Emergency Preparedness

I'm apologize for not posting for...hmm..hmm.. almost two months! Honestly, I didn't know anyone actually checked or read this blog till a few people told me! I will try to post more regularly now;) Well, here is my photo tip of the day. Emergency preparedness.

What type of emergencies do you need to be prepared for as a photographer? Let me give you a few case scenarios.

#1. It was my third wedding. I came home after the wedding ceremony pictures and downloaded everything on my computer. Then a few hours later went back to the reception. After the reception I also "downloaded" (or so I thought) the pictures from the reception. I had just switched editing programs, and unlike the one I had used for the wedding (which downloaded things automatically to your computer when you plug the card in) the new program had not yet been programmed to do so. Even though I had viewed the reception pictures on my computer, unbeknownst to me, I had not actually downloaded them. When I suddenly had the need to use my camera that day, I immediately formatted the card. Yah...you can guess what happened. I soon found out that I had just DELETED ALL MY WEDDING RECEPTION PHOTOS for my client. Let us ponder upon the grave feeling of distaster that I felt in that moment. The supreme humiliation at my lack of professionalism, and my horrific imagination at the confrontation that I would soon have in trying to explain to my client that I had just lost their pictures. The pictures that could never be repeated. Never reshot . A once in a lifetime moment that would never happen again, and now was lost forever. Or was it?

To my extreme gratitude, my discovery actually happened in the presence of another professional photographer. When he discovered what I was suddenly wheeping and whaling about;) he said, "Hey! You can get them back! Don't worry!" Of course I suddenly perked up. He was on his way to Salt Lake City to the camera store Pictureline, which happens to have some "recovery sotware". I called them up, explained my situation, and since I had only reformatted the card, and not yet taken any other pictures, they said that they were almost certain that they could recover them all. Yes, it cost me $40... but I would gladly gladly pay $40 any day over facing a wedding client to inform them that they would go through this life never having a record of their day;)

#2. Well, its been a while since that experience, and as so, I have learned my lesson. I NEVER reformatt my card without certainty that my pictures are 1. downloaded on the computer 2. (usually but not always) also backed up online. Well, this past weekend I experienced another EMERGENCY, but this was a different sort. I shot a wedding, came home to download the event, and only half of the images from the event could be read from the card. In other words...half of my files had become corrupted!!!!! I knew they were on the card, I knew I had shot the pictures, but the camera, as well as the computer would not read them. Well, I called up pictureline again, who could have come to my rescue once more, but I also called another professional photographer friend who routed me another direction. This time? I spent the same $40 downloading software from the internet that does the same thing. Essentially I saved on gas, time, and now own a program that hopefully I will never have to use again, but in the event that I do, I'm prepared. LC Technology International has software that will recover photo files, as well as other files that you may have lost on your hard-drive...accidentally deleted, or maybe you experienced a fatal hard drive crash. Don't feel like all is lost until you first check out this option! They can recover things from compact flash cards, memory sticks, hard drives...etc. etc. Definitely good to know!

Well, this morning I am sitting here as a happy camper with my recovered photos. Thank goodness for recovery software and prayer!

Here are some helpful tips for backing up your photo's to avoid these dreadful situations:

1. BACKUP PHOTOS ONLINE. There are several sites now that provide you online storage options for photos. I personally am a member of smugmug.com. I LOVE smugmug! You pay a yearly fee (quite modest even to my super cheap ways). You can then create galleries online to preserve all your images. They host high quality jpg files and now even host RAWS. They offer unlimited storage space and back up everything in four different states! Aside from the backup characteristic, it is nice to be able to have family and friends see your photos online from anywhere in the world. You can also order prints and their print quality is AWESOME!

2. Have a portable hard drive backup. I recently purchased an Epson P3000 (pictured below). This can be found here at amazon or a few other places online. There are different GB sizes, but this one is 40 GB. When I finish a card from a shoot, I put the card into this guy, and he downloads everything. Now I have the pictures in two places. The card, and the Epson. I can download all my images from the Epson to the computer (which is about 1000x faster than the card reader), and I can also see the images on the Epson's 4x4 screen and delete ones I won't use so all that makes it to the computer is usable work. This also works wonders for travel, and it costs about the same as buying 40GB worth of cards.
Always be sure to be prepared. Back up your images in more than one location, and don't think the world has completed ended if your card becomes corrupted, your computer fails, or you delete your images. Usually there is a recovery!

