....because they asked

 Hi, Ya'll... 

Things are going good here...

Our house is in a contingency contract...

at a price we are THRILLED with....

house inspection last week was
AWESOME...we were thrilled to know there's NOTHING seriously wrong with this olden house...and nothing we have to put money into fixing....
the inspector, not supposed to say much to the seller, did say "you have a good, well maintained house here"
and made us happy.

the appraisal will be next Tuesday...
not worrying about that....

the young couple (with a little baby...awwww)
LOVE the house.
she wanted some of my furniture
(which was a huge compliment to me)

but we settled on us leaving our beloved front porch swing for them to enjoy.
She is thrilled and happy...
I am happy for her to have it in it's perfect spot....
 it will be such a great place to swing with her baby....

OK...

I am almost embarrassed about this post.

I have had so many emails asking HOW I get such good photos, using an inexpensive
POINT & SHOT
camera.....
It cost less than $150 and is very limited
on any "bells and whistles".

I know NOTHING about photography.
NOTH......ING !!!!!

Only thru trial and error....only by taking photos EVERY SINGLE DAY
and learning what my little camera WON'T  do....
and I am sure, a LOT of luck in getting a few good photos every now and then.

Please know when I DO get a good shot, it is by accident.
I have, however, come to realize what makes a photo look good to ME.

Food is very hard to photograph....there's some foods that look pretty...
and more that look...well....downright awful.

I must admit that MY  passion is taking FOOD PHOTOS...
I have no idea WHY....I just like it.

I am happy to share with you what I have found that satisfies MY eyes...
and
PLEASE
share with ME some things you have learned about taking photos for YOUR blog.

The PHOTO ABOVE of some of the most delicious PORK TENDERLOIN STEAKS
that Mr. Sweet grilled for us last night,
 DOESN'T suit my fancy. It's just not a pretty photo to me.

but to MY olden eyes, I like THIS photo MUCH better.

I SOMETIMES like adding something else to  my photos of food.....

like a pepper shaker.....or the miniature SUNFLOWERS.

Now, in the photo to the left,
trying to get EVERY item on the plate at once doesn't make a very pretty photo, taken HEAD ON....

or very interesting.....

and not appetizing at all.....

closing in on the plate of food......taking the photo FROM THE SIDE angle
seems to make things just look better.

I have no reasoning for this since

 I don't know WHY some of my photos look better than others to me....
But, I have learned what I LIKE for my photos to look like
so I sort of just follow my OWN rules.

I think everyone has their own style and ideas in photography, just like other things, don't you?

I LOVE close up shots....especially if the subject
is one that TAKES a close up well....

(and I could just EAT MY SCREEN in this closeup of that thick slab of bacon !!)

I like the addition of the flowers in this photo.

HOWEVER...

I have noticed in a lot of MAGAZINE photos of FOOD that they don't always

add the extras.....so I don't ALWAYS add them either....just depends on how the photos look 

WITHOUT adding extras.

 **************************************

NOW....

REMEMBER...I don't really know what the heck I am talking about here...

I am simply sharing things that I've learned since taking so many blog photos.

Vee  has given some great tips on photography....
I love learning ANYthing about taking a good photo.

Getting a really GOOD camera is at the top of my BUCKET LIST....

ANYway....moving right along...

Here's a small trick that I LUV using in some of my photos....

taking a photo of the main subject 

behind

another subject....

here...the corn patties being MAIN...the red petals the minor subject.
OVERHEAD isn't one of my favorite shots but

SOME overheads do work.....this one turned out pretty nice.

I like this SIDE SHOT very much....

 And, we ALL know the importance of LIGHT....

it makes all the difference in the world if we have good, natural lighting.

THIS type photo, where the back is IN FOCUS and the front is OUT of focus
SOMETIMES works out great....but not always. Another instance of what the subject of the photo is and if the lighting is right.

Not knowing piddly about all this stuff is the reason SOME of my pictures are ok....others are terrible.

 ...another back in focus and front out of focus....but, being all the same subject, it makes a pretty good photo.

Much better lighting on this photo....

THIS photo isn't TOO bad......

BUT.....

THIS photo looks much better to me...

Because my camera is a simple point and shoot, I have no wide angle lens to make the beautiful photos so many of you are able to do.

It's very hard to take full room photos....if the room is large, I can't get it at all.

THIS photo on the left doesn't look good to me. I just can't get almost the whole bed and make it look good.

I have better luck with photos of just PARTS of the bed....

Even then....the following photo of THE LITTLE PILLOW

(which came from the talented hands of KATHY ....)

looks BETTER to me...

more drama, don't ya think...??

...and speaking of more drama....

I just ADORE shots like this when there's several patterns involved....

just looks better to me taken from the SIDE rather than head-on, from the front.

I guess it all amounts to what looks good to YOU....

and what kind of shots you like.

I happen to LUV shots that are a tad different...

THIS next photo is RANDOM....but since we are here on my bed,

I want to show you something pretty cool....

These shams are the EASIEST  ever to put your pillow into.

Ya'll have probably heard of or seen them before but this is my first.

There should be a law that ALL shams have an end opening like this....

love 'em !

My least favorite subject to photograph.....

PEOPLE....

they are REALLY HARD
for me.

WELL...there's ALways exceptions....!!!
hahhaaa...

I hope any one of the tips I've given will help you and I would REALLY appreciate some

tips from ya'll, too.....

and, I hope, to ALL OF YOU that have emailed me with photo questions...

I DO hope I've answered a few.....
as you can tell after reading this post...
I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to taking pictures for my blog.

I think we all just have to practice and practice and practice....

and before long, we realize the things that make a photo look good to us.

And,

when it looks good to US....it generally looks good to our Blogging buddies...

XOXOXO

Seasonal Sunday

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Mod Mix Monday

Martha's Monday
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