This weekend is Mother's Day, and I still think of it as a holiday where I give thanks to my own mom. But as my kids are growing into wonderful little preschoolers, they've started to tell me what I mean to them. It really helps to remind me of the important role I play as a their mom, and how crucial it is to capture these precious times we have together while they are young. Because someday they will also grow up and move away. And when they are on their own, I can look back at those images and remember when they were my little princesses.
As a photographer, I am lucky in many ways, because I can grab my kids anyday and go take portraits of them. But every family should be able to capture the precious memories of their kids, so it's important to bring them to a professional at least once a year while they're small to make beautiful portraits that capture the fun and innocence of childhood. And for catching great moments the rest of the year, here are a few mommy tips for improving their everyday snapshots.
1) Remember that good light makes for good photos. Avoid bright sun because it not only causes your subject to have squinty eyes, it also can result in unflattering shadows and bright “blown out” spots. Shady porches or overcast days make great light. Trees also provide great shade, but be sure that it is full enough not to provide “spotty shade”.
2) Get down on the kids' level. Taking the photos from above causes their heads to look disproportionally large compared to their bodies. It may be the way you're used to seeing them as an adult, but kneeling down to take the photos provides a better angle, and also helps the child be less intimidated by the camera.
3) Anticipate, don't react. Mang digital cameras have a delay between when you press the shutter and when the photo snaps. DSLR cameras are much better, but even using those it's importrant to watch the child and predict what's coming next, so you can snap in enough time to catch the special moment.
4) Move beyond “cheese”. Some of my favorite photos of my own children are when they're looking in wide-eyed wonder rather than smiling. Capture them doing what kids do, and don't pressure them to smile for the camera. The natural smiles that you can capture will be much nicer than the forced ones.
So for all those mothers out there, I wish you a happy mother's day, and happy snapping!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
To All those Mommy Photographers
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2 comments:
Thanks Emily!
I pride myself on taking photos of my girls every day... (not great ones like you take but ones that catch the faces and expressions I remember.)
I do pay attention to lighting but I just have a regular digital camera and do not know a lot about all the settings. Just point and shoot for me.
It is so strange though that I never really thought about making sure I am on their level but i did it all weekend and got better photos. (though even though I could shoot 10 photos in a row of the same person in the same position, the color "aura" of the photo came out wierd in each photo though neither the subject nor I moved! Sometimes there was a blue hue, a green hue or it looked ok. Odd. I love looking at your photographs. U inspire me to want to learn more about my crazy camera. :)
Jennifer, the color issues you're having probably relates to your camera's white balance. Here's a quick intro article about it. I'm glad that getting down to their level is working well for you. And point and shoot is good! You don't want to get so involved in taking pictures that you're not enjoying spending time with the kids :)
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