Picture Perfect

Well, if nothing else, I have my holiday card all figured out this year. It’s an all time record. In prior years, I’ve barely had an idea in tact by mid December let alone an entire card done. Just to really drive it home, I even had the time to order one from Snapfish as a proof before I ordered the load. OK, so maybe that’s a little like cheating because it’s soooooo easy to order prefab cards, but I’m calling it a triumph anyway).  Even my husband is astonished. And the irony is that in getting the photo, I broke all of my own rules.

It was the day after Thanksgiving, a lazy, do nothing day—the kind of day we don’t come upon very often. Perhaps that was why the kids were bouncing off the walls and I was a tad cranky. Go figure. You finally get a day to chill and you find yourself in a stinky mood for no reason at all. I hate hormones. Anyway, sometime in the late afternoon I called out, “OK girls, get in your fancy red white outfits. We’re taking our Christmas card pictures.” Was I out of my mind? I know you are bound to get jack squat from the kids when you declare that these photos would be the card photos. Duh. But, for some reason, I didn’t care. I was crabby as were the kids and I guess I just figured why not just go with that?

The agony only lasted about 20 minutes. Me barking orders like, “you’d better smile normally or you are both so busted” and that kind of thing. I got lots of eye rolls from the 10 year old and unruly antics from the 4 year old. Of course. What did I expect? But still, I was still impatient and demanding and they kept pretending to cooperate. Kind of. And then my camera froze up and well, that was the end of that. A blessing in disguise. My kids were relieved. But, all was not lost. I knew out of the handful I took that day there was bound to be something. It only takes one.

As I look upon my lovely card now, I can’t help but laugh and wonder if anyone would believe me if I told them that I was actually yelling at my kids when I got such perfectly joyful shot? Why wouldn’t they? Anyone with kids knows how terribly disconcerting it can be to attempt to get “the shot” that will be the one single visual symbol of our family for the entire year. The picture that we put forth to show off our kids, meeting loved ones with sweet smiles and best wishes for holidays filled with happiness.

I’m sure most of you choose to do the same; send a photo of the children or of the whole family if you’re brave enough on or in a card. And I’ll also put money down on the fact that you’ll also be including photos in many of your holiday gifts. If you’re like me, you will find one way or another to squeeze in another photo of the kids. Thank God the Grandparents appreciate it.

If you’re looking at giving photo gifts, I offer a few quick tips to making sure the photo you choose is the right one and if it’s not, how to make it fit the gift bill.

Crop in. When it comes to giving the gift of childrens pix in a gift of some kind there’s no such thing as getting too close. I know, it might sound strange but if you give your mother a snaptote bag with a really tight shot of her grandchild, you’ll have a hit for sure. Talk about your brag bag.

Go artsy. On the polar end of the close crop, consider a photo gift that includes more of a landscape shot. The shots where the focus is more on wide open spaces than your child can prove to be perfect images to choose for gifts. Picture a field of tall wind blown grasses with a little figure of a toddler in the distance. It makes for a more artsy option for those people on your list that love the kids but might like something a little more subtle.

Change it. If you’ve got a color shot, make it more timeless by using your editing tools to switch it to black and white. Black and white can turn many images into classics. The timeless, artsy quality can make photo jewelry instant treasures.

Tilt it. If you have a standard portrait and you want to add a little interest, put a little slant to it and tilt the image a bit. We’re so used to seeing images perfectly framed straight, when you add a little something different your image will really stand apart and make for a dynamic choicet.

Tweak it. Try manipulating your favorite shot with simple photo editing software. Polarize it, Andy Warhol it, give it glowing highlights or a texture. Or play with the variety of borders there are out there. Add color, add text, add your own unique twist. It’s super fun to explore your options and see what fits and what your recipient will fall in love with.

You inspired yet? Better get online and order your photo gifts now. And what perfect timing...Kristen is full of good ideas!

Talk About Exposure

I have no photo to share today for my Thursday's Theme but I do have TEN VIDEOS!!!

The video series I shot over the summer for HP were launched yesterday, just in time to post for EXPOSURE. Talk about timing. Do I have to tell you that it's really surreal seeing yourself on the big screen? OK, I'm exaggerating. It's not that big a screen but still, it's kinda weird. I am feeling a tad bit, well, um...exposed if you will.

Anyway, the videos are being featured at NewBaby.com so pop over and take a look if you wish. The topics range from shooting "perfect baby photos" to "great lansdscape photos" and lots in between. The clips will also eventually be at the new HP Expression Center too (which by the way is totally cool so if you get a minute, go take a look at what HPs got brewing over there).

