Flash is not always your friend - Raleigh,NC Infant photography

As part of our recent photo question contest Jen H submitted this excellent question with attached photo.


How do you keep from getting "Shadow Head and Body" in photos. See the attached baptism photo for an example. All of our photos had this shadow which I assume is from the flash on the wall. But if lighting is not good enough, and we are indoors, what are the options to avoid this? Someone suggested holding a notecard above the flash to angle the light down.



Yes Jen the shadows are a result of the flash directed straight on at your family. There are a few different things you can do to try to get around these shadows.

1st - see if you can get away with shooting without a flash. Disable your flash and up your ISO setting on your camera. Your ISO setting is probably currently set between 100-400. See how high your camera allows you to up it. With my DSLR I can up the ISO as high as 6400. See if your camera can be set to 1600. Usually at this setting you can shoot in low light with minimal noise.
Noise or grain gives your photos that look somewhat similar to the "snowy" appearance of a bad TV signal. Digital images shot in low light or with a high ISO setting often exhibit this undesirable noise. Much of today's photo editing software offers tools for reducing noise in digital photos so many photographers choose to shoot at high ISOs in lowlight and then run noiseware to filter out the noise.

2nd - when an in-camera flash is necessary, make sure to position your subjects away from walls,fences,etc. For instance instead of shooting this shot against the wall you can have positioned yourselves in the aisle so that the flash won't have anything to bounce off of. This will eliminate the shadows behind you and really improve your photo.

3rd- you could tape a piece of parchment paper over the flash to diffuse the flash power or as suggested find a way to bounce the flash up towards the ceiling, preferably if the ceiling is white. however if you are fumbling around trying to hold note cards etc, it may be hard to capture the shot with a steady hand.

Hope these tips help! And remember if you have a photography related question of any sort email it to me at christa@mycreativeclicks.com and be eligible to win a one on one photography lesson with me.

Private Photography Lesson Winner - Cary Infant Photography

With Easter & a week of family visiting I am now finally getting around to announcing the winner of the one on one photography lesson...Tim Griffith congratulations your question was chosen from the drawing. I will be contacting you to schedule your session and go over all the details. We will be using your children as teaching tools so be prepared for some beautiful shots of your little ones.


This was Tim's winning question, a very good question I might add.

"If you have two subjects, one in the background and one in the foreground of your photo, how do you choose which one to focus on?"

Step One:
First you must decide whats important in your photo.
What do you want your photo to look like? Where do you want to direct the viewer's eyes?
Maybe the person in the foreground is your precious child so you want them to stand out while the person in the background is lets say your dreaded mother in law (of course not your MIL Tim,just an example), in that case you might want to blur her out if she'll ruin your photo : ) By focusing on your child in the foreground and blurring your mother in law out you are making your child the focal point and drawing attention to him/her.
Or maybe its the reverse maybe your child is in the background and your mother in law is in the foreground. In that case now the subject you want sharp is in the back and the foreground subject now becomes the one you throw out of focus.
The third option would be if both subjects were equally important.Here you would want to have both foreground and background subjects in focus.

Step Two:
Making it happen
Once you know what you are trying to achieve, you must then grasp the concept of aperture and depth of field.

Put most simply – Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken. Aperture is measured in F stops so you will see F22, F16 etc.

Depth of Field (DOF) is the amount of your shot that will be in focus. Large depth of field means that most of your image will be in focus whether it’s close to your camera or far away
Small (or shallow) depth of field means that only part of the image will be in focus and the rest will be fuzzy

DOF is a concept that confuses many. Its a lot of math and technical jargon...So if you're at all like me and you just want to know how to do it rather than how it happens here's a tip

TRY IT OUT

Grab your DSLR
Go outside to guarantee enough light
Set your camera dial to AV mode
Pull out your manual so you can figure out to adjust the aperture(F-stop) while in AV mode (hopefully you haven't thrown it out)
Isolate your subject(anything) set up far from your background. (Don't position your subject right up against a tree or fence)
Set your aperture to F16, Focus on your subject, take the photo, assuming you have enough light you should notice that the photo is sharp from front to back. If you don't have enough light your photo will appear very dark.

