Before and After/ Gainesville Florida Photographer

Sometimes when I have a few minutes to myself I love to play around with images from sessions that didn't make the cut.  I typically go through the images from a session three times before narrowing down my choices of what will go in a gallery.  It often leaves a lot of "OK" images behind, ones that I might use in an album or storyboard.  But sometimes I'll leave one behind just because I know it will need a lot of processing to make it good.  Maybe it was underexposed, or there was something distracting in the background.  Here's an example of an image that was far from being right straight out of the camera.  It was the very first shot of this session, so a test shot really, and ended up pretty underexposed.  It was still sharp though, and he's such a cute little guy that I decided to see if I could bring it back to life.  Here's the result...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So there you go.  Not every picture you take will be great straight out of the camera.  Sometimes they just need a little boost to make them pop!

Location, Location, Location/ Portland Children's Portraits

Q and I are having a great time being back in Florida seeing old friends, and of course taking pictures. One of the reasons I love doing sessions here is that there are new locations to find, and my family and good friends know that I love location hunting. But sometimes you just may not feel like hopping in your car or getting on the Max to find a new spot. Sometimes the best spots are right in front of you. Sometimes the greatest challenge is not in finding that great grove or beautiful field, but in finding what's right at your fingertips. Sometimes the best locations are at your front door, or down the street. I know I could think of a few dozen great spots along our daily dog walk just in my neighborhood, and I bet you could find some too, within a few blocks of your house. So, put on your "location goggles" as I call them, and the next time you're out taking a stroll, look around you and start framing the pictures in your mind. Look for textures, walls, stairs, lines, splashes of color, garage doors...you get the idea. Q and I have been talking about taking pictures down our street for months. Every day we walk past not one, not two, but half a dozen cool old trucks within 3 blocks of our house. So finally, on a beautiful Sunday evening last week, we went and took our truck walk. I was ready to be done after the first two or three spots, but Q wanted to keep on going, and stop at every neighbor's front steps on the way home! So here are some shots from our street, hope you enjoy them. And a challenge to all of you budding photographers out there, take a walk on your street and see what you can find!

Giving Back/ Portland Child Photographer

I wanted to mention three wonderful organizations that I'm part of that allow photographers to give a little back to the community and people going through difficult times in their lives. There are quite a few organizations out there, but I think these three are particularly important. If you know of anyone who could benefit, please pass on this information or send them my way.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is an amazing organization that provides private, beautiful portrait session for families whose babies have been born still, or will never leave the hospital. The work that photographers and volunteers do is beyond priceless and is near and dear to my heart. For families dealing with the grief and pain of losing a child, photographs can be an important part of the healing process, providing them a way to honor, cherish, and share the spirit of their babies. Portland is lucky in that it has a great network of hospitals and photographers who support the program, but there is always the need for more help. Even if you're not a photographer there are still ways to help including opportunities to volunteer as assistants (hint, hint).

The Littlest Heroes Project provides free photo sessions to children with serious illnesses or life altering disabilities. When families are dealing with the challenges of handling a difficult diagnosis, photographs are often understandably not at the top of their list of priorities. But when the battle is over, photographs are an important reminder of the journey each family has faced. I'm really looking forward to doing these "day in the life" type of session that capture the everyday moments that are so easily forgotten.

Think Pink Photography is a network of photographers who have come together to celebrate life and support the cause of fighting women and men who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Photographers provide complimentary portrait sessions to individuals and families before, during, or after treatment.

All of these organizations provide an incredible service to families and the community. Please help spread the word, and they can always use donations.

Composition/ Portland Family Pictures

So we've talked about light and focus, now it's time to look at composition. I really think all three need to be there in order to have a picture that doesn't look like a snapshot. Here are some quick tips, followed by some examples, that will help you take a different look at the composition of your pictures.

