Instagram is the photo sharing and social networking service of the moment, bought solidly to the forefront with the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook and the release of the iPhone 5. With more than 5 million photos being uploaded every hour by the 50 millionusers across the world, Instagram is certainly representative of a larger iPhoneography movement that is captivating Continue Reading
The post 30 Guys That Bring Faith Back to Instagram Photography appeared first on Photodoto.
A Guest Post by Desmond Louw
I just love street photography and with this comes street portraiture.
It can be a bit daunting to go up to a stranger and ask them to take their photo, but after a day or two it becomes addictive! Here are some tricks that might make it a bit easier for you:
?Always have your camera with you, don’t lug your whole photo bag or a tripod around like a tourist in your own town, just have your camera body and one lens handy. It sucks walking in the street and seeing something awesome and not having my camera with me!
?Have a good lens, this makes a huge impact. I like the 50mm F1.4/F1.8 and the 85mm F1.4/ F1.8, they are also small and relatively lightweight.
The wide aperture isolates your subject nicely with a shallow depth of field.
?Don’t use a flash! Remember you want to maintain a low profile. Rather push your ISO up if you have to. I personaly think an onboard flash could spoil a photo.
?Before approaching a person to ask him or her if you can take a photo, have your settings spot on. When they say yes, lift your arms and snap snap snap, say thank you, and walk away. Easy.
?If you are taking a shot of someone without them knowing, keep the auto focus assist light off, otherwise they will see it and spoil the mood.
Connect with Desmnd Louw at his website and on instagram where his id is – desmond_in_capetown
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
5 Tips For Capturing Great Street Portraits
As an opinionated blogger, watching Flickr roll out recent changes to the site this past week has been an interesting experience, to say the least.
Thanks, Marissa Mayer, for making Flickr awesome again. Thanks also to the Flickr team who have worked so hard to roll out these changes. The new Flickr is the most photo immersive experience anywhere on the web. It is far more engaging and far more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.
Witnessing and countering in the vile hatefest that the Flickr Help Forum has become this past week has also been interesting. Simply for expressing my opinion in a public feedback forum on the new design, I’ve been called a shill, a troll, a sock puppet, a scrotum sack, and many things far worse that I don’t really feel like printing.
I’ve been told that my photography is absolute crap, been accused of working for Yahoo, of being related to Marissa Mayer, of trying to pump up Yahoo’s stock price by supporting the changes — my work, motives and integrity have all been subject to relentless attacks there.
There is little civility in a forum taken over by the ugliest and most vulgar of what the web represents.
The vandalization of Marissa Mayer’s own Flickrstream, and the encouraged vandalism in the same forum, saddens me. To see someone leave an offensive comment on a Mother’s Day Photo, of all things, makes Flickr less of a place to want to spend time.
One Flickr staffer had to actually turn off public comments on his Flickrstream. “You are going to hell,” was the comment that made him turn them off.
There is, at least, a partial answer to this problem: give us a tool to block other users on Flickr.
Flickr already does have a blocking feature of course, it’s just super weak and only prevents someone from leaving a comment on one of *your* photos.
On the other hand, even if you block someone, they can still attack you in all sorts of other places on Flickr, where you spend time. Flickr users should be able to use the public areas of the site without being subject to vile personal attacks. The Help Forum, Groups, other people’s photos, all should be places where Flickr users can visit and feel safe and comfortable.
I left Flickr groups for good a few years back (so did a lot of my friends). The reason why I left was that groups were becoming too ugly. Especially as an opinionated and high profile user, I found myself subject to constant terrible attacks. There was nothing that could really be done about this. Sure, you could report someone violating the Flickr Community Guidelines to Flickr, and maybe 5 days later their account would be deleted, but then they’d just make up a new troll account and be right back at it over and over again.
It was simply easier to just leave the public community of Flickr than to deal with the hate.
When I first joined Google+, I saw some of these same bad actors appear over there, too. I’d watch both myself and my good friends be attacked by others — jealous, petty haters and trolls, mostly. But then Google did a really smart thing. Google rolled out a really strong blocking tool and, just like that, all the hate went away.
You see, on Google+, when you block somebody, they become entirely invisible to you. They are entirely filtered out of all of your views on G+. Poof. Gone for good, not just in your stream, but *everywhere* for you on the site — and that has made Google+ a far better, nicer and more polite place for community than Flickr. Where the Flickr community is a negative hatefest, the G+ community is the most amazing, optimistic, supportive community I’ve ever known online.
