Sometimes its easy to forget about your camera once the weather gets cold outside and it starts snowing.
Sure it might be a little bit more inconvenient to shoot, but there are some great images out there just waiting to be taken.
In the interest of full disclosure, now that I’m in my 40′s the snow doesn’t really turn my crank much anymore, but when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to get outside and hop on the toboggan.
Most likely your kids are the same. There’s nothing better than taking pictures of your kids when they’re actually having a great time.
So what if its cold. So what if its wet. So what if you have a runny nose.
Take advantage of the joy your kids all feel and that you maybe used to feel when you were a kid and there was fresh snow on the ground.
I remember sitting by the radio in the morning with my fingers crossed hoping they would read off the code that would get us out of school for the day.
I remember that once that number was announced we’d call everybody in the neighborhood and within an hour we’d be on the side of our house with sleds, disks and toboggans.
We’d stay outside way past the point of being cold. We would be frozen to the bone. We’d build a fire in the fireplace and sit as close as we could without burning ourselves.
As a kid, I loved everything about that. How weird is that?
As an adult, that doesn’t sound fun at all. Maybe thats because the last time I shot in the snow I was up in Whistler shooting on a lake and I fell through up to my thighs. That was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life.
Fortunately, my assistant helped pull me out and we were close to the house we were renting so I could get warmed up pretty quick.
So……..get your butt outside whether its snowing or not and shoot your kids.
As promised, here’s a little photoshop tutorial that will show you how to salvage an image by using a piece of another image.
The base image is the one I want to use, but I have a leaf covering the boy’s eye. I found another image from the series where his eyes are free from any leaves.
All I have to do is isolate the area I want to use and drag it to my “base” image to hide the “offensive” leaf.
The tutorial is a bit simplified. If I were doing this for the client I would spend more time massaging the final image.
This is at the very least a good place to start. If you’re looking to get more in depth instruction you should consider registering for one of my upcoming Photo Mommies Workshops.
The tutorials for the workshop are more detail oriented.
Once you understand the principles behind this stuff you can play around with all kinds of options and variables.
In any case, have some fun with it……I hope it helps.
Ok, it’s just about officially winter, even here in Arizona. Take advantage of whatever leaves you have left and have some fun.
If you want to get the quintessential leaf toss photograph you need to be aware of a few things.
You need to make sure your people don’t look up too high into the air after tossing the leaves or you’ll see nothing but chins and nostrils.
The other big annoyance is that you’re gonna wind up with the vast majority of your pictures being ruined by random leaves covering up peoples’ faces.
You just have to make sure you shoot enough frames to get a really good one, or have enough Photoshop skills to strip a good “non leaf covered” face for the one that is blocked.
In fact, while I was writing this post I decided to do a video photoshop tutorial of how to do just that. If everything goes well, I’ll post it on the blog tomorrow.
In the meantime, if you live in an area where the trees aren’t completely bare, good luck with the leaf tossing or leaf fights or whatever else kind of “leaf activities” you decide capture with your camera.
For those of you who have been wanting to sign up for the next photo workshop, I’ll be announcing the February starting date pretty soon.
Our family just got back from a trip to Utah. The autumn leaves were incredible! I love this time of year.
We have 2 older children that are going to college up there and my wife and I both have extended family there as well.
It was nice to go up and see everyone as well as get out of the surprise 100 degree weather that showed back up here in Arizona last week.
We had a great time visiting with family and wish we were still up there.
One of the things I enjoy most about the Fall is the colors. It’s so much fun seeing all the vibrant colors and how quickly they change from day to day.
We took advantage of the weather and shot lots of pictures of our kids with their cousins.
I purposely shot as simply as possible this week because I wanted to use these images as instructional pictures for my Photo Mommies Workshop that starts on November 9th.
Be sure to shoot at the optimal times of day…..just after sunrise and just before sunset. If you have to shoot in the middle of the day do your best to shoot in open shade.
You can also take advantage of backlighting which makes the colors in your backgrounds really pop. The sun stays lower in the sky this time of year so the quality of light is better than during summer months.
The colors don’t last long so be sure not to procrastinate. Get out there and shoot like crazy while the colors are still there.
Be sure to register for the next Photo Mommies Online Workshop if you haven’t already. It starts on November 9th, runs for 4 weeks and only costs $150. I hope to see you all there in the forum.
Registration for the 8 week class is now closed and registration for the new 4 week workshop begins right now.
If you have a digital camera and want to take better photographs of your kids, but aren’t sure how to set up your camera settings or what lenses to use, or what f-stop and shutter speed combinations to use, then this is a great workshop for you.
Enjoy learning at your own pace with the weekly lesson modules. Every week brings new lessons with new tasks or assignments to help teach you the ins and outs of taking better photographs of your children.
You’ll learn how to make your subject really stand out from your background. I’ll teach you how to find better backgrounds. Learn about props, wardrobe and how to choose colors.
