Good morning! I hope that some of this information is starting to sink in and that you are seeing some results? Today I want to move on to sharing some more practical tips that I have picked up over the years. I'll focus on the two main areas we scrapbookers take photos: everyday life and special moments. At least those are the ones I document the most!
Some general tips
- First, keep your camera handy. I pretty much take mine with me every where I go. And I try to remember to keep it close by when at home.
- If you'll be taking lots of photos at home get familiar with the lighting and best settings for indoor photos. My most used settings for photos indoors during the day are : ISO 400; white balance : daylight; and I use Aperture Priority mode with an aperture of 3.5 or less. This works for my house but you will have to experiment to see what works best for yours.
- Take lots of photos! In this digital age it is possible to take lots of shots because there's no film development cost.
Events and Special Moments
I am not a huge event or seasonal scrapper, but I do take lots of photos of those occassions to share with friends and family. This is especially true for Kieran's birthday parties. My approach is to take lots of broad photos to tell the story, but I also make sure to zoom in on little details as well.
In this photo I tried to capture the entire scene of his second birthday party. I also wanted to capture details of the decor. Tip: Do this part before the guests arrive!
Also be sure to hand your camera off to someone (or have a photo savvy friend also taking photos) so that you get to be in some photos too! In the former case I will adjust the settings on the camera first, usually leaving it in Aperture Priority.
Of course you have to get in close for those epic moments! The following photo is from his thrid birthday party.
To see even more photos from this party you can hop over to my personal blog.
Kieran started school last week, so that was another special moment to capture. I made sure to get a couple of broader type photos like these
But also some classic "all dressed and ready to go" shots in front of our door.
Everyday Life
Hands down, my favourite kind of photos to take are those that capture everyday life. There's no real formula for this, as everyone's life is different, but keeping your camera close by and ready to go is the key. By ready to go I mean making sure it is already on your most useful settings, so that when you grab it to capture something, you can click away without worrying too much about fiddling with buttons. My advice is to use either Aperture or Shutter priority depending on what's going on. When my son is just playing with his toys or eating, or some other relatively calm activity I will use Aperture Priority. If he is chasing cars and trucks around or we are outside I will use Shutter priority because I know he'll be moving around quite quickly!
Once again, I try to take broader as well as detailed shots
(I stood on a chair to take this one)
While it is fun to see this shot that includes a good bit of the living room,
what I really wanted to capture was Kieran inside the tub, so I zoomed in (actually since I was using my 50mm fixed lens, I moved closer to him)
This is most likely the photo that I will scrapbook to tell the story.
Sometimes I even get closer in
I love taking photos of little hands in action!
There are times when you have to move fast. You just grab your camera, keep clicking and hope for the best. Like this day when Kieran "raced" his Papa home on bicycles.
(Click each thumbnail to see the series)
When I realised what was happening I ran for the camera, and put it on continuous shooting mode. Most modern digital cameras have this option which comes in handy when you want to take a series of fast moving photos. In this mode you simply hold the shutter release button down and the camera will fire off a series of shots as fast as it can. Check your manual to see how to find this setting on your camera. These are certainly not the best photos I have ever taken but I wouldn't have missed having them for the world!
Do you have any questions about any of these photos, or would like to know something about getting a certain kind of shot? Please ask away in the comments. And start studying up, because tomorrow I will issue my final assignment!
