A Small Snippet

A Small Snippet is officially moving out of the dark ages of the blogging world, and entering the big leagues!! not really, but that’s kinda how it feels!  so far, i’ve held off on all things bloggy around here, because its always made me a bit nervous. That…and I’m not really a risk taker, and this feels really risky, with the potential for rejection and let down! But…i feel like doors are being opened for me that I was not expecting, nor looking for, and by faith, i’m stepping into them.

So its with much excitement and lots of nervous butterflies in my stomach, and some crazy heart palpitations (not sure if those are caused by the excitement or the nerves…or both ) that I present to you a new opportunity from this little ol’ blog. I am now offering a place on my blog for you, my crazy readers, to advertise and promote your awesome businesses, products, services, Etsy shops, or blogs, etc.

my deepest desire in doing this is for this to be mutually beneficial! I would LOVE to see your businesses flourish and thrive, and I would love to leverage what God has done for me through the traffic on this blog to help you do that. i am currently offering an advertising option of 261 x 125 pixel image of your choice with a link on my sidebar.   (you can see an example on the side.)  so…if you are interested in being a part of this cutting edge movement in the life of A Small Snippet…email me at asmallsnippet{at}gmail{dot} com, and I will send you my media package with stats, rates, and specifics. let’s get this party started!!

and don’t forget….the first 10 people to sign up for ad space by this Friday, November 30^th will get 10% off!  all ads will begin on December 1st.

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i’m back today for the last post in the series:

hope you’ve found some inspiration or maybe learned a few new things along the way.

today we’re talking PHOTO SHOOTS and EDITING.  i’m hoping to give you some very practical tips for you to use when it comes to a purposeful photo shoot, and then some simple thoughts on editing.

so let’s start with PHOTO SHOOTS

what do i mean by photo shoots?  i’m talking about those purposeful times where you are wanting to capture a certain shot, and you are taking some time to think through how to do that.  for example, I take an obnoxious amount of pictures throughout the year, but each year around my kids birthdays, I make sure I spend a small amount of time to intentionally take photos of them by themselves in order to capture their specific age and to make sure I have consistent updates on them.

Here are some practical tips for those kinds of shoots:

specifically for kids, but could apply to anyone….

– Shoot them in a setting they love

capture them doing things they love. A lot of times, I shoot my kids at the beach, because they love the beach (and its super convenient ).  Go to your favorite park or playground.  Let your subjects just interact and play around naturally and see what you can capture.

You don’t have to spend a ton of time trying to find the perfect location for your photo shoots.  sometimes, you don’t even need to go anywhere.  using your house might be the very best spot!

Open the blinds and pile your kiddos on the bed or on a chair. line them up on a hardwood floor.  just make sure you have a neutral background. in other words, clear away the clutter. Often times when I’m shooting something inside, i just scoot everything out of the way of my shot.  so if you looked directly outside the frame of my shot, there is most likely a pile of junk that i just moved so it’s not in the frame.

and just for fun, because this totally captures what i talked about in Part 3, as well as what i’m trying to communicate now…a friend of mine told me about this commercial by Canon, and even though i’m personally a Nikon girl, i can’t watch this without smiling.  this is SOOOO me!!!  take the 60 seconds to watch…its worth it

another thought when thinking about photo shoots is to:

-Find the best light in your house:

Lighting is best when light is streaming into your home, but there are no harsh shadows across your floor. Use it! Find those places in your home where you get great light, and use them. I am aware of the 2-3 best places in my house for the most natural light, and when taking photos indoors, i always use those locations.

for example, sometimes there are mornings where i want to snap a quick photo before leaving for school.  i have about 10 seconds to get the shot, so i don’t have time to really set it up.  Instead of just shooting it at our front door where we don’t have natural light, I can move the subject to one of those places in my house that i have already scouted where i know that i get great natural light, and take the shot there.

