Rainy Day

I was challenged to try a new technique and I struggled to figure it out at first. But now that I am getting the hang of it... I am obsessed. The possibilities!!!

Costumes

The boys were really into wearing costumes this trip. Maybe I will have to look into finding more...

A few favorites...

We did a few fun activities while in Colorado, but mostly we just hung out with my family and watched the kids play. This always makes for some great pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. I will add a few more before I move on to newer projects.

Little Miss A

It's winter, and the colors are a bit dull, but we managed to get a few nice shots of super cute Little Miss A here.

Christmas Card Ideas

I love using pictures to make my Christmas cards. Shutterfly and Snapfish have some great low cost, personalized cards to send to your friends and family. So all you need is the perfect picture! I am looking for some different ideas for this years picture. Post your idea in the comments section and you will get a $20 print credit when you book a holiday session. (See my post from Nov. 1 for further details on holiday session.)

Crazy Boy

My nephew is too funny. He has so much energy, it's hard to keep up. But I got him at rest a time or two. This feat requires snacks.

Halloween Festival

The Festival was lots of fun! (Minus the haunted house which Dad attemped to take our little ones through. They both came back in tears.) But there were lots of cute costumes and treats. Thanks to all who came. Here's a look at a couple of the cuties.

Background for a Portrait

I am going to post something easy and straightforward today. When taking a portrait, look for simple backgrounds. Somewhere with very little going on. You want the focus to be on your subject. Find a blank space of wall, a fence, foliage that is fairly uniform or hang something to hide distractions in the background. A brightly colored sheet will work for children. A soft blanket will work well with a baby. Even out and about, if you simply look around for the least cluttered spot, you can place your subject in front and snap away. You may not have the blurring capability that the high end cameras and lenses have, but see what you can do with your own camera. Even a little blur looks nicer than everything in focus, which is common with auto settings. Read your camera's manual and figure out how to set it at the lowest aperture. This will help blur the background. Here are a few links to expand on todays topics, from a photographer who inspires me. More about backgrounds: (beware, this photographer has a lens with mega blurring capability) http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2010/10/backgrounds/

More about aperture: http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2008/05/what-the-heck-is-an-aperture-part-one/

She has about four different parts to the aperture info, check them out if this stuff interests you.

Light

I am a little uneasy about getting into lighting as a "simple" tutorial. But there are definitely a few tips that you can try (with any camera) that will yield nice results. You have probably taken a picture before that just looked great, and you weren't sure why you couldn't duplicate it. Well, photography is all about light. And most folks take pictures because something is going on that is cute or funny or of people they haven't seen, but they don't consider the effect of light on the subject. But when you consider the light, you will see vastly better results. The simplest of "tricks" is to place your subject in open shade. To achieve what I am talking about here, you will need to find an outdoor space without direct light. Say on the shady side of your house, under a tree (as long as the shade is constant, no dappled light) or anywhere on an overcast day! Make sure you turn off your flash because flash can ruin this light. Then as discussed previously, find the best angle. Take pictures from lots of viewpoints. The background of your photo is also important. If you are under the shade of a tree, the brightly lit background can cause you grief. If you are including lots of background, your camera will expose for the overall scene and will underexpose the shaded subject. The shady side of a house is good, because your whole scene will be in the same light, meaning the exposure will be right on for anything in the picture (assuming you are using the shaded wall as a background.) I feel as though I am getting farther in than I wanted to. Does any of this make sense? I will explore this subject of light further, but for now try this and let me know what you think of the results. Happy experimenting! (One further note: My camera equipment is very costly, and gives me the ability to shoot in much lower light with sharper results than the average point and shoot camera. Don't get discouraged because your pictures don't look like my average post. I also spend lots of time post processing my pictures to further enhance them. But practicing these tips will help, and you can take great photos with any camera when you take the time to practice what you have learned. Good luck and enjoy your progress. Have you already noticed an improvement? I would love to hear about it.)

