Welcome to my little piece of blog-dom, my little slice of internet-heaven, my piece of cyberspace…. you get it. I’ve been thinking about what to write for my first official blog post after finishing my website, and I keep going back to the fact that I am- by training- a teacher! I would love to be able to share tips with you about what I’ve learned about improving my photography- especially when it comes to taking photographs of our kids. Isn’t that why so many of us got our first digital SLR? You know, cameras that actually look like cameras? When our daughter was born almost 6 years ago, I remember telling my husband that I was NOT going go let her childhood go by with nothing but crummy snapshots from a tiny little point-and-shoot camera! Not that he ever needed convincing, I think I had to convince myself. And not that point-and-shoots or camera phones are bad… on the contrary! Who would ever have thought we’d be carrying around tiny cameras in our pockets? Or that our phones, which also fit in our pockets, take photographs?!? (Yes, I grew up with a rotary-dial phone. Then we upgraded to the kind with push-buttons… WHHAAAAT? Buttons???) Anyway, if you’re like me, you may have gotten a dSLR with the hopes of finally getting your photographs to look like THAT (-insert breathtaking photo here-). Thing is, even most affordable “fancy” cameras still want average joes to be able to press the shutter and get a picture! So, I realized after a while that I would need to read, study, practice, read, study, and practice. And guess what? I still read, study and practice every day! The day we stop learning is the day we stop living… Is that how that goes?
Ok, before I get too philosophical… Though I am no master, I’ve invested the most time in my education, and have gained so much just by being a diligent learner. So, periodically, I plan to share some easy-to-implement and easy-to-practice tips to get you out of that frustrating “what’s-this-button-for?” stage and start improving your photos, whether you have a dSLR or your camera phone!
So, I’m going to start with THE simplest of tips for taking better pictures of your kids:
TIP #1 for better photos of your kids: Watch them doing something they love.
Here, my son was immensely enjoying licking the chocolate frosting off the beater. Nothing makes that kid happier than eating sugar. Wait, make that sugar and butter. I didn’t have to try to make him smile, it was there all along- just waiting to sneak out! Whether they’re swinging, chasing the dog, coloring, riding their bike- you’re bound to see great things when they’re engaged in what they love!
.jpg)
There’s the first tip! Though it may seem obvious, we often might forget the best times to take photos of our kids, and just try to get them to look our way and say, “cheese!” So, hopefully, this will get you to think a little more about those great opportunities for photos.
And of course, on this blog, I plan to share images from my sessions! I truly LOVE being able to create photographs for people. I love that *GASP* moment when I see something beautiful happen through my lens- when I see a smile or laugh or something that I KNOW is precious to that family. I love knowing I can create the opportunity to turn that moment into an image that will exist forever! It’s pretty cool.
Thanks for reading!
