Hello again! After a very fun week of guest blogging here at Canadian Family, today is my last post. (Ed note: :( ) Although I was quite prolific (perhaps the Family Jewels editors might say even a bit too verbose!) (Ed note: Nah!) in the past four posts, I ran into a dead end when I sat down to write this post. So much left to say, and I couldn’t figure out how to organize it into a coherent post. Then I realized that people had left me some excellent questions on my own blog when I started talking about this guest-blogging stint, and some of those questions I even knew the answer to!

So, here are some questions on photography from readers of Postcards from the Mothership and my best answer to those questions.

Joy asked: Is it necessary to have an expensive camera, or do cheaper digital cameras take good pictures, too?

I was going to be cheeky and say something like “cameras don’t take pictures, people take pictures” but this is a very good question that deserves a longer answer. Yes, it’s true, a fancy camera will give you more options and more creative control when taking pictures. You can adjust for ISO (the amount of light that hits the sensor) and finesse your aperture and shutter speed, and even change your lenses for various situations.

But you know what? Excellent cameras take crappy pictures, too. And crappy cameras take excellent pictures. I’m so infatuated with the iPhone pictures that I’ve been seeing online that I want one just for that!

If you are serious about learning photography then yes, investing in something like a dSLR will probably help you learn on a steeper curve than a $100 point-and-shoot. BUT, if you don’t bother to learn the fundamentals and how to work the controls of the dSLR, you’re probably better off with the $100 camera.

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Taken with my point-and-shoot Fuji Finepix.

Melissa asked: Should I compose my picture when I’m shooting or is cropping after the fact a better method?

You should always strive to make the best picture you can with your camera. (She said in the voice of every photography teacher she has ever had.) Ahem. Having said that, post-processing software is your friend. You should always try to make the absolute best image you can before you press the shutter, but I see the use of processing software like Lightroom, Elements, Picasa or Gimp (to name but a few) as just another tool in helping you realize your vision for that image. Some pictures are perfect straight out of the camera, and some pictures need a little help.

You don’t have to shell out $600 for Photoshop to get a good photo-editing program, by the way. I picked up a copy of Photoshop Elements for $88 at Costco last month. If you are a teacher, or have a student in your house, Adobe offers some excellent educational discounts. Picasa and Gimp are both highly rated and completely free!

Fun with Photoshop!

Shannon asked: How about tips on organizing the tons of photos you take and how to keep up with them? In this digital age, you take so many photos and it can be overwhelming to narrow them down.

This is something I struggle with. Now that I’m using Lightroom (I’m a recent convert, but positively evangelical about how it has changed my photo life!) I’ve started to do smart things like make back-ups of my photos and use keywords to organize them. You simply have to find an organizational method that works for you and then stick with it.

This is what works for me: Each day I upload the pictures from my memory card to the camera and save everything in a chronological file by month and day with the image number (DSC2515) as the title. I edit the ones I want to keep and save those in a different spot. I put them in folders with titles like “Nova Scotia vacation” and give the images a meaningful title (“Lucas meets the ocean”), as well as uploading them to Flickr.

Did you see that drive-by mention to backing up your photos? I keep my favourite images in at least three different places. If you remember ONE thing I’ve talked about, remember to think about the light. But if you’ve got room in your busy brain for TWO things? Please please please make regular back-ups of your pictures. You’ll cry for days if you lose them. External hard drives are dirt cheap right now—you can get a terabyte for $200. Even I can’t fill one of those puppies. (Well, not yet!)

Dawn said: I would LOVE some tips on avoiding red eye…my camera has a red eye setting on it, but it never seems to work!

When I first read this question, I thought, “Hmmm, maybe that’s something that a dSLR does better than a point-and-shoot, because I almost never get red-eye.” And then I realized that the reason I almost never get red-eye is because I almost never use the flash! So the answer is: Don’t use the flash! As I suggested in my first post, go for natural light whenever possible.

Having said that, yes, I understand, sometimes you really need that flash. If you must, take a look at some of the image-editing programs I mentioned above. All of them have one-click red-eye fix.

Carrie said: I wish I could figure out how to capture those action shots. I suspect it has to do with my camera and a need to buy something with some funky features but any tips would be appreciated!

Capturing action shots are about freezing the moment. To freeze the movement, your camera has to work fast. To get your camera to work fast, you need to feed it lots of light. (Have I beaten the “see the light” horse to death yet?) As much as possible, adapt your expectations: you won’t get great light after dinner on a stormy day in November, but you will get great light at mid-day at the park. Or you can boost the light in the room if you’re indoor; throw on all the lights and open the curtains.