Figure out those places in your house, and utilize them.  that way, you don’t have to use a flash.  and since you are already familiar with those places, because you’ve already thought through how to utilize them, composition and setting your camera should be a no-brainer.

another thought with photo shoots is to:
– Interact naturally

When I’m doing a shoot, I typically ask people to sit or stand or interact however feels comfortable to them. As opposed to unnaturally posing them. Sometimes you might need to adjust, but do what’s natural. When it comes to my kids, letting them twirl or run around and play will yield a more natural photo than just sitting them in one position and asking them to smile. Sometimes thats okay too, but you are more likely to get a shot you love if they are acting naturally.

these photos turned out much better than if I had posed them.

– Use Props

Use props that you have lying around. One of my favorite pictures of Bella is of her wearing my high heels and a string of pearls. I just had those lying around, and grabbed them as we were headed out the door for her birthday photo shoot.  she loved wearing them, and I loved the end result!

Don’t feel like you have to go to all these lengths to get creative or spend money on tons of props. Uses what you have.

Other examples of that are balloons, bubbles, toys, stuffed animals, baseball cap, chalkboard… Possibilities are endless. You don’t want to be too cheesy, but sometimes using props your kids enjoy and love will make them happier and more natural.

here’s one of my favorite tips when it comes to photo shoots:

– combat fake smiles.

Now that my kids are older, they are masters of fake smiles. to combat this, set up your shot, get everything ready, check composition, position yourself…and then use Reverse Psychology.  I’ve found that if I tell my kids to try not to smile and keep saying, “don’t you dare smile,” almost 100 % of the time, I get a natural smile. I just have to be poised to capture it.

I also have found that when I ask them to laugh, even a fake laugh can yield a natural looking smile!  i asked Canaan to laugh in this next picture.  no one else would know its fake, because it captures his true expression.

Also…some of my favorite shots are ones where my kids aren’t smiling. i love to capture their natural look.

so now let’s talk about EDITING.

I have a love-hate relationship with editing. I love it, because once I learned how to use editing software, it completely changed my photography. But I hate it, because it can be SO time consuming.  but now that i know the difference it makes, i have a hard time not editing my photos.

here’s a basic rule of thumb…you want to take your picture as close as possible to how you want it to be in its final stage. therefore, most “editing” should happen before you even take the shot, thru composition, lighting, etc.  you can read more about that in Part 3.  basically, you want to have to edit as little as possible.

I edit with Photoshop CS.  its an older version of Photoshop, but it still does what i need it to do.  however, its expensive, and i don’t totally think you need it.  if i hadn’t been given the full blown Photoshop as a gift, i would probably be using Photoshop Elements or Lightroom, two great editing programs you can purchase for less money but that still allow you to do plenty in terms of editing.  i think they are also more user friendly!

However, there are lots of FREE editing programs on the internet that are basic, easy to use, and work great. (MAC computers also come with Iphoto which is a great place to edit photos.)

here is a list of free online editing software that i think you may enjoy!
Photoshop Express
Pixia
Picasa
Gimp

i found a great article here with descriptions of these free online editing programs.

when thinking about editing, remember that some of the most basic editing tools are the best.

-Cropping

Start with cropping and straightening. Cropping a certain way can really make your photo something special.

you can see what i mean in these next photos.  the left photo was the original, and the right photo was after using the cropping tool to crop it in a way that completely changes the photo:

Remember with editing that:
-Less is more.  so often, people fall prey to over-editing, resulting in an unnatural looking photo.
i much prefer to make the photo look as natural as possible, and usually just like to make dull photos a little more lively.  so i usually just lighten, brighten, and boost.  there are many different ways to do that!

Play around with editing. This is where your particular style and opinon matters. Each of us could take the same photo, and play around with it in editing software, and end up with very very different results. There aren’t really any rules to editing. Just figure out what you like, and go for it!

sometimes, i like to edit in such a way where it creates almost an art piece.

i don’t edit this way all the time, because i prefer to have my photos look natural.  but that’s just an example of how many different things you can do through editing.

i learned photoshop and editing techniques by trial and error.  anything you want to know about editing programs, you can google and find tutorials and then follow the directions.  you can even watch youtube videos that walk you through different editing techniques.  i’ve done a lot of googling and direction following!  i have also downloaded lots of free photoshop actions, and i use a combination of those when editing.  the Pioneer Woman has lots of great free ones here!  as does the CoffeeShop Blog here.

