WORK IT

Hi.  I'm Brooke and this is my very first post here.  I'm new to guest posting... and writing tutorials.... and even offering advice of this nature....  So, bear with me, this is uncharted territory.  
(I am so nervous!)

I was thrilled and flattered to be included in this amazing group of women bloggers and photographers.  So, hopefully I can figure out something new and exciting to add.  

Who am I kidding?!?  I feel like I am pretty new at learning all this stuff myself.    So I'll be sticking to the basics.  Nothing fancy from me! 

I'm  a mom who takes an obscene amount of photographs of her kiddos.  Because let's face it.....
as Mom's, we are our family's photographer. 

Even if all you have is a point-and-shoot camera, it is up to you to document your kids in their day-to-day life.  You certainly aren't dragging a professional photographer with you on your beach vacation or to the T-ball field every Saturday morning.  So, it's up to you.    And there are things you can do, even with the most basic equipment, to make the shots you do take - BETTER.  So, I'm here to share with all the Mom-Tog's out there a few of the things I've learned over the years.

My first piece of advice.... WORK  YOUR SUBJECT!

Do you ever see people at the zoo walk up, snap one photo of the elephant eating, and then waltz off to the next thing?   Just imagine how much better that picture could be if they had taken a few extra seconds to snap a couple more photos.  What if they had zoomed in or out more?  Squatted down low for a different perspective?  Moved left or right to change how the light was hitting the elephant; or what was in the background?   Waited a few seconds for the elephant to turn towards them? 

These are all really easy things you can do to make the pictures you take, so much better.  My thought is, if you're going to take the time to take a photo of something, why not experiment a little until you get the results you're looking for?

For example (I'm going to always include examples... because sometimes photos speak louder than words!)  here's a shot that I took of my little guy, Dylan, watching Phineas and Ferb the other day: 

Cute, right?  Those little pink piggies just kill me.  I instantly feel in love with this photo.

Good photographs don't just fall into your lap.  They usually take a little bit of work.  For instance, that shot above was probably the 12th one I took, in a matter of about 90 seconds.

Here's what the first one looked like.

It's kinda just meh.  Blah.  Nothing exciting. 

I tried getting closer, cropping out all the ugly stuff.


I walked around to the other side of the bed, so now rather than having back-lighing, there is more of a direct light situation.

Again, I cropped in. 

And changed the angle a little. 

I still wasn't getting the shot I was looking for.  So, I tried a different approach.  Focusing on the feet.

We're getting closer.  I liked this shot, but I wanted to get more of him in it. 

So, I dropped down a little lower..... and finally got THE shot. 


And I know these aren't the most exciting photos, but they still prove my point.  It doesn't take much to go from a boring old BLAH photo of a kid watching Phineas and Ferb to one that has interest and is engaging and even tells a bit of a story.  All it takes is working your subject a little bit.
  
Good photography can be accomplished so easily by simply putting some extra effort in.  Experimenting with your camera.  Taking the time to pick up your camera.... and pick it up OFTEN.  

Now, I know with kids involved, working your subjest isn't always the easiest thing to do because, if you're like me, you're usually chasing them down with your camera.
But, you do what you can, when you can.  You're not going to get them all.
And hey, if all else fails, try turning on Phineas and Ferb!