-Rule of Thirds. If you've ever done any reading about taking better pictures or graphic design in general, you've probably heard of the "Rule of Thirds". This is probably the most fundamental "rule" out there. In a nutshell it says to think of your picture as being divided into 9 equal parts (see below). Then, try to place the main focus of your picture onto those lines, or the intersection of those lines. So, when photographing a person, their body should roughly be placed on one of the vertical lines with their eyes at an intersection. Now, do you have to follow this exactly? Of course not, but it is a good way to avoid having your subject fall in the middle of the frame which is usually less appealing to the eye. You can see in the picture below that her eyes don't exactly fall on the intersection of the two lines, but her lips do, and her eyes are fairly close, still taking advantage of the rule.

-Don't ALWAYS follow the rule of thirds. It's a great guideline, but sometimes centering can make for a more dramatic picture. When I choose to center a subject, it's typically because there is some sort of symmetry surrounding them, or their "pose" is symmetrical. Take a look at the picture below. The subject (cute little Livy) is facing the camera squarely and her hands and feet are more or less symmetrical, so having her in the center of the frame works.

-Pay attention to your background. Whenever I look for a location I'm usually looking for backgrounds. Whatever is behind your subject is your canvas. The more that's on it, the less focus will be on the person in your picture. This doesn't mean you need to shoot in front of grey walls, but try to avoid major distractions in the background. This also means avoiding telephone polls coming out of heads! Take a look at the picture below. The door is a great background with interesting lines and texture, but had I been paying attention, I would have moved the family so that the vertical metal pieces were not right behind the dad's head. It just throws the whole picture a bit off balance since it essentially divides the picture down the middle.

-Change your perspective. I'm always surprised at how sore I am after a two hour session. But there's a good reason for it. If you watch most professional photographers, at least those that shoot children, you'll see them on the ground or kneeling a LOT. You'll never see me show up for a session in good clothes because I always know whatever I'm wearing will get filthy from laying on the muddy grass or kneeling on wet pavement. Hopefully I'll have some "behind the scenes" videos posted soon, but in the meantime just take my word for it-get on the ground when you take pictures of your kids! It really will make a difference in giving your pictures that little extra polish. Look closely at the picture below and you'll see the my camera (and I) was surely on the ground...the OOF (out of focus) grass in the foreground is a dead giveaway.

-Have your subject moving "into" the frame. Most of you probably know this one already too. If you have a picture of a person looking off in a particular direction, it's usually more visually appealing to have them looking into the rest of the picture rather than looking out of it. Doesn't the top picture look a little better than the bottom one?

-Don't cut off limbs at the joint. Sometimes you can't avoid cropping a leg, hand, or arm out of a picture, and sometimes it even makes a picture better, but try to avoid cropping right at a joint-it just looks off.

-Have some style! I'm not a fashionista, in fact I have pretty poor fashion sense, but I do love a little style in pictures. If you ever book a session with me, you'll hear my speech about what to wear. Personally I love pictures that are timeless, which means I usually like to leave Sponge Bob shirts in the drawer and opt for bright colors, bold stripes, or just a pretty sundress. Urban shoots usually scream "bright" to me, while shoots in a vineyard, orchard, or field are often best in paler shades. Wherever you are, just think about what your subject is wearing and whether or not it will distract from the picture. It certainly doesn't mean they have to wear "jeans and a solid shirt." Experiment with textures, layers, and the favorite of almost every photographer...hats!

-Don't be afraid to crop. While cropping in camera is usually best (less pixels thrown away), I often find myself cropping in post-processng to get the right composition. This also will give you a little more room should you ever want to get a gallery wrapped canvas or other product that needs a little space around the edges. You can see in the picture below that what came straight out of the camera isn't the most appealing composition. The boy (cutie pie Gavin) is centered while the rest of the picture is quite asymmetrical. No problem with a little cropping though. The final picture on the bottom follows the rule of thirds pretty well and is a lot more appealing.

So there you are, hopefully these tips will help the next time you decide to take your camera out!

Portraits Deconstructed / Portland Kids Photography

So what makes a portrait appealing to the eye? There are a lot of factors of course, from the location you're shooting at to the person you're taking the picture of, but when it really comes down to it there are just a few key factors that play into whether a picture makes you say "Wow" or "Eh". Over the next few weeks I'll take each of these key factors and explain it, show a few examples, and hopefully help you learn how to improve your own photography. I'll preface it all with the fact that I'm far from an expert. Everything I've learned has come through trial and error or reading books and tutorials. But that's the great part of learning photography...there are so many good resources out there that almost anyone can do their own research and practice, practice, practice, until you start to notice a difference in what you see coming out of your camera. And you WILL notice a difference.