there is no formula to editing.  if there was, i’d give it to you!  there are so many different ways to edit, and i don’t ever use the exact same process when editing.  each photo calls for different things, so if you are interested in learning, i would suggest just jumping in.  download some actions, research how to use certain tools, and start editing.  take note of what you like and don’t like, and pretty soon you’ll get a system going that works for you.  or find a friend who knows what they are doing, and have them sit down with you for an hour or two and show you some simple steps.  a friend did this for me right after i first got Photoshop, and i referred back to my notebook from that session for months afterwards until those things became second nature.

it might seem overwhelming when you first start, but i promise its worth it to invest a little bit of time to learn.  before you know it, you”ll get into a rhythm of your own.

okay…i think that about does it for my photography series.  i really hope you’ve found it helpful!  i’d love to hear (in the comments section) your own photography tip, or even a tip from this series that you’ve found to be helpful.  let’s keep the conversation going!

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hope you’ve found Part 1 and Part 2 of the Photography 101 series to be helpful for you!

i’m back today for Part 3, to talk all about Lighting and Composition.  this is where a good picture starts before you even press the button!

again…all of these tips are my opinions, and what has worked for me.  it’s based on the style of photography that i like.  but i hope you find them interesting and helpful and easy to understand.  i’m especially excited today to give you some very practical tips that take minimal effort or skill, but that will transform the look of your pictures.

so let’s start with LIGHTING.  i LOVE natural light photography.  what do i mean by natural light photography?  basically, using natural, available light to capture an image.  even more simply…not using a flash!  i have very very few pictures that i love where i used a flash.  (now…i’m sure if you have fancy flash equipment and know how to use it, then you are probably able to get great looking shots while using a flash.)  but for the kind of natural looking photography that i love, the sun is my BFF.

so here’s a challenge for you…turn off your flash, utilize the sun, and see what a difference it makes in your photography. Using a flash creates harsh, unnatural looking light, and shadows. but if you take pictures in natural light…near a window or outside, you end up with a more natural looking photo.

i tried taking a few photos with and without a flash to show you the difference, but i found that task kinda tricky.  however, you can see in the following photos that there is a softness and more natural look to those taken without a flash.

these pictures were taken in the same location of my kids’ room, one right after the other.  the photos on the left were taken with a flash, and the photos on the right were taken by just utilizing the natural light.  the photos taken with a flash yield harsh shadows and light, and unnatural coloring.  the photos on the right look more natural, and the coloring is more true to life.

so if you are gonna turn off your flash, then you need to think about where your light is going to come from in order to get a proper exposure.  we talked in Part 2 about how to set your camera to allow the best light into your camera, but we need a light source in order to do that.  i utilize the sun whenever possible…whether that’s taking pictures outdoors, or inside near a window or door.

When thinking about a light source, you typically don’t want your subject to be directly in front of the light source. A good rule of thumb is to have the light source behind you as the photographer, or somewhat off to the side.  you just don’t want the sun directly behind your subject.  that way, the light can shine onto your subject, brightening them and enhancing all the details:

Although, you can get creative and utilize the light behind your subjects to give you a hazy look:

or even a silhouette-ish kind of look (which is ultra cute on a preggo belly!):

having the sun behind your subject does not usually yield sharp or crisp photos, but they can still be artistic and creative.  however, for those crisp, bright photos you usually want the light source behind the camera.

another thing to think about when utilizing the sun is the time of day that you take photos.  typically, i like to shoot outside not too long before sunset, when the sun is low, and no longer overhead, but still bright enough to give off enough light.  if you are taking a photo during the bright hours of sunlight, while it is still overhead, then you are going to need to find a shady spot in order to diffuse some of the harsh light.

here’s an example of what i mean.  i took these photos at the same time of day.  this photo was taken out in the bright daylight, and you can see that the sun was still too bright, and too harsh, and that there was too much bright light in this picture, creating shadows across my subject:

but by moving my subject out of the direct light, and into the shade under the boardwalk, i ended up utilizing an appropriate amount of light, resulting in a much better photo:

now that we have lighting out of the way, let’s talk COMPOSITION.

the official definition of composition is the placement of ingredients in a work of art.  the non-technical way to think about composition is how you set up your picture, or put your picture together.

