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BabiesPhotographyThe StoryToddlers

Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge

by Jill April 15, 2014
April 15, 2014

“How do you keep your house so clean?”

I get this a lot, which is highly laughable. While I would say we have managed to keep ourselves from reaching hoarder status (except for the months directly following having a baby), we certainly don’t live in a pristine house, or a house as clean as many of my pictures would lead you to believe.

IMG_1557

It’s not that I’m trying to deceive you. I’ll be the first to admit to anyone who remarks how clean my house looks that either a. the housekeeper was just here or b. there’s a pile of laundry to my left, and a sink full of dishes to my right. I just happened to crop them out of the picture.

But I get that part of this blogging, sharing, social media life thing can lead to feelings of inadequacy when comparing ourselves to others. I certainly find myself looking at beautifully decorated homes with perfectly organized spaces with pangs of jealousy.

IMG_1552

I like to think, though, that they also are just showing a little slice of perfect amongst their messy reality. I’d put money on the fact that this is what nearly everyone does. And there’s nothing wrong with that! As much as I try to document real life whenever possible, I also want some pictures that make me forget what it’s like to live amongst chaos… and fruit snack wrappers.

So for every picture as sweet and clean as this…

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There’s usually a bigger picture like this…

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If you haven’t quite mastered how to take little slice of perfect pics amongst your messy reality, here are a few tips for you:

TipsForTakingPicsInMessyReality

Let’s start with our cluttered playroom. It’s not a HUGE mess, but it’s not very pretty from this angle, either.

IMG_1506

The very first thing you need to do is get as much (preferably natural) light in there. Open up all the curtains. Heck, even open up an exterior door if you can.

Also, if you’re shooting with a DSLR and are comfortable with manual mode, up your ISO and open up your aperture until you get good exposure. The following pics were taken with 3200-6400 ISO and a 2.5 aperture. (I used the noise reduction slider in Lightroom to eliminate some of the grain caused by the high ISO.)

This will 1. help you get more light into your picture and 2. help blur out the background, making the surrounding mess less noticeable.

IMG_1518Of course, there is also a lot to be said for the strategic crop.

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And change up your perspective. If all your mess is on the floor, shoot up and away from it.

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If your subject is in front of cluttered bookshelves, shoot over the top of him.

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Isolate small pieces of the visual story.

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A good black & white conversion can always help unify a picture with a lot going on in it.

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All of these tips can be applied to mobile photo editing, as well. Use apps like Snapseed to increase the brightness and convert pictures to black & white. (I’ll do a Snapseed editing tutorial if y’all would like.)

SliceOfPerfectMessyReality

Now, I want you to join in on this fun. I want to see BOTH your little #SliceOfPerfect AND your #MessyReality. There are a few ways to join in. If you have a blog and want to blog about this, you can link up below. If you’re on Facebook, you can post your pictures to my page (be sure to tag them #SliceOfPerfect or #MessyReality). If you’re on Instagram, share them with the hashtags #SliceOfPerfect and #MessyReality. You can either make a collage of both, or share them separately.

I’m @BabyRabies on Instagram.
My Facebook page is Facebook.com/BabyRabiesBlog.

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38 comments

Velvet April 15, 2014 - 3:35 pm

I seriously love this!

Reply
Kathryn April 15, 2014 - 3:46 pm

Love this. I did something very similar in January and have been trying to keep instagramming with #myrealhouse.

Reply
NicholeBeaudry April 15, 2014 - 4:03 pm

Fun! RT @babyrabies: Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge http://t.co/AayOwj4PpD #photography

Reply
babyrabies April 15, 2014 - 4:11 pm

RT @NicholeBeaudry: Fun! RT @babyrabies: Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge http://t.co/AayOwj4PpD #photography

Reply
Jo April 15, 2014 - 4:20 pm

Your “messy” house is cleaner than my clean house

Reply
fatbottomedmama April 15, 2014 - 4:30 pm

RT @babyrabies: Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge http://t.co/w1oWDLVCao

Reply
Amy April 15, 2014 - 5:49 pm

Love this so much, Jill!

Reply
themamamaven April 16, 2014 - 12:07 am

Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge http://t.co/3TPRoxElk1 via @sharethis @babyrabies

Reply
Baby Meal Plans April 16, 2014 - 1:40 am

Thanks for sharing that your house is not perfect. But it’s not that messy either. Love your photo tips.

Reply
Plain Vanilla Mom April 16, 2014 - 2:06 am

Oh I have the perfect picture for this. I just took it last night of our kids haha. I will have to upload it to your fb page. Maybe I’ll even write a post and join the hop. It would be a fun one!

Reply
Rekha Varghese April 16, 2014 - 2:14 am

Very reassuring article. So glad to know that I’m not the only one dodging the mess around my home. 🙂 Absolutely wonderful images. Precious moments.

Reply
Elizabeth Flora Ross April 16, 2014 - 11:16 am

Oh I’m totally participating in this! Working on a post now. This is awesome!

Reply
Laura Cochran April 16, 2014 - 12:15 pm

What a fantastic project. Sometimes I definitely need this kind of reality check when I start wondering why other people with kids can have such nice, clean houses.

