Flare

So I'm kind of obsessed with this blog called The Pioneer Woman. Ree Drummond bakes delicious food, homeschools, writes, takes incredible pictures, and is basically just... really cool. I especially love her photography segments because she doesn't just say, "Hey look how awesome I am!" She says, "Hey, I'm awesome, but don't worry! Here are step-by-step instructions on how to be as awesome as me. Good luck!" She talks about how to manipulate light to make your pictures softer and more unique. Of course, she uses all these fancy words like "aperture" and "f-stop" and "shutter speed" which I usually just skip since my camera is a cute lil thang with (maybe) five different settings and about two or three other buttons. Not much room for experimentation. But one thing I can control is the exposure, which is basically how much light you let in (or something like that...). So I just cranked that baby up and started snapping away! Now, don't you worry. I'm not about to start my own photography blog or anything (because let's be real, I know next to nothing about photography, like RIGHT next to nothing). But I did manage to get some neat effects from the sun:

See, it's just that easy!
Step 1. Find the exposure button (harder than it sounds).
Step 2. Turn up the exposure.
Step 3. Find some adorable and oh-so-willing cousins to model for you.
Step 4. Find the sun.
Step 5. Put your model between you and the sun, preferably in a beautiful location like, oh, I don't know, the middle of the English countryside. Gorgeous trees in the background? 6 points extra. Farm animals? 10 points. (For some reason, I've established a cool-photo point system, but I think it works.)
Step 6. Stand, sit, squat, kneel, lay sprawled out on the ground. Take pictures from every different angle and fill up that memory card. Chances are you will end up with at least one swell picture. (What's that thing Mr. Olivo taught us in Calculus? Something about a monkey writing Shakespeare? You can tell I learned a lot in that class.)
Step 7. Start a blog and post your pictures on them.

Congratulations! You now have all the knowledge you need to take pictures with flare! (Or do I mean flair...? You decide.)