Photographing Kids

PHOTO TIPS TAKE TWO:  3-2-1-ACTION!

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile!  I wasn't quite sure how this was all going to work!  I have waited for people to send me some examples of their work, but I am realizing that you are all on different schedules and priorities in life.  Perhaps the approach I'll take is to keep posting photo tips and tricks, and if you want to send me some pictures for me to critique, I'd be happy to do so.  If you are a better student by having to be accountable, then send me your homework!  If you would rather read the blog and keep these things in your mind and practice on your own time, then do that too!  

Today I'm going to talk about photographing Kids.  Let me preface by saying that this is SUPER HARD!!!.  And since most of you have kids, and the reason that you want to learn to take better pictures is so you can take shots of them...well, this lesson is for you!  

What makes photographing kids hard?

-They have very little attention spans

-They don't like to "hold still"

-They don't like to pose, smile, stand straight, or take their hands out of their mouth all on demand...

-They sometimes just want to do their own thing!  

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to do a kids session in Salt Lake City.  This was a fantastic and successful session for a few reasons.  To see some pictures of the shoot, go to my photoblog .  Here's some personal tips:  (I warn you that this post is strongly biased! But it's my blog and I'm going to express how I feel! )  But first!  A Tangent!

#1  GET AWAY FROM TRADITION AND "perfect" PICTURES

Get away from the quest for Perfection: All too often I think we get stuck in a world of photography where we think that the best picture is going to be the "perfect" picture.  The one with everyone looking at the camera, posed in the perfect pose, and smiling.  If you go to a studio, that's normally what they're going to try and produce.  For my taste...I think its all fake.  ---I know of a studio that has everyone come in and photographs each family member individually all wearing black and then picks the best picture of everyone, pieces it together so you can truly have the "perfect picture".  Since when are we perfect?  And especially our families?  I know of others that give specific requests to the photographer to shave off 20 lbs in Photoshop, remove double chins, and do other extraordinary editing to achieve the look that they "wish" they had.  

Bottom line: Life is real, our pictures should be too.  

Getting Away from Tradition: Yes, its fine and nice to have a traditional studio picture of everyone sitting gracefully, looking at the camera with smiles that have been in place for the 3 second count down, as a way to record and document our lives, but I'm a strong advocate for non-traditional photography.  Photographing in locations that have meaning to us, wearing our own clothes that are flattering to us individually (not all dressing in matching polo's and khaki pants that only look good on the boys--that we'd never wear for any other occasion, and that we feel slightly awkward in), and trying to capture the moments that have emotion.  

The following picture is one of my favorites that I've ever shot!  I love it!  I love that the mother let her daughter wear a Tu-Tu for their "Pay a Professional Family Pictures"...  It's not traditional, but it's totally HER.  It's her favorite outfit anyway, and it tells who she is, and who the family is.  Be unique!  Be individual!  Tell YOUR story;) 

Some of my favorite pictures are the ones that everyone is NOT looking at the camera!  The one were two kids are looking at each other with mischievous grins and giggles that only they know about, or the one of everyone laughing between shots because someone said something funny...those are the ones I love!  Those are the ones that show true relationships and emotion.  I've actually been known to use photoshop to swap out heads--NOT to create the perfect picture of everyone looking, but to piece together the picture of everyone interacting!   

Here's one from the same shoot that I took while we were walking to our next photo location.  They didn't even realize I was shooting, AND it ended up being the picture that they chose for their enlargement;)

Here's some examples from another one of my favorite family shoots this summer.  Some pictures are actually pieced together of a few different ones, while others are just moments that happened to be caught.  (Hint:  take pictures at all times,...not just on the count of three when they THINK you're taking pictures, or when everyone is looking.)  

Lest we think that emotion shots are just laughing...here's one of my favorites as well:

I love this shot because it shows a couple of things...first of all, the little one is NOT HAPPY, but second, you can see the loving compassion her sister has for her as she's trying to calm her. This shot would have been missed if I was waiting for them both to look at the camera, and both to be happy and smile.  

