The only family photo we've ever taken.
And let me tell you..it was a CHORE to get.
It took two days of trying and failing, and this was the only shot I have.
Plus, how did I miss the fact that Quincey is wearing pajama bottoms??
Maybe in another 8 years we'll try again!
While we were trying, I got a nice shot of myself with Q and me and Charbear.
I do the kids official yearly portraits every fall. This year we couldn't seem to get it together to get out and do it, but FINALLY I got everyone dressed and organized and out to the park.
Quinn was a disaster. It was tough work, but I got a few (very few).
So here's the grand reveal!
Starting with their individuals:
Charlie 7
Max 6
Eloise 3
Quinn 1
The Gang
I was trying to do our annual fall photo shoot today, but most of the pictures turned out like this:
I'm outta here, suckas!
I've looked through them, but I'm not going to edit them until I get my friend's sitting done first. (So sorry it's taken so long, Trina.)
Here's a quick one, though. Loved this shot.
It hardly seems possible!
Despite forgetting what day was her actual birthday and having to look at her birth certificate, I remember the details of the day like they just happened.
Overnight she's turned into a little person. Spunky, funny, busy, and bossy.
Of all our kids, she's been a Daddy's girl from Day 1. He enjoys it because he says she's too young to realize that he has flaws. Funny, though, she seems keenly aware of all of my flaws :/ Typical!
So my baby days are officially over. Bring on the terrible toddler! I got this covered ;-P
(I did these in my living room in front of the big window for natural light and with my point and shoot due to destroying my pro camera. Granted, it's a great point and shoot, but I'm proud of these because it really tested my skills to be able to manipulate my little camera and the lighting properly to get such great looking shots.)
Yesterday was Quincey's birthday. We spent the day in the car. It was pretty bad. I should've known better, but I agreed to go with him to check on our displays that we had up in stores in every corner of the city.
He'd been away on business all week, and it was his birthday, and he wanted to spend the day with us.
On the bright side, it made this card I bought him so much more relatable:
Finally at home, we made pizza and had our Hello Kitty cake that Elly picked out.
Where's Max you ask? He's laying under the table in protest. He doesn't like pizza. Or Hello Kitty.
Quinny is across the table in her highchair. She couldn't be picked up for the picture without requiring a good hose down first.
Quincey doesn't like presents, but the kids insist upon it. We ended up getting him a new sprinkler hose because I ran over his with the lawnmower this week while he was gone, a bbq spatula, a book and this picture:
In the car in front of my studio before going in: "If you all co-operate and this takes less than 5 minutes I'll take you to McDonalds". We were done in record time.
Our babysitter got a new kitty and she's been bringing it over with her since it's so young.
Eloise loves the kitty.
On Friday when I came home I walked in the door and saw this:
Little kitty asleep in Elly's doll bed. Head on pillow, tucked under the covers, perfectly content to be there.
Quinn has taken an interest in our cats recently. She gets a big evil grin on her face when she comes across one in her travels. She smacks them with excitment and grabs hold of ears, tails or just handfuls of fur. They're incredibly patient with her as we sit there prying her fist open and teaching her "geeeentle...niiiiiice kitty". My grandmother would not approve. She didn't think cats and kids should mix. One of her last visits to us she kept feeding the cat his food by the spoonful like a baby.
When Quinn came nose to nose with my sister's Saint Bernard last week I admit I was nervous
They assure me he's a "gentle giant". Oh really? Even when his eyes are being gouged out by tiny curious fingers???
I picked her up before she could touch him because I'm a nervous nelly especially around dogs.
My sister's own kids, on the other hand, have clearly defined themselves as Alpha Dog. :-)
Too cute
I was there that day taking little man Tate's 1st birthday photos which turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself ;-P
I couldn't resist something springy for Quinn's 10 month shot, and since the last few of her monthly shoots have been rather casual I decided to shoot a proper portrait.
The flowerpot shot is one of our original scenes from years ago when we opened up. I've been thinking it needed an update so here it is! Next time you come in, save a few minutes of your sitting for some of these cute shots.
(Adorable baby not included)
Gold star if you can figure out why I chose this topic today. :-)
What is with this wind??
We were booked for outdoor photos at a preschool this week and the wind was a menace!
We did what we do best, though, and got some gorgeous shots. Some super model fab. No wind machine necessary. :-)
I can't use those for example because we haven't obtained permission from the parents yet, so I took Charlie out into the yard.
Problem is, the wind is worse today. I looked it up on the weather network, and the wind is gusting at 63km/hour. That's the equivalent of sticking your head out the window of your moving car and expecting a nice portrait.
First thing I always do is check the sun and find a spot/direction where my subject is not in direct sunlight. Unfortunately, the great spot to avoid harsh sunlight was wide open to the wind gusts.
To freeze the hair (or whatever you're shooting) as it's being whipped around, you'll need a fast shutter speed. If you set your camera to a fast shutter speed you need to make sure that you've compensated in other ways for reducing the amount of light you're letting in. You can do this by increasing your ISO, throwing your aperature wide open, or simply moving to a different spot that's better lit.
