Category: Uncategorized

Do you LOVE taking pictures of your children? Do often wish you could get better images of them? Whether you are using a point and shoot camera or a DSLR, MCP Actions, creator of Photoshop actions and Lightroom Presets, is here to help you take better photos of your kids and grand kids.

6 tips and tricks to photographing your children:

1. Get a little closer. One of the biggest differences you can make is to get closer to the subject in your photo. Sometime we are caught up with getting the nice scenery behind them and our children get lost in the image.
2. Look for different angles. One way to get more variety in your photos is to look for different angles instead of always taking them straight on.
3. Try to engage your kids. Be silly, make funny faces, jump around, sing silly songs. They will be more likely to give you natural expressions and they will have more fun.
4. Try distracting your kids. It can be hard to get young children to stay still for a photo. Try putting something on your head like reindeer antlers or put something on the top of your camera like a fuzzy sticker. You will get their attention and they most likely look straight at your camera.
5. Natural is OK. We all have this notion that we want the perfect portrait of our children. Remember to capture the every day moments. The blank stares in space, the moody, sullen moments, the quiet moments, these are all memories that you will want to look back upon, not just the smiling picture perfect moments
6. Know when to stop. If you are starting to get upset with your kids then its time to put the camera away and try again another day.

4 Tips and Tricks for lighting:

1. Golden hour! The best time of day to take outdoor pictures is one hour after sunrise or one hour before sunset. The light is soft and pretty during those hours and the shadows are not as harsh. The next time you head to the beach, take your kids out for a nice walk one hour before sunset and bring your camera!
2. Overcast days are the best! Whenever we have an overcast day I run and get my camera and head outdoors with the kids. The clouds create a diffuser over the sun and it softens the light and minimizes shadows. My favorite outdoor images have been taken on overcast days.
3. Look for open shade. A great place is a porch, gazebo or under a tree. This will help your children from squinting.
4. Back light. If you have to take pictures in bright open sun be sure to place the sun behind your child rather than putting the sun behind you. This will make a pretty halo of light behind your child and will also make them less likely to squint!

Remember to have fun! I love documenting my children’s youth with photographs whether it’s with my DSLR or my iPhone. Some of my favorite images of my children are not the posed holiday cards images but rather the spontaneous, in the moment images that capture what they are doing and how they are feeling!

Jodi Friedman, the owner of MCP Actions, makes photo editing easier and faster with Photoshop Actions, Lightroom Presets and Online Training. Her colleague, Tracy Callahan of Memories by TLC, is a portrait studio specializing in newborns, young children and maternity sessions. Together they offer a one-of-kind online Newborn Photography Workshop. To learn more about MCP’s Newborn Photography Online Mentoring: The Start to Finish Workshop click here. Make sure to follow MCP Actions on Facebook and to subscribe to their blog, for more great photography and editing articles.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

10 Surefire Tips To Help You Capture Better Images of Your Children

Digital Photography School

paddling with a camera

When I was a child, my mother made silhouettes of me each year- showing my bowl haircut and giant nose. She traced my outline with a pencil on black craft paper, then framed it on a white background.

A silhouette is a distilled image- an outline of a whole. By simplifying the subject, all the “clutter” and extraneous information can be removed. Now that I’m starting my own family, it’s no surprise that I am returning to the silhouette to tell our story. It’s summertime in Boulder, Colorado. This means afternoon thunderstorms. My wife and I walked out to the parking lot the other day and make this dramatic silhouette.

© Eli Powell – Nikon D700, 24-70 mm @ 62mm, 1/125s, F6.3, iso400

One of the easiest ways to create a silhouette is by backlighting the subject. This can be via natural light (shooting into the sun for example) or in this case via off-camera lighting. The “harder” the light source is, the sharper the silhouette will be. For dramatic effect, under expose the image so only the silhouette remains.

© Eli Powell – Nikon D700, 24-70mm @24mm, 1/125s, F3.5, iso 800

Here is a “before” image of the shot above. This is what the parking lot looked like to the naked eye. You can see that by underexposing the “clutter” disappears, and the subject is able to shine through.

© Eli Powell – Nikon D700, 24-70 mm @ 62mm, 1/125s, F6.3, iso400

One of the biggest issues with silhouettes (and backlighting in general) is avoiding lens flare. Lens flare happens with the light source shines directly on the lens. Flare leads to loss of contrast, sharpness & can produce color spots on the image. To avoid flare, use a lens hood and carefully position the camera (or light) so that there is not a “line of sight” between the two.

–

Eli Powell is a Boulder Wedding Photographer specializing in modern wedding photographer. He live in Boulder Colorado with his wife & cat, and travels throughout Colorado photographing love.

Website: http://elipowellphotography.com

dslrBlog

There is a fine line between genius and insanity, and it's a line the DIY readership of this site has proudly straddled at times.

But this time, the genius/insanity line is being straddled by a commercial product. Lemme 'splain… Read more »

Strobist

paddling with a camera

paddling with a camera

Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

I am working on a series of portraits of businesspeople for my county's Economic Development Authority, and it almost feels like I am back at The Sun shooting dailies for the biz section.

It's been awhile since we have done a full 360-degree OA, and this is actually a good example of working on top of a fluorescent environment.

So what the heck, let's go. Follow the bouncing ball… Read more »

Strobist

paddling with a camera

The Fair can provide some exciting photographic opportunities ranging from the crowds, multicolored lights, vendor and game booths, strange and exotic food, farm animals and of course, the rides! Taking pictures of people at the Fair can be rewarding, but often this is frowned upon by the subject (unless you know them) and even worse, Fair Security. Keeping your focus to the rides is a safe bet. Getting gear through the front gate has not been a problem for me (including a tripod and full backpack). It is a good idea to check restrictions before arriving loaded to the gills with equipment – you may be making an extra trip back to your car after being denied entry by security.

© Erik Kerstenbeck

Any camera with the capability of Manual Settings will allow you to experiment with capturing movement. Using slow shutter speeds allows the moving subject to blur which creates a sense of speed. Experimenting with different shutter speeds will be necessary depending on the velocity of the moving object and its motion with respect to the camera. Don’t worry too much about this – just try a few different settings, preview the results and make adjustments on the fly.

The twilight hour is often best for this type of photography. One can still capture a properly exposed sky and the multicolored lights as they sparkle to life. Having something other than a pitch black sky will add depth to your images as well as a pleasing background. This time is short, so plan ahead for your shot. After this period, the sky will be black, so no need to rush your other work, just compose, experiment and recompose. One of the challenges of shooting at the fair, aside from the camera adjustments, is getting a good shot of the rides, without the crowds. One way to do this is to find the rides Exit ramp and set up close to there. This is the least frequented area as crowds gather at the Entrance. If possible, find a low perspective and shoot up and with a wide-angle lens. This will also eliminate any distractions. Keep in mind, with slow shutter speeds, people can walk through your shot without much effect (provided they don’t stand in front). Sometimes having a “ghost” or two also makes for an interesting image enhancement.

This image was taken at the 2012 San Diego County Fair. Here the goal was to capture two types of motion; linear from The Sphinx and rotational from the s[pinning ride in the background. To capture this image, I mounted a Nikon D7000 on a Manfrotto tripod, equipped with Sigma 10-20mm wide-angle and cabled shutter release I carefully composed and experimented with shutter speed until I got what I wanted. To freeze the Sphinx, I used a single off camera Nikon SB600 Speedlight. There is no need to worry about White Balance, just set to Auto and correct in post (keeping in mind to always shoot in RAW).

–

Erik Kerstenbeck is a San Diego Landscape and Portrait Photographer

dslrBlog