Tips for the Lazy Photographer: Faces

One of my favorite things to photograph is people. Last week when I introduced this lazy series, I mentioned that I'm no professional. But there are some general things I have learned to help make people photos a bit better, no matter what kind of camera you have. This is also referred to as portrait photography, but that is kind of fancy so I like to call them face photos.

1. When photographing faces, get close. I know it seems obvious. But when I want the face, I want the FACE. Especially with kids. Grown ups tend to shake, giggle, or threaten physical harm when you get too close. But with kids, start out as close as you feel comfortable.Then, GET CLOSER. Bring the camera to the point where you feel uncomfortable. Then move in another inch. Yes, that is what I said. This is where a zoom lens comes in handy, as you can get close without being annoying.

2. Lose the background. In photographing people, I prefer the background to be blurry. It keeps the focus on the face. If you have a fancy camera like a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex), you can control some of that depending on the size of the aperture. But if you are lazy or don't have a fancy camera, fill the frame with face and person so the background is unnoticeable.

You can't imagine how messy this room was when this photo was taken. But who cares about the room? You want to see those beautiful blue eyes.

3. Don't wait for the smile. Remember film? You had 24 or 36 chances to get a good shot. Those days are over. Click before, during and after the shot you want. Some of my favorites happen this way.
Provoking your subject with potty humor works sometimes too. In fact, I highly encourage it.

Related Posts and Link Love:

Tips for the Lazy Photographer: Indoor Lighting

Browse more face photography at I ♥ Faces.

And for those of you who aren't quite so lazy, check out Digital Photography School on aperture and depth of field (ie. blurry backgrounds).

i heart faces

I just discovered this new blog and I am fast falling in love with it. They state that the purpose of the blog is "to provide a photography sharing forum that focuses on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions." They have two categories: kids and adults. Each week, readers enter their favorite face photos. This week is Anything Goes week, so when I ran across this photo in my archives, I thought I'd give it a go.
You can enter through Wednesday at I ♥ Faces Go check them out!

Tips for the Lazy Photographer: A Series

Photography is not my profession. I have never taken a class or read a book about photography. I have never read the manual that came with my camera. I don't know a lot of the technical terms, I shoot mostly in automatic and I utilize only 20% of my awesome Nikon D80.

Even so, my friends ask me questions about photography and trust me to take photos of their kids. Just yesterday, my friend Melissa was desperate for some photos of her two year old. Long distance Grandma wanted to see her baby. She knew she didn't want to drag him to Wal-Mart and get the posed ugly studio shots. She also knew she couldn't afford to hire a fancy photographer to take candid shots.

So she called me.

I'm not fancy. I'm no professional. I don't have Photoshop. But I can relate with Melissa because I don't want to spend the money or the time to have someone else to take pictures of my kids. So I am learning to do it myself.

Today was a cold, cloudy, wet ground kind of January day. Taking shots outside was not an option. One might be tempted to think that because we are taking indoor photos, we must use the flash. One would be mistaken if one thought that.

The first step to better photos is all about lighting. Look around your house for the most natural, warm light. If the kid has the perfect outfit with the perfect smile but the photo is too dark, it is hard to work with, especially if you don't have Photoshop like me.
In my house, the brightest room is our sunroom. Lined with windows and skylights, this room provides great light during most times of the day. Cloudy days are actually better, as I don't have to worry about shadows.
If I knew more about the manual settings on my camera, I could control the light and exposure a lot better. And the photo would be better for it. There is no doubt. But I haven't the energy, time, or motivation to learn about settings. So I put my dial on the "P" for "Program Mode" and shoot away. Sometimes when the lighting doesn't seem quite right, I do something real fancy: I make the photo black and white.
If you don't have a sunroom in your house, no worries. Just open wide your front door and plop the kid on the steps in the foyer.
No foyer? No front door? No problem! Find a bedroom with a window, pull those curtains back, sit your baby in a red rocker with a couple of trains and shoot away.
You may not get a frame-worthy photo every time, but you will get lots to choose from: some for you and some for Grandma. And you don't have to leave your house or pay a dime.

