Fourth of July Gift Inspiration

The weather has been so nice here in the pacific northwest and we have been enjoying our summer to the fullest, with breakfast on the marina, barbecue's for dinner, and lots of swimming in between! I hope that you have been enjoying your week just as much as we have. 

I have two very important people serving LDS missions so we put together a fun and patriotic package with lots of fun and easy ideas. Thank you Pinterest!

I wrapped chocolate kisses in paper covered toilet paper rolls and just decorated the roll with an "I Love America" stamp.

These cookies were so simple and delicious. The recipe is from here. And I got the sprinkles from the bakery section at the grocery store.

For even more ideas check out The Elephant of Design!

My website is finally done!

This has been such a long process! I wouldn't believe how long it took to finish, if I didn't experience it first hand! I never realized how indecisive I was. I would decide on something and a few days later I completely changed my mind. I am so excited to be done and to show everyone! I hope you like it and let me know what you think!

Of course, I will continue to post on this blog too!

leslieleavittphotography.net

shutter speed | tuesday tip

When I first got mtg camera, shutter speed was the one thing that confused me the most. I didn't even bother to learn about it because I set my camera to Aperture Priority and my shutter speed was chosen for me. But I wouldn't always get the best images, some would be too dark, some would be blown out and too bright, so I knew I had to learn how to shoot in Manual Mode so I had all of the control. 

It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to shoot in manual, there is just a lot of things to consider. ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed are a few of the important things to always consider. If you change one, it will effect them all. 

But I just wanted to talk a little about shutter speed. I took my camera and these beautiful peonies outside and just played around and just kept changing my shutter speed. A slower shutter speed will let in more light, as in the picture below. 

f/1.8, iso 250, 1/60

When I have such a blown out picture, I need to speed up my shutter speed so that it wont let in as much light. I turned it to 1/320 and this is the picture I got!

f/1.8, iso 250, 1/320

f/1.8, iso 250, 1/500

It is really much easier to practice on something that wont move. Shutter speed also will affect how sharp or how blurry an image is and if you have a fast moving object (like a child) in low light, you wont be able to slow down your shutter speed as much or else he will become a blur.

This is an example of my shutter speed being too fast and not letting enough light in the camera, resulting in a dark image.

f/1.8, iso 100, 1/4000

 I adjusted my shutter speed and made sure it would be slow enough to brighten the picture but fast enough to freeze most of his movement.

f/1.8, iso 100, 1/800

And another example of how this photo is a little darker then I wanted, so I just slowed down my shutter speed a bit and got a much brighter image.

f/1.8, iso 100, 1/2000

 f/1.8, iso 100, 1/1250

packaging and gift ideas || tuesday tip

Last week I did a guest blog post about creative packaging ideas and I thought I would share it on here too! I have been working like mad to get my website finished and my blog updated (have you noticed a few new things?) It has been so much work, but I am so excited to finally be done and show everyone! So make sure you keep checking back so you wont miss anything. 

What I love about my business (besides taking photos) is packaging. I love getting all of my prints and products ready for my clients to see them and I always hope that they are as excited as I am when they see them!I am always giving photos as gifts, for birthdays, mother's day, christmas and every holiday in between. Everybody loves photos and it really does make the best gift for any occasion. But no matter what, it can always look really fun and extra special with just a few easy embellishments. 

Making sure I tell my clients how much I appreciate them is very important to me. This is a thank you card I made with just scrapbook paper and a stamp. Very simple, but very cute!