Sara is Smiling

Sunday Smiles - Taking pictures on a windy day

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.

Sunday Smiles - Compensating for Low Light

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.

Sunday Smiles - Sun Worshipper?

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 :-)

Sunday Smiles - Taking pictures of pets

I love our little impromptu photo sessions.
The only equipment I have at home is my camera so I make do with comforters and natural light from my living room window. In my dreamhome in my head, I've got a fully equipped at home studio sigh
Our bunny, sadly, passed away a few months ago. We came downstairs one morning for breakfast and she lay dead in her cage. We have no idea why. We didn't replace her, but I was concerned about where our easter photo bunny would come from.
Our friend Dave has a farm including bunnies and said he'd lend us bunnies for the event.
We got our bunny this week and Eloise is absolutely head over heels in love. She's even suggested that we keep the bunny and give Dave one of our cats instead.

see the full series on my flickr account here

Taking pictures of bunnies isn't very difficult, but your cats and dogs might give you more trouble.
Here are some tips to help you make the most of them:

1. Find them on their turf.
I tried to get my cats to come hang out on my son's comforter I had draped over the couch. They weren't in the mood.

Mickey's ready to pounce at something off camera..
If you seek them out where they naturally curl up (or in Mickey's case - sprawl) you'll have much better luck.

I went looking for her for a picture and this is how I found her. :-)

If you are wanting to attempt a more formal type photo of your pet, do it when they're sleepy. That's the opposite of what you do when photographing your kids! It makes them more inclined to sit and stay.

2. Animals have personalities too.
Just like photographing people, it's nice to catch your pet's individual character.
I have a cat who is a big lazy pansy, and another who is a first class hunter. Mickey, my hunter, always wants outside, is nearly impossible to catch when you want her, but she'll come and snuggle right up with you when you're in bed or sitting watching tv. Percy on the other hand, blobs around like jabba the hut. He's smart, though, and when his dish is empty he sits and bangs the cupboard (which is always slightly open because my kitchen sucks) over and over again until someone comes and caters to him.
Looking back over my photos today, I can see these personalities in my pictures.

Mickey my hunter.

 
An old cat of mine that would spend every night outside picking fights with other neighbourhood cats.

Take pictures of them when they're being "them".


3. Shoot on their level.
If you don't want to lay flat on your tummy so that you're seeing eye to eye with your kitten, put them up on a couch, table, bed, counter. So many pet pictures are taken from a bird's eye view. Stop the cycle!




4. No B&W
Hey, if you really want b&w photos of your pet knock youself out. It is my personal opinion that pets should be photographed in colour. The colour, shading and tones of their coat is their identity. It's probably one of the reasons you picked them.
Whether colour or b&w: when photographing a white coat, underexpose it so you can see the texture of the fur. When photographing a black or dark brown coat, overexpose so you don't get that black blob with tongue effect.

5. How to Avoid Pet Eye
Do most of your pet pictures show a red, green, white or yellow eyed monster? Here are some ways to avoid it:
1. First and foremost, turn off your flash. Make sure you adjust your settings to accomodate not having the light from the flash. You may need to slow down your shutter speed, open up your aperature or increase your iso.
2. If you don't feel you can turn off your flash, shoot at an angle so the flash isn't bouncing off your pet's eyes.
3. Move back. If you're back far enough, the flash won't reach your pet's eyes. You won't get those nice close up shots, though.
4. If all else fails, fix it post-production. Red eye reduction doesn't always work (either on camera or in photo programs) because pet eye isn't always red. Here's a tutorial I found online to help you out. Photoshop elements here, and photoshop here.

Have fun experimenting with your fur-babies until you get it right. And don't forget to sneak your human-babies in some too ;-P

Sunday Smiles - Catchin' Action

I don't know how many times I've turned a perfectly lovely moment into a nag-fest because I'm trying to get them to hold still FOR TWO SECONDS while I take a picture. And look at me, damn it!
Well I've mellowed. Either that or they've broken my spirit.
In any event, I've learned to cherish the action shot.
To freeze the action you're going to want to put your automatic camera on the sports setting.
If you're attempting manual, keep your shutter speed fast.
This'll give you a completely frozen effect like this:




But keep in mind that BLUR isn't always a bad thing. In fact, sometimes it's downright fabulous.

This was NOT done in photoshop. It's a technique called panning where you slow down your shutter speed (so if you're using automatic settings take it off sports and put it on portrait), and pan your camera to match the speed and direction of your subject. It can take practice so pull up your lawn chair and let your kids burn off some energy while you perfect it.

Here's another example of using blur to convey movement without panning.
This shot would use a slower shutterspeed and holding the camera very still (you can also use a tripod, but if you're like me and merely snapping away on the playground that won't be an option :-)

Since Elly was the one facing the camera for this shot, the focus is set on her. Her face and most of her body are sharp with the exception of her dress being blown. The background is sharp. Charlie is in softer focus with a blurry foot (she was using it to push off) and blurry blowing hair.
The blurriness is ideal in this case as it adds to the feeling of movement. You can feeeeeel it spinning.

