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Adoption, Brielle, Family, foster, photography, Pictures, tips, top 5

DIY 30 minute family photos

September 19, 2016September 18, 2016by Sheridan JohnsonLeave a Comment

how-to-take-great-photos-in-30-minutes

Let’s face it, when it comes to taking photos of your kids, you have very limited time. So today, I’ll be sharing with you, five ways to help you get great pictures of your kids/family, in 30 minutes.

Have a theme- you must choose a color scheme and stick with it. Some people can pull off all different colors and make it work, but it really is hard for the camera to focus on different shades. Our theme was red, white, and blue.
The time of day-bright daylight is almost the worst lighting you can imagine (unless you really know how to configure the settings on your DSLR camera, or you know how to edit the pictures really well when using your phone). Sunset is best, and it works well with a lot of different colors.
Happy kids, happy picture-make sure everyone is fed and generally happy (you don’t want to start the photo shoot out with wiping away snot/tears)! Distraction is a great technique when it comes to this one. Never forget to just HAVE FUN!
Have all of your props/decorations (if you are using any) ready to use, and able to pull out for a quick shot or two. It’s great to have a helper as well, to provide you the props or equipment when you need it.
Keep it moving- if you are wanting the perfect picture with the kids showing how much they love each other, well that might not always work in front of the lens. If you don’t get a great shot the first time, try again about 10 minutes later. Kids are resilient and will usually do it on their own terms.

Here are some shots I took of all three kids (two are foster children and we are not allowed to post their face on the photos, so they are blurred out) before having to say goodbye to our little man, before he went back home with his family.

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Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Let me know if you have any other tips you would like to provide as well! Happy picture taking!

fitness, tips, workout

Crunch the numbers–Simply 100

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016by Sheridan Johnson6 Comments

I LOVE to work out and even though I don’t eat right ALL the time, I am constantly trying to make small changes to my eating.

Some of my favorite things to eat lately are greek yogurt, a lot of fruit and vegetables, and oatmeal. When I found out that Chobani offers 100 calorie yogurt with all of my favorite foods in one cup, I was beyond excited!

My favorite flavor has got to me the strawberry banana greek yogurt, but I cannot wait to try more flavors!

chobani

Do you know how easy it is to burn 100 calories? So easy, yet so effective!

For example here is a list for 3 workouts that burn 100 calories!

running 1 mile at 6mph
Just getting on the Elliptical for 8-10 minutes
Doing a cardio class for 15 minutes

Please head on over to see more products at the chobani website!

How will you #crunchthenumbers today and burn 100 calories?

**I did not receive any free products or get paid to write a post about this product.

photography, tips, Topic Ideas, writing

Remember these five tips

March 1, 2016March 1, 2016by Sheridan Johnson7 Comments

5 tips for Bloggers

Since I first started blogging two years ago, I have learned/researched a lot. I want to share with you all, five tips that helped me build my blog!

Let me first tell you, that I don’t do this full-time. I am a Wife and a Mom first, and I work as an RN second. Blogging is something that I have to personally schedule time in my day to do, or it won’t get done. I have to be efficient with my time management, and write blogs that are interesting to my readers!

So let’s get started with the five tips that every blogger should do:

#1 Take engaging pictures. I invested in a Canon EOS Rebel T5 series about a year into my blogging, and it has made such a dramatic difference! Readers want pictures that are distinct, clear, and something that they themselves can relate to.

#2 If you don’t have a ~~nice~~ expensive camera, and you only have your phone to take pictures with, you must learn how to properly edit your photos with certain apps that make it look like your pictures were taken from a nice camera. Here are some great apps to use:

ºSnapseed

ºFotor

º VSCO

º A Beautiful Mess

#3 Share on social media. This is KEY to spreading your blog and reaching a lot of people, at one time. Share on all the social media, that you can. My favorite ones to share my blog are:

ºTwitter

ºPinterest

ºFacebook

#4 Engage with your readers/other bloggers. The blogging community is HUGE and it seems like everywhere you look, you will find another person starting up their blog. It is SO important to respond to every.single.comment and engage with your readers as much as possible. It’s equally as important to comment on other blogs that may inspire you, or maybe just had a great topic and you loved what they wrote about. Let them know! In this community feedback is so important! Both good and bad! Never forget that. 🙂

#5 Write about topics that you LOVE. I never knew I would love to write poems and make every Monday a new post with a poem that I wrote, or on Wednesdays, that I would have ever loved photography as much as I do and came up with Wordless Wednesdays where I just show examples of my photography skills! Write/show readers what you love to do/about your life (especially if you are a lifestyle blogger, like myself).

**Bonus: Always remember to do this because you love to do it, not because you are wanting to get famous, or rich by doing so.

Please let me know if you found these tips helpful or if you think I should add more tips to this post?? Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all on social media!! 🙂