Composition II

I wanted to mention a few more things about composition, so here is your next installment. I have a "secret." I don't whip out my camera and take one great looking photo. I take lots of photos and pick the best one (or ones) to present. The more you take, and the more you objectively study your pictures, the more you will notice what "works" and what doesn't. I like to work a subject by taking lots of pictures from lots of angles and close up, far away, the whole gamut. As you do this, you gain experience in what "works" and you get faster at knowing which ones will turn out. For example, getting down to a child's level almost always works better than standing and looking down at them. Today I had the chance to take a lot of angles of a subject that usually moves too much to make this point.

These angles all work for me, although in this group my favorite is the one on the far right. His arm creates a diagonal line that leads the eye straight to his adorable, sleeping, little face.

These are a few I wasn't as fond of. The bird's eye view is not all that dynamic, but I like that you can see his whole body, and the weird position he fell asleep in. The other one makes his arm and hand look shrunken and kind of scary.

And here are a couple more that I liked, just to show how many I actually take. (By the way the actual number I took for this little experiment was 36, but you get the idea, I ended with far less to show.) I read lots of different blogs and here is another simple little article on the same subject: http://cameradojo.com/2010/08/08/another-take-on-perspective/ While you are over there, he has one more titled : Use a simple angle to make a shot more dramatic. Enjoy.

Knight in Shining Armor

This is kind of random. But my friends' son loves dressing up in whatever he can find to be a superhero. He has been Indiana Jones, Wolverine and Edward Cullen. And on our last visit he was a Knight (in shining football armor.) It's great that he is so willing to be one of our subjects while dressed out for battle. I had fun playing with these pictures to get a sort of antique look.

Bath time

My best friend is also my mentor. She is the one who started me on my journey into photography. This shot is so much like one of hers, it's hard to believe I took it. So I just want to tell her, thanks so much for everything you do for me. You are my inspiration.

Suprise!

In order to update this more often I have set the goal to post at least one picture per week. My standards are kind of low, but I am hoping that such a small feat will make me more likely to stay committed. I'm on another short vacation at my BFFs and I usually take lots of pictures, so here is one from today that makes me smile. This is his "What?" face.

Family of Boys

For me two boys is a lot. But my friend is a Super Mom. She deserves a lot of credit for raising such a great bunch. I love spending time with all of them. Thanks again for having us over, we had a great time!

Country Girls

It was a beautiful afternoon for photos; add two gorgeous little girls and here's what I got. Enjoy.

Personality

I recently attended a portfolio review. I sat down with a bunch of professional photographers and looked at my work. A humbling experience I assure you, but I was a little too anxious beforehand. It was quite intimidating to show my work to people who have been practicing photography much longer than I have. But I was pleased with the process and I got some excellent feedback and advice. The most important of which was to know my own voice. It's taken some time for that to sink in for me. In the early stages it was difficult to know what exactly I wanted my photos to say about the subjects, and about me. And I am still learning and developing that. But I think an important aspect of what I hope to do even better, is to show individualality. My niece is a (mostly) calm and quiet girl. She smiles a lot, but I love that this picture captures her in a reflective state. I think she will be quite the polar opposite of her big brother. The mischevious one. And then there is my son. He is fearless. He will just as soon jump off of a five foot drop off as do anything. Once a thought comes into his head... he goes for it. So I want to keep finding these little moments that remind me so much of the (little) people they are.

Joseph

This little guy was so shy and cute. And we waited literally weeks for the snow to melt so we could take these outdoors. Finally the middle of march worked out!

A New Day

I have recently been spending LOTS of time looking at other people's photos. While this can be inspiring it can also become demoralizing when I don't spend any time with my own photos. I start thinking, "I will never be that good". And I have my roller coaster hormones to thank for one minute feeling like I am the master of photography just to turn around and think I have no buisness charging people for what I do. So today I am going to post a few of my favorites from the last few months. The ones that remind me I know what I am doing (some of the time ;) )