Today I’d like to address an ailment called ‘P.K.B’, or Photographer Kid Burnout. If you’ve ever tried to photograph your own kids, you may recognize the symptoms: Pouting. Screaming. Crying. Grumpy faces. Rolling eyes…. and that is just from us parents! The kids are at it too! Running away, hiding under the bed, making ridiculous…
I don’t know about you, but I still get butterflies before my photo sessions. Thankfully, the butterflies have become more from excitement than from nerves as they used to be, but they can still throw me “off” if I’m not careful. Like you, I want to go into each and every session fully prepared and…
This is my son. It was taken… a year or two ago? That’s right, off the top of my head I can’t tell. He still has his baby front teeth here, that helps narrow it a bit. It was taken in the fall… I can tell because I think this was Las Vegas and it’s…
I’ll be honest, I love to take photos with that soft, golden light that is only found early in the morning or just before sunset. The golden hour has such a magical quality to it that if I’m not careful, I could find myself stuck there, lacking the flexibility to shoot in any other type…
One of my favorite ways to utilize composition to make a big impact in my photos is through the use of leading lines. Leading lines are any kind of lines that are present in your photo that draw your viewer’s eyes to a specific part of the frame, most often the subject of the photo….
Many photographers that I know, myself included, got started with photography so that they could take pictures capturing everyday life. Not wanting to miss a moment or milestone. Sound familiar? If so, you probably started by aimlessly clicking the camera at your baby, your dog, your spouse or anything around you. Perhaps, you have some great…
When I first began taking clients, the only thing I thought about when picking out the location with my clients for their session was how the location looked. Was it eye catching? Was it pretty? And it makes sense, right? Who doesn’t want the backdrop for their photos to be gorgeous? What I didn’t realize…
Everyone loves to head to the beach on vacation or summer break, but it’s often thought of as a difficult event to photograph. It doesn’t have to be. With these photography tips for the beach and lake, you can feel comfortable and confident about bringing out the “big camera” and making it worthwhile! Protect your…
In regards to children’s photography, we are often advised to shoot at eye level. We are warned of all the dangers of shooting from above or below them. More specifically, shooting from above a child can make the subject appear weak, subservient and small. Alternatively, shooting from below can make an image seem angry, intimidating,…
As the one behind the camera, chances are, you aren’t in photos very often. But it can be so rewarding to actually be in the frame… to not just capture the memories, but to be in them, too. That is precisely why I decided to learn how to take a self portrait. I wanted to…
I really used to struggle when it came to taking pictures of my kiddos in their everyday environments when they were just playing or just hanging out being themselves. I had spent so much time learning, honing my craft, to take these perfect, clean, dreamy portraits. I had really lost my way about doing what…
We arrived to the wedding venue, and to put it briefly, we were quite underwhelmed. It was one of those locations full of tile from the 1990s, furniture to match, and a bridal room that doubled as a storage closet. Right away, we began racking our brains to find a way to make this work….
Have you seen the term “noise” thrown around and wondered what exactly it is? Or maybe you’ve noticed that some of your images aren’t as crisp and clear as you want them to be, and almost have a grainy appearance to them. Digital noise could be the reason. By understanding what noise is and how…
In the first portion of this blog series I discussed how to obtain correct exposure in your camera by following the guidelines of your integrated light meter on your DSLR. Today we will take the process one step further by metering isolated areas of your photo, and discussing the various metering modes. The previous metering…
When working in automatic mode on your DSLR, your camera will make the decision for you regarding what it thinks the correct exposure settings need to be by using its internal light meter. So, what exactly is light metering? Light metering is how your camera decides what your exposure settings should be based on the…
It’s one of the most common questions new photographers have. When starting out, we’ve all asked, we’ve all wondered: How do I find my style? At the heart of this question is a deep desire to find our place in this industry. In a profession that is so saturated, and in markets where everyone else seems to…