Taking Great Pictures: From an Amateur — by Guest Mom Rebecca Rather
[ Note from Design Mom: Because I took Thanksgiving off, I am posting Rebecca's fifth post today. I knew you wouldn't want to miss it. ]
Design Mom requested a few photo tips — maybe in anticipation of a great Christmas card photo. I absolutely love to take pictures, especially of kids. Many of you are probably better photographers than I am (Liz, are you reading?). I have never taken a professional class, but I have experimented a lot and read a few photography books. I love the look of photos from film, but the pictures I am showing today have all been taken on a basic digital camera — no bells and whistles (digital vs. film is a whole other issue). I have never had a super nice camera, but have gotten a lot of great shots (my point and shoot film camera cost $100 8 years ago and I still love it). The reason I show these pictures is to show that ANYONE can take a good picture. There are three rules of thumb that I always try to implement.
Rule #1:
Turn off the flash. The best pictures I have taken have been flash-less. Even when the camera prompts me to use a flash, I almost always turn it off, unless it is pretty dark. Experimenting with your camera will help you get to know what kind of light it needs to take a good picture. When using film, I would typically prefer to use 400 speed film and turn off the flash rather than 200 and have to use the flash. Flashes wash out the face — natural light is so much more flattering. If you are taking a staged picture, try to take it outside in the morning or evening when the light is more subtle. An overcast day is ideal for outside pictures. I also love taking inside pictures next to a window with lots of light. It’s best to have the person with one side of his face next to the window and getting the picture without any direct light from the window.
This one was taken at the beach with friends on a perfectly overcast day.
This one was taken in our dining room on my son’s first birthday. There was a nice bright window close-by, so I didn’t use the flash. I like the softness of the picture.
Rule #2:
Get closer. I love close-ups. Digital is great because you can crop easily to get a close-up, after the fact. Unless you are taking pictures for the surroundings, try to get as close as possible without the person getting blurry. This also takes some experimentation with your camera.
I love that you can see my son’s long eyelashes in this one. I took this one inside, next to a large window with good light.
Rule #3:
Think out of the box. It’s nice to take a picture from a different perspective. This makes it more of an art form — you can get some great frameableshots.
This one I took while sitting inside my house, watching my boys play in the snow.
What other hints do you have for Design Mom?
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Monday, November 27, 2006
11 Comments:
Rebecca--
I really love this post! Great tips from an excellent photographer.
I used to work at a camera/photo finishing store a few years back. I saw a lot of good pictures, but a lot of them were kind of bad. Nothing can ruin a photo more than too much light from a flash. Especially if you have a digital camera. Natural light IS better. It's worth the extra effort to find good light in order to get a much better photo.
One tip I want to add is to become familiar with your camera by really reading the manual. Any camera can take great pictures if you know what you are doing and are familiar with the functions of your camera. Many cameras--especially now--offer maual and automatic functions and have better lenses. So even if you don't have an SLR, you can take pictures like you do by adjusting the settings.
I will spend hours sometimes just taking random shots and noting the different kinds of light and how close I am to my subject and the ISO settings. I'm not great, but I'm getting better and I really appreciate all your tips. Thanks!
Beautiful pictures. You've inspired me to take more pictures of my kids.
Great pics! Thanks for the tips.
I absolutely love digital cameras--even my kids can get some great shots with digital.
One thing I learned on a recent trip to Finland--take a look at the parts of a picture as well as the whole. I quickly snapped some candid photos of a family at market and was later about to delete them because they weren't really what I wanted. But when I zoomed in on the individuals I found I had a couple of excellent shots. One of them was of a little girl who looked exactly like I did in one of my baby pictures from ages ago. It ended up being one of my favorites!
awesome pictures.
Something that jared taught me when taking portraits (and i think this would work especially well with kids) to capture the personality of the person being photographed is asking them to tell a story and then snap away while they tell it. You get great natural facial expressions, smiles, laughter, and head movement for some fantastic photographs instead of just a fake smile.
I also agree with Rebecca about getting up close, even if only one side of the face or only the eyes are being photographed. The photographs can turn out beautiful. For example, instead of photographing the spring flowers from your porch, get up close and get one flower up close with others out of focus in the background. Great perspective.
these are awesome shots! Great post!
These are great pictures of your boys. Thank you for sharing them.
I agree with Lindsey - knowing your camera well will help you get better photos. Your manual will tell you, for example, how close you can get to an object before your camera loses its ability to focus.
There are a few other tips that I have learned (although I am not always successful at implementing them). Keep your background as uncluttered as possible. Sometimes moving a foot or two, or changing the angle from which you shoot makes all the difference. Also, pictures of children turn out well if they are shot from the child's level. You can see that in the pictures that Rebecca posted.
oh, i need this post, bad...i am the world's worst photographer, most impatient...all of my photos are filled with clutter and disaster...thank you for the tips and for sharing those AMAZING photos of your boys...we miss them..and you..you need to guest blog more often...will gabby keep you on another week? or maybe I should have you over at my blog??!! hmmm...
Rebecca--
Those are GREAT tips!
Thanks for reminding me of some other great tips! Lindsey, I think it's a great idea to read the manual well. There are some options on my camera that I'm sure would be great, if I only knew what they were for. And keeping clutter out of the background, Jessie, is a must-- clutter is distracting. Compulsive writer, good idea to look at background. And I love the idea from Liz-- I'm sure the shots you get are so much more natural when the kids are doing something like sharing a story. Great tips! Jenni, now what on earth could I contribute to your blog?
Great suggestions! Mine would be to practice, practice, practice. Also, notice how a tilt of the head and angle of the camera can make a person look more flattering.
Great pictures! I took a photography class way back when and the thing that's stuck with me most is the fundamental rule of thirds--in other words, if you were to put up a tick-tack-toe graph on your photo, you'd have the perspective focussed on different fields (i.e. a lot of people take pictures and put the subject dead center when it's actually more interesting to look at when, for example, you have a single figure standing to on side of the frame--you're really good at that in your pictures).
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