If I had to narrow it down to three things, I'd say Light, Focus, and Composition are the main factors in getting a good shot. Sure, these are the basics, you already know what they are, but maybe seeing some examples and getting some tips will help you along the way.

For me, understanding lighting has been the hardest one of the three. I'm still learning to really see light and learn to manipulate it, and I suspect it will take a few more years before I feel really comfortable with all aspects of it. Since most of you reading this probably don't have an interest in setting up studio lights or investing in strobes, I'll stick to talking about natural light which is what I use for nearly all of my shots. Natural light has a lot of advantages, mainly that it's FREE, it's beautiful when used right, and it's readily available (except in dreary Northwest winters). So how should you use it to your advantage? Well, here are some tips I've learned along the way...

When it comes to portraits, the focus should always be on the person (or persons), and usually the focus of the person will be the face. When it comes to lighting and faces, you should aim for two things. The first and most important is to avoid harsh shadows. Sure, mid-day sun means you won't have to worry about having to bump up your ISO to have enough light, but it also means you'll be dealing with light that's coming from above, which creates raccoon eyes, nose shadows, and probably a few "hot spots", or over exposed spots too. To avoid this, the easiest thing to do is pick a better time of day. You may have heard of the "golden hour"? This is most photographers' favorite time of day to shoot, an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. At these times the sun is low enough in the sky to have more even light allowing for just about any location to work. It's a great time to play around with backlighting (sun positioned behind your subject) and sun flare, but even with your subject facing the sun, the results can be beautiful.

So what do you do if you can't keep the toddler up until 9pm in the summer to get those golden hour shots? There are a few options. If you have the luxury of waiting for an overcast day clouds are perfect for creating a giant soft box in the sky. You can still get some shadows if you're not positioned right, but they're usually minor and often easily fixable in post-processing. Or, if you can choose your location, pick one that has open, even shade. This allows you to get nice, even lighting and avoid distracting shadows. Whatever you do, avoid dappled shade like the plague! Having "hot spots" and shade on the same face is pretty tough to fix. Yet another option is to find something for your subject to stand under, like a garage door, a tree, a carport, etc. This allows light to fall in evenly from the front, but it blocks the harshest rays coming in from above. If all else fails and you find yourself in a situation where you have to take a picture in mid-day sun with no shade to be had, try to be creative. Have your little girl hold a cute parasol, or hold a scarf above her head. The last time I had to do this it was with a group of 6 kids on the beach at 10am. I knew that if I shot out in the open they'd all be squinting and I'd have horrible shadows to deal with, so I just brought along a king sized white sheet and had a little help creating a make-shift cabana. Sure, it's not as pretty as a shot taken at sunset would have been, but sometimes you can't choose! A final option is to fill in shadows using a reflector or flash. Flash is a whole other topic, but you can make a simple reflector out of white poster board, foam, or a piece of cardboard wrapped in tin foil. Angled toward the dark side of the face it can do a lot to even the light.

The second thing to think about when it comes to lighting and faces is catchlights. Catchlights are the reflections that you see on a subjects pupil when the light falls just right. You certainly don't need catchlights to have a nice picture, but if you can get them, it will make for a much better shot, especially for close-ups. Even just a little can bring life into your subject's eyes. Finding the right angles takes just a little practice, but after a while you'll get the hang of finding the right spots in no time. Having your subject in front of a large window, having them look up at you, having them angle their face a little towards the sky (45 degrees), or having them on the edge of open shade can all help get gorgeous catchlights in the eyes. So the next time you're staring adoringly at your little one or significant other, pay attention to their eyes. Where and at what time of day do you notice catchlights in their eyes (warning: this can become an obsession!)? Is there a particular spot in your house that has a big window or sliding glass door that would be perfect? While you're at it, start noticing shadows on their face too. You don't need a camera in hand to practice photography. It helps, but as you'll see in the next few weeks, there are a lot of ways to have your "photographer's goggles" on no matter where you are.

