It can be a really daunting experience to move away from the AUTO modes on your camera, but you really must if you want to get great photos!
And the first step is to move to something called Aperture Priority Mode. This will help you get more control over how your images turn out, but as it still leaves you with the “safety net” of the camera balancing the exposure, so you don’t need to worry about that just yet 😉.
We’ve a lot to get through in this blog post, so let’s get crackin’!
Have you heard the aperture when learning photography, and wondered what it is?
Or what that has to do with the term F-stop?
And just what the heck depth of field is?!
Then you’re in the perfect place! In this blog post we’re going to go over what Aperture is, what the term F-stop means, plus what depth of field is and how we can use it for creative photos!
Ready? Let’s dive in!
It can sometimes be the Nirvana of child photography - getting images where your child looks happy, full and joy and completely carefree…..unlike the moody face you normally get :-)
But it is totally doable! There’s just a few things to keep in mind.
In this week’s blog post, I’ve got five tips for you that will help you capture the joy of children, whether you are photographing your own family, or for client sessions if you’re in business.
We’ve all felt it at one time or another - we’ve got no idea what we could even take photos of, every image we DO take seems boring and “snapshotty”, and we’re left wondering if our creativity has got up and gone.
For some, just putting down their camera works a treat, and for others, such as myself, a small but firm kick up the pants is needed.
These creativity exercises are those kick in the pants, so pick one, and get out there and start shooting!
Lifestyle photography is without doubt my favourite genre of photography - one where you can capture an everyday moment or scene beautifully, and freeze that moment in time.
On the whole, this is how I capture my family every single day, rather than waiting for milestone moments like birthdays or the one-a-year family photos (which I love too, but in a different way!)
But of course, lifestyle photography has it’s challenges too, so here’s my five top tips for getting better child and family lifestyle photos.
I get it, we can all feel sometimes like it’s harder to take photos when we are stuck in at home, rather than in the great outdoors.
But there are loads of opportunities for capturing great photos of our kids indoors as well as out.
So today, I’ve come up with 8 ideas for photographs you take of your children at home, along with a few tips and tricks for each one.
Ready? Let’s go!
When I first started learning how to edit my photos, I followed a few different tutorials online, patched them together, and studiously applied them to each and every photo.
The result?
Eye blindingly bright, overly contrasty and saturated images, that looked like they had been edited by 10 different people.
(My eyes hurt just THINKING about those early edits 😎😵)
But you don’t have to make those mistakes too, because you’ve got me, and I’m not gonna let that happen!
So without further ado, here’s 7 deadly photo editing sins - and most importantly, how you can avoid them.
Have you ever found yourself wondering exactly WHERE an image that you’ve taken is?
Why you seem to have about 5 different copies of the same file kicking about?
Or you’ve been sat looking at your image for the last ten minutes wondering exactly what adjustments you should be making? Whether you’ve done enough?
If that’s you, then a) you are not alone and b) the chances are you’re missing something incredibly crucial - a Lightroom workflow.
For photographers, the taking of the image is only the beginning. You then need to transfer them to your computer, back them up, edit them, and get these into a form where they can be used, viewed and shared.
Without a workflow in place, you’ll be doing different things at different times, which leads to images being scattered around in 5 different locations, all with different file names (or helpfully called IMG2068.CR2), and all with different editing styles applied.
The key to not getting into this mess is to get yourself an efficient workflow, so you’ll always know exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to keep it the same each time.
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