Lastly, take a series of shots seconds apart. You can piece them together all into one frame if you're handy with photoshop,


but displaying them separately is dandy too.
My favourite:
Baby Elly discovering the fountain.



heehee! Classic!

Sunday Smiles - Creative Angles

I bought Elly a new pair of rain boots.
Ever since I brought them home, she's been stomping around the house in them.
Today I came across her jumping off the coffee table over and over.
"Deese boots make me jump higha!!" she tells me.
Indeed they do :-)

 
The thing that makes these snaps so great is the angle.

Today's Tip - Experiment with different angles. Don't be afraid to lay on the ground. You can wash your jeans later.

The first step is recognizing something is "picture worthy".
The next step is taking it from boring


to fabulous

The angel and the action has turned it from a file that might never make it off my hard drive to a definite photobook contender.

How I did it:
This is the fun part.
I laid on the floor right where she was jumping.
She was reluctant to jump right at me at first, but once I assured her it was ok there was no stopping her.
I snapped and snapped and snapped some more (the best way to get one great shot is to take dozens of bad ones).
I also took some shots to the head.

Back at the computer I opened them all and only kept the ones I loved.
Ran a quick photoshop action (which is not necessary, but I always do and will talk about another time).
And Voila..Magic Boots!

Here are some other examples I found going through my archives of an interesting angle turning the tempo up on some regular snapshot situations:

Standing on the stairs above angled down.


Laying in the grass on his level.

Here's another great example. This was taken straight on. Cute, but ordinary.


Then I laid on my back in the sand underneath her. (Yup, I sure did. Got some strange looks from other parents!)

The clouds/sky background is much more impactful. And baby Elly thought it was just hilarious that Mama was laying on the ground.

Last one:
Standing directly above and shooting straight down.

OK, that last one was obviously taken in the studio. It was such a great example of this angle, though, that I had to use it. (Not to mention it's cuter than cute. )

Listen..We need to talk.

I love seeing pictures of your family. Especially your babies. I'm a big time baby person (as long as they're not keeping me up all night ;-P). But when I see their adorable smiles behind blurry low res cell phone pictures, or a dark fuzzy layer of grain, or over-exposed flash in your face style it makes me cringe. It also makes me sad because your kids are gorgeous and, let's not sugar coat it, your pictures are not.

I'd like to help if you'll let me.

Not all my pictures are pro quality, but they don't have to be. Sometimes a snapshot is just a snapshot taken in a candid moment. I'd like to share with you what I know about improving the quality of your family photos.
You can take great photos.

Every Sunday I'll share tip.
Today I really want to get this off my chest:
STOP USING YOUR CELL PHONE AS YOUR PRIMARY CAMERA.

Cell phone cameras are for when you're walking down the street and Kevin Bacon brushes past you. Quick snap a picture! When I was traveling with my sister in New York many centuries ago this happened to us, but there was no such thing as cell phone cameras back then and quite frankly I don't think anyone believes us. I'm even starting to question it.
If you ever find yourself without your camera but something is itching at you to take a picture of it (like Quinn's first plane ride and my camera battery was dead) USE IT. But if you're going to the zoo, or it's the first day of kindergarten, or christmas morning, or baby's first birthday -  for the love of cookies, GET OUT THE GOOD CAMERA!
And all of you with duckface profile pictures on facebook, feel free to use your cell phone camera. We don't want to see those crystal clear anyway.

Here's a quick comparison. No editing. (iphone picture on top)

Even in a bright light situation the cell phone is dark and grainy (although overexposed on the left) and has no depth.

Who's going to pose for a quick photo?
Max (sword in hand): I will!
Me: Thanks, Max! You have to put pants on first.
Max: Oh...then no.
Me: Elly, come get your picture taken quick quick.
Elly: Awight.
Then I notice she's drawn all over her face.
Me: Char?
Char: (grumble) use the baby
Me: She's dirty and crabby.
Char: I'm dirty and crabby too.

If you MUST use your cell phone camera, here are some tips to make them more palatable:
1. You need lots of light! Cell phone cameras work very poorly in anything but perfect conditions.

2. This leads us right into HOLD STILL. There is no flash so the shutter must stay open longer to let sufficient light in. This means that a jerk or subtle shake will cause your photo to be blurry.

3. Wipe off your lens. You know that little circle on the back of your phone? That's your lens. Cell phone camera lens are notorious for being covered with smears, finger prints and lint. And then you take a picture and wonder why it looks bad. Make sure it's clean before taking the photo. Even a tiny smudge can turn into a big ol' smear across grandma's face.