The following picture is of the mother trying to get her son to smile and pay attention for the pictures (he's 7 months...it's near impossible).  I love the family interaction that is here.  Take pictures even when you're "waiting" for the  perfect shot...sometimes these are the ones that end up being "just the one".  

Now to my original intent for this post!  PHOTOGRAPHING KIDS!!!!

When the mother of yesterday's shoot contacted me she said that she wanted "motion" pictures of her and her daughter.  (She's a modern dancer and wanted pictures of the two of them dancing and playing.)  After going there I realized that in large part this was the ONLY type of shoot that would have worked for them.  This 2 year old was CRAZY BUSY!  She wouldn't sit still for a full 2 seconds, and if you were to try and get her to look at the camera or pose she'd get VERY upset!  However!  We made it work!

Yesterday's shoot I believe was so fun and successful because of a few reasons:

-It wasn't traditional

-we were in the natural environment of the child (she was comfortable there, and knew what to do and what to play with)

-we didn't seek for the "perfect picture", but to show the "real side".

-she was never asked to look at the camera!  Her mom was playing with her, but the shoot involved running, playing, twirling, music, having fun!  I think the smiles are absolutely genuine, and not forced, because of these reasons.  

-P.S.  It helps to have someone "playing" with them.  I love the interaction between this mother and daughter.  When I go on family shoots that have small kids, I often ask the family to bring along someone that the kids know, who can be "playing" with them behind me while I shoot.  When taking pictures of "just the kids", parents can fill that role wonderfully! 

**** There's nothing that will end a shoot faster with kids than yelling at them to smile and stand still!  

Three more tiny small tricks:

-(I got this trick from my camera teacher, Dustin Fife.)When I'm taking family pictures with kids involved and we need a picture of "everyone looking", play a game with them.  Tell them to raise their hands high above in the air.  Tell them on the count of three they're going to bring them down really fast!  This gets them completely involved in picture process, they love it, and the smiles you get are really exciting!  

-Show the kids your camera, and let them take their own picture.  

-Don't wear them out.  Take a few pictures, and then tell them to go and run around and play.  Takes shots of them playing.  If you want more formal shots just be sure to "space it out".  

Hope all this was helpful!

Assignment #1: Composition

Before we start talking about camera settings, or lighting, or anything thing technical...

"Lets start at the very beginning.  A very good place to start" -Maria Von Trap; Sound of Music.    

Composition:  How is your picture composed?  Most think very little about this element other than usually centering the subject in the middle of the frame.   Here's a few tips that I picked up that have improved my pictures greatly!

1.  Scan your eyes around the frame.  When you're looking through the view finder, don't be only focused on looking at your subjects face.  Are you cutting off an essential element of the picture?  A classic example of this was the engagement pictures that I took of my sister.  She and her soon to be husband were beautifully posed in a ballroom dance "dip".  I captured the entire moment, only somehow I cut half of her shoe out of the picture.   Had I taken the time to quickly scan my eyes around the frame, I would have noted that I needed to zoom out just slightly!  An essential element of the photograph was the elegance of the graceful body positions, but you couldn't fully enjoy it when it was abruptly cut off.  (Needless to say, they still used it for their wedding announcement... sorry to spoil it now!)  

Another tip.  If you are going to crop people in the picture (which is perfectly fine and wonderful!), don't do it at joints.  Elbows, wrists, knees, ankles... etc.  I read it in a photo book, but can't find the reference now...but I agree!  Our eyes are more comfortable compositionally to not have appendages cropped at the joints.  

Below is a picture I shot last Halloween.  I cropped the picture right at her ankles and it doesn't look right.  I should have zoomed out (which I later did), and gotten the whole body.  Or zoomed in close and cropped at a more comfortable place.  

Tip 2:  Don't leave too much headroom at the top of your picture.  

Below is an example of a family picture I shot a year ago.  (I've gotten lots better, and this certainly wasn't the best picture from the shoot...but it illustrates a point.)  I cut off the youngest girls body and left too much head room at the top of the picture.  It looks really out of proportion because the top part has so much empty space.  I should have repositioned myself...crouched down to be able to frame them more evenly and not cut off parts of the family.  

