Photography Lesson - Raleigh Photography Class

Yesterday I spent the afternoon teaching Tim G how to improve his photography. Tim was the first winner in our photography question/answer contest. He submitted a great question here
and was randomly selected in the drawing for a one on one lesson.

We had such a good time. Our first lesson was on how to work his camera (first I had to teach myself as he shoots with a Nikon and I'm a Canon girl). Once we mastered all the buttons on his camera we went over some basic photography tips and his biggest feat of the day getting out of Program mode (automatic mode). We got him away from using his in-camera flash and by the end of the two hours he was taking GREAT photos.
Here's a few I snapped with my camera during the session.

Tim practicing on baby Jackson. I set Jackson up 45 degrees to the windows in their sunroom to explain how to get away from using the flash



We went over shooting from different angles


Shooting by the rule of thirds (positioning your subject)


Catchlights! How to make the eyes sparkle



And filling the frame, zooming in.

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!

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.