Archive: June, 2011
wordless Wednesday, visalia newborn photographer
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011photo-tip Tuesday, composition take 2, visalia family photography
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011Continuing on with the theme from last week, I’m going to talk again about composition today. Digital photography makes it all too easy to snap and snap away, hoping you caught that moment you were looking for from hundreds of images. Anyone can get lucky, though, and get a great shot every once in a while. To be a good photographer, you need to mindfully compose your shots, knowing what will be seen in the finished product.
To that end, let’s focus today on avoiding distracting elements. This can be as simple as watching to be sure that no tree branches are growing out of anyone’s head–oooops!
It can also mean cleaning up the area around the portrait setting to be sure that trash, stray dead branches, etc. are out of the image before you snap away–believe me, it’s much easier to remove things in person than in photoshop!
You can also change your angle just a bit to get a more visually pleasing image. For these two photos, see how the slight shift in my angle on shooting this family made for a much more pleasing and engaging image? In the first, you can see the family is having a playful, fun moment, but you can see the green blanket they’re sitting on (wet grass!) and that can be a bit distracting.
In this second shot, they are posed almost exactly the same (just one daughter shifted her location), but I moved from standing on the ground to up on a chair. As well as changing my perspective (as discussed last week), this zooms in on the family’s expressions and removes distractions from the background. The composition is much stronger.
(By the way, these girlies are four of my nine nieces, aren’t they adorable?)
This tip of removing visual distractions can apply to any kind of photography. See how much stronger the second image is without all the visual clutter on the countertop?
(You can read all about my soda crate wall over on my personal blog. After all, what photographer doesn’t have a few soda crate props lying around?) 
Have you tried my previous tip on changing your perspective? Try both of these out today and share a link with your practice!
photo tip Tuesday, visalia family photography
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011With the wealth of great cameras in the marketplace today (Canon Rebel anyone?), more and more moms are wanting to learn some photo tips to capture great shots of their own babes at home and at play. I think this is a wonderful thing–the more educated the public is about what goes into great photography, the better for all true portrait professionals out there. Great portraits aren’t about using the latest trends and fads in the lighting and editing world–a true portrait artist has a vision for a particular shoot and the skills to implement that vision successfully. With that in mind, I’ve lately been asked many questions about what goes into making portraits better, and I want to share those tips in one place, on a regular basis. Come along for the ride!
For the first few weeks I’ll focus on composition–how you decide where to place your subject in the frame. Simple, right? But there are soooo many things to think about.
My first tip is pretty simple, but you’ll be amazed at how it can change the focus of your images. For me, a fantastic shot is all about perspective.
Typically we take a photo/snapshot while standing. I call this the mom angle–it’s easy, takes little to no thought on where you are placing yourself, and you capture the moment you want to capture, right? Instead, drop down on one knee and see the difference in your shot.
With this image I was trying to convey the smallness of the child in her huge environment. #1 is a nice shot, and she looks cute. But #2, with the slight change in my perspective, is much more powerful, with the horizon and sky in the distance.
Imagine these images taken from above, or at the child’s level, as they were.
The same perspective shift can help more close-up portraits and images, as well. Consider these two images:
The first is taken from the classic “mom” angle. It’s a cute expression and the subject is engaged with the camera–both good things! After all, most moms see this view of their little ones all day long, and this angle definitely has a place in the portrait world. But the second image is slightly stronger because the child doesn’t look uncomfortable, craning her neck to look up at me. We just see her sweet smile and features.
And while the first of these is not the greatest example because of the silly expression, here are a two more to drive home the point.
So what have we learned? Take a knee and get down on your subject’s level. They’ll be more engaged with the camera, comfortable looking, and it will help your kid photographs immensely!
When you practice this tip, link up your blog or image post in the comments–I’d love to take a look and give you my thoughts!
I’m sharing these tips over on Home Stories A 2 Z link party today–go check out all the great tutorials and tips!