So, what have you exposed this week (dare I ask)?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

OK, I stand to be corrected. Ever since I got my digi SLR, I have bragged about shooting with my ISO set to 1600 as the have the ability to shoot in low light settings. Fine. I have also been known to insist that I have never noticed the "noise" of which everyone keeps telling me about when you shoot at 1600. Because I never had. Until now.

Noise in digital images is like grain is to images shot on film. 1600 speed film (of which I used to use here and again) is grainy and I dig it. Now, when it came to digital images, I never noticed this noise (or grain) that everyone made such a big deal about so I just kept on doing my thing. I was under the impression that perhaps the reason I never noticed was that I don't blow images up very large. Or maybe I wasn't that discerning or something. This is where I was mistaken.

The other afternoon we had some friends over and I was shooting photos of all the kids in our pretty dark living room. When I got the prints back (4X6s) I was shocked at all the visible noise I noticed. Eeee gads! It was only obvious in the dark areas and in what seemed to be the more underexposed of the shots. But, it was very evident. And I will admit, it's the first time I have ever even seen it in my images. It doesn't look like grain really, as in the kind you see in film. It doesn't have an artsy or nostalgic feel to it. It's more like a breaking down of the information of the image itself. I like grain. But I know now, I don't like noise.

Will I switch my ISO habit to something less fast? Um, not always but you better beleive I am going to start making mental notes and doing some switching up of some things to compare images with one another. The kind of stuff I always encourage you all to do. Trail and error. I don't ever want to be one of those "I know everything" kind of gals. On the contrary. The beauty of writing this blog has been that I have and am continuing to learn with all of you as I go. If you have any input or insight into the noise factor, please share. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this is a new discovery for me. Who knew? Well, I guess a lot of people did. I just wasn't listening to all the noise.

Mixing up the Focus

As promised I'm addressing Jen's question about where the focus should be when playing with depth of field. Like I always say, there are no rules. You are right in noticing that most of the time the focal point is in the forefront of the image and the blur is in the back when shooting with a shallow depth of field but that's certainly not the only way to do it. I think people get into the habit of doing it but I'm always into breaking the habits and breaking new ground!

Since I myself almost always seem prefer my focus to be in the forefront (oh boy, maybe it's time for me to start mixing it up?) I poked around Flickr and found lots of examples of very cool alternative depth of field approaches where the focus is somewhere else and is very effective.

Bird Eye is a master of the super-artistic and he has a way of seeing and photographing light like nobody's business. I had fun discovering his Flickr Stream and want to share shots like Flat Branch, Round Clouds and Flag of no Country with you.

A few from other Flickr members that I find delightful are Tea time for the soul, Spring Loaded and this shot of Luke.

I hope that answers your question Jen, if not in words, by images.

Anything you'd like to share?? Your work? Someone else's? Anything that might challenge the way you might normally shoot? Let's see it.

Exactly Who Are We Focusing On?

Still on the subject of depth of field...

Stacy chimed in yesterday with a fab comment about being mindful of techniques used to insure your all of your subjects are in focus, when there's more than one subject in the image. Great point Stacy! And one I planned on getting to. Really. Because, there is nothing worse (and a big no-no on a paid shoot) to get one or two of the family members in focus while the rest of the group are NOT, particularly when it's obvious that everyone should be in focus. Like when you're trying to take a nice, traditional family shot. One rule of thumb is to shoot at an aperture setting of f5.6 or even f8 if you can to make it a sure thing.

The other trick of the trade is to, as Stacy put it, be sure all of your subjects are on the same plane. Huh? I know, it sounds cryptic. It was explained to me once like this; Pretend your subjects are right behind a window and you are shooting through it. Be sure all of your subjects are pressing their noses against the window to get them all on the same plane. Is that clicking?  If your subjects are all right up against the imaginary window, even at a shallow depth of field, they'll all be in focus together and that makes for some good family portraits! I use this trick now without even thinking about it and it works great.

However, as always, I'd like to challenge the idea that everyone has to be in focus in your images because they most certainly do not. Isn't that the greatest news ever? For a twist on the traditional (my favorite kind of twist) experiment with keeping one of the subjects in focus and let the other(s) go soft. It works wonders for sibling shots. With this tip, I am sharing with you one of my trade secrets. I do that around here from time to time. This one works wonders when I'm shooting pix of my own girls or doing a paid gig. First, choose the easiest child to work with. In many cases these days, it's my oldest daughter. What happens when I pay attention to her and put her where I want her and begin to interact, is that my youngest, the wild child, can't help but feel a little left out. She'll work her way over to where we are and somehow finagle her way into the shot. It works out well because then it's at her own will and instead of throwing a fit about being in the photo, she's quite a agreeable and wants to be in it. Reverse psychology at it's best ladies and gentlemen. Anything to get a shot like this.

