photo tips

photo tips

i've had a couple of requests for photo tips... now i'm no professional, and have had no formal training. all of my training comes from taking tens of thousands (seriously, i'm not kidding about that) pictures of my girls and stuff over the years. and i really believe you can get great shots from almost any type of camera, it's all about keeping your eyes peeled and your camera handy. (and learning about your camera settings doesn't hurt either!)

all that to say, i sat and thought about a few of the fun things i've learned through trial & error and some online tutorials. (don't you just love google!!!) two peas offers a great set of online pdf style lessons on improving your photography & understanding camera settings. i read through the 12 weeks to better photos which really demystified camera-speak. :)

now for the random photo tips. i'm not sure if these will be helpful at all... but they are the things that i enjoy & try to accomplish.

1. have your camera out & ready and with you, when possible. it makes capturing fun, in the moment type pictures possible. i got this one of my daughter just over a week ago. (we had sunshine one weekend and snow the next!)

2. fast shutter speed = freezing the action. very cool for getting those little droplets of water. this picture was taken at 1/1600 at f10 in manual mode with my nikon d80. you can also do this with a point and shoot by setting it to the little running man (action setting) or by putting it on the S (shutter priority setting).

3. take more pictures than you think you'll need. it's an easy way to get better shots. you can always delete later (not that i do... i have a really hard time deleting any but the most blurry pictures), but you can't usually recapture a fleeting moment. :)

4. experiment with depth. on a point and shoot a shallow depth of field (meaning the foreground is in focus and the background is blurred) can usually be accomplished by turning your camera to the little flower (macro mode), sometimes in the lady face (portrait mode) and also in the A (or aperture priority mode). this was shot was taken after i'd had my nikon for about a month. it was shot on auto mode with the flash off at 1/200 at f5.3.

5. turn off the flash. this was probably the #1 thing that improved my pics. you'll get richer colors and less of the harsh light and shadows a flash will produce. if you're nervous about not getting the shot, you can take some with the flash and some without. find your light from a nearby window (north facing window produce great light) if that's an option. this picture was taken by my sliding glass door in my living room.

6. try to duplicate shots you like. i remember seeing a picture similar to this in creating keepsakes magazine several years ago. i loved the shot so much i wanted one like it when my daughter turned 5. so i tried to set her up in a similar to the picture i remembered and gave it a shot. :) if you're looking for cheap & easy photo backgrounds, i use king size bed sheets that i've picked up at discount stores. there are lots of photo background options on ebay, too... but sheets are a good cheap way to start.



7. try taking a picture, with your subject in the same place from three different angles. in this series of shots emma was standing in the same place, and i just moved around. depending on where i was standing (or kneeling) the pictures had vastly different perspectives and moods. in the last shot because i was kneeling the path she is on almost disappears and it looks like she's right in the middle of the rows of tulips (which is against the rules!)

8. try a photo journal of your day. try taking pictures of a day filled with shots from a slightly different perspective. zoom in close on your morning cup of coffee... or your kid's bedhead. :) take your camera into your favorite restaurant and try some fun shots with just a foreground object in focus (like the tea pot or fondue pot pictures in the seattle trip post).

well, that's all i've got for now. i hope it was kind of helpful, and not just long winded. :)

{{hugs}}