Posing Portraits

 Here are two simple rules for posed portraits:

       1. If it can bend, bend it!
       2. If there are two bendables, bend them differently.

Think about joints for this...shoulders, elbows, knees, even head/necks!

For instance, put on hand on the hip and have the other one just hanging by your side. Legs are harder, but you could lean against a wall with one leg out a bit, or shift your weight to one foot or the other.

Examples*

Not like this...

....like this!

*Disclaimer: these examples are not posed portraits. They were completely candid. Sorry :P

○○○

And because I can't wait any longer...

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! 

I'll be posting photos of our great decorating tomorrow in honor of December 1st! :)

2 Tips for Shooting Faces

 Here are a couple simple rules for portrait photography:

1. Don't shoot up the nose!

Sure isn't flattering ;) You may think: "It's a cool angle...why not take it?"

Portrait photography isn't about cool angles. It is about making your subject look good! It is important to portray them in a flattering way.

So find a different angle :)

2. Women turn heads toward the higher shoulder. Men toward the lower.

I'll use myself as an example:

The above pose looks more masculine than the one below. In the photo above, see how my head is tilted toward the lower shoulder? In the below photo, I'm tilting my head toward the higher shoulder. The second pose is much more flattering to a girl than the first. 

I don't have an example of a male leaning both ways, but I think you get the idea! 

Dance Rehearsal

Well, I promised you earlier that I would post some photos of ballet...so here they are.

I'm afraid that they are not great photos, because the lighting was bad, the dancers were fast, and to be honest, I'm not very good at taking action photography. It is hard. Oh well. It was my first time photographing ballet. :P
 

The performance I saw was a dress rehearsal. There were lots of comments and interruptions by the dance instructors, and it was fun to listen to :D

There were dancers sitting in the wings....people kept telling them to move! 

Little girls in bright costumes.

As I said, it was a dress rehearsal, and there were mistakes and laughing. Very fun to photograph! :D

Her dress reminds me of candy corn for some odd reason!

Cute little girl... the dancers worked so hard, and it was super hot in the auditorium. One of the lead dancers actually fainted during the rehearsal! 

The rehearsal was lots of fun to watch, and there were some good dancers in it!

 

And the end!

Taking photos for this was work. Fun work, but I actually felt exhausted after I finished taking photos. I guess it was late too :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 We are busy cooking and cleaning for a Thanksgiving get-together this evening...so just a few flower photos I took today... :)

Hope you enjoy a weekend filled with family, friends, fellowship, food...
a weekend of giving thanks for what the Lord has done!

A Storm Brewing

My sister came running downstairs ten minutes ago and told me,

"Looks like a storm...the sky is almost black behind the house."

This is what I found.

I just noticed the tiny bird on top of the roof...see it?

Sure enough....I hear the rain now!

Blog Buttons :)

Here are three new blog buttons I made yesterday... If you want to share my blog feel free!

Just choose a button and copy the code from the below the button into an html box on your blog.

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My blog is public, so I have no problems with people sharing it :)
(These buttons are on my sidebar too... :) )

Cropping at the Joints

 Ballet is really hard to photograph.

REEALY hard to photograph. 

I tried it a few weeks ago, and didn't do very well.

It was dark.

People were moving fast.

And I kept zooming in too close and cropping off fingers, hands, or feet.

That is one essential thing when you are composing a photo.
DON'T crop your photo at a person's joint. Anything...elbows, wrists, fingers, knees, ankles! 

Why? Because it makes something look wrong. Doesn't the below photo look a bit weird?

Lovely, just lovely... I cut off 2 wrists and 3 ankles. :(

Really love this photo... but is pretty much ruined...look at her arms. I cropped the photo at her wrists. :( 

And their faces are blurry. *sigh* 

Well, I got a few decent photos which I'll be posting soon....

but the lesson to learn is:
DON'T CROP AT THE JOINTS! 

It looks weird.

Windows + Reflectors

I am posting an educational blog post, that (for once!) hopefully will not leave you feeling like your brain has been fried. :P It is just about using a reflector in indoor photography. 

Ever seen those lovely photos that are highly grainy and orange tinted? Taken in low unnatural light inside a house? I have...lots of them.

I've even taken them. Like most people. :) But there are some ways to fix indoor-photography-that-isn't-so-great. 

1. Use your flash. Try making yourself a diffuser. I posted a little about the one I made HERE. 
2. Check your white balance. If you set it correctly, it can effectively reduce yellow-orangish lighting.
3. Shoot at a higher ISO or lower shutter speed to prevent underexposed photos.
4. Get near those windows! Or a door! They usually provide the best indoor light.
5. Use a reflector. [This is what my post today is mainly about]

 What? Reflector?

A reflector helps bounce light so that your subject is evenly lit.

Like so:

See how the left side of her face and her hair are all in shadow?

But after strategically placing a reflector beside her, her face is more evenly lit. 

The below photo demonstrates the way I set the reflector up. 

A window on her left and a reflector on her right! Voila. 

Okay... what do you use for a reflector? 

I use that shiny grey thing. I think it is called foam core, but I'm not sure... It works very well though!

When using a reflector, you often need an assistant to hold the reflector while you take the photo. Kind of inconvenient sometimes, but worth it in the end.

Left: without reflector | Right: with reflector

Post #50! Wow! And it's only been 3 months!

Safety Glasses

 My siblings and I got a good laugh out of putting the safety glasses on our cat a few days ago.

Poor cat.

The glasses didn't stay on for long.

An Adorable Little Boy with an Orange Bandanna

Isn't he one of the most adorable little kids? I saw him playing around during the Bible Dedication and just had to take a few photos of him. :)

How do you like his orange bandanna? It was part of the traditional tribal costume for the men there :)

Heading off into a busy weekend....

happy 11/11/11 to all of you :)

Rainy Days

 Oh, how I love rainy days!

(check photo captions for what element of composition they are....)

element of composition: symmetry

 It is pretty much the only time the weather cools down. And I get to wear rain boots :)

And take photos of wet things.

element of composition: depth of field, possibly lines

Wheeee! I love the above photo!!!

elements of composition: n/a (tsk tsk.... it's not a great photo)

 *sigh*

element of composition: depth of field,

 Yes, dear readers, that IS a rain drop on my camera lens. Two drops to be exact. I didn't mean to get them on there. I cleaned the lens very carefully afterward. But I love the photo :D

element of composition: simple backgrounds (?)

And our cute kitty had her tail curled around her paw. Aw. Was she cold, or was she scared of my camera? 

Does anyone else love rainy days?

Breakfast

exif: ISO 125 | f/3.7 | 1/20 sec

How about a good book and a cup of milk for breakfast?

:)

Any day.

Except that I don't like the milk here. It tastes weird. :P

Happy Monday! :D

Elements of Composition #9

And the LAST element of composition I am posting about is:

Symmetry!

use mirrored or repetitive geometry to create balance

Today I have 4 photos to share with you...and I took them in the last 30 minutes! ;D  

 

Windows

Closet doors

A wet leaf

Our gate :)

Well, I hope you learned something and got a few ideas from this series. I've been blogging about nine elements of composition for the past two weeks, and I am happy to be able start posting other things this week! :)