Reply
A Slice of Heaven in Our Messy Reality | Turbo Teacher April 16, 2014 - 1:01 pm

[…] I said, I am great at moving the mess aside and snapping a great picture!  Jill at Baby Rabies gives helpful tips on how to do […]

Reply
Uplifting Families Parenting April 16, 2014 - 1:16 pm

Great ideas. I have included a few photos of our mess when I have shared photos. Other times I have cropped out the clutter too. 😉 I try not to let other people’s photos bother me because we don’t know what their house is really like or home much laundry they have hidden to make their house look perfect. Thank you for sharing.

Reply
Alicia Stucky April 16, 2014 - 1:52 pm

This is the kind of post that makes me sad I don’t make time to read blogs anymore! I’d love to see this catch on and become a trend with bloggers all over. So much awesomeness.

Reply
TheMomPledge April 16, 2014 - 3:05 pm

Love this from @babyrabies! >> A Photography Challenge | http://t.co/Z0D5LPmpSB #sliceofperfect #messyreality

Reply
#Slice of Heaven # Messy Reality | Captured the mom at home! April 16, 2014 - 3:41 pm

[…] One of my favorite blogs to read that’s much more put together then I feel most days called Baby Rabies (authored by Jill Krause) is putting on an awesome photography challenge and I wanted to share a few of my options for it. The original blog post can be found here. […]

Reply
Christina Marie Higgins April 16, 2014 - 5:09 pm

As a mom of three humans and three four legged babies, there is lots of clutter. This will help me to still achieve the perfect photo.

Reply
Bailey Salazar April 16, 2014 - 5:13 pm

Did anyone else notice the perfectly chubby ankle of Lowell in the B&W through the bars? Omgggggg ???

Reply
babycaretweets April 17, 2014 - 10:58 am

Mamas, check out the #messyreality business at @babyrabies. And that quote about our “behind-the-scenes”…right on! http://t.co/iJ6mFIIY2I

Reply
babyrabies April 17, 2014 - 11:19 am

RT @babycaretweets: Mamas, check out the #messyreality business at @babyrabies. And that quote about our “behind-the-scenes”…right on! ht…

Reply
Zina April 17, 2014 - 7:48 pm

Love this! The photos are so sweet.

Reply
Slice of Perfect Photo Challenge | MomShar April 18, 2014 - 6:52 am

[…] at Baby Rabies came up with this great photo challenge where she is encouraging us to share our Slice of Perfect […]

Reply
Perfectly Messy- April 17, 2014 » Somebody's Parents April 18, 2014 - 8:32 am

[…] collage showing “what a difference a year makes.” That’s when I saw Jill’s Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality challenge. That’s a perfect excuse to dress up my kids and take the pictures I wanted to take […]

Reply
SomebodysParent April 18, 2014 - 3:22 pm

Just added my #linkytools link (http://t.co/sjCZyRAm0y) here: http://t.co/KWkGSQJ3Vi via @linkytools

Reply
Mary__Larsen April 18, 2014 - 5:45 pm

Love this! Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge by @babyrabies http://t.co/H9scBBiYCb

Reply
babyrabies April 18, 2014 - 8:45 pm

RT @Mary__Larsen: Love this! Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge by @babyrabies http://t.co/H9scBBiYCb

Reply
gladtobeyourdad April 20, 2014 - 12:25 pm

Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality- A Photography Challenge http://t.co/sWFRMtjizB

Reply
Messy Reality » Life is Not Bubble Wrapped April 21, 2014 - 8:09 am

[…] is, and she laughs about it… because it’s all smoke and mirrors. She’s hosting a hop of sorts for people to show their ‘perfect’ inside their messy reality. Go check it out. Because […]

Reply
Jill S April 21, 2014 - 8:10 am

Thinking the same thing as someone else. People’s ‘messy’ includes an unmade bed. umm wow. Your messy is WAY WAY cleaner than my ‘clean’… It’s not messy if it takes under 2 minutes to fix.. lol. It would take 2 weeks to fix mine!

Reply
Tiffany | Peanut Blossom April 22, 2014 - 9:52 am

I love this So Big. It is so hard to remember but so very important! Thank you for sharing your slice of perfect among the perfect messes!

Reply
Finding a slice of perfect in your messy reality » Peanut Blossom April 24, 2014 - 8:08 am

[…] at this? Jill from Baby Rabies. She has a fantastic photography challenge going on right now called #SliceofPerfect that you should take a second to check […]

Reply
Shannon June 18, 2014 - 9:18 pm

Love this so much and I’ve been meaning to put up my own Slice of Perfect/Messy Reality because I see it all around me. Finally got around to it – http://tpcraft.blogspot.com/2014/06/slice-of-perfect-messy-reality.html

Reply
Jill June 21, 2014 - 3:27 pm

Thanks for joining in!

Reply
Not So Perfect-Weekly Portraits-The Third Week of April (Pt 1) | Especially Creative Broad June 24, 2014 - 1:54 pm

[…] Secondly, I’m joining up with Jill of Baby Rabies in her Slice of Perfect/Messy Reality photo challenge. […]

Reply
Baby Rabies | Tips To Keep a 365 Photo Project From Becoming A Chore {Contributor} March 19, 2015 - 2:03 pm

[…] …But Look For Your Slice Of Perfect – Learn where in your home has good light and use it use it use it. Find a blank wall and […]

Reply
Slice of Perfect & Messy Reality - The Beckham Project November 4, 2017 - 10:32 pm

[…] me say that I love me some Baby Rabies.  I love her honesty and her wit.  So when she posted a photography challenge a few months ago (yeah, a few months ago and I’m just getting around to posting about it, don’t judge […]

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