Related Posts:
Unpacking Treasure #4
Tripping Over the Awesomeness

being here

Life in my fourth grade classroom began the same way everyday: Mr. Lahr called the roll. I spent the first half of the alphabet listening to my fellow students say here as their names were called. I was focused and alert, because if I didn't say here or present or at least grunt and raise my hand, I would be counted absent. Even if I was there.

You had to pay attention and respond, or it would be as if you weren't there at all.

Not much has changed since the fourth grade. It takes work to be here during December. I mean really here. I can get so focused on the then that I forget the now.

I charge my camera batteries in anticipation of the joy of Christmas morning, but I miss out on the wrestling match happening in front of the tree on December 22.

I spend time pouring over fun cookie recipes to make with my kids but end up frustrated when all they want to do is fight over who gets to lick the bowl.

Perhaps I should make cookies by myself.

Or.

Perhaps I could shift the goal from make cookies with the kids to make individual batter covered bowls.

It is all about changing our expectations. Because if I'm saving up all my worship and expectancy and joy for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, it's very likely that I will experience disappointment, conflict, frustration or all three.

So I have an idea. I want to purpose to notice the joy in the everyday. After all, isn't that what my blog is all about? But December doesn't feel like the everyday! you say. December can feel more like the crazy. That's why I'm inviting you to join me on my quest to notice and revel in the daily.

Next Monday, I'm going offer an opportunity for us to share our journey of noticing with each other. It could be as simple as a photo, a glimpse of a treasure you discover while taking a walk or a moment captured during your kids playtime.
A Poppy with his grandson.

A girl all dressed up with no place to go.

A boy caught in the act.

It doesn't have to be a photo. It could be a story, a memory, or a thought you have that helps you to reflect and notice and celebrate even in the midst of busy and planning and crazy.

It doesn't have to be about Christmas. I know some of you may not celebrate Christmas or perhaps you aren't one of those people who turn crazy in December because you have perspective and inner peace and sense. Share that with us.

The only rule is that you notice. And then tell us about it by linking to your post on the Mr. Linky I'll have set up. You can link to a post you have already done in this theme, but I would encourage you to continue to notice this week, even if you don't document it.

You have a week to think on it. And to let me know if you have any brilliant ideas on what to call this little project of ours. Now let the celebration begin. Happy December 1.

an unexpected gift

Snow doesn't usually fall here in November. I'm not sure it was in the forecast for today. We simply woke up to one excited voice exclaiming "It snowed!" And so it did.
Within minutes, we were all outside in coat-covered jammies, hair un-brushed, eyes wide with wonder, to take in the first snow of the season. The kids weren't sure what to do, as it was only enough snow to show off but not so much they could really play.

So they simply stood in the midst of it. They touched it. They tasted it. They smiled at this most unexpected gift.

I want to be as they are when the unexpected shows up. Rather than fret and plan and wring my hands, I want to step into the unexpected with gratitude and delight...hair un-brushed and eyes wide open.

freedom for the un-scrapbooker

I love to take photos. I love to look at photos. But I can't manage to get a single scrapbook finished.

I have tried to be a scrapbooker. Oh, how I have tried. I went through a scrapbooking phase when I was pregnant with our third child. It lasted about as long as my third trimester. All I have to show for it now is three children and three equally unfinished scrapbooks.

I felt guilty about that for a while. Not necessarily the fact that I didn't have a beautiful scrapbook. Rather, I was discouraged that I kept starting things without finishing them. And I was worried that my kids would grow up to feel neglected and unwanted because their mother couldn't document their lives past the day they came home from the hospital.

