Sunday, May 15, 2011
Baby Nora - Raleigh's Newborn Photographer
Oh how I love newborns. Baby Nora was such a doll. Her thick lock of curls was absolutely adorable. She was a good sleeper and easy to pose. Just perfect.
Bailey - Cary,Raleigh, NC Infant Photographer
The most easy going baby ever. Can't believe how many different shots we got of her. Such a sweetie
Avery & Wilson - Child Photography Raleigh NC
These two little cuties were full of spunk & personality! Boy did they wear us out but we got some great shots of them in action.
Little Man Walker - Raleigh, Cary, NC baby photographer
This little guy had the prettiest blue eyes, soft, silky hair and an easy going personality. He came over to the studio with his mom & Grandma and boy did we have a lot of fun playing around with him.
Wall Displays - Infant Photos Raleigh NC
So excited to feature my new Wall Display templates. A variety of different sizes displayed in various rooms is sure to make ordering easier. This is the nursery wall with 3 portraits or canvases.
And the modern living room with pink couch!
And the modern living room with pink couch!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
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.
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.
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