You see, blocking the worst of the web doesn’t just filter it out of your view. The more significant thing that it does is it *encourages* civility.
Right now on Flickr we have no power against incivility. People can be as nasty and as rude and as ugly and as disrespectful as they want. They can spam the Flickr help forum with images of excrement (as they actually did last week) and you can’t do a damn thing about it — but if you give us the ability to block these bad actors, then their power is reduced. They know that as soon as they begin the ugliest of hate that the vast majority of positive contributing members will simply block them. Their audience is diminished and soon they are standing on a soap box shouting only to the 10 or so other users who share their hate filled outlook on life.
Before I quit using Flickr groups, one particular nasty member was looking at the photos that I was favoriting (this is forced public and Flickr won’t allow me to control who gets to see it — unlike on G+ where it is private) and this person began leaving vile comments on every photo that I was commenting on. This way, every single one of their comments was showing up in my recent activity, even though I’d blocked them from commenting on my own photos. That’s just wrong.
If Flickr wants to be a place where community can flourish, they need to give us tools to protect ourselves from the hate.
Marissa, I don’t need to tell you how bad the hate can be on Flickr. If you’ve reviewed your own Flickrstream this past week, you know what I’m talking about. It’s deplorable. Especially when any user can so easily just keep making anonymous troll account after anonymous troll account — please, give us a tool to remove the bad actors from our Flickr experience.
This week’s new design work was fantastic, now let’s go to work on improving the community for those of us who want to positively contribute there as well.
by Sarah Hipwell
What is compositing? Simply, it means to combine two or more images to make a single picture.
As a photographer, I’m constantly coming up with different concepts that I feel might make a good photo. But it is not always possible to get the perfect shot in one session. There have been numerous occasions while on a shoot where the light was not bright enough for the particular shot that I had in mind. On other occasions the background was too distracting. This is where the ability to create composite imagery in Photoshop is a huge advantage.
To produce a composite image in Photoshop, you need to isolate the subjects from the background of your various source photos. When I started out, I used the pen tool to help isolate my subjects. Now, I use the ‘quick selection’ and ‘refine edge’ tools which are superb and are a much faster way of doing extractions, especially for isolating hair!
But for this tutorial, I’m going to use the pen tool to create a path which I then save this as an alpha channel selection. I believe the pen tool should never be overlooked as an excellent way for beginners to increase their proficiency level with Photoshop. If you are new to using the pen tool, it does take a bit of getting used to but after time, you will pick up speed and accuracy. The big plus side to creating paths in this way is that they are re-editable and non-destructive.
I have highlighted three key features:
Here’s the method:
I took the photo above for a concept shot titled ‘Recycled toilet paper’. I wanted a bright blue sky with white fluffy clouds as the background. The above shot did not have the background that I wanted. So I waited a couple of days and I got the shot I wanted. See below:
I made my selection using the pen tool to isolate the toilet rolls and clothesline. Zoom in up to 300 – 400% to get a good outline, as shown below.
Holding down the Alt/Ctrl key enables you to move anchor points and direction lines and again make any edits to your lines and curves.
When you have finished plotting your anchor points, you can then save this outline in the Paths Palette. This selection can then be added as a layer mask. It should resemble the black and white image on the right below.
I imported the new sky background by going to the File menu and select Place. The image then appeared as a Smart Object and on a separate layer. I had to reduce the size but the quality of the image was maintained.
When I was happy with the position of the new sky background, I merged all the layers onto one. I used a keyboard shortcut (Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) to achieve this. The reason for this is that the next adjustment isn’t non-destructive so that if I want to redo this edit, I would have to delete the layer and repeat the above step again.
The final adjustment was to go to Image menu and select Match Color to make sure the color is balanced between the two images. Using Image>Adjustments>Match Color I played with the two sliders to get the color of the image more uniform in appearance. See the link below where I uploaded the final composite image to iStockphoto.com
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6231026-recycling-toilet-paper.php?st=faf18be
See more of Sarah Hipwell’s work at her website – SarahHipwell.com
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
An Introduction to Photoshop Compositing for Beginners
Earlier this week, Flickr rolled out the most significant changes to their service since purchased by Yahoo back in 2005.