Now set your aperture(F) as low as it will go. This all depends on the lens you are using. Most likely your low will be between F3.5-5
Set your subject up the same way focus on your subject and take the photo.
Notice how your subject is in focus while the background is more blurred than the first photo.

My tip for remembering Aperture/DOF is to compare it to an IQ, the higher your IQ the sharper you are. Just like Aperture, the higher your F setting (ex.F22) the shaper your photo should be from front to back. Whereas the lower your F setting (F1.4) the blurrier your background becomes.
So think when setting aperture do I want everything in the photo sharp, then aim to shoot at a higher F stop (f8 and up) or so. If you want to isolate the subject and make them the only thing sharp in the photo then set the F stop as low as you can. (F1.4-F3.5)

Since both my children and dogs are not home I introduce to you the American Girl Bitty Baby - Kate. We seem to have a few too many of these expensive dolls floating around the house. She makes a great subject for my demo today though.

Have a Photography Question? - Raleigh Photography FREE online class

I am being asked all the time if I'd consider hosting a beginner's photography class. Though I would love to, lately I can't seem to find the time to pull it together so I have come up with another idea. I would like to start a monthly question and answer blog post. Learning from other people's questions is a great way to gain knowledge. Most of what I've learned in photography I've learned online from various forums.

If you have a question related to photography email it to me at Christa@mycreativeclicks.com. To get this going and entice you all....drumroll * I will be selecting one person at random from the question submissions for a FREE private one on one lesson.*
So many of my clients have really nice DSLRs but are intimidated by them. Others think that because they have the nice camera that the camera will do all the work, they'll push the shutter and a perfect picture will appear. This doesn't happen, well not 99% of the time. You need to know the basics of photography to begin capturing really good photos. And just as important you need to know how your camera works inside and out.

Details....

email me a question, any question related to photography. Maybe you are wondering what camera I use, what lenses are best for babies, etc? Maybe you know a little bit about photography and want to talk about finding the light or exposure. Or it could be a photoshop question. Basic, advanced...

All questions must be emailed to christa@mycreativeclicks.com by April 15,2011 please include your name and phone number as well in case you win and I need to contact you : )

I will answer each and every question (hopefully!) on my blog by the end of the month, so that everyone can learn from each other.

Looking forward to helping you get those cameras a clickin'

Baby Jackson - Holly Springs Newborn Photography

Was so thankful that we were able to get this little guy's session in before I left for vacation. We had scheduled him for photos on day 4 but he had such bad jaundice that he had to stay under a UV blanket 24 hours a day for his first week. Each day his parents had to take him to the hospital to get his bilirubin levels checked, as you can see below his poor little heels were a mess from all the needle pokes.



My knitting friend Angie made me this super cute hat in my business colors, love her!



This photo just makes me smile. I did not notice it when I took it but look how the baby is puckered for a kiss from his big sister. Too precious!



Another beautiful knit creation from Angie, love his little toes peeking out.



And a close up of this handsome guy, long eyelashes & plump little lips, perfect!

Lars 3mths - Raleigh Baby Photographer

One very adorable, super happy baby came to visit yesterday. I will be photographing him every 3mths through his first birthday. Look how much he has grown in the last 3 mths. Such a cutie...if only I could keep him : )
Great seeing you guys, more photos to come soon!

Lars @ Three Months


Lars Newborn Session

Happy Valentine's Day - Raleigh Durham Kid Photography

Happy belated VDay. My oldest Sophia thought to create a card for her teacher the night before. We hurried and threw together this cute card.

Storyboard Collages - Raleigh Maternity Newborn Photography

A couple of 16X20 storyboard collages awaiting pick up. Love the way these two came out. Such a beautiful family. I've been selling a lot of these storyboards. They are a fun and affordable way to display many images from your session. Also available mounted on standout: a ready to hang, modern option to framing.