child photography
© Tim Pannell Photography
So you got a new DSLR for Christmas and you’re super excited, but when you’ve used it so far there hasn’t been as much magic in your pictures as you hoped.
It’s not so surprising. Many people think that all you need to take great pictures is a great camera.
They save up their money and buy that great camera with a jillion megapixels, start snapping pictures and experience great disappointment.
Their pictures with the great camera look the same as the pictures they took with their crappy camera………only a little sharper and perhaps with better color.
There are so many variables involved in creating a great photograph….where do you start?
When learning photography………..simplify.
Pick a subject……pick one subject.
Many times people have a hard time deciding what their subject is. Is it your child, is it what your child is wearing, is it the location you’re shooting your child, is it somebody else in the picture with your child, is it their relationship with your child?
My point is this…..great photographs have one subject.
© Tim Pannell Photography
For starters, separate your subject from the background, either with depth of field, color, lens choice or composition.
Simplify your image. Don’t try and do too much with it or put too much information in it.
Take your child to a spot with pretty light, either in your house or outside, it doesn’t matter.
Avoid direct sunlight – it’s too harsh and unless you really know how to use it to your advantage, more often than not it will bite you in the butt.
Don’t be afraid to open up your lens and shoot at F2 or F2.8 even F4 if that’s as open as your lens goes.
See what limits you come up against when shooting at those F-stops.
Do you struggle keeping your subject sharp?
© Tim Pannell Photography
Many people will insist on shooting at F8 or F11 because it’s much easier to keep your subject in focus.
What most of them don’t realize is that they are settling for a less than great image because of that Fstop choice.
At F11 the background of your image will be pretty sharp and will compete with your subject for attention – yielding a very hum drum, boring image.
There are always tradeoffs wherever you set your aperture and shutter speeds.
You have to learn what your individual comfort zone is.
This will also help you discover your weaknesses and strengths.
If you have camera shake when you’re shooting at 1/125th of a second you know you will have to work on that.
If you can’t keep your subject sharp when you’re shooting at F2.8 then you know you need to work on setting the focus sensor a little more precisely.
As with any learned skill, be it musical, sports related or artistic in nature - it takes lots and lots of practice to get good at something, expecially something new.
It takes even more effort and consistent practice to master something.
The wonderful thing about photography is that you’ll get some amazing photographs before you actually master the craft or even before you’re really good at it.
The first time you get an amazing image is an incredible event that you’ll never forget.
Have fun with the learning process. Embrace the mistakes that you’ll make along the way. Learn from them.
Sometimes the best shots you’ll get will be the result of happy little accidents.
Shoot like crazy – it’s digital for crying out loud – it doesn’t cost you a penny to try new techniques.
It’s all about discovery – discovery of your subject as well as discovery of your self.
Enjoy the ride!
© Tim Pannell Photography
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.
Just stay off of the frozen lake.
