Zooming Out

Sometimes I like a closely cropped, very controlled image. There are times when I want to share with you something pretty like a ball of yarn or a new dish and I just need that object to stand perfectly alone without distraction.  But today I am feeling mischievous and want to demonstrate that it's not all beautifully lit perfection round here, and I thought it would be fun to show you what it looks like when I zoom out, what is going on around the edges of these photos.

Zooming in: Two gorgeous round balls of alpaca yarn. I wanted to capture the texture of the strands as much as the colour.

Zooming out: Two balls of yarn on a plain white tea towel on the hall floor, because that's just where the light was best that day. The living room was too bright. Good thing no-one knocked at the door.

Zooming in: Three delightfully pretty fairy cakes, complete with girly wrappers and sprinkles. I'm not normally a fan of such feminine colours and patterns but think where fairy cakes are concerned it's acceptable.

Zooming out: That white tea towel is in use again, this time on the one square foot of kitchen worktop that gets any good natural light. Do you see how everything else was, quite literally, pushed out of shot? 

Zooming in: Ah, my utterly fabulous birthday pyrex dish. That coral pink! That repeated floral pattern! I wanted the background to be almost invisible so used an old white sheet.

Zooming out: Angus played around me while I borrowed the toy boxes to create a little area for my backdrop.

Zooming in: Birthday present heaven. Lovely colours and it was fun to play with the composition.

Zooming out: That white sheet again, but in the living room this time. Books and baskets pull the corners tight to stop it wrinkling too much and the bright sunlight meant I had to close the curtains - it's not often that's happened lately! The end of the coffee table is cleared as I stood on it to take the photo.

Zooming in: Four prints - some new, some I've had for a while - in four IKEA frames. I'll hang them soon. For now, I just wanted to group and admire them.

Zooming out: Me, in my pyjamas, standing on a chair so I could lean over them as much as possible (while trying not to fall off). And see the glasses on the edge of the table? I hadn't yet put my contacts in, but find my glasses really annoy me when I'm using the camera. It's like I can't get the viewfinder close enough to my eye. Does that happen to anyone else? 

So that is what it looks like when I zoom out. I am putting together a little post about photography tips (for what it's worth - I am not a professional, clearly!) as a few people have asked in the past. It's not technical, more tips and tricks. Things which are easy. I'm a bit nervous as I'm painfully aware of my lack of technical knowledge, but I'm enjoying writing it and I'll share more on that soon. 

Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes and your messages of good luck for John. Really, thank you. It means a very great deal and I think you are all wonderful. Have a great week.