In addition to a major web redesign and a new Android app, Flickr also changed the basic fee structure of their account types and storage limits.
Former Pro users are being allowed to retain their $ 24.99 year fee structure for unlimited, ad free service. If you are a Pro account user, nothing changes if you want to keep it.
Free account users were all given 1 terabyte of free high res photo storage. Free accounts are still ad supported, as they have been in the past, but now you are no longer limited to only viewing your 200 most recent uploads to the site.
Despite the typical torch and pitchfork mob rage emanating from the Flickr Help Forum*, (a group of super negative Flickr users representing less than .01% of all Flickr users), I’ve found over the past week that engagement on my own photos is up dramatically. More specifically, based on my Flickr stats page, engagement (as measured by comments and favorites) is up approximately 294% on my own photos since the new release.
*Dear Marissa Mayer, PLEASE, give us the ability to block users on Flickr, it would make it a much nicer place for those of us who want to enjoy it. 
I have no way of knowing, more broadly speaking, if the stats numbers look this good for Flickr in general, but if they do, I suspect that they are very happy indeed with the success of this week’s new features.
This post is not meant to be a debate about the new changes; this post is for those of you who are ok with the site design and are now looking for ways to get the most out of it.
On with the list.
1. Consider a strategy for uploading your batches of photos. I upload two batches of photos to Flickr a day — one in the morning and one in the evening. Your upload strategy and the ordering of your batch uploads matters. With the new Flickr redesign, photos on the flickr.com homepage are really, really, big. Big photos get far more engagement. However, the only photo that gets shown ginormous on the flickr.com homepage is the very last one that you upload. The 5 before that are shown as small thumbnails there.
So, if you are uploading a batch of photos to Flickr, make sure the one that is uploaded last is the best of the batch. Also, landscape oriented and square photos show up much larger on the flickr homepage than portrait oriented crops. So, all other things being equal, consider making sure your last photo uploaded in a batch to Flickr is one of your strongest square or landscape oriented photographs.
2. Anyone who ever complains about losing photos on a crashed hard drive again is just dumb. While you, of course, should not depend on Flickr as your sole backup strategy, everyone now has a free 1TB drive in the sky for photos.
Even if you don’t want to share certain photos, or you only want to share them with your very close friends and family, upload them to Flickr anyways and mark them private or friends/family only. If nothing else, you will have a backup of last resort if you need to go get those photos later. I don’t know of anyplace else on the web where you can get 1TB of free storage. Take advantage of that not only for the photos you want to share publicly, but all your photos.
3. This is not necessarily a tip new to the new Flickr, but it’s one everyone ought to know about — keyboard commands..
On Flickr you can use the F key to fave a photo, the C key to comment on a photo, the G key to add a photo to a group, and the T key to tag a photo. This will make your Flickr experience much faster. For those complaining that, with larger photos, they now have to scroll down the page to comment, no you don’t — simply press the C key and you will jump right there, with your cursor right in place and ready to type.
4. … = MORE! This is a universal symbol on the internet for more. Anytime you see … anywhere, this means that there are things hidden underneath the … that you may want to find. It’s a good way for a site to de-clutter. I’ve seen many people ask where their favorite lesser used Flickr feature went (EXIF data, gallery functionality, all sizes, etc.). Just click on the … and you’ll find it all there.
5. Make the most out of your sets. By default, Flickr puts your sets in the order created. Your most recent sets are shown first, and older sets are shown last. This may not be the best way to present your sets though. One of my most viewed sets is one of my oldest, my 10 faves or more set. If I didn’t manually move this to the top of my sets page, it would be buried in the over 1,800 sets I have on Flickr. Go to the Flickr organizer page here and make sure that your sets are in the order that you want them in.
If you have a lot of sets and find it cumbersome to move them around in the organizer (like I do). Shrink your browser view to super small and it will make more and more thumbnails in the organizer that are easier to move around.
Make sure your sets page shows your best sets on the first page. This will give people a great first impression of what your albums are all about.
Consider making a few “best of” sets on Flickr. If you use Jeremy Brooks’ SuprSetr app it will automatically tag all of your photos that have been favorited 10 times or more fav10. It can then build an album for you of just these popular photos of yours that you can highlight on your sets page.
