Better in Bulk - Family photographer with a large family » Search Results » label/tutorials

Welcome, Welcome!

Lolli — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Welcome MckLinky Blog Hoppers! Looks like there are a lot of you out there. In honor of the very first blog hop, this week’s theme is Introductions.

I feel like I’ve done quite a few introductions over the last few months. Like this one for my recent SITS spotlight day. Or this one for the Ultimate Blog Party in March. To sum it up, I’m Lolli, mother of 5 kids, ages 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. My husband, CandyMan, and I have a business making foreign language software (www.peanutbuttersticks.com) AND I’m a photographer AND I blog AND I stay at home with the kids. I don’t get enough sleep and I eat too much candy. I have a weekly blog carnival called Give Me Your Best Shot where readers can show off their favorite photo of the week. I have regular giveaways (see links on the sidebar under my family picture) and photo tips and tutorials. Oh, and comments are my favorite treat (definitely like those in bulk, too!). Why don’t you comment here with your favorite kind of candy….

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

Welcome to My Blog!

Lolli — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:30:00 +0000

I’ve got to admit….I was pretty excited to get an email for Heather letting me know that my turn had come to be the featured blogger on SITS. But on the same ticket, I was kind of terrified. What do I say? Am I ready? What do I wear?! (If you happen to not know what SITS is, check it out here:)

So… you want to know a little about me, huh? Here are a few things you should know about me (actually, I am sure you’ll survive just fine in this world NOT knowing these things about me….but today’s my special day, so I get to say what happens, right?)

1-If you’ve stopped by my blog before, you might notice that things look a little different around here. What can I say? I needed a change.

2-My real name is not Lolli. I really do have 5 kids, and I am still sane (most days). Last October, we changed all of the family names on the blog to candy names. So we are Lolli and CandyMan, and the kids are KitKat (12), Necco (10), Twizzler (8), Reese (6), and AJ (short for Almond Joy) (4). Yes, we were on the every-2-year plan, and YES, we are DONE having kids.

3-Why Better in Bulk?
*Candy comes in bulk
*I have kids in bulk
*I take pictures in bulk
I don’t do much on a small scale. I do things in bulk. My husband still doesn’t understand the name change. Whatever! This is my blog, and I like it.

4-I take pictures. I am a self-taught photographer. I’m not the best, but I love photography, and I love teaching other people how to achieve better photos. I regularly post photo tutorials. They’re mostly for my benefit (you know–the whole thing about the teacher learning more than the student….) And I am totally addicted to I Heart Faces. Once I won my first photography award over there, I was completely hooked. I also LOVE editing photos and have considered adding a little photo editing side-business.

5-Every week, I post a blog carnival called Give Me Your Best Shot (read about that HERE) I would LOVE for more people to link up…so consider this your official invitation to come back on Friday. Sound good?

6-I grew up in the California Bay Area, but for the last 11 years I’ve lived in the Washington DC area–this is seriously a great place to live. There is so much to see and do here. I still love it here, despite the fact that the adjoining house next door has been abandoned and is now making us sick from the black mold seeping through the walls. My goodness! This is a mess!

7-We have a company called Peanut Butter (Foreign language learning software that STICKS). It’s a whole lot of work, but it’s exciting to see a dream become a reality (we just have to keep reminding ourselves of that on those days when it feels more like a nightmare).

8-Today is my daughter, Necco’s 10th birthday. Yay Necco! Today, I will be attending the volunteer tea at school at 8am, volunteering in Twizzler’s class at 10, and then taking Necco out to lunch and birthday shopping at 11:30. My days are busy like that, but somehow I always find time to blog. Yeah, I’m a little crazy when it comes to blogging. Who needs sleep, anyway?

9-I am so excited about meeting a few of my blogging friends at the SITScation conference in October (which happens to be the day after my birthday!!). I am especially excited to meet Francesca, Angie, and MamaKat, since I’ve been working with them on a fun networking project called Out on a Limb…..and simply because they are some of my favorite bloggers.

10-What else would you like to know? Ask me a question….what have you always wanted to know about Lolli (yeah, yeah, yeah…I know–I’m really not THAT interesting. But I HAVE been known to have a few good stories tucked away…..) Ask away!

And please feel free to stop by again! Really. I LOVE visitors. Just as long as I don’t have to clean my baseboards for you or anything.

The Ultimate Blog Party 2009!

Lolli — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:12:00 +0000

To those of my friends who don’t know about the Ultimate Blog Party, you can read all about it HERE. Basically, UBP is a week-long celebration across the blogosphere, with tons of amazing prizes, hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom, a blog that I read daily.

For those of you stopping by from 5M4M,

welcome to *Life is Sweet*!

My name is Lolli, and I’ve been married for almost 14 years to my cute, over-worked husband, CandyMan (more on the over-worked part later). We have 5 kids–yes 5! KitKat is our oldest (12). Next comes our almost- 10 year old Necco, followed by 8 year old Twizzler, then 6 year old Reese, and almost-4 year old AJ (Almond Joy). Yes, we like to make things sickeningly sweet around here with candy names and all.

I stay home with AJ while the other kids are in school. I am currently taking my photography hobby to the next level, and spend a lot of my time taking pictures (cue the moans from my kids) and writing weekly tutorials here (or by clicking the link up top to Photo Tips). You can see some of my photos on Simply You Photos as well as my Project 365 blogs. I blog a lot–yes, it takes up a lot of my time, and yes, most of the time I love it. You can find out all about me by clicking on the about me tab up top, or by reading the interview I had this week on La Dolce Vita.

I do tons of giveaways and love memes and carnivals, so you’ll see me participating in lots of those. My current favorite? I Heart Faces! I love participating every week. I even started my own weekly carnival–Give Me Your Best Shot–where everyone can show off their favorite photo of the week. It’s not a photo contest or critique, simply a fun way to share what you’ve been doing over the week, and hopefully improve some skills through practice. I run it every Friday, and I’d love to see some new participants!

The biggest, most exciting thing going on right now is our new company, PeanutButter. Strange name, I know, but it sticks…and that’s what PeanutButter is all about. We are developing an exciting foreign language learning software–lanuage learning that sticks. In anticipation of PeanutButter‘s Spanish 1.0 release in the next few weeks, we decided to offer up a full copy of the brand new software to be given away on 5M4M (USC prize #27!), but I am also going to be giving the software away right here! PLEASE click HERE to enter!….and just remember that you knew us before we were famous. (Just to clarify–entries will be taken on the post specifically about PeanutButter, not here. But please leave me a hello in this post!)

Thanks for stopping by! Please come back!

PS–Here are the prizes I would love to win: US 19, US21, US22, USC45, US91, INTL 19, INTL 20, USC47, US88, USC56, US103, US43, US83, US123, USC16, USC15, INTL 3 INTL 30.
Remember–I’m prize USC27.

Foto Friday–What’s Your Focus?

Lolli — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Here’s a simple tip to keep in mind this week:

Focus on your subject!

I know–sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? Of course you’re going to TRY to focus on your subject! Here are a few things that can help you achieve what you’re going for. The best part? You can do this with any camera!

To lock the focus on your subject:

Frame your shot so that the object or person that you want in sharp focus is in the center of the viewfinder.
Press the shutter button down half-way and hold it (keep holding it!)
Move your camera until you have the composition that suits your fancy (remember when I talked about composition? Try moving your subject off-center every once in a while).
Press the shutter release button down the rest of the way to take the picture.

Have you ever had this happen? Nice, focused fence, horrible blurry kid. Doesn’t do me much good. The camera automatically focused on whatever was in the center and completely missed the real subject.

Ahhh–now that’s better! I locked the focus on Twizzler, and now the fence is blurry. Wait! Why is he glaring at me?

One more thing to keep in mind: The eyes are the most important feature to be in focus. Who wants to frame a cute photo of their son, whose nose or shirt is in focus, but whose eyes are blurry? Focus on the eyes!

For more simple camera tricks and tips, click the candy up top that says “Photography Tips.”

Hey You! Yes, You! Want to win a Keurig?

Lolli — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:45:00 +0000

Visit Momlogic

I recently joined a fantastic community of bloggers at momlogic, a ning network. Today, the momlogic coffee club has chosen me to be their featured blogger! Not only is it cool to be featured, but momlogic is giving away a Keurig Single-Cup Coffee Maker, plus three months of free coffee every day for a month! While I am not a coffee drinker myself (I prefer my morning Instant Breakfast), I would love to give anybody who IS a chance to win this!

Here’s what you need to do to enter to win the Keurig Coffee Maker:

Join momlogic and the momlogic Coffee Club group.
Leave a comment on my featured post, Tuesday Tribute. Dad.
Stop by my profile page at momlogic and leave me a comment there, letting me know you visited!

And if you are visiting for the first time, while you are here, feel free to kick back and look around. I post a weekly photography tip/tutorial every Friday, along with a new Give Me Your Best Shot meme every weekend (I love to travel around the blogosphere checking out everyone’s favorite pictures from the week). I’d love for you to join in!