8 steps to better photos on AUTO {step 7: blur the background}

This is the seventh installment of Eight Steps to Better Photos on AUTO. Most people think the only way to really improve their photos is to learn to shoot on manual mode, and it's true that using manual gives you the most control over the finished photo. But what if you don't have the time or energy to invest in learning about exposure and aperture and all the other details of manual? That's where this series comes in. There are plenty of things you can do to greatly improve your photos even when shooting on auto, and every Friday for the next eight weeks I'll share one of them with you. Step one | Step two | Step three | Step four | Step five | Step six | Step seven | Step eight

Blurring the background is one of the best ways to turn a snapshot into a great photo. When the background of the photo is blurred, the subject becomes the obvious focus and almost seems to jump out of the photo. A blurred background adds softness to the photo and makes it look more professional. In addition, blurring the background allows you to get a great photo wherever you are without having to worry about distracting background elements. The standard method for blurring the background requires knowing how to manipulate your camera's aperture. However, there are a few simple tricks you can use to get similar results on auto, without messing with any of your camera's settings. Let's look at some example photos:

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the very best banana bread recipe

I really like banana bread, but I have a few problems with your standard banana bread: First, it can be kind of tough, and if I'm going to eat a quickbread I want it to have a very soft, cakey texture. Second, to get the inside cooked through perfectly you have to cook it a long time, so the outer edges get kind of dry and dark. If you cook it so the edges are perfect, the inside is still mushy, which is just gross. Third, I think banana bread really needs chocolate chips to be perfectly delicious, but I think that about lots of things, so I'm ok if you disagree with me on that. The first two issues, however, are indisputable. *wink*

So I've made lots of banana bread recipes, and I've finally hit on the perfect one. It's just plain wonderful. The bread is much lighter in color than most banana breads I've tried, and it's much lighter and softer in texture as well. However, in addition to a great recipe, there's one secret I've found that turns a really good banana bread into absolutely perfect banana bread. Here it is:

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easy square top with stamped polka dots

My summer wardrobe used to be primarily made up of stretchy fitted tees. Super comfy, easy to wash and wear, available in any color you could wish for, and cheap. But have you noticed that all the fitted t-shirts seem to be made out of tissue-thin material lately? Tissue thin fitted tees are not a good look for me. I would blame that on the five babies I've had, but it's not their fault. It's entirely Cold Stone's. But I digress... I've come to the conclusion that I need a different type of top, and so I've been looking for blouses in roomy styles that still drape nicely enough to look ok. Enter the square top. It's the most ridiculously simple shirt to make ever, and it hides what it needs to hide. And it even looks cute on people who have nothing to hide. Want to make one?

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8 steps to better photos on AUTO {step 6: change your perspective}

This is the sixth installment of Eight Steps to Better Photos on AUTO. Most people think the only way to really improve their photos is to learn to shoot on manual mode, and it's true that using manual gives you the most control over the finished photo. But what if you don't have the time or energy to invest in learning about exposure and aperture and all the other details of manual? That's where this series comes in. There are plenty of things you can do to greatly improve your photos even when shooting on auto, and every Friday for the next eight weeks I'll share one of them with you. Step one | Step two | Step three | Step four | Step five | Step six | Step seven | Step eight

Shooting from a different perspective is really one of the best ways to turn a snapshot into a really interesting photograph. One of the coolest things about great photos is that they show us something we've seen before in a different way. Sometimes that happens because the background is blurred, bringing the subject into stark focus (and we'll talk about that next week). Other times it's because movement is completely frozen, letting us see something that happened in a split second (we'll talk about that soon too). Shooting from a new perspective helps us see things differently than we normally do as well. And since things look a little different, we pay more attention. Perspective can help clarify the focus of your photo, it can lend emotion to your photo, and it can simply help you take a more flattering picture of someone. Let's look at some examples:

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rustoleum cabinet transformations - 1 year later

Last spring my husband and I completely revamped our kitchen on a budget. We refinished the kitchen cabinets, installed a new backsplash, purchased a few new appliances, laid new laminate flooring, and painted the walls. It was a lot of work, but the difference is amazing. And out of all that work, refinishing the kitchen cabinets made the most difference (by far) and was the least expensive part (go here for before and after photos and more info on cost and process.)