6. If you have a Flickr Pro account, do NOT let that expire. Your Flickr Pro account is worth more than it’s ever been worth in the past. It’s pure gold. Getting unlimited, high res, ad-free photos was the deal of a lifetime. Although Flickr is no longer offering this extraordinary deal anymore, if you have it, you get to keep it.
Go here to check on the status of your Flickr Pro and I’d recommend both renewing it now AND making sure you are set up as a recurring Pro so it automatically charges your credit card in the future. Don’t lose this awesome benefit.
7. Make sure you reupload your Flickr avatar on the new Flickr. The old Flickr used a smaller version of your avatar, so you might notice that you have sort of this weird small avatar over a larger, dimmed out version of your old avatar on your Flickr page. You can reupload a better sized version of your avatar which will override this and make your new, larger avatar look much better.
8. Change your cover photo. Flickr added a number of new cover photos by default with the new page design. Go to your page and change your cover photo to something new. Find a photo of yours (or a portion of a photo of yours) that uses an extreme landscape crop and will fit there and work well. I used a mosaic strip of photos for mine.
9. Make sure to review your “who calls you a contact” page. This is a page that shows everyone on Flickr who has contacted you. You may be surprised that some of your friends have contacted you that you are not aware of. Review this list to see if you’ve missed any old or new friends on Flickr and add them back if you want.
10. Make the most out of mobile. Although 95% of my own personal Flickr time is spent on the web version, don’t forget about mobile. Earlier this week, Flickr rolled out their Android app, which is every bit as good as their previous iPhone app and probably even better.
One of the easy things to do with this app is to favorite photos by your friends. Simply pull up your contacts photostream on the app and tap/tap to fave a photo. You can scroll down and see different friend’s photos or you can scroll sideways and see more photos from a single friend. When you have down time on the bus, or are waiting for your table at Bob’s Big Boy or wherever, use that time to favorite photos of your friends. They will see that and favorite your photos back most likely.
Bonus tip: Get the new Flickr app for Google Glass. It’s awesome! 
Just kidding. There’s no new Flickr app for Google Glass…
…yet.
You can find me on Flickr here.
Yesterday we published a post from Hailey Bartholomew with Tips for Taking Portraits that Reflect the Character and Spirit of Your Subject that gave me the theme of this weeks challenge.
Your challenge is to take and share an image on the theme of ‘Spirit’.
Feel free to approach the theme in any way that you wish – you might want to take a portrait that shows someones true spirit or you could photograph something that is ‘Spiritual’ or even photograph something that represents your spirit.
Be as creative as you’d like!
Once you’ve taken your ‘Spirit’ Photos – choose your best 1-2, upload them to your favourite photo sharing site either share a link to them even better – embed them in the comments using the our new tool to do so.
If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSSPIRIT to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.
Also – don’t forget to check out some of the great shots posted in last weeks Curves challenge – there were some great shots submitted.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Spirit: Weekly Photography Challenge
by Lynsey Peterson.
I hate nature. There. I said it. It’s like glitter—it seems like such a fun idea but no matter how careful you are, it gets all over you and 7 showers later you still find it in your hair. This is further complicated by the fact that I live in what is known around the planet as one of the most beautiful places in the world. As a photographer, it’s dreamy situation; I could photograph a family in a parking lot (and I have) and the surroundings are more beautiful than many conventional parks in the world. So most of the time I have to suck it up and schedule an immediate shower after to get the nature off me already.
But every once in a while I have a client request to do a shoot in their home. This is usually because I also live in a place where it’s about 30 degrees outside for a couple months of the year. Even if you don’t ever have snow on the ground where you’re at, beyond just avoiding nature there are lots of good reasons to photograph people in their homes.
People are comfortable in their homes, surrounded by their stuff. They know where the bathroom is and that if there is an emergency drink of water or fruit snack situation, it will be handled quickly and with ease. But photographing in a home, especially if you have never seen it before is usually a bit of a gamble. Lighting, space, simplifying………the fact that they neglected to mention they have a mannequin head collection in their living room……all can create hurdles. Here are some basics that will help you jump those mannequin head hurdles.
In every home, there’s natural light. You need one good window; it can be anywhere and face any direction. Ask to see the whole house, explaining that you aren’t allergic to the inevitable laundry piles that have likely been shoved into the rooms they weren’t planning on you seeing. An entire shoot can take place in a kid’s bedroom, or a kitchen, or even a bathroom (Probably. If it’s a fantastic bathroom. And if it’s that fantastic of a bathroom, by all means you’ll want to see it.)