2.  Ask yourself, "What offends me about this picture?"  I'm not talking about morally offensive here!  When you take the time to scan your eyes around the frame, and then to look at the details of the picture for something "offensive", you might notice that the person is standing in front of a tree in just the right spot that it looks like a branch is growing out the top of their head!  Or a pole in the distance across the street is coming out the top of their head.  Take the time to reposition yourself, or the subject.  It will dramatically help the picture out!  Also you might notice a distraction in the background.  Many things are easily moveable, and will greatly improve the picture.  

The following picture isn't "too offensive" but you can see how the line from the door is sticking out the top of her head?  If I had her move slightly over it would have looked better.

3.  Get the best angle, or a different angle.  Those of you photographing children...we always see them with our perspective looking down, because they are shorter than us.  Try getting down on their plane or perspective.  When shooting portraits it is very flattering to have the lens at the same eye level as your subject.  With kids this means getting lower.  Another awesome awesome perspective is to lay on your stomach to take the picture... or look through the grass.  Here's an example of a family picture that I shot.  

The family is sitting in the grass, and instead of shoting "down" on them, I got on the same level.  I'm about 3 feet away on my stomach, shooting "through" the grass.  It's a fun angle. 

 

Here's an example of an engagement shoot I did a few months ago in a library.  (That's where they met).  I'm sitting an isle away from them on the floor, on the same level as they are.  

Another fun angle is to intentionally shoot from high above someone.  I now carry a step ladder with me to get some of these shots.  

This look is flattering for a few reasons.  Looking up they get more even light on their face, and its slenderizing!  But that is for a totally different lesson!

Well, That concludes our lesson today!  I hope you learned some helpful tips!  

Assignment #1.  Take pictures!  But follow the tips!  

-Scan the frame of your picture before shooting.

-Look for "offensive" things in your picture and fix it.

-Look for interesting angles. 

When you have one or two of your finest examples you'd like to share, email me at brookesnowphoto@gmail.com and I will give you the information you need to upload your picture on the blog so we can all comment!  Thanks class!  You're excused!

First Day of School

Greetings! I'm teacher, Brooke! Welcome to the first day of photo school! I have to first admit a few things. I have no degree in photography, I have no degree in teaching, I have no experience in teaching photography, and my experience in photography is only a few years old! If you are still interested in taking lessons from someone with such few qualifications...Welcome!

I have been very blessed to pick up a few tips along the way! I took private camera lessons from a professional photographer for 8 months. I would say that the bulk of my photography knowledge and "success", stems from three basic things:

1. Understanding how the camera works ;)
2. Focused Practice ;)
3. Look critically at others work.

Photo School will focus on these three basic areas. Let me explain each area briefly:

1. Understanding how the camera works: Our lessons will begin very basic, but our goal is to teach you how to shoot in "manual mode" on your camera. In order to do so there are some basic settings that you need to understand...their role and function, and how they work together. We will get here eventually!

2. Focused Practice: Every time we learn about a setting on the camera we will have homework assignments to practice. You'll never learn without applying! You have free reign on what the subject of your photography is, but the practice should be focused. The greatest aid in getting you familiar with your camera and improving your photo skills, is consistent practice. You need to be using your camera a minimum of once a week. A few times a week is even better.

3. Look critically at others work: I should also mention that you need to be critical of yourself. Critical: characterized by careful evaluation and judgment. It is not just pointing out the negative, but finding the positive. What did you or others do that you really liked? How did they accomplish that? What could be improved on?

I spend anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour a day looking at other photography blogs. It's a great source of inspiration, creativity, and evaluation. It's very helpful and "educational" to look at others works and ask yourself those aforementioned questions... "Why do I like this?" "How did they do that?" "How could I do something like that?"

All of our lessons will be focused on these areas. After you have completed the assigned homework, you will be required to post a few of your best shots on the site. We can then have comments from everyone and have a source of helpful feedback!

Thanks for attending class today! We will soon have our first assignment! Check back for details!