Picture Tip: DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

Okay all you Pinterest junkies.....  I totally get it.  I am always trying to find ideas online.  BUT, I think that the thing in photography, and just daily life, that has helped and hurt me the most is the world wide web.  I have been browsing other photographer's blogs and websites since I started, and I have found great inspiration.  It has pushed me to get better, and I appreciate that.  But, after a while, I feel myself forgetting what I REALLY love about photography... what MY style is... what my priorities are.  I feel like it is really possible to get lazy by relying on everyone else to show us how to live and work BETTER, and it's easy to start comparing yourself to everyone's beautiful life and business.  I know that what I LOVE is capturing people doing what they already love to do... what is special to them, and just making them look better doing it in pictures.   If you contact me in 2012 to take pics, I will be making a bigger effort to get to know you, your interests, your style... etc... before the session, so that it is very custom and unique to you specifically.

HOW DOES THIS HELP YOU TAKE BETTER PICTURES??  TIPS FOR YOU!

Whether you are a mom taking pictures of your own kids, an amateur photographer, or whatever the case might be, really take some time to think about what moves you, what you enjoy, and what you would REALLY LOVE to be good at.

Do you LOVE babies squished up in baskets with colorful backdrops?  If so, challenge yourself to do it differently than the photographer down the street who is using the same hat with ears and wooden floor/ damask backdrop as everyone else.

Or, do you simply love watching your kids play in the backyard?  If so, just make sure they are dressed cute, snap pictures of them at different angles (get above them, below them, shoot from far and extremely close), and do it at a time if day when the sun is not hitting them right in the face.

Or, get your husband (or me) to snap pics of you painting your daughter's fingernails, then jazz them up in photoshop so they are a little more fun.   The possibilities for the memories you can create in a DIFFERENT way are endless!

This was the front of our Christmas card this year.  Loved playing on the fact that they love to play house!   This just makes me smile every time I see it, and it took about 5 minutes!

These were taken when Chann got the croup for the first time EVER the very FIRST week of school.  She was feeling better and snapping green beans.  I loved the way she looked in the hat, and had fun playing with the 70's style feel of the pics.  I'll always remember that week at home alone with her, and this shines a new light on it!  

Camera Tip: Why Are my Pictures BLURRY?

Well first of all, if you are using your phone camera, that's a pretty good reason...  although there are some that can take great pictures.  But, the biggest culprits are 1.) "camera shake", 2.) lens, and especially the length of the lens and 3.) low light.  These three things pretty much go hand and hand.  It seems pretty obvious that you should keep the camera still when taking pictures, but when you are chasing children, trying to get a smile, etc... it can be challenging.  Many times I have the perfect shot, but because I was doing something goofy to get a smile, the camera was too unsteady and the picture blurred.  The second picture I  attached is an example of this.  The longer the lens, the more challenging this becomes, because it is even harder to keep all that equipment steady.  Then add the factor of low light into the picture (a dimly lit church for your child's Christmas program, a poorly lit living room, etc...) and keeping the camera still becomes even more vital, because you are having to use a slower shutter speed to let in more light.

Another factor is focus, and if you are using a prime lens such as a 50mm lens, you are in one way at a huge advantage because this is an awesome lens for portraits, is usually very sharp, is relatively short, and works well with low light.  However, if you do not learn how to focus correctly, you will have a finger or hair bow sharp and in focus, while the eyes are blurry and out of focus.  When most people look at a picture, the eyes are the first thing they see.  I have become extremely particular about this.  

All of this being said.... here are my tips for avoiding blur:
1.) Make a conscious effort to hold your camera steady.
2.) Consider investing in a good lowlight lens that is not too heavy or long, such as a 35mm or 50mm (and learn and practice focusing properly, always trying to focus on the subject's eyes).
3.) In low light situations use a flash so that you can use faster shutter speeds (using slower shutter speeds and higher ISO setting let in more light if you are not able to use a flash, or do not own a speedlight flash).  I have talked about some of these points in previous "tip" posts.


In the first picture, although I did some extra skin smoothing and eye sharpening, I had a good, sharp picture to work with.  The body and background are somewhat blurry, and the face is very crisp, which is exactly what I wanted.  I did not even present the 2nd picture because although the baby is smiling, unfortunately the face, and especially eyes, are too blurry, and this is not the type of quality image I want to offer my clients.  Look at the buttons on the dress, slightly blurry in the first picture, and sharp in the 2nd.  My focus was off, and I also probably moved too much when I took the picture.  I always have plenty of good shots to make up for a few bad, and although editing can do wonders, it typically can't make a low quality, blurry picture great, no matter how much you sharpen in editing software.

