My Birthday Wish List 2015

In a few weeks (on the 29th June) I will be turning 19, and I thought it would be a nice idea to sneakily write a post about a few of the things I have been eyeing up for a while! My friends say I'm really easy to buy for as they know me so well, but just incase they get stuck - there are a couple of ideas here.

First up is the ZOEVA Rose Gold Brush Set (£56.95). This hit the blogging world a long time ago, and I have been lusting after it for what seems to be forever! The reviews for these brushes are amazing, and as of late I have a slight weakness towards anything rose gold! 

A few times, when I first started my blog - I shot my photos using the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 Lens (£136) The lens is INCREDIBLE for portrait and close up shots as it has a shorter focal length. Although the lens seems pricey, it is actually pretty cheap as far as lenses go. Some lenses can cost £1000s! 

When I last went shopping, I took a trip into Harvey Nichols - whilst there I spritzed this, and it smelled amazing! I've never tried anything from Dior before so I was very impressed! The Miss Dior Perfume by Dior (£137 per 100ml) is a very fresh, citrusy floral perfume. With top notes of wild strawberry and mandarin orange it would be the perfect perfume for summer!

At the point of writing this, I have just about run out of my beloved Benefit Porefessional Primer (£24.50). This stuff is perfect as a gift as it is on the high end of the price scale. It is a lightweight tinted balm and gives a flawless satin finish. It also makes your foundation last forever! I don't think I could live without it!

Being so tall, I always have a problem when it comes to wearing high heels. The problem being that it makes me well over 6ft tall! But recently, I have been loving wearing sandals with a slight block heel. Although they give a little height, they wouldn't make me look like a giant - plus they'd be extra comfy on a night out! I have been eyeing up these Red Ankle Strap Block Heel Sandals from New Look (£17.99) for quite a while. I don't own many (if any) coloured shoes, I usually tend to opt for black or white so I would love to add these to my collection! PS - I'm a size 8 for those wondering ;)

I am a bit of a handbag horder. I Like to have a bag to match every outfit for every occasion. Up until recently my bag collection was mainly made up of tan coloured satchel styled across body bags and black tote bags - but I have been slowly expanding my collection! I am absolutely in love with this Powder Pink Handbag from H&M (£29.99) - it is such a gorgeous shade for the the summer and it will add a nice pop of colour to a monochrome outfit!

Finally, I have saved the best till last! I recently redecorated my bedroom and all that seems to be missing is a few accessories. My walls are completely bare and I've been meaning to buy a few prints and a mirror for a while. I have been wanting to buy this Motivational Print (£8.31 - £16.94) from Etsy so I can prop it up on my dresser next to my Muji Makeup Storage Drawers. I read somewhere, that a room does not feel cosy without pieces of art on the walls - so I am determined to find a few key pieces to finish off my room! 

What would be your ideal gift from someone be?

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

Blogging Equipment & Photography Tips and Tricks

I frequently get sent lots of emails, tweets and comments from you all telling me how much you like my style of photography, asking what camera I use and how I learnt to use it. Well, I have finally got round to writing this post especially for you guys! I don’t often dish out advice on the subject of blogging mainly because I don’t consider myself an all-knowing oracle on the subject. It’s a world that’s constantly changing, there’s no right or wrong way of doing things and I’m still learning something new everyday myself. But when it comes to photography, I like to think I know a thing or two.

In sixth form/college, I decided to take A-Level photography as one of my four subjects. I had always had an interest in photography, visiting art galleries as a kid and just taking random photos on disposable cameras. When I started my course, I didn't own a camera. I saw that as a bit of a drawback considering I needed good grades to get into university. So I saved up, and a few months into my course I almost had enough money to buy a DSLR. My mum kindly put the rest together for me as a christmas present and I went with her to pick out a camera! I chose the Nikon D3100 as until I had my own, I used to loan out the ones belonging to my college, and this (amongst a couple others) is one of the ones I liked to loan out. My 'photography' teachers were actually art teachers and one of them didn't even know how to open the cupboards to get the cameras out, so from the start I knew the course was going to be very self led. I followed tutorials online, looked through the Instagrams of photographers and just tried to replicate their styles. Over time, I developed my own 'style' and I loved the bold, crisp, colourful images that I try and incorporate into my blog posts. 

To start blogging, I’d say you need minimal equipment: a camera and an internet connection. You don’t need to splash out on fancy gadgets at all. Many of the well known bloggers started out with little point of shoot cameras. No matter what you have, whether it's your phone or a £7000 camera, as long as you know how to use it properly you are in business! My camera cost no more than £350 from Argos (I can't seem to find it to tell you the exact cost) and it is just as good as more expensive ones I have tried.

In April, I bought myself the little Sony A5000 for more on the go blogging and tutorial style posts where I need to see myself (it has a flip screen unlike my DSLR). I'm still playing around with it and getting to know how to use it properly, but I used it for the photo of my DSLR in this post and it seems to do a good enough job! It retails at £251, which is a lot cheaper than the DSLR and it does pretty much the same stuff for a fraction of the post. It is cheap because they have since brought out the A6000 (?) which is the newer model and therefore there will be less demand for it. So if you are in need of a new camera for blogging, why not check out something like this rather than a DSLR?

For lighting, I use natural lighting - which is starting to make more of appearance here in the UK! I have used artificial lighting whilst doing my photography course and I know how amazing it is, but you can achieve similar results when natural lighting is used. Especially considering how expensive lighting it! The best tip with lighting that I've ever received is to NEVER… I repeat NEVER… use your cameras built in flash! If your photos turn out a little darker than you want them, you can always retouch them. There are many free photo retouching websites and programs out there. You don't need Photoshop at all! I am fortunate enough to have it (by the way, as students you can get it for just over £100 rather than £800+) but before I bought it I managed just fine!

If you have any other questions that I haven't covered in my post, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email (charlottesophiaroberts@gmail.com) and I will reply as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x
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