The guilt continued until I realized the reason I like scrapbooks is because of the photos.
Oh yeah. The photos. So I gave up the visions of becoming a ribbon/sticker/colored-paper whiz and settled on the fact that I just wanted a way to display the photos I had leftover from the days of film. So many photos. Rows and rows of them in drawers, waiting for embellishment with polka-dot paper and cute little bows. No longer.
I found this photo album at Target. Lots of places have them, but when I saw this one I hadn't ever seen one like it before. It has room for five photos on a page: three horizontal and two vertical. I liked the idea of that. So I bought three. And they sat on my shelf for a long time empty.
Until one day, I sat down and filled one. In a little over an hour, I had an album filled with our trip to Spain for The Man's brothers wedding. The trip we took in 2003.
I even labeled a few pages by writing on the back of a 4x6 index card because I'm fancy like that.
If you are a person who has beautiful scrapbooks of your children sitting on your shelves, I respectfully salute you for your ability to focus on the project and see it to completion and for your general awesomeness. But if you are like me and your scrapbook is more scrap than book, I highly recommend getting yourself an album you love and filling it up. It isn't perfect. But it's finished. These days, that is all the perfect I need.

**Edited: Several of you have asked about this album. It is called the "Umbra Horizon 5 Up Photo Album" and it holds 260 photos. If you Google "5 Up Photo Album" there are lots of colors and styles. Sorry my link didn't work earlier.

senior photos: take two

Last weekend, I did a photo shoot with a couple of girls who are best friends. One of them will use them for her senior photos and the other was just along for the ride. This is what happened between the mom-approved shots.

Balancing on a very small pillar.

Acting like a kid.

Trying not to laugh.

Laughing anyway.

And a little bit of dancing.

guess what I did yesterday?

I wasn't a photographer at their wedding. Just a friend with her camera and a slightly annoying obsession with the bride. I've said it before: I just can't resist taking photos at a wedding, even if I have to duck behind bushes so as not to annoy the real photographer.
That's better. They've waited a long time for this day. He looks delightfully relieved.

color favorites

I really hope you all don't hate photo posts. Because I'm totally doing one today. And something else about me: I cannot mix black and white photos with color photos. If I ever put photos in an album or on a wall, there is to be no mixing. That's just me.
As I've mentioned before, my friend Alisa hired me to be her second shooter for a wedding at the beach (don't we totally sound like assassins?) These are some of my favorite color photos from that day.
I'm including this one mainly to show you that on the Southeast coast, we have grass on our beaches. Aren't we cute? Alisa is from California and she didn't believe it until she saw it with her own eyes.
Alisa was the main photographer so she had all the responsibility. I just got to have fun. Which is why I had time to take this photo of a guest just before the wedding. I kind of want to be her.I really like the angle of this photo, but I also wanted to share with you our dilemma that evening: the sunset. Notice the giant standing in the back? Her shadow was basically in the center aisle the entire time.
This lucky groom didn't have to wear a tux or even shoes.
Here's a wide angle shot from the back. The psychology of groups is fascinating to me. There were 30 folding white chairs set up, obviously not enough for everyone. Turns out, most of the chairs remained empty because nobody wanted to take up a chair.
Detail shot of her dress. I had to include this one. I love a bride who isn't worried about a little sand on her train.
Speaking of sand and details, here is Emily trying to be cool and artsy. I was focusing on the sand on purpose, but it sort of just looks like a blurry bride and groom. Still, I can't help myself. I kind of like it.Don't you love it when a groom dips his bride for the kiss? I sure do.
They were chatting with guests after the ceremony and I paparazzied around them like a fool to get this shot.The sun was setting at the perfect time, just when we were finishing up with the photos of the family.The reception was in a cool building in downtown Wilmington right across the street from where Dawson's Creek filmed the one where Pacy bought Joey a wall. Yes, we did go back the next day and take photos in front of "the wall". This one may be my most favorite of the color shots. A perfect way to end a wedding: with friends and fire. And with that last photo, I realize all of my favorite colors only show the back of the brides' head. I'll have to rethink that in the black and whites.

a preview

This is the scene before the guests sat down at the wedding I shot with Alisa a few weeks ago. It was on the beach and very small, as you can see. I look forward to sharing more of them here. Until then, here is one of my favorites from her bridal portrait session.When I am able to sit down and sift through, I will show you some photos from the actual wedding day with like, the groom and everything. Until then, here's a detail shot. I just can't resist capturing the details. It's my favorite.