Camera Tip: Tilting Your Camera and Using Angles

We all love modern photography with fun angles, urban or vintage tints and textures, super bright eyes, etc....  BUT, what makes a portrait truly beautiful, and more than just an overworked snapshot, is knowing when to use these effects, and how dramatic they should be without being ridiculous.  In particular, I want to talk about camera tilt.  When I first started, I was always tilting my camera just to do it because everyone thought that made a picture good.  The more I do this, the more I realize that there is a time to tilt, and to play with angles, and it's not every time.  Try to think about what you are trying to achieve with the shot.  If it is a highly interactive, fun shot, then yes... tilt your camera, get way below the subject or way above... anything that will emphasis the playfulness of the shot.  An eye level, straight on shot may not portray any feeling or mood.  But pay attention to the amount you are tilting, and if you are being dramatic with it, also take a few that aren't tilted and highly angled, just so you have some options.  Sometimes we want to be creative, and it just doesn't work with the composition, and that's okay if you have some back-ups.   

On the two below, I really went back and forth on which I really liked, but I'm glad I had both to present.   I really think the "un-tilted" pic works best, but you be the judge.

My First "Backyard Mini-Session"

I am about to run a new special, and this is kind of the premise.  Capturing families at their homes so they are are comfortable, and the pictures mean more to them later.  These 4 people are sweet and beautiful, and you can't tell in these pics, but there is one lucky little person on the way.  

Using ISO and Large Aperature Lenses When Shooting in Low Light

When I first got my DSLR, I was VERY frustrated that the on camera flash would not do much good in a relatively dark room.  For example, trying to get good pictures of my kids on an early, dark Christmas morning.  The first thing I did was buy the Canon speedlite, which was definitely a good investment, but I still didn't understand other ways I could manipulate the light.


ISO: ISO is your camera's sensitivity to light.  IF you shoot in one of the creative modes, you can adjust your ISO higher to enhance your camera's sensitivity to light.  Mine goes to 1600.... some cameras go much higher.  You will get more "noise" or grainy pictures, if you are not careful, but knowing how to use your ISO is definitely a good tool to have, especially if you don't have a speedlite.  On a side note, be sure to adjust your ISO back down when you are in a better lit situation, because lower is always better when you can help it (to avoid the "noise" I spoke of above).

Lens Choice: I have always liked my 50mm lens the most of all because it lets in lots of light, and I personally like natural light photography best.  The 50mm is perfect for shooting babies indoors because you can usually get by using decent window light.  I just purchased the 35mm 1.4 because I like the slight distortion with the wide angle, the awesome bokeh (background blur), and the fact that it lets in TONS of light.

I used this lens for the picture below, which was taken just before the sun went all the way down.  The 35mm is perfect for the lighting you have this time of the evening (which for me was very little because there are a ton of trees blocking the sunset).  I turned up the ISO to about 600, used an on camera flash to help to illuminate the subject because it was really too dark to get a great shot of her otherwise without a lot of noise, and manually adjusted everything else so that I could also see the clouds and sky color (I actually shot with a smaller aperture of 4.5, and a shutter speed of 1/160).  Sometimes, you can let too much light in trying to expose the subject, and you end up washing out the background and losing all of the detail that makes the pictures great.  That's why shooting manually (as the previous tip discussed), and learning how to manipulate the light are so important!

Camera Tip: STOP SHOOTING IN AUTO MODE!

If you have invested in an SLR digital camera, or if someone else has invested for you, do me a favor and venture out of the automatic modes.  On my Canon 40D, the full auto mode is a green square, and everything under that is an automatic function as well.  This means the camera chooses everything for you.  Yes, you will get a decent shot almost every time, but very rarely will you get a fantastic shot, and if you do, you won't know how it happened.  Everything above is a creative mode, which gives you much more flexibility.

I learned to shoot manually by first using the AV mode (where you choose your aperture), and then TV mode (where you choose your shutter speed).  In these modes you choose one or the other based on your need..... but personally, I find it easiest to shoot in Manual mode (M), where I control everything to get the proper exposure every time.  Some of my favorite aspects of shooting manually are the ability to control my depth of field and background blur (bokeh), and the ability to control my ISO, or the camera's sensitivity to light.  For those of you who have an SLR and are upset with your ability to take low light pics, ISO setting and lens choice can be your best friends!! More on this in next weeks's tip!!

Yes, shooting manually will mean lots of mess ups at first, and you don't want to choose your baby's baptism to start practicing!  But if you will put some research and practice into doing it, it will come naturally very soon!

Happy Shooting!

Tawny