essence of someone you love by just photographing their hands.

Once again this week, everyone who posts a themed image to the Lilah Snow Facebook Page, or tags a themed image on Instagram with the new hash tag of #shoot_share_inspire, will receive a discount code for free worldwide shipping!  

To receive your code, make sure you are following us so we can send it to you.

Have you chosen your bag yet?

This weeks Shoot Share Inspire Challenge, has the theme 'Animals'.  This is just for fun, so there are no hard and fast rules, so don't be scared to think outside the box.  Anything from pets to birds, to insects, or even kids dressed as animals!

Once again this week, everyone who posts a themed image to the Lilah Snow Facebook Page, or tags a themed image on Instagram with the new hash tag of #shoot_share_inspire, will receive a discount code for free worldwide shipping!  This theme ends at midnight on August 22, 2015.  

To receive your code, make sure you are following us so we can send it to you.

Have you chosen your bag yet?

This weeks Shoot Share Inspire Challenge, has the theme 'Dark'.  You are welcome to interpret that however you like, (I can't help but associate 'dark' with 'chocolate!') but following on from the last 2 weeks themes of Jump and Depth, this is the final piece of the exposure puzzle and encourages you to shoot in low light situations that normally have you putting the camera away.

Once again this week, everyone who posts a themed image to the Lilah Snow Facebook Page, or tags a themed image on Instagram with the new hash tag of #shoot_share_inspire, will receive a discount code for free worldwide shipping!  This theme ends at midnight on August 15, 2015.  To receive your code, make sure you are following us so we can send it to you.

Why don't you choose your bag now?

I can't wait to see your images!

Emma

We've all been wowed by the lovely depth of field (DOF) in photos - in fact a lot of you probably bought a DSLR for that very reason, am I right?  So how come your photos don't quite look like you want them to?  How come the dreamy blur always ends up on the wrong part of the shot? How can you get great depth of field in your shots?

There are 3 basic concepts that you have to understand to master the depth of field.


1. Aperture.  

I know you've heard about Aperture and DOF before -  that's the reason why you have an 'A' setting on your camera, right?  When first using a DSLR it's so tempting to open that aperture as wide as it goes (choose the smallest number) and hope for dreamy background blur.

Let me show you a little diagram about how the aperture controls the range of blur in an image:

The key here, is understanding that there is a certain amount of light which is close enough to the 'true point' of focus that it will still be perceived as clear (these rays fall between the green lines in the diagram).  A small aperture means that a greater proportion of the light's rays are close to the true point of focus and therefore a greater proportion of the image's depth appears clear.  A larger aperture, however, will mean that a larger proportion of the light's rays are further from the true point of focus. This results in a greater proportion of the image's depth appearing blurry. 

The thing to remember with aperture is that you don't always want to open it up as wide as you can go, but you can use it to control the amount of blur and the amount of focus you have in your image.

2. The point of focus.

So, now that you understand the distance over which an aperture will focus, you can appreciate how important it is to focus correctly in the first place.  The point of focus is so important when composing your image, and should be something that you are aware of, and alter accordingly, every single shot. 

One way to do this is to set your camera on a central auto-focus point. Place that point over the part of the image that you want in focus, half press your shutter, re-compose the shot, and then fully press the shutter.  

This will work for images where the depth of focus is quite large, however with a wide aperture,  even small movements of the camera can be your undoing. In these cases, it is better to manually set the focus point in your camera to lie over the point in your image that you need to be clear.  It takes some practice for this to become second nature, but I assure you it's worth it!

If you are leaving your camera on automatic focus point selection, it is very difficult to get well composed, well focused images.  You need to take control.

Bonus tip:  With portraits, always focus on the persons eye which is closest to you.

If you have been frustrated with the results of your attempts to create the perfect depth of field in your shots, I hope this has given you some pointers to focus on with your next images.

Allow your aperture and lens choice to work together to control your depth of focus, and remember to focus purposefully!

This week, for the Shoot Share Inspire Challenge, we have the theme 'Depth'.  You are welcome to interpret that however you like, but following on from last week's 'Jump' theme, where shutter speed was key, this theme allows you to experiment with your aperture to create some lovely depth of field.

To make it a little more exciting this week, everyone who posts a themed image to the Lilah Snow Facebook Page, or tags a themed image on Instagram with #lilahsnowssi will receive a discount code for free worldwide shipping!  This theme ends at midnight on August 8, 2015.  To receive your code, make sure you are following us so we can send it to you.

Why don't you choose your bag now?

It's so easy, in a world of perfect pins and Instagram images, to doubt your own abilities as a photographer. It's always so important though, to remember that everyone started as a beginner, everyone has doubted their skill, and with practice you will improve.  It's actually quite likely that someone looks at what you can do with your camera and wishes they were that good!

So today, don't doubt yourself, but see if you can make one small improvement and be happy with that!

One of the best things about photography at the moment is that there are so many avenues open to being inspired by the work of others.  Instagram provides a constant feed or gorgeous images, delivered straight to your palm wherever you are. There are countless blogs and online photography tutorials with information on how to improve your skills.  At the end of the day though, practice is still the best way to improve your own skills.

As a bit of fun, we are starting a weekly photography challenge called 'Shoot, Share, Inspire'. The aim of this challenge is to encourage you to try new techniques with different subjects, to have a place to share your photos, as well as to inspire others and be inspired!

The first week's challenge is 'Jump', and you are welcome to interpret the prompt however you like.  You can either share your image to our Facebook page or comment below the weekly challenge post here. Another way to get involved is to tag your photos on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #lilahsnowssi.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Emma