Ellie & Mac

I had a smashing day out at the Hermitage last week with a great family, and two absolutely stunning children! Not only gorgeous, they are so full of life and still at that wide-eyed and wondrous stage where everything is an adventure and everything needs to be explored. I love it, there's so much scope for those precious moments when they are totally unaware of the camera and just taking delight in their surroundings.



The Hermitage is a great location too. We started off with the long walk through the woods and out into the meadows beyond. There's some large flat rocks, long grass and lovely views in the background that all make for good sunny portraits. Luckily the sun was playing and we stayed dry and warm... especially warm after the walk up the hill, yikes!!! I'd bought a wee bunch of flowers for Ellie and Mac's mum, but I had warned her that they may not be quite so handsome by the time we'd finished as they were to help us in some of the photos. The bouquet was split and Mac gave some flowers to Ellie, but then realised he didn't have any. Not to be left out, another wee handful appeared and Mac was happy. Sorry Julie... your bouquet sort of turned into a rather bedraggled posy, but at least the children liked them!!



Next out of the rather large kit bag was a pair of bubble machines. Always popular, I remember playing with bubbles as a small girl and still love them now that I'm a slightly plump lady! Having filled a 4 gig card with shots out in the meadows, it was a reasonable time to move into the woods to fill another 4 gig card. The woods are mostly pine, but there are lovely little spots where the sun filters through and warms the mossy undergrowth. Ellie told me that a friendly dragon lives in the woods and I can quite believe it! There is something magical about the Hermitage, and with the river running through it and tumbling over the rocks and waterfalls, it is a truly awesome place. We found the Hermit's Cave, had a peek inside and out through the window at the side. We also found a giant's chair just outside the cave, as well as a nice little stream for a splash about in with the wellies on.



We got a few photos in the woods there and then carried on through, stopping at various points along the way, before heading back to the car park and home.



A magical day out, and I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Thanks to Julie and Paul, but especially to Ellie and Mac who were just so entertaining and chirpy!!!

Rebecca,x

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

www.rtphotographics.co.uk

Take Control!

Digital cameras are amazing. All that technical wizardry and genius in a little box you can hold in your hands. Auto settings mean you just need to pick up the camera, point it at your subject and fire away... but that's not always a good thing. It's fine if you want quick snaps and aren't interested in photography or taking photos that make people go "WOW!!!", but what if you do want stunning photos? What if you don't want snaps, you want photographs? Learning to take control of your camera is the first step.

Learn how to take the photos yourself, manually... not letting the camera make all the decisions for you. I had a wonderful day out on Saturday showing a lovely lady how to do just that.

Having just bought a new DSLR camera, she wanted to know how to actually use it to get more creative photos... to get photos that make people say "wow!!!" We spent a few hours at Drummond Castle Gardens, where she learned all sorts of new tricks with the camera, before heading down to the river in Crieff for more fun and learning in a totally different environment.

Blurry backgrounds, sharp backgrounds, low light, lots of light, close-ups or far-reaching views, these digital photography tutorials are designed to get you started in photography in a way that you can understand.

If you want to learn about photography in plain English, with no need for a degree in maths or physics, I can help you. Split over three sessions, we go out and learn how to use the manual settings on your camera, how to get great pictures, and how to work on the computer to enhance your images and give them the extra 'wow' factor!

If you are interested in one-to-one digital photography tutorials for beginners, either for yourself or for someone you know, get in touch by e-mail rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk and we'll discuss all the options to suit you.

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk