Instagram Round-Up 3: Dec to Mar
Every 4 months, I like to do a little round-up of my Instagram account, looking at the most popular photos and sharing my personal favourites too. This is Instagram Round-Up 3, but feel free to check out my earlier Instagram Round-ups if you want to!
I have learnt so many new skills since I started blogging, but one of my favourites has to be photography! I’ve always enjoyed taking photographs of people and my blog has given me an excuse to do it (a lot!) more. But there’s no fancy camera equipment here – just a mama and her smart phone.
If you have a phone with a camera on, you can take great images. Here are my 3 most basic tips for taking a brilliant photograph:
- BACKGROUND – keep the background as neutral as possible (e.g. angle your camera so you’ve got mostly green grass or mostly grey skies)
- SUBJECT – choose one subject (e.g. your child playing with a doll) and keep the rest of the picture as clean as possible – no random toys or messy crumbs cluttering up the shot*
- LIGHT – smart phone cameras are a million times better in natural daylight than they are indoors so take your photos outside if you can
*And if you do end up with something ugly on your photo that you want to make disappear, I use an app called Retouch which costs £1.99 and is available on android or iOS
Right now I shall get on with Instagram Round-Up 3. If you don’t follow me yet on Instagram, I hope this post can persuade you to do so! Search for my handle or click this link:
Instagram: @lucyathomeblog
Instagram Round-Up 3
December 2017
Most popular photo
My first snap for Instagram Round-Up 3 is this one of my little girl making footprints in the snow. I love that the sun was at just the right angle to peep over the wall in the background. I remember taking loads of photos this day while the snow was there, so I’d have lots of wintry images to fall back on… little did I know The Beast From The East* would bring so much snow that even I would tire of it! Hahaha.
*For my non-British readers, “The Beast From The East” was the name of the freakishly snowy weather we had in March 2018
My favourite photo
My favourite December photo is a no-brainer – it has to be this cute, cosy, heart-melting photo of our trip to Lapland UK. It was a completely magical experience that my girls still chat about 4 months later. And meeting Father Christmas was the icing on the cake! That book he’s holding is the “good list” and both girls found their names beautifully written in there which made them squeal with excitement.
January 2018
Most popular photo
I’m so glad that this photo made it into Instagram Round-Up 3 – it’s my girls holding hands with my mum and dad. I am so blessed to have such wonderful parents. They live a long way away from us and I miss them terribly, but it does make our times together so very special.
My favourite photo
A bit of an arty picture here but I loved the way the ice had clung to this fallen twig – so clear and pure that you could see through it! Beautiful!
February 2018
Most popular photo
Both my girls are very adventurous and climbing is one of their favourite activities. This photo was snapped the day we bought those waterproof trousers she’s wearing. Top parenting tip = buy waterproof trousers for your kids – they can go on the slide even when it’s wet!
My favourite photo
Next up on Instagram Round-Up 3 is this cute photo of my girls holding hands (note the waterproof trousers again!). One of my greatest joys as a mama is watching my daughters becoming friends and looking after each other.
March 2018
Most popular photo
This photo was taken in the throes of The Beast From The East. Jenny and Charis had the day off school so we got kitted out in our waterproofs (I should be on commission!) and headed into the garden. We built a snow ramp for sledging down but we didn’t have a sledge. Instead, we dug out this water body board and it worked really well! I did order a toboggan after this but it didn’t arrive until all the snow had gone (typical!).
My favourite photo
And my final photo for Instagram Round-Up 3 is our obligatory World Book Day photo. The school chose Alice in Wonderland as their theme and I was so proud of the girls for making their own costumes. We waited for a sunny day and then set the paints up on the patio outside. They may not be perfect like shop-bought costumes, but we had so much fun sploshing paint around and you just can’t beat that!
Thank you for indulging me in my trip down memory lane for me. I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos and hearing the stories behind them too. Thanks for joining me at Instagram Round-Up 3 and I hope to see you again in another 4 months!
Remember, if you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can do so here:
Instagram: @lucyathomeblog
What are your favourite memories of the last 4 months? What are your top tips for getting a good photo? Which is your favourite photo in this round up? I love to know your thoughts so leave me a comment below 🙂
We’ve certainly have some cold and wet weather haven’t we!? Love the wellies with the Alice and Wonderland outfits – so cute! x
Love your Lapland UK photo Lucy, and I definitely recognise those tyres hehe. I’ll have to check out to retouch as I wouldn’t know where to start editing photos. Yours are always so beautiful. Thanks for hosting #blogcrush x
Oooh some beautiful snaps here! Lovely! #blogcrush
Ah how lovely. It’s special to look back sometimes and I love the footprint in the snow picture. Stunning. #blogcrush
Such beautiful photos and lovely memories for you. I think my favourite has to be the girls with Father Christmas in Lapland, it looks so magical. x
#blogcrush
Lovely photos and some really nice tips. I think I am going to check out that app! #BlogCrush
What a fun post! And great pointers! These are all so good, but I’m always a sucker for a good playground picture. 🙂
forgot to add #BlogCrush 😛
That Santa picture is just too precious for words! Thank you for writing this post because I didn’t realize I wasn’t following you, but I sure am now!!
#BlogCrush
Thanks for sharing the photo tips. I definitely have a lot to learn about taking photos. The pictures are very cute. I love the world book day costumes #blogcrush
Those are so sweet, I love your colours always so bright. It’s a lovely idea, a great way to keep a digital album of your favourite shots as we tend to take so many nowadays. I also only have a smart phone camera but I’m happy with it and been considering doing an insta round up myself for a while. Do you use an app to pull the images into your blog? #blogcrush
Thank you, Liberty 🙂 To get the images onto your blog, open them in Instagram and there should be a drop down option at the side saying “embed” which gives you some code to copy into your blog. Hope that helps. L
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing these lovely pics… might also have to steal your world book day costumes next year! #blogcrush
There are some lovely captures here. I particularly love the one at Lapland UK. #BlogCrush
Beautiful photos Lucy. I love the one of the girls holding hands in their waterproofs! #BlogCrush
I love the Alice in Wonderland costumes, brilliant! And I’ve always loved photographs, since I was tiny really. Spent hours looking through family albums over and over when I was a child ☺️x #BlogCrush
Lovely way to celebrate Instagram and the changes of the seasons too. I like the tyres on best as it made me smile #BlogCrush
My phone is so rubbish for pics . I so want a new one but I’m also rubbish with ‘new’ stuff!!! That Santa photo is just adorable #blogcrush