The best part of my job is that each time I meet a new couple or family to photograph, I meet new friends. These two were no exception.
Rachel and Rick, despite being an adorable couple, made my job so easy. And so much fun.
There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to be a beautiful day, and that they are going to spend many laughter-filled years together as husband and wife!
Thank you both for sharing some of the love with me!
Vacations are AWESOME! We just returned from one and it most certainly served as a relaxing escape and a double shot of motivation. We hiked, kayaked, fished, and spent time with loved ones. Our vacation was made up of all of the best things!
And yes, I took photos.:)
Though I hauled my professional equipment up with me, I primarily used my point and shoot camera when taking photographs of our family vacation. These helpful hints will be focused on those of you shooting with a handy-dandy point and shoot camera.
How to Photograph: A Hike in the Woods
A sunny day in the woods is difficult for even the finest photographers. I simply try my hardest to avoid it. It’s truly an exercise in understanding light. At first glance, the forest is a beautiful place! Tall trees, sun, nice green color … But if a professional is going to shoot a portrait in the woods, they would be hoping for a cloudy day. A sunny day in the woods leaves you, the photographer, with splotchy light (never good). Shadows on faces are most always unattractive.
So, if you intend to take portraits in the woods, aim for a cloudy day. Hiking is more fun when it’s cooler anyway, right? If you’ve got no choice, do your best to position your subjects so that their faces are not covered with splotchy light.
Here’s a shot (taken with our point and shoot) of my husband on our hike. You’ll notice that there is some sun creeping through the trees but his face is all within the shadow. That’s about the best we can do on a sunny day in the woods.
On our vacation, we also went to the Zoo. Our family loves Zoos!
How to Photograph: An Animal in a Zoo
If you go to the Zoo, you most certainly want to take pictures of the amazing animals that live there, right? Believe it or not, you can take wonderful photographs of animals at Zoos that seem as though they were taken in the wild. What is the one thing you have to pay attention to the most? Not leaning too far into the bear den … good guess. The answer is actually … backgrounds!
Sure, that’s a cute photo of a little boy looking at fish, but the fish are clearly in a tank and anyone looking at this photograph will know that it was taken at a zoo. Now check out the one below. It was taken in the exhibit right next to the fish in the same Zoo. But it’s hard to tell that these guys are in captivity. The difference was that I got much closer to the glass when photographing the turtles, and I tried to make sure that there was nothing other than turtle habitat in the frame. It makes for a much better shot, I think.
More vacation photograhpy hints will come next week. Til then, Happy Shooting!
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(This post is meant to encourage Mother Nature to scare off the June Gloom that has been lurking around us lately.)
Update: And by the looks of this Monday morning, I think it worked!!!
The sand is clean, the water is warm, the sun is hot, the weather is “picture perfect”. Then what’s the problem?
The beach, despite it’s numerous attractions, is one of the harshest places to photograph people. At noon, with the sun straight over your head, humans attempting to relax are most probably squinting while wearing sunglasses and hats.
If you want to shoot flattering pictures of your friends or family on a bright and sunny beach in the middle of the day, you’ll need them under a beach umbrella. Shooting later in the day on a beach is better because the sun will be much closer to the horizon. That simple fact means that the light will be coming from the side instead of above your subjects. It’s much more dramatic — which means a way better photo!
In addition to the trajectory of the light, you’ll also notice that the color is a lot more beautiful too! It’s much warmer late in the day (the color, that is). Midday light appears more blue and blue (in terms of light) is not very people friendly. Humans look best in warm , golden light. If you were photographing martians, I might be singin’ a different tune.
Here is a link to one of my family blog posts (she’s recycling a blog post?!) in which I included some snapshots that I took while on a bike ride at the local pier. Not all were taken on a sandy beach, but most were kissed by the beautiful warm sun.
This one is my favorite from the day.
So, in a nutshell crab shell, shoot photographs at the beach when the sun is thinking about setting and you almost can’t miss. Unless you leave the lens cap on — but I hope we are all past that point. Sunrise is fine too, but I don’t have too many friends or family members that enjoy spending time at the beach at 5:30 AM. 
Happy Shooting!
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There are so many options for taking a ‘group shot’. Yours don’t have to look like a police lineup in which your entire family (even Gramps) is forced to stand facing forward and look at the camera. Rules in photography are general, of course, but there is one that I think you can follow forever: Give as much space as possible to faces in your group and as little space as possible to legs and feet.
Do your best to get people’s heads together. I always say something like, “Now act like you really like each other.” and people usually tip their heads in toward one another.
I googled ‘Group Shot’ and found a bunch of police lineups, and then I found this:
You may not have time to gather all of the props, but I guarantee that you could pose your family this way and end up with a really spiffy shot. Try it next time!
Make it your mission to get more faces and less feet. It will help you decide how you want to pose the group, and and you will be able to shoot the picture more efficiently. After you have a few of these under your belt, your group shots will be better in no time!
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