Am I right?

The same scenario works wonders when you have a laid back, easy to work with baby (like right at the age they are happy to just sit and smile at you) AND a crazed active preschooler who wants nothing to do with the camera...am I ringing any bells here Kristen?  As soon as you let the older child off the hook and focus on the baby, that big sister or brother will do anything to get in the photo. Perfection. This is a recent favorite of my friend's daughters where I use this technique.

Worked like a charm, didn't it?

I do love to throw those tips in for the peeps that are desperately trying to get both of their kids in the same shot together, but usually have little luck. I do what I can to help. It's why I'm here. Hope that inspires you a little Kristen (although from the look of your photos in this post, you're not doing too bad).

Tomorrow I will be answering Jen's questions from the comments yesterday so come back, kay?

Depth of Field

OK, so we've all heard the expression Depth of Field and we might be able to recognize it when we see it. A shallow depth of field is when something is in focus, let's say in the foreground of the shot and the rest of the shot, let's say the background, is out of focus. If you use the "portrait mode" of your camera, you just might get these results. And if you're like me, shooting in low light all the time with a fast lens, aperture wide open, then there is a shallow depth of field in almost everything you shoot, by default. You will notice that many shots taken indoors have the shallow depth of field effect mostly because the aperture needs to be as open as possible to get enough light without a flash. Sometimes it's what you want (it usually works well with one subject) but it's not always what you want. Sometimes you want to make sure you get the desired effect without depending on chance (or luck). I get it.

Many of us need to figure out the ways to get our desired results. Especially if you don't want every vacation photo you shoot to have the background IN focus, which can happen quite easily because when you're shooting in the bright sunlight, you're aperture will stop down (in auto mode) as there is plenty of light to get the shot and the aperture that defaults to 3.5 inside will move to 11 outdoors. That's when you need to know how to set the camera to get that aperture open and achieve the more shallow depth of field that you love. And it's not that hard. However, getting a great looking shot with a shallow depth of field is equal parts camera setting AND lens. This is when the talk of lenses we did a while back will come in handy. The faster the lens, the more open it can be and the more open the lens can be for the shot, the more shallow the depth of field. Many lenses (like the "kit lenses") only have the ability to opening up to the aperture size of 5.6 and that is NOT going to give you a very shallow depth of field except when you are shooting those vacation shots and the background waaaaay back there and in that case it will be a little "soft" as they say.

Here's a few visuals I shot during my daughter's impromptu nap to give you an idea behind a few "f-stops" or aperture settings and what the difference is. It's subtle but you can see it. Her fingers are in focus in every shot but look what happens to her face.

This first one was shot at 2.5 (open aperture)

The next one is at 5.6 (stopped down a few clicks)

And the last one was at 11 (stopped down even more)

See how much more in focus her face is at 11? The depth of field is less shallow as your number goes higher and your aperture is smaller in size.

So, if you want to test this out for yourself (which of course I think you should) then find the setting on your dial that will let you only change the f stops (aperture settings) and will allow the camera to compensate for the shutter speed so you don't have to. That only gives you one thing to worry about. On a Canon the dial says AV and you can dial up or down (stop down or open up) that setting and that will give you the variety of the depth of field. Try it and see what happens.

OK, who's spinning? I think I am.

Slanted (More or Less)

I decided to do a little Tabblo of these quirky Little Pony shots (I told you great minds think alike Maile) and briefly touch on where the diagonals come into play in each of them. You will have to click over to the Pony Tabblo page to read the explanation.

Although what I have been saying here this week is that you can create the tilt in your images to give them some interest, it's not always just about a flick of the wrist. In fact, sometimes, the diagonal is there, even when you don't even know it or you don't even try. Check out Carrie's series of her daughter and her serenading husband. The first and the third shots in particular are highlighted beautifully by that gorgeous diagonal of the instrument. Just lovely. That's what I mean when I said that there are other ways to get that element in without making your subjects askew.