Often I end up in the master bedroom where there is likely a large window and enough space to work with. Even if you shoot with flash, you’ll need some natural light as it builds the cozy and intimate atmosphere that home shoots are all about.
Even more than their home, people love their stuff. And in their home, you’re surrounded by it. Create beautiful interactions with children by being interested in their beloved treasures and asking questions: “What’s this?”, “How does it work?”, “What do you use it for?”, even if it’s obvious. Ask adults what their favorite thing about their home is.
It could be a fantastic piece of art that easily becomes a backdrop. Or that they always pile on the sofa on Friday nights and watch movies together, giving you a setting and vibe. Use their thoughts and make them into personalized ideas for pictures that will be much more meaningful than them running around a random park.
In an outdoor setting, a photographer is often having to create moments or push for situations. By photographing someone in their home, they are already more comfortable than they would have been anywhere else. Use this to your advantage by becoming a spectator and seeing what naturally happens. Because you are the guest in this situation, instead of looking to you for direction, they are much more likely to do things they do normally, giving you an amazing opportunity to document everyday life beautifully.
Because you are likely working with tighter spaces and less options for variety, you’ll have to get creative. The trend of photojournalism in portrait photography lends itself well here. What would they normally be doing if you weren’t there? Ask and work with it. Bake cookies, read books, have a pillow fight. This is what’s going to make your images meaningful portraits and not just snapshots they could have taken themselves.
Much like portrait photography in general, planning shots beforehand is often nothing more than a lesson in frustration. Even if you know who you are photographing very well, you have no idea what direction the pictures will take. Walk in with a plan and you’ll end up on a dirt road with no map and no expectation of having to rough it back. The image below is my son. He is high-strung, full of obnoxious expressive energy, likes things a certain way, and is just like me.
This shot came from an attempt at getting a sweet and traditional portrait in honor of his 3rd birthday. But he wanted to color and ignore me. So we argued about the finer points of photography, and how quick this would be if he would just work with me already, and how people pay me good money for this and he has no idea how lucky he is that I am creating this documentation of his childhood for him to see later. Or maybe he just screamed no at me and went back to coloring. It’s hard to remember the exact conversation, but the point is: I got this shot. Which I love. And sums up my son at that time in his life better than any perfectly constructed and planned image could have.
Just because you aren’t at a beautiful and serene park-like setting, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth changing it up and taking everyone out to the yard for some fresh air. You need a few feet—that’s it. You don’t need snowcapped mountains in the background, you don’t need a gorgeous sunset, you don’t need perfect puffy clouds in a perfectly blue sky (though those are really nice if they are available). And 30 degrees or not, people are usually willing to be outside for a shot or two.
Even if they end up with nature all over them.
Check out more of Lynsey Peterson’s work on her website.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Home Is Where The Heart Is: How To Take Portraits In It
21 face-retouching tutorials are at your service! Realistic perfect skin, teeth and eyes heve never been so easy to reach.
The post 50 Portrait Retouching Tutorials To Take Your Photoshop Skills To A New Level appeared first on Photodoto.
by Sarah Hipwell
It’s been about four years since my last visit to the zoo. Last week my two girls had a break from school so I decided to take them along with my Mum for a day out to visit the animals at Dublin Zoo. I brought my trusty new Sony RX100 and as a backup I brought my Nikon D300 DSLR. In the end the D300 camera didn’t come out of my bag!
I really wanted to test out the RX100 and see how well this compact camera performed in the wild!
Actually, I had been interested in purchasing a compact camera for a while now. My husband has taken some great shots with his Retina iPhone. But I don’t have an iPhone nor do I particularly like smartphones per se.
With any camera that you choose, there will always be trade-offs. I find the D300 to be a little cumbersome not to mention heavy. There are just times when a handy compact is all you want, but you still want quality shots. Enter the Sony RX100. It was launched last year and has received glowing reviews.
And rightfully so!
The price did seem a little steep but the more I read about this camera, the more I wanted it! So I decided to trade in my Nikkor 28mm lens against the purchase of the camera. I also have a 18-200mm lens so it wasn’t any hardship to lose the 20mm.
