photo tips

Awww, forgive me for a moment.  She was so cute and so little!  It was about this age that she spoke with her great grandmother on the phone who asked, "Well, who is this?" To which she replied, "Grace......... But my daddy calls me Sweetheart."  :)

I have never been a "scrapbooker"...never had the desire to scrapbook...and never wanted to spend money on scrapbook supplies.  I understand that a lot of people enjoy it, and it is a good way to foster creativity and organize keepsakes and photos.  Too overwhelming for me, I guess, and it just didn't sound like fun.  I'm lucky to just get my photos in the pocket sleeves!  Furthermore, every time I try to even organize my photos, we move!  Recently, I had to lug all the photos out to go through them for a family project.  So, I decided it is time to tackle organizing them once again.  (although I don't forsee any moves in the near future this time!)

I was excited to find these two cute photos of two of my kids!  Please excuse, I need to gush a little more.  Oh, my sweet, little, superman Ty!  He was so precious.  Always my biggest snuggler.  And he wore that cape proudly!

Anyway, I knew these photos would be perfect for a little project with something I picked up at a yard sale recently. (more on that tomorrow).

My photo tips for the day have to do with direction of natural light, and capturing those candid moments.  Get your compass out!  I took the photo of my daughter on our southern facing covered porch in Michigan.  The outdoor lighting, covered from the direct overhead rays of the sun, seem to work magic in photographs.  And it delivered that warm, southern sunlight for flattering skin tones.  

The superman photo was taken on the southern wall in the breakfast nook of our Michigan condo near a big sliding glass door on the western wall.  I'm sure that I'm driving some of you crazy with the southern, western, northern thing.  But if you want beautiful pictures, it does help to know which direction your house faces, and to find the corresponding natural light from the southern and western windows.  

I put a sticker on the floor near the wall and told Ty that he could do whatever he wanted, but he had to stand on that sticker while I took the photos of him!  And then, I snapped away, as fast as I could.  Remember to take lots of pictures, and keep only the best.  Let them be themselves.  Now that my kids are older, I have found that the photos that I love the most, are those with their natural expressions.  It reminds me more of their personalities than the stiff, posed photographs.  Once you put them in a room with good lighting, you may have to get down on their level and shoot from a lot of different angles.  Follow them around, and ask questions to get their attention!

Tomorrow I will show you what I did with these photos~using something I picked up at a yard sale!