Always looking to take a better photo

We are always trying to take a better photo.  I take photos almost every day and yet I have to keep reminding myself every time I take that shot all the key points of a great picture. How are we expected to remember everything!   Well here are just a few to practice to get you started.  Try to compose your shot so the subject's head is in the upper two thirds of the frame.  Also, if your subject is looking to the side than whichever way they are looking than the empty space should be in that direction.  Avoid the middle of the photo.

One other thing to think about is Depth of Field.  If your camera allows you to change your f-stop try using a low f-stop to limit depth of field. This will make the background blur out while the subject will be sharp. This has a highlighting effect and anything behind the subject will be less distracting.

I took this picture this morning.  The tips I've talked about above are shown here in this picture.  Notice the bird is not center, looking to the right with the majority of the empty space to the right, in the direction that the bird is looking and finally I used a low f-stop to blur out the trees behind.  Since spring hasn't arrived there are a lot of bare trees so blurring the background out keeps us from seeing all the bare limbs.

Kate

Outdoor Photos Always Look Good

I always love taking photos outside because natural light makes for beautiful pictures.  Here are some of my tips...

Watch for shadows. Make sure your shadow is not in the shot. 

Look for nice lines. Something with pattern and texture always adds something for the eye to grab. 

Make sure nothing strange is in the background. Plants growing out of heads and sticks growing out of arms are not appealing.  

Enjoy the outside and the natural light!  

All photos were taken at Hilton Head Island, my new favorite beach.   :)

Rebekah

Keeping it real... Project Life in Rewind

I am finally getting to some scraping today.  My goal is to finish my daughter's first year before her birthday in a few weeks.  I am set to go with the pictures I have developed.  I am so thankful for digital pictures that upload the date!  When I develop from Shutterfly, the date from my Iphone actually appears on the back!  What a time saver for sorting baby pictures that tend to run together because I take so many in a week or month!  

So my Project Life Rewind is to finish her first year... AND keep current on my Picture of the Day (which I am doing very well on) AND to finish a family album from last year (also have pictures developed and ready to go).  With the Project Life system, it is sooooooo much easier that traditional scrapbooking.  This kit I am using for Baby J is Project Life - Maggie Holmes Edition Mini Kit HSN Exclusive (but not the HSN kit).  It goes perfectly with the Project Life Mini Kit-Baby - For Her. You can see the Maggie Holmes album in the picture below.  So cute and feminine.  

Rebekah

**the links above are my affiliate link to Amazon...

Our dining table that is really our scrapbook table we sometimes eat on...

January 31 Weekend Challenge – Turn off the flash

Hopefully this weekend will be a good weekend to do this challenge.  I love using “Natural Lighting” and hardly ever use my flash when taking portraits.  You’ll see that most of my photos of my kids are taken outside.  They love being outside and so do I.  So this weekend get out there and take photos using natural lighting.  If it’s too cold where you live to go outside then get next to a window.  Try to avoid taking photos at the brightest (10am-2pm) and darkest (before sunrise or after sunset) times of day. Instead, choose early morning or late afternoon. I’ll be using Shutter Priority (S) mode instead of using AUTO, when photographing the children outside because they may be running around.  I’m going to start at 1/250 second and will post my results so you can see.   Since my camera can go up to 1/4000 second I will just post the differences from 1/250 to 1/1000.  Just note that the higher you go in your shutter speed the more light you will need.  If you are having troubles comment on this post and let me know what type of camera you are using and maybe I can help you out a bit!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is almost here and I think I'll do something special for the love of my life!  I was happy to see in my email box a "Buy 1, Get 1 Free" photo mug deals but I have to hurry because the code expires February 1st.  Yikes, can I pull this off!  One of my photography goals this year is to take more pictures of myself so this is a great opportunity to get the shot and create a great gift.  Guess this means I have to get this done tomorrow!  So out comes my new camera, my tripod and my handy dandy shutter release cable.  Could really use one of those wireless remotes!  Or I could use the timer on my camera but I'm always worried that I will trip over the tripod when trying to get back in place before the timer goes off!  Since I hate taking photos of myself this is going to be a great challenge not to delete all the photos.  I will post a picture of my photo mug when it arrives!  Let us know if you know of any other great ideas or sales for Valentine's Day!

One day, you'll be just a memory

I follow Oprah World on Twitter and she said "One day, you'll be just a memory for some people.  Do your best to be a good one."  It's been thirteen years since my father passed away and as time goes by little bits of memories go too.  In these last thirteen years technology has changed so much.  I didn't have a camera phone back or even a digital SLR.  Sure I have pictures of him but not a many as I would have liked.  Capturing family moments is really important to me because if one day I am not here I would like to have something for my kids to look back on.  I love taking photos of my kids as they grow and seeing the changes.  But one things comes to mind as I look at all the pictures I now have on my hard drive, where am I at.  Sure having pictures of the kids as they grow is important but I think that maybe my kids would love to have pictures of me.  Like Oprah said "one day, you'll be just a memory" and wouldn't you like to have something your children and other family members could have if you weren't here?  So I will challenge myself, this new year, to take more pictures of ME.  And I'm not talking about doing "selfies" with your cell phone in the bathroom!  I'm talking about using your camera to take interactive photo with our families.  It will be a real challenge as I find ways to get this done and because I hate taking pictures of myself.  I also will challenge you to do the same.  Would love to see what you come up with and I will post here what I come up with.  I'm starting this February 1st as that is my sons birthday. 

My kids have grown so fast!

As my children are about to have their birthdays I can't believe that they have been here for six and eight years.  I mean really, it seems like only yesterday that they were a newborn.   I wish I knew then what I know now about photography because I am sure that I could have taken a lot better pictures of them both.  You know the ones that are out of focus with poor lighting, the ones that only a mother could love.  I look back at those pictures and think "man these are really bad but look at how precious those little hands and toes are."  Sometimes I try to tell myself that it was the camera that only if I had a better camera then the pictures would have turned out.  Now I know that it wasn't the camera that it was actually "user error."   If only I had a friend to tell me what I was doing wrong.  I was fortunate enough to be able to quit work, when I delivered my son, which allowed me to take pictures and learn how to use my camera.  I'd like to share my love of photography and share with you tips and tricks that will help you take better pictures.  

 

Kate