Photography Today

Location Advice for Photography Poses

Taking indoor family photography, is very different than outdoor family photograph (duh!).
For INDOOR pictures...
1) Wide Angle You will tend to use the wide angle more often than your telephoto setting. Pay particular attention to your "end people" (those farthest to the right and the left in your viewfinder), and verify there is enough space in the picture, so that if cropping is required, the end people don't have to lose a limb.
2) The Flash Flash considerations are critical. Do not be outside your "flash range." For example, if at ISO 100, your flash can properly illuminate 12 feet, don't attempt any photography pose that requires anyone to stand at 14 feet (unless, of course, it's evil cousin Ira who you want to appear in darkness).
3) Plan "B" If you need to be further away than your on-camera flash allows, here are 3 things you can try...    1. Consider purchasing an external flash unit for your camera.    2. Increase the ISO setting (but not so much as to produce "noise")    3. Physically move to a significantly brighter location.
4) Watch Your Background If there are distracting (or competing) features, change the background. The best photography pose in the world won't look right with a distracting background. And finally...
5) Mirror, Mirror, on The Wall If there are mirrors or reflective surfaces in the background and you can't find a different location, only take the picture in such a way that the flash is not perpendicular to the surface, but at an angle (unless you want a nice photo of your flash).

Planning Advice for Photography Poses (that I stole from the web )

1) Prepare For The Event Prepare for the event by thinking about every photograph you want to take and what kind of photography pose or poses you would like to capture. Consider who, where, how, and the type of environment.
2) Take Multiple Photographs Take multiple shots of each photography pose (remember, digital memory is reusable, a.k.a. "free"). Regardless of what you say or do, people will blink. And don't count on spotting small problems on the tiny camera LCD screen (even on full magnification); which leads to...
3) Check the LCD Screen Check the digital camera's LCD screen only for general framing of the picture, extreme movements, visibility of faces, and the histogram. Do not use the LCD screen for any fine review of the picture! (That is what your computer is for.) Note that you can have a fantastic photography pose; arrange everyone perfectly; and, have the photograph "frozen" (no blinking, and no shaking of the camera)...but, when you check it out in the LCD, you see 2 drunks fighting in the background!
4) Funny Phrases Have some funny phrases handy to use just before you take the photo. Don't use it when setting up for the shot. And, don't use the same phrase all the time. Throw in funny anecdotes, phrases, names, words that you know your family will find more amusing than "cheese." A natural smile looks four times better than a fake one.

Color the Light--Add Warmth to Your Images

Photographers know how to stimulate the eyes and wake-up your conscious. One method professional photographers predominately use to stimulate the mind is they tend to shoot more verticals than horizontals. Other methods of stimulation come by the use of various techniques, such as the proper composition and use of leading and implied lines, especially imaginary diagonals and S-curves. There are many methods, but with the evolution into digital photography, professional photographers can now add color to the light of the image—on the fly.

Break Trhough the window

Well don’t physically break your window, but find a window, any window, in your residence and study the light that comes through it. Figure out the best time of day to use it, and shoot some images with the natural daylight that filters through it. Toss in a flash and mix your light too. It's been said, "the eyes are the windows to our souls," well the windows in your home are a source of inspiration that will soothe your soul. Digital photography, unlike conventional film, is very forgiving in the shadow areas and will soak-up that natural window light your subject reflects. Don't forget to use the white-balance settings on your camera to your advantage, change your white-balance to around 6000K (Kelvin) or the electronic flash or even the cloudy day mode, the results should be beautiful warm-toned images that appear to be the late evening sun—color that light, pure daylight is boring.

Backgrounds

The background in a photograph is the most important visual element, second to the subject. Hair, make-up, clothes, and the foreground, are worthless without the proper background. Photographers shouldn't ignore these other elements of an image, but they should always be aware of the background and how it will appear in the final photograph Photographers should always be aware of their background in a scene and know the role the background plays in the finished product--create photographs, not pictures. Prior to a shoot a photographer should pre-visualize the scene including the role the background plays, so the photographer can spend more time on the model's "smile." Photographers should always remember one basic rule, there will always be a background in a photograph and junk in a picture

focus focus

The proper way to focus, is to find your subject’s eyes in the frame first, slightly depress the shutter-release button, holding the focus, compose the subject in your frame, then further push the shutter-release button to take the photo. This technique may slow you down a bit at first, but once you develop a feel for it, you’ll find it will ensure your subject’s eyes are always in focus.

Resize

Depending on your needs, you may want to resize your photo. If you're emailing a picture to a friend, you'll want to resize the picture down to a much smaller size. If you're printing the photo on a greeting card, you can scale down the image to the size of a 4x6 print.

Sharpen Up

Sharpening the image is the next step in the photo touch up process. Contrary to popular belief, you can't actually sharpen an out of focus image. What I typically do when sharpening an image is to selectively sharpen. That is, I select a part of the image, maybe a person's eyes and sharpen only that area. Leave unimportant areas unsharpened.

Play with Color

Don't be afraid to experiment with colors and by that I don't mean that you have to emulate Andy Warhol. Image editing programs put a lot of power in your hands. You can make the leaves purple, change the entire photo to black and white, add a sepia effect - almost anything you want. A good photo editing program will have automatic color balance options to adjust color defects in your pictures.

Rotate and Crop

If you've taken a photo in a wrong orientation, it's easily corrected with little loss in quality by using a rotate tool. You'll also want to do some cropping of your photo to remove cluttered surroundings that draw attention away from your subject. For example, I find cropping very useful if my subject is occupying only the middle portion of the photograph. Cut away the two sides of the picture and you have a much more professional look.