So often, we forget this when we are snapping a photo, but composition can make or break your photo.  so it’s worth it to take a few seconds to think about it before shooting.

 here are some very practical things you can think about to compose a great shot:

– Check the Background:

Make sure you see and notice everything in the frame before taking the picture. If your child is sitting on the ground, but there is a big pole behind him, that can ruin your photo. People in the background have often ruined great photos! But if you adjust either yourself or your child slightly, that can be a dramatic change!

– Rule of thirds:

The Rule of Thirds is simple:
 when setting up your subject, divide your picture in your mind into thirds horizontally and vertically. Think of it as a tic tac toe grid.

(source)

When setting up your picture, place your subject on one of the lines or intersections created by the thirds. This often times makes your photo more interesting for the eye to view.

here are a few examples:

 Often times we just try to line everything up in the middle, but if you adjust slightly to make the focal point of your picture on one of those lines or intersections, it can give you a more artistic, creative photo.

another thing to consider when you are setting up your shot is:

-Your position as the photographer when snapping the shot.

So often we just stand and shoot straight on. But don’t be afraid to get down and dirty! Most of my favorite shots are ones where i’ve gotten down at eye level with the subject. I’ve been known to literally lay on my stomach, stand on my tiptoes, squat, whatever necessary to get the shot I want.

positioning yourself creatively as opposed to just standing up and shooting gives the effect of actually being in the picture. standing straight on to capture these shots would’ve lost that effect.

 along these same lines, here’s another thought:

-Standing over your subject as you shoot. Totally changes the look of your photo.

a few more thoughts on composition:

– Fill the frame:

another way to get a great photo is to completely fill the frame with your subject. If you get closer, or zoom in, and eliminate as much background as possible, filling all the empty spaces with your subject, you might be pleased to find that you capture details that would otherwise be lost.

(just to note…both of these photos above were taken before i had my DSLR, and they are two of my favorite shots…even though they were taken with an inexpensive, simple point and shoot camera.  proof that you can get shots you love without any kind of expensive equipment!)

keep in mind with filling the frame that sometimes you might want the background for context purposes in the photo, so think about what kind of shot you are going for.

one other thing to think about in terms of composition:

-Think about what you want the focus to be in your photo, and be aware of what is going on.

 here are a few examples of what i mean:

i was taking pictures of Bella before her daddy daughter dance, when i noticed Jake using his phone to take her picture.  making a slight adjustment in the composition of this photo to make Jake the subject instead of Bella captured a sweet moment!

and slightly adjusting the focus in this picture to capture the kids reflections makes for a totally different kind of photo:

so when thinking about composition, take just a few seconds to think about what you want your final outcome to be, and adjust where needed to capture the shot you really want.  that way, you are shooting purposefully, instead of just being trigger happy

 however, with all art, here’s something important to remember: Rules are meant to be broken!!!

for example:

sometimes you want the context of a subject within its background for the kind of photo you want. so then don’t fill the frame!

Sometimes you like the picture to be dead center. Break the rule of thirds!!

Be creative and figure out your own style. That took me a while, but once I got comfortable with knowing that I had my own style, and didn’t have to be or shoot or edit like anyone else, then I was freer to just do what I wanted to do in any given situation. But learning these basics has helped me think more about what and how I’m shooting.

 On that note:

– Think outside the box, and shoot what looks great to you as the artist, even if it’s a different kind of shot:

it might seem like cutting off the heads of the parents in this picture is breaking certain composition rules, but i loved how just their bodies frame their daughter:

and this photo was taken of my family by Daisy Mai Photography.  i have it framed in my living room, because even though it’s only the lower halves of our bodies, i feel like it’s very representative of who we are:

 sometimes thinking outside the box and following through with your own style is what really makes you an artist!

alright….next up:  Photography 101 {Part 4: Photo Shoots & Editing}
in the meantime, please share with me your own composition tips!

and in the spirit of the holidays, here’s a little Thanksgiving post for you from last year…my Favorite Thanksgiving of all time!  you might just find some fun ideas that you can incorporate into your celebration this year.  and here’s a post to the pie that i am in the process of making…but this time with homemade crust!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

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