The moment we got to the zoo I put my RX100 on my sling strap. This was ideal. I haven’t enjoyed taking photos in this way for such a long time. It was pure point and shoot from the word go. I did decide to leave it on Manual mode for most of the time. I like to be able to adjust Aperture/Shutter speed/ISO quickly and the RX100 has a Function button which provides easy access to ISO settings when needed.
I had previously seen a wonderful photo of Asian lion, a recent addition to the Dublin Zoo. I was looking forward to taking a few shots of him but somehow I managed to miss my opportunity. However, I get a few nice shots of this magnificent Tiger shown below.
The seals were a treat to watch too. Their keeper explained a bit about these creatures and how they train them. I wanted to test the HD video quality and I was blown away by the quality, here is a screengrab that I took as a still.
The zoom feature on the RX100 was a real surprise. I wasn’t expecting much but it turned out to be quite impressive. Here’s a couple of shots that I took of the giraffes, standing from the same spot. See below.
Next were the Gorillas. Every time I see these primates, I’m in awe. I think it’s because we, as in humans, look so similar. I just love the expression on this gorilla’s face. See below.
My favorite feature so far on the RX100 is the macro ability, especially as it can open to f1.8
Here is an example of a close up of this snake in the reptile house at f2.5. See below.
The camera also packs a 1 inch large sensor with 20 million effective pixels.
I’m still getting use to this camera but it is my go to camera for the moment. All in all, the Sony RX100 is a very nice, light and powerful compact camera.
Get a price on the Sony RX100 at Amazon.
Learn more about this camera with our previous full review of the Sony RX100.
See more of Sarah Hipwell’s work at her website – SarahHipwell.com
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
The Sony RX100 at Dublin Zoo [USER REVIEW]
A Guest contribution by Hailey Bartholomew from You Can’t Be Serious.
Who are you photographing? If you don’t know them well, find out what they love to do and where they relax the most.
Maybe they love to row boats or take picnics at their favourite park every Sunday.
Maybe you are photographing your grandmother who loves to be out in her garden. Go and do that with them.
Whatever they love to do to relax, tag along with your camera.
But don’t sit back on the sidelines hoping to catch a moment from far away – get down and into whatever they are doing. You need to be in IN that row boat and if your nana is kneeling in the dirt, you should be too. Get into the action and photograph your loved one or client doing what they love.
The family below loved playing music together and going on picnics… We did that!
This couple love drinks by the pool….
Set your camera settings to multiple shots so you can shoot lots of frames quickly. Then, either get your subject to move around, or YOU move with them.
If you have little kids and they keep wanting to run around, hold their hand and say pull me along! Select follow focus and start shooting. You will create natural moments but also fun energetic photos.
Your subject will forget it is about being formal and ‘looking’ good’ if you are moving and having fun. Same if they are moving around.
I love to get my subjects to piggyback each other or walk in a row or play around. Be there to catch the action and you will find your subjects are relaxed. Maybe play some music and dance!
The perfect photo opportunity occurs when a real perfect moment is actually happening!
The best way to get someone being real is to capture a real moment of joy or happiness or reflection. If I have my camera way upstairs and in it’s case I am much less likely to capture everyday perfect moments with my kids.
So I keep my camera handy. It sits out of the case on a bench or is in a bag I take everywhere. Then when the right something happens I am ready to go!
Try a week long challenge and have you camera handy all week long. Keep it on your shoulder or on the bench in the lounge – somewhere you can grab it quickly. See what perfect and REAL moments you can capture!
Below is a moment with my daughter… after hanging out the washing she came to show me her rockstar outfit… 
So glad I caught this moment. So perfectly her!
And another great ‘real’ moment was this recently on the beach we found an old trampoline and dug a hole for it. My daughter had the best time leaping off and onto the sand!! Lucky I had my camera with me!
Lastly.. keep it real by being real yourself. Be honest and true to who you are. Don’t try to be all professional and formal and knowing everything rather relax, explore photography and be yourself. This keeps things not too formal. Have fun!
Hailey Bartholomew is an award winning film-maker & photographer who is in love with real and fun work that hopefully either makes you smile or makes you think. Hailey works for international aid organisations, shoots TV commercials, documentaries, family portraits and promo videos. You can see some of her work at her site You Can’t Be Serious.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
3 Tips for Taking Portraits that Reflect the Character and Spirit of your Subject