Blogging

Asked someone to take a picture of you lately?

I originally asked my husband to take photos of me for the White Jeans post. I found it was not any easier than setting up the camera on a tripod and taking selfies with a timer, as he didn’t know what I wanted. At least when I took them myself, I could immediately take another after seeing the result.

When someone else is taking the photos, you are more likely to keep going for a few poses before taking a look and finding out you wasted your time because the angle etc was all wrong. When you take them yourself and look at the result right away, you can adjust immediately for the next shot. The first shot is what I used for my post:

Sheer Floral Top | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Close up of sheer floral top.

Paula MeshTop2 | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Oops! Too dark and blown out background.

Paula MeshTop3 | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Oops! Didn’t notice my hem wasn’t even!

Of course, the good thing with someone else shooting is you don’t have to stop after every shot to set up the camera again. The good thing about taking your own pics is you don’t have to coordinate with someone else.

The main thing harder about taking your own pics was figuring out how to do the prefocus and making sure you step into the same focal length or you will be out of focus. Then again, “soft focus” can be a plus…. Use the method you need to get the shot you need.

Do you prefer to have someone else take your photos or DIY? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Ciao! Paula

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How Often Are You In Your Photographs?

OK, I was going to do the photo post of “My Love,” but my husband didn’t want to pose for a picture. So, I’m doing the question instead.

As previously mentioned, I am not a big selfie fan. I am not in most of my photos, as I like recording my environment, looking for something new in the everyday; a new angle/perspective to something ordinary, new lighting situation, new way of looking at something.

Lately, I’ve been trying to get used to taking photos of myself to post OOTDs. I suppose I will eventually stop feeling silly posing in front of the camera, waiting for the timer to go off. Or not. I bought a book with “1000+ Poses for Fashion Photographers” to get some ideas for how to pose.

Here are three versions of my pose in a hat for my White Jeans post:

Paula Chan Straw Hat | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Adding an H&M straw hat

Paula Hat3 | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Should I be looking down?

Paula Hat2 | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Or should I look at the camera?

Even when I find a pose I like, I still need to practice it several times in front of the mirror to a) figure out how to replicate the pose, b) get comfortable with the pose, c) do it several times when in front of the camera to get it right, as you can’t see what you’re getting until you run back to check.

Practice makes perfect….

What are your experiences with self-photography? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Ciao! Paula

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How I Revamped My Blog Today

Today I’m excited to tell you all about the new things I did to my blog. Wow! A day of blog format learning! OMG! I learned so much from Jeni of The Blog Maven.

I followed her on video tutorial “How To Feature Your Most Pinterest-Worthy Posts In Your Sidebar.” She also offers a free PDF guide, “5 things you can fix on your blog in the next week to get more subscribers” when you sign up for emails, that was also extremely helpful.

Speaking of signing up for emails, I also figured out how to add a MailChimp widget to have people sign up for email newsletters. Please do sign up so my hard work was not wasted! (I sure hope I did it right!) The sign up is super-easy and right under my photo at the top of the sidebar, which I also learned how to do today! I even added the requisite MailChimp icon/link under the sign up area, in case you need MailChimp too!

Yes, I was very busy!

Again, please sign up for the newsletter, and share your in the comments about the Pinterest sidebar feature! Thanks!

Ciao! Paula

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So You Can Teach a Not-So-Old Dog New Tricks

Plugging along on developing this blog. I’m starting to get the hang of Instagram. And today I learned how to make a favicon, thanks to British blogger Catherine Summers at Not Dressed As Lamb.

Catherine’s blog has become one of my favorite to follow. She has fabulous style, great photos and spunk! She offers lots of tips for beginner bloggers. She is a great example that style only gets better with age, and “encourages women to be fabulous at any age.”

Winter whites (skinny jeans and roll neck sweater) - over 40 fashion
photo: Not Dressed As Lamb

(more…)

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I’m on Instagram!

I’m slowly starting to get with the digital age. I took some pics and played around with the Instagram filters and BAM! I’ve got a couple of photos up on Instagram! I even put hashtags on them and instantly got a couple of “likes” and comments. Here’s one of my first images:

Instagram Victorian house | thatwasthenthisiswow.com

Victorian House

I’m almost giddy. I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up and figuring out how this brave new world works. I took a few photos with my iPad and learned how to upload, crop, add captions etc. Woohoo! Check out my pics by clicking the Instagram badge below.

Yeah, I know kids can do it, but hey, it’s quite a big step for me. Now I want to figure out how to upload all kinds of photos and add them to my Instagram. I looked up several people who are supposed to be Instagram queens, such as @garypeppergirl and @annstreetstudio.

It’s like being a kid in a candy store. So much to chose from! Now I feel the need to find the Instagrams of blogs I’m following. So many beautiful photos. Can’t wait to get my own up!

Who do you follow on Instagram? Follow me and share in the comments!

Ciao! Paula

Instagram

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iPhone, smart phone

So Who Needs an iPhone Anyway? Oh, Me!

Today I finally got an Instagram account–on my iPad. Now I need to start taking pictures with the iPad until I get an iPhone.

We’re dinosaurs

My husband and I feel like we’re in a tiny minority that doesn’t have some kind of smart phone, whether it be an iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Windows phone, etc. But up until now, we honestly didn’t need one. However, on vacation this Fall, we found having one would have been really handy to contact our hosts for our accommodations, maps when we got a bit lost, finding restaurants, etc., on the go.

So exactly what do we get for our money?

And it’s not the cost of the phone, but the plan. When smart phones first came out, the plans were ridiculously expensive. My old ATT plan is still the best for the money with Rollover minutes for basic mobile service. It gives my husband and me plenty of minutes to share for under $60 per month.

Time is money

But it has become apparent that having a smart phone will start saving us time and money in the long haul. Being able to snap a pic to deposit checks would be fabulous. Being able to snap Street Style pics without having to dig out a “real” camera and freak people out is a definite plus. Using Siri to tell us how to get places instead of hauling out a different paper map for every location would be much simpler.

Which carrier should we go with?

Still doing research, but so far T-Mobile is winning, unless we want to get stuck with a two-year contract with ATT.

Got any suggestions or recommendations? Tell me in the comments. Thanks!

Ciao! Paula

Instagram

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Welcome! Follow me on BlogLovin’ and BlogHer

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
This is my first post on my brand-new blog. I’m excited and terrified at the same time. Hopefully the learning curve will not be too steep and the results will be great! I hope to give my readers interesting, fun, provocative, insightful, educational, and maybe sometimes just mundane things to read and enjoy. I started blogging just a little over a week ago on BlogHer and am starting to find what I most enjoy writing about, or sometimes it’s just a place to vent. I just write what comes to mind for now. My focus will make itself apparent soon enough.

Ciao! Paula

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