Learn how to use available light to your best advantage.
More than anything, this workshop is designed to be fun and informative. Take advantage early and sign up now. The cost for the 4 week workshop is only $150.
Week #1 – Introduction to Photography
* A Day In Our Life
* Techno Geek vs. Creative Freak
* Equipment – Basic Camera Settings
* Go Out and Play – (1st assignment)
Week #2 – Exposure Control
* Shooting Modes
* Histograms – (Polaroid was so over-rated)
* ISO
* Picking an Aperture
* Depth of Field
* Shooting Action
* Aperture vs. Shutter Speed – (2nd assignment)
* A Week in Your Children’s Lives
* Using available light
* Props, wardrobe and colors
* Shoot, shoot and shoot some more
* Edit, edit and edit some more – Use the Hatchet, be tough!
* Unleash the Creative Beast! – (4th assignment)
The 4 week photo workshop begins November 9th, just in time to get you ready to take great shots of your kids during the holidays.
Registration gets you access to the Photo Mommies Forum where you will get lots of positive feedback from fellow Photo Mommies as well as myself.
There are so many great opportunities to take great pictures too. From carving the pumpkins and making cookies, to the obvious cute costumes and trick or treating.
You can use available light outdoors and get all kinds of great looking light. If you’re outside early enough, try doing some back-lighting. All these images were done just with available light.
No reflectors, no strobes, no nothing. Just work on understanding where your light is coming from and do your best to get some nice highlights on your heroes.
The other really nice thing about Halloween is that the kids are so excited about what’s going on that they don’t get too wrapped up in the camera being around.
Well, it’s finally here. We had a couple little hiccups with the website this last week, but we’re ready to begin registration for the Photo Mommies Online Photography Workshop.
The workshop begins on October 19th. It goes on for 8 weeks. If you want to see the curriculum, just follow this link: Photo Mommies Workshop.
This comprehensive workshop is designed to help the amateur photographer that wants to get more out of their digital camera. If you have kids and want to take better photographs of them, this is the workshop for you.
Learn what it takes to create beautiful photographs of your children. From how to navigate your way through all the bells and whistles on today’s cameras, to using available light, to simple composition and how to find good backgrounds and props.
You’ll also learn basic Photoshop and retouching techniques, digital workflow and how to store your files properly.
There will be weekly modules available to download with the lessons so you can learn at your own pace throughout the week. There will be tasks and assignments to challenge you each week to grow and stretch beyond your current comfort zone.
The first time I shoot with kids, I try not to push too hard for a preconceived shot. It rarely works out the way you plan. It’s better to just kind of go with the flow.
The younger they are, the shorter window of opportunity you will typically have. We shot for under 2 hours, which is a long time for 2 little ones of their ages.
Try to find a couple places that have good available light and backgrounds. Find some props to help keep them from paying too much attention to you and then start shooting away.
We started out with a little kitchen set. Eden, the 2 year old loves to bake! This was the easiest way to get her into shooting without “posing” for the camera.
Eventually, they get used to you and you can get some natural looking shots of the kids just being kids.
The struggles with available light are almost always focus related. I have great lenses and yet they still struggle to lock on sometimes when the subject has lots of “energy.”
Shoot anyway. Even if they’re moving in and out of focus. Sometimes you can get some happy little accidents. Blurry isn’t always a bad thing.
I shot most of these images at f2 between 1/125th and 1/200th of a second, ISO rating of 800. No fill lights, no reflectors. I wanted to show what can be done with no additional lighting.
Most people starting out in photography just have the camera and a couple of lenses. Sometimes people mistakenly believe they can’t get great photographs without a lot of “stuff.” You don’t have to have fancy studio lighting equipment to get great shots.
The most important thing to remember when shooting little kids is to try to make it fun and no big deal. It’s not life or death if you don’t end up getting an amazing shot.
If you try to force the situation you could ruin a lot of your chances for getting great shots the next time. You don’t want your kids going AWOL any time they see you pull your camera out.
Remember, Just have FUN! Registration for the Photo Mommies Online Photography Workshop begins on Tuesday, September 22nd. Be sure to sign up, there will only be 125 spaces.
Have you ever started taking photographs of your family in the morning and shot throughout the day til bedtime? “A day in the life” coverage can be a whole lot of fun.
Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that unless something special is going on, there’s nothing worth shooting. You don’t need any “special events” to get great pictures.
Just for kicks, try shooting some of the more mundane events of your day and see what happens.
I think you’re in for a surprise. There’s no pressure when you’re just shooting ordinary stuff. Play around, have a little fun. Be loose. Be freewheeling.
Your kid’s eating pancakes……photo. Your kid’s walking out the front door with her oversized backpack…….photo. Your child’s playing video games…….photo. Your little munchkin is doing her homework……photo.