I could go on about lighting for a few hundred pages. Obviously there are a lot more factors that come into play than what I've mentioned here. But for the sake of helping you take better pictures of your baby, toddler, girlfriend, or whomever, this is a good place to start and here are some examples to go with it.

This shot was taken in late afternoon, a few hours before sunset, so while it wasn't the worst time of day, I still had to watch how he was positioned to avoid direct sun. Here the sun was behind him slightly to the right. You can see part of the back of his head is over exposed, but in this case it doesn't distract from the overall picture and even adds to it in my opinion. Now imagine he had been facing directly into that same sun. There would have been a lot more shadow to contend with, not to mention that he'd be squinting. You can also see that there are some catchlights in his eyes, in this case I think they were coming from the light behind the building he was facing.

Here again I was shooting in early evening in the height of summer, so not quite the golden hour. Because there wasn't a cloud in the sky, we looked for a lot of open shade at this location. In this case, he wasn't on the edge of the shade, so I had him look up at the camera to get some catchlights from the sky, and to avoid raccoon eyes.

And finally, this shot was taken on another bright and sunny day around 10 am. As in the previous picture, I had her look up at me a bit while sitting under an open roofed area that provided even shade, but still allowed for nice catchlights.

I hope you've enjoyed the tips...coming next time...FOCUS!

From RAW to wow!/ Portland Children's Photographer

Sometimes when things are slow and the three year old has absolutely no interest in having his picture taken, I'll go back and reprocess old photos to see how I can apply new techniques or just give a picture a different look. As much as I love being out there and taking the actual pictures, I look forward to processing them just as much. It's funny, I think a lot of people think that a photographer's job pretty much ends when they put the lens cap back on, but really, the hour or two at the session taking pictures is by far the quickest part. After that comes the hours of editing, processing, tweaking, and fine tuning. Sure, you hope that your images come straight out of the camera looking great, without needing much work. But in reality, if you shoot RAW, every single image needs adjustments since the camera doesn't do the work for you like it would if you shot jpegs. Whether it's just a quick contrast boost and some sharpening, or something more involved, RAW images have to be given life. And because I love to see before and after examples, here are a few of my own. These are urban shots taken a while ago that I wanted to revisit, and as you can see, I went for a vivid, high key look here. If these were shots of a sweet little girl in a dress, in a field of flowers, I obviously wouldn't process them this way. That's the beauty of it, you can do just a little, or go a little over the top!

Here's an example of a shot straight out of the camera (top), processed (middle), and a little more processed (bottom). You may be able to see that on the bottom shot I've upped the exposure a bit more and sharpened the steel to give it some more texture.

I've processed this picture a few different times, and a softer look, or black and white version work well too, but yesterday it was screaming for something bold, so I did a high key version of it. You can see I've upped the saturation in the steel shutter and brick, while just doing a typical boost on him. Add a little contrast and some sharpening, and voila', you have a vivid picture. Ok, so it's not quite that easy, it takes practice, but that's what makes it fun!

Here you can see just how dull some images look straight out of the camera. This image was a bit underexposed from the start and was lacking the urban edginess I wanted it to have. So, like the ones above, I gave it some life. This is a little more high key than I could have gone, but I wanted something a little more dramatic. You can see I adjusted the exposure to brighten it up, boosted the saturation to add color, and put a touch of 'grittiness' in the background.

This is an example where not a whole lot needed to be done with the original image. The exposure was pretty good from the start, it just needed a little "pop" with a boost in contrast, a little sharpening, and a curves adjustment. The finished image reflects the beautiful golden light that was there at the time.

So, if you have an SLR, play around some time with shooting RAW and see what you can do. The best part is, you always have the original image, untouched, to work with if you ever want to go back months later (like I always do) and rework it. And I know Google's pretty much the only thing reading this blog, but if you like these kind of posts, leave a comment, let me know, and I'm happy to keep doing them!