Welcome. Whether you work outside the home or your home in mommaland most days, I think we can all agree that our children are our greatest joy. Its only natural to want to capture their every move on film.. and whether you consider yourself a professional with a camera or of complete amateur status, there is no better subject than your child to take pictures of. No one can capture a child's natural adoring smiles quite like their momma can. I am loving and full-on embracing the 'mommas with cameras craze' we have going in our social networking and daily lives. With the accessibility and affordability of dslr cameras (well, digital in general), it is no wonder more and more moms are joining in on the passion that is photography.
There is nothing quite like being a mom!
For all of you English majors out there, please bare with me as I attempt to blog my way through some great photo tips and creative ideas without completely butchering our beloved English language. My apologies waaaaaay in advance for anything on my part that is not grammatically correct.
All of the points talked about in this intro blog will all be great post topics for blogs to come. We'll get into detail and be way more specific...showing both good and bad examples to easily see differences, as well as show attention to detail in camera angles and lighting. Initially the goal is to just give you an idea of what mommasnaps is all about.
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This 'set' of pictures has several things going on with it so I thought it would be a good couple of snapshots to build on. As a scrap booking and blogging momma, I decided to mark each month of the first two years of my son Kellen's life with a set of monthly milestone pictures. There is really know rhyme or reason or organization to it, other then its been really neat to use those monthly photos to help chart his growth and many changes....and of course with a busy schedule, this is done on various days and often a week or so LATE. oops
So each month, I pick out a fun outfit, try to put together somewhat of a game plan, and we take a 'set'.
These happen to be his 23 month milestone photos.
A zip lock baggy of dum-dum suckers is my go-to candy of choice for my son when we are in those tight spots and need to occupy his attention for a bit. My guess is that most moms have an emergency stash of something that aids in these fun life moments! I have discovered these 'pops', as my son calls them, are also handy during his photo shoots.
So a sucker, his hot wheel car, and his dad were what we brought along on this 'set'.
- Don't be afraid to 'Rock the Edges'!-
Rock the edges is what I call cropping into the subject...Not being afraid to get those close up shots that cut off small portions. There are no rules saying
your subject HAS to be perfectly centered in your view finder with plenty of head room. The slight crop into the subject helps emphasize the entire focus on the child and his expression. Tight cropped photos that rock the edges make some of the most fabulous scrapbook pictures of all. Try it, you'll love the result.
(again, this will be a great topic with more detail for a later post. A great one to show the good, the bad, and the not quite right, with examples.)
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and oh yes oh yes.. the classic 'day at the park' shots...Neighborhood park, local school, whatever playground you have access to, these give you a variety of natural expression snapshots of your child.
There is nothing more unnatural to our children then trying to pose them for 5500 weekly pictures and it often shows in the expressions that come across.
Mixing in extremely candid photo opportunities is great. In fact most of my favorite pictures
of Kellen are candid snapshots such as this one...
By not trying to center the subject, the image tells more of the story. and to this little guy that is full of energy the story goes something like... 'I just slid down that shiny fun slide behind me and had a BLAST, lets go again!'
The angle plays a huge part here also. Rather then standing back or standing up to shoot this one, I knelt down at the bottom of the slide and tilted slightly up. This helps tell that cutesie story from the child's point of view.. Puts it on his level.
Again on this next one, the knelt down angle keeps the story on the subjects level. This time the slide is swifter and dad is there to make certain of a smooth landing. By including the portion of my husband that I have, it works for this image without appearing too obviously 'chopped off.' If it were just my husbands hand in the picture it would look like a random hand hanging out with my son...eek.. put a face with the hand.. literally! (again, a future post showing good and bad examples of this will make that explanation clear as mudd.) :)
I tend to border on the cautious side and always try to bring someone along to help me carouse my son, keep him safe on the playground, etc. meanwhile, I can keep camera in hand and focus on getting the pictures I set out for. If you are brave enough to attempt going to a location alone with your child to keep up with them AND your camera then you are way more woman than I.
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If you're like me, you have taken so many pictures at your house, around your house, on your block, etc etc etc.. to the point you are growing weary of the look of the photos taken at home. So I've learned to venture out. I drive by places randomly and think 'that would be a great spot for pics'. so the next time I want snapshots of Kellen, we try out the random spot I have in mind.
There is a place and time for every type of background.
On this day I chose a bright sweater for my son, so the eye popping colors I wanted for these images came from him, not the background. So this chipped paint on this old door of this old school building worked great. By keeping the background simple, it keeps the focus on the subject.
Too busy of a background in pics like these causes the viewer to not know what to focus on. Literally the eyes shift around trying to take it all in, rather then honing in on the adorable child. - I am also not trying to hide the orange sucker or the hot wheel car he insisted on bringing along. Here's the deal, this age is AWESOME with our children watching them learn so many new things each day and experiencing so many firsts. For me at least, this experience and past year have been indescribable watching my child grow..but the truth of the matter is that along with this adorable time also comes the inability to get them to set still for pictures and most of the time cooperating is not really an option. After many many MANY failed attempts at getting my son to pose exactly how I wanted him to I have made my peace with REALITY. I've also caught on to a few momma tricks..If you allow them to bring the toy along in the first place, then taking the toy away when the camera comes out only causes them to get upset and that of course adds STRESS to the situation ...not to mention watery puffy eyes in your shot. If there is something your child loves, (in my case here, my son loves dum dum suckers.) then bring whatever it is along. plan ahead! (probably another good future post topic including some helpful tid bits.)
We also reached the age pretty early on, where saying 'smile' or 'say cheese' for my son caused him to scrunch up his nose and squint his eyes and make this hilarious expression...though priceless to his momma, this was not QuITE the look I was going for in his pictures to showcase his cuteness.. So we found out saying ' show me your teeth' works a little better. The above shot is the result. I am a firm believer in keeping them happy and laughing by bringing someone along that makes them laugh and feel comfortable, but there are always times when we really just want them to set and smile.. So try the 'show your teeth' thing and see if you have any luck.
Black and White images are a timeless collection. I have found that the older generation prefers the brighter colored images and the younger generation loves both, but really adores lots of black and white options for their photo shoots and wedding portraits. My mother-in-law probably explained it best when we had this discussion one day by explaining that 'back in the day' that is all they had were black and white pictures, no other options. So now they tend to prefer all the color that can be mustered into one frame. That makes good sense.
Just to touch base on a few black and white thoughts, I have found that most images that are just saturated in rich colors are so awesome in color that its hard for me to like them equally in black and white.. If I am ever wanting black and white specifically I try to pick a location with either a white based background, or semi dull coloring. And I pick clothes for Kellen that are solid mostly and light in color. This is the only image from this 'set' that I wanted in black and white due to the bright sweater, and I think it works because of the whited out back drop he is in front of... I smell a gooood post for the black and white topic!
In this next picture, my son is show casing his hand moves for the song 'happy and you know it.'
Every stage of a child's life brings with it very different challenges and obstacles, and the art of photographing the child is no different. All the challenges change as they grow. Kellen is at the age where singing funny songs with hand motions is exciting for him. So its something to incorporate into getting him relaxed and being his adorable self while the camera is out.
Tips and techniques can improve images regardless of the type of equipment you are using...
Happy Snapping!