I used the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit to refinish the cabinets, and I've recommended it to a number of friends. One thing I worried about when using the kit was how it would hold up to our family of seven (which includes a rather destructive two-year-old). So I thought I'd write a quick post letting everyone know how it's held up for the past year. The short answer is: beautifully.

One of the biggest problems with painting your cabinets is that paint chips, nicks, and starts to look really unprofessional. That just hasn't happened with our cabinets. Sometimes I'll see a little spot on it and worry that we have a nick, but when I look closer I realize it's just dried food :)

I love the cabinets and think they look professionally done. You can't see any brush strokes, and since the paint that comes in the kit is stain-based you can still see the wood grain through the paint, which I love.

We purchased our Rustoleum kit from Home Depot, where we also bought inexpensive tile for a subway tile backsplash. I love how it looks and that it's super easy to clean - splatters of food or spaghetti sauce wipe right off, even a day or two later. The subway tile is extremely inexpensive as well, meaning you can make a big change in your kitchen on a small budget.

Plus my new black and white kitchen looks much better in the background of photos than the old oak cabinets did. 

If you're interested in revamping your kitchen on a budget, check out this video from Home Depot:

how to take in a pencil skirt

Thrift stores: some people love them, others hate them. I quite like them, myself. I've always loved a bargain (found two pairs of jeans that actually fit for $9 yesterday!), and I like the crazy variety of clothes to look through. However, lots of people hate them because it can seem nearly impossible to find something cute that actually fits. That's where this post comes in. If you are able to do some basic altering to make things smaller, you widen the range of clothes from the thrift store that will work for you. I found this adorable houndstooth pencil skirt but it was a little large - luckily, taking in a pencil skirt is one of the simplest alterations, and I'll show you how to do it today.

But before I get to that I wanted to talk for just a moment about why I post photos of myself on the blog. I wonder sometimes if people think I put pictures of myself up here because I think I'm pretty hot stuff or something like that. The truth is that having someone take photos of me and then sorting through them to find a somewhat flattering on isn't always a pleasant proposition. So why do I do it? Two reasons: 

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this way & that stripes dress {a refashioned wardrobe}

One of the things I like about buying clothes at the thrift store is that they've generally already been washed about a hundred times, so they aren't going to shrink the first time you wash them, turning them into muffin top magnifiers. So when I found a cute bathrobe in a soft, stretchy pinstripe (with polka dots on the inside) that fit perfectly, I was pretty excited. Yes, it said it was a size small (my first clue), and no, I don't normally wear size small, but who knows? maybe the sizing was just off. It fit - and it looked like it had never even been worn (my second clue). It also had apparently never been washed, because when I brought it home and threw it in the washer and dryer it came out unbelievably shrunken. Definitely a size small. Definitely not for me anymore.

Well, there's five dollars down the drain, I thought, and I stuffed it in my pile of clothes to go back to donate back to the thrift store...but you already know how the story ends. The shrunken bathrobe became the third outfit in my daughter's refashioned wardrobe. I turned it into a cute (and ridiculously simple) little dress. Here's how: 

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8 steps to better photos on AUTO {step 5: zoom in for a better candid}

This is the fifth installment of Eight Steps to Better Photos on AUTO. Most people think the only way to really improve their photos is to learn to shoot on manual mode, and it's true that using manual gives you the most control over the finished photo. But what if you don't have the time or energy to invest in learning about exposure and aperture and all the other details of manual? That's where this series comes in. There are plenty of things you can do to greatly improve your photos even when shooting on auto, and every Friday for the next eight weeks I'll share one of them with you. Step one | Step two | Step three | Step four

So far in the series, we talked about lighting (indoor+out) and backgrounds (removing distractions+finding a great background around the house). Following the steps for good light and great backgrounds will dramatically improve your photos - but they can be hard to apply to candid photo situations. You can't tell your child to shoot hoops in the other direction because you don't want your car in the background, or to go shoot hoops behind the house where it's shady. Now, you can certainly apply lighting and background knowledge to some candid photo situations - you can suggest the family play a board game at the table by the window instead of in the basement, for example - but when you can't control lighting and background your best bet for a great candid photo is to zoom in close. Zooming in puts the emphasis where you want it (on your son's expression as he shoot the basketball) instead of on everything else (cars, houses, other kids, etc.).

Now, I'm not suggesting that every photo you take needs to be a close-up. Instead, I just want you to decide what you want to include in your photo and then zoom in close enough to eliminate everything else. Let's look at some examples:

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