Easter Pictures 2015!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! 

Photography Exposure Tips: Understanding Shutter Speed

Hello, again, to the wonderful Cropped Stories readers.  This is Jen from West Street Story, and I am back today with additional photography tips for you.  If you remember my previous post, Photography Exposure Tips, I discussed ISO, one of the three settings you should consider for achieving proper exposure in your photographs, otherwise known as the photographic triangle. 

Today, however, I will be providing you information on shutter speed.

A tutorial for Studio Design: a free photo design app

Hey everyone, I'm Alicia and I blog over at A Sweet Fragrance. My family and I are American-born but live as expats over in SE Asia. I blog about our life overseas, recipes I attempt to make while substituting lots of ingredients, projects I do around the house, "tot school" lessons I teach to my toddler, and lessons I learn through parenting and walking with the Lord. I believe it's always a good time for coffee and I blame and also thank my husband for turning me into the coffee snob I am today.

 

Photography Exposure Tips: Understanding ISO

Hello Cropped Stories readers!  I am so excited to be here as a guest contributor.  Keep an eye out for my posts here on Cropped Stories as I will be providing tips as a non-professional photographer trying to achieve professional looking photographs.

Today’s post is all about ISO.  While I was in Hawaii, one of the tours I did was a photography expedition.  I found a local photographer that offered these personal, one-on-one tours.  I went into it thinking he was just going to take me around the island, and we would capture some pretty pictures.  However, I gained SO MUCH more than just a few tropical photographs.  He taught me things about my camera and photography that brought my picture taking skills to a whole new level.  I will benefit from what I learned for the rest of my life!

And guess what?  I am going to share some of the things that I learned with you!

Vacationing in Cape Cod, MA

It’s nice to be home from vacation but only for dependable and fast internet access so I am able to do what I love: BLOG.  Otherwise, I rather be basking in the sun under a clear blue sky with nothing to worry about other than sun protection.  Alivia and I had such a wonderful 3 day vacation in West Yarmouth.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather.  And unlike previous years, the ocean was exceptionally warm and inviting.  Even better than warm ocean water and sunshine was Alivia accomplishing some HUGE milestones!  After struggling with her for 2 Summers, I finally got her to walk on the sand!  It took some serious persistence and a thick skin when she began to melt down, but I stayed strong and was relieved to have it pay off!  Of course, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get her to do it  with bare feet so I came prepared with water shoes.  And when her shoes filled up with sand, I was pleasantly surprised it only took a little distraction and some mild coaxing to keep her from obsessing over it.  In no time at all my baby was playing in the sand comfortably!  She even, for the first time, played in the ocean water (something else I had been struggling with getting her to do)!  It was amazing watching her enjoy activities that once had her running for dry land, a shower, or my arms.  And if that’s not enough, on the very last day of our vacation, my sister handed her a water bottle and she drank out of it like a PRO!   What?!  It was as if the milestones kept being thrown at my baby but she continued to hit them right out of the park!  I was so proud of her!

And the blogger award goes to…

Yes, you guessed it, ME!  I’m so excited an honored to have been nominated by the lovely Lanaya over Raising Reagan for this Blogger Award!  Apparently, there are a couple of rules once you’ve been awarded including: you must display the award button on your website, state 7 things about yourself, and nominate 15 bloggers and include links back to them!  Easy enough right?  I thought so until it was time for me to nominate people.  I wish I could have nominated just about everyone.  There are too many great bloggers out there that deserve this award!

Simple and Inexpensive Toys are Sometimes the Best Kind!

Some of the best toys are the ones that happen to be simple, the least inexpensive, and keep my little one entertained for hours.  Do you find this to be true?  

It seems like I'm always concerned with purchasing educational, highly rated and recommended, or consumer reviewed toys when it comes to my toddler.  And although a lot of these purchases end up being smart purchases in that my little one plays with them often, there are some that just sit in the toy box collecting dust leaving me questioning why. What's more is that most of the time these toys are among the most expensive purchases and I can't help to think  - what a waste.

Preserving the Memories

Hey there!  Glad to see you’re back!  I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Guest Blogger, Barbara, and her Homemade Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream post!  Well guess what?  Yep, I have another Guest Blogger for you today!  You can usually find her blogging over at The Sassy One!  Hillary is a wife and mom to an angel and two princesses!  She loves craft related things like scrapbooking, card making, and knitting!  Since photography is a hobby of mine, I was immediately drawn to the amazing images in her posts!  And being that it is a guilty pleasure of Hillary’s, I thought no one better to blog about it than her!  Makes sense right?  So, here it is.  Have fun ooohing and aaahing!

Am I a horrible person for finding beauty in Boston?

I was in Boston on Saturday for a hair appointment.  It's not often I get into the city so it's easy to forget how beautiful it can be especially on a warm and sunny Spring day!  For the first time since last year, I got to sport my open toe sandals and pretty pedicured toes!  It was a good day.  A much needed "ME" day and I looked forward to the next two hours I would have to relax in a chair and have someone make me pretty!  With that said, I walked the streets of Boston with a smile on my face.  That is of course, until I got to Boylston Street.

Can you spot the differences (a fun game for Friday)!

This will be my second post with my Spot the Differences game.  Thought it would be a fun idea especially for a Friday!  So call in the kids and see if they can find all seven differences between the following two pictures.  They may be subtle so look carefully!  When you’re ready to check the answers, click HERE.  No giving up though! 

Want more?  No problem.  Feel free to check out my previous Spot the Differences game!  Better yet, leave me a comment and let me know how many you get right!

Guest Bloggers Wanted (and a game if your up for the challenge)!

I’m looking for guest bloggers for May 27th (Monday), 29th (Wednesday), and 30th (Thursday).  I’m looking for posts related to family, children, photography, motherhood, recipes, how-to, tutorials, etc. so if you think you are a good fit, we definitely need to talk!  If you are interested or know someone who is, please feel free to contact me at croppedstories@gmail.com.  Please DO NOT leave a comment as I’ve noticed a growing number of people (either with or without their knowledge) are marked as no-reply and I’m afraid I will have no way of contacting you.