There is much about good compositional elements that is intuitive so things happen "by accident" but really it's us capturing an image through an intuitive process and that's a beautiful thing! Tomorrow I will point out a few more of my favorites of YOURS that you've shared this week. There are so many great images you guys...I am really impressed. But what else is new? You guys rock! If there is anything you want to point out about the subject, please share...and links?? Keep sending links. It's been so cool to see your creative juices flowing! And thanks for the input on the Cheerios photos. It's helped a lot. I'll let you know which I submit when I finally do it!

And speaking for contests...YES! ANOTHER ONE!! The wonderful Susan gave me the heads up on some great photo contests that Hewlett Packard is hosting with SnapFish in conjunction with the release of Shrek the Third. Check out the prizes and prepare to be dazzled. The first contest deadline is TODAY (so sorry I'm tardy in announcing this) so dig through your stuff and see if you've got something that fits the "cast of characters" theme. Something tells me you do. But, if you can't make this deadline, they have more themes coming. Just check out this list! I think this is like the contest mother-load. And if you enter these, you'd better tell us because we are all about supporting one another around here and we will soooo vote for you. Out of all of us cool photographer women, somebody's bound to win something!

Before and After

First, I want to say thanks to everyone for your comments and links to all the wonderful images on Monday. I can see that a number of you have already submitted images to the contest too! Yay! Great stuff guys!

Well, I was so impressed with Christina's Best Shot Monday post that I decided to show off a before and after of my very own to give you another example of how different an image can look once it's been played with. I have been using Picasa to edit (I know I've mentioned that before) and so that's what I used with this one. I will mention that I did just get Photoshop Elements 5.0 and you better believe I'm gonna show you my handiwork when I get that puppy installed!

I shot this picture on the way home from my girl's weekend (which, needless to say ROCKED) and I knew the landscape had great potential. The subject matter seemed so otherworldly and the clouds were awesome. We hit some bad traffic and so it was slow going for a while on the road. Even though I was driving I still whipped my camera out and started shooting through my side window. My friends of course, think I'm crazy as they feared for their lives. Sheesh, I can handle a steering wheel and a camera at the same time! I'm a professional!

Here's what came straight out of the camera (super-yuck)

And here is my final, edited and converted image (yum)

I beefed up the contrast quite a bit (playing with shadows, fill light and highlights), saturated it a smidge, added a tiny glow, and then used the "filtered b/w" option and used the red filter to define the sky. And it took all of um, 3 minutes. I'm pretty pleased.

Any before and afters you'd like to share? I think this could be fun.

'Guest Star' for a Day

Maile, of the delicious Daily Relish asked me to share some of my trade secrets with her readers. Remember when she was gracious enough to write me a post about lighting? Well, we did a swap thingy, so if you are interested in reading some of my "pro" tips on how to better work with clients, pop over and read yesterday's post. And even if you're not interested in going pro, there are still some things there that might be helpful as you take pix of your own children.

Happy Shooting.

A Few More Reflections

Much to my dismay, I have been unable to get the reflector shots I want. Ah well, at least I can answer the questions you have asked, right? That's something.

I have a Photoflex Lite Disc like this one. It's about as tall as my preschooler and it's got the soft gold on one side and and white on the other. I feel like it's adds a nice warm light. Each side offers something a little different. I usually use whatever side works best for wherever or whatever I'm doing. The gold helps when there's very little light and the white helps fill in the shadows when the subject is side lit.  The regular gold ones are way too crazy bright for me. I'm not into blinding my subjects. And as far as size, mine is a good size for using alone. Meaning, I don't often have anyone to help me hold it when I need it like I used to when I shot weddings and I had a trusty assistant so mine can be propped on the floor or in a chair, or by a helpful parent although it's never easy outside when the wind kicks up.

The beauty of the Photoflex Lite Disc is that it folds up like one of those windshield shades you can get for your car. And it comes with a handy zippered case. I'm not really sure about the home made varieties. I've never seen one. But, in a pinch, you can use anything white...like foam core. It's nice to have on hand and a fraction of the cost. But, as far as spending the money, buying a reflector, if you're gonna use it is  worth the $70 or whatever because they'll last you quite a long time. I've had mine for over 10 years so you'll get your moneys worth for sure. And it has been through the ringer in a big way. Beach portraits with all that sand etc, really can wreak havoc on photo equipment and my Lite Disc has been to the beach with me hundreds of times! And kids think it really cool so you can impress your clients for sure. Hee hee.

And get this...here I am trying to reinvent the reflecting wheel and Photoflex has a whole "how-to" thing on their site. So, you've got some good reading to do over the weekend! Yay! I hope this helps shed some light, so to speak!