Next I took a different approach and sought out refuge in the doorway. Seek somewhere you're at least partially sheltered. You can also have someone position themselves as a windbreaker.
But the doorway felt like cheating so back out into the yard we went. I positioned her so the wind was blowing her hair away from her face.
This had good results. The downfall was that the wind in her face kept causing her to close her eyes and blink a lot. I definitely had to snap a lot of pictures and sift through to find the ones with the most wide open eyes.
There were a lot of really natural candids going on as she struggled to keep her long hair under control.
(also a great shot of the most recent missing tooth. I pulled that bad boy on Thursday.)
All in all, windy day portraits are possible and can have some interesting movement and effect to them. Today was a little over the top, though. I'd opt not to do your portraits on a day as blustery as today, but if you do it's easier to just go with it rather than trying to fight it.
It turned out great for being silly :-)
And some really great silly shots are always a win in my books.
I'm trying not to make these Sunday tips too complicated. I'm hoping there are some beneficial tips and not just a bunch of mumbo jumbo.
In last week's comments, Mary asked (and I paraphrase) "ISO?? What the hell?"
It's hard to explain how ISO works without also explaining aperture and shutter speed and how they all work together. But I'm going to try. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments if you want more detail on something.
ISO= your sensor's sensitivity to light
Aperture (f-stop)= how much light you allow in to reach the sensor (just like the pupil of your eye)
Shutter Speed= how long you expose the sensor to the light you've let in
Every camera has a base ISO. Canon's is usually 100 and Nikon's is usually 200.
100 is the least versatile and should be used in bright light settings. The bigger the number, the more versatile the ISO. In a low light setting try using ISO 400, 800 or even higher. Keep in mind, though, the higher the ISO the more digital noise or grain you introduce. Most cameras can shoot up to ISO400 with no noticeable grain.
So, in a nutshell ISO is adjusted based on your lighting situation. You always want to try to use the lowest possible ISO for your particular setting. Sometimes that's 100, sometimes 800.
You can use other ways to compensate for low light situations, but they all come with consequences as well:
- Lower your shutter speed to allow the light to expose longer. The problem with this is you may be introducing blur whether it be from your subject or your natural hand shake.
Here's Charlie demonstrating:
Look Ma, no hands!
- Increase your aperture (lower f-stop number). This will give you depth of field and a layered look. However, that's no good if there are multiple subjects that you want to keep sharp. Here my aperture was too high, and when Quinn moved forward the baby behind(my nephew) went blurry with the background.
-Turn on your flash. This will allow you to keep your ISO lower, but results in a flatter image with pin point lights in the eyes instead of the sparkly catch lights of natural light.
And you won't get a shot like this with your flash on:
The small amount of grain was totally worth it.
Beware:
If you're going to play around with your ISO settings from time to time, you MUST make it a habit of checking your settings each and everytime you turn on your camera to start shooting.
There's nothing worse than taking a bunch of pictures and then realizing you forgot to change your ISO.
I speak from experience, unfortunately.
But practice makes perfect. Play around with your camera's manual settings, and before you know it you'll feel right at home with them.
If I had a penny for everytime I met clients for an outdoor sitting on a bright sunny day and they've exclaimed, "I'm so pleased we've got such a GREAT DAY for our pictures!" I'd have..well, at least a couple dozen pennies.
Here's the thing: On a cloudy, overcast day it's like God put a big ol' softbox over the sun to duplicate my studio lighting. Bright sunny days are the equivalent of me bringing a flashlight into the studio and shining it in your face while trying to take your picture. Harsh shadows and squinty eyes rule.
Can you get a great photo on a beautifully sunny day? Sure you can. It just takes more skill on the photographer's part. But overcast is like showing up to school and learning that your bully is home sick with chicken pox.
When I took this photo it was actually drizzling a little bit. You can't tell, the lighting is beautiful, and I added a bit of blue to the sky anyway.
My shutter speed was 125, f-stop at 7, and iso 200. I did not use a flash.
Incidentally, this sitting was also done while it was drizzling.
Notice how smooth and even her skin tones are, and her eyes are nice a wide so you can see the sparkle.
Moral: Don't be so quick to proclaim the weather too "BAD" to do pictures. Soldier on and you'll be pleasantly surprised.
There are some tricks you can use that will improve your bright sunlight pictures.
1. Always set your iso to it's base setting. Canons are generally 100, Nikons 200.
2. Try to shoot in the late afternoon-evening when the sun's angle is lower in the sky.
3. I'm a big proponent of keeping your flash off as much as possible, but for bright sun you may need some fill flash to even out shadows or prevent a backlit situation.
Bad - backlit, no flash
Quick Fix=Turn on your flash
4. Simply, avoid it. Find open shade. On this particular sunny day, I moved my daughter under the covered patio. You can see from the top left corner that the sun was very harsh.
5. There is no shade? There's always shade since you can create your own. We always travel in pairs when doing outdoor shoots and have been known to have one person shooting and the other standing strategically to cast shade over the subject. You can use picnic blankets, umbrellas, your stroller, anything handy to cast that shadow.
6. Turn your subject away from the sun, but not with their back completely to it. It's not perfect, but works in a pinch :-)
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