This is one of those times when a more expensive camera will help you out. I have to admit, the number one reason I moved from point-and-shoot to a dSLR (I’ve had my Nikon D40 for about three years now) is the fact that there is virtually no time delay on the shutter release. If you’re looking for a new camera, make sure you’re getting one with the minimum possible shutter delay, it’s far more important than mega-pixels or just about anything else the camera store will try to sell you on.

If I could impart one last piece of advice to you, it’s this: have fun with your camera. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Try wacky angles and crazy compositions. Take your camera everywhere, and don’t be afraid to whip it out in the grocery store when the light on the bananas strikes your fancy. (Oh yes, I did.)

Thanks a million to Megan and the Canadian Family peeps for letting me come out here and play with y’all. (Ed Note: Our pleasure!) And if you have any questions about any of what I’ve written about this week, don’t hesitate to ask in the comment box or to find me online.

—Dani Girl, Postcards from the Mothership

Hi again! I hope you’ve been enjoying the guest blog posts I’ve been writing for Canadian Family. I’ve truly had a fun time writing them! So far in this series, we’ve talked about light, about composition, and about a few technical elements that will enhance your photography. Today we’ll talk about how to wrangle the talent: getting your kids be extra adorable and extra in-focus when you pull out the camera.

And about the title for today’s post? I’m only kidding. Sort of. You can successfully photograph both kids AND pets, but it helps if you approach it with an open mind and a sense of humour.

Formals versus Candids

I’m not a fan of posed portraits. In fact, I forget to take them. I love candid shots because I think that’s where you see a person’s true personality. Well, that’s not quite true. In fact, you can see a little *too* much of my boys’ personality in this attempt at a more formal posed shot, taken last summer at Niagara Falls.

And this is the best of more than 50 I took that day, trying to make a posed shot work. With the sun behind me, they’re all squinting and the boys are simply not cooperating, and I was on the verge of losing my temper over it. Definitely not one of my finer photographic moments.

On the other hand, this next one is one of my favourite pictures ever of my boys. The little one already has his hat half off, and the oldest one’s eyes are closed, and the whole thing is a microsecond away from chaos, but I went with the flow and caught the moment, and got a picture that’s a keeper.

So, my advice is this:  skip the formal portraits and just bring your camera with you everywhere. The best photos are the ones that capture the moments you want to remember, not the moments a microsecond after you hissed, “If you don’t get your finger out of your sister’s ear and smile nicely for the camera you’re grounded until you graduate.”

Oh, and while we’re talking about portraits versus candids, don’t think that your kids have to be smiling in every picture. Catching those moments of deep thought, of frustration, and even of tears, are an authentic record of what life is really like.

(That’s my niece with the big blue eyes. I love love love the “who, me?” look as her cousin glares at her. Perfectly captures their relationship this year!)

Bring out the props

If you want to keep your kids engaged while you’re busy snapping pictures and you want a great way to capture their personality, give them some props. This works really well with babies—give them a bag or box with a favourite toy, and capture the expression of delight when they discover an old friend inside. Be sure to capture older kids practicing piano lessons, or passing a soccer ball, or whatever it is they love to do. Once they’re engaged with something, they’ll forget you’re sticking a lens into their personal space again!

I have dozens, maybe hundreds, of shots of my boys drawing and painting, because a couple of pieces of paper and a box of crayons will keep the lot of them engaged for hours!

And speaking of artists—running out of space for the endless stream of crafts that come home each week? Take a picture of a few each week and then toss them into the recycle box guilt-free. They’re a lot easier to store on your hard drive than they are in the drawer, and they’ll keep better that way, too.

Fingers and toes and parts, oh my

I don’t really have a theme to my body of work as a photographer, but one thing I consistently love to capture are wee fingers and toes at work. (I suppose that ties in with my obsessive photographing of my kids while they’re drawing, now that I think of it.)

Don’t think you always have to get the whole kid in each picture. Zoom waaaaaay in and get just those toes, or a beautiful blue eye with long eyelashes, or (I covet) a blond ringlet in the sun. Sometimes, just a piece of something can be evocative of the whole. This works particularly well when the face is scowling at you – ears and elbows don’t scowl!

Look into my camera

So you have three dozen shots of the back of their heads as they run down the path in front of you, and two dozen shots of them on the swing set, and a dozen more of them whizzing by on their bikes, but you really, really just want one of them smiling for the camera?

Here’s a few ideas. My two-year-old is now so used to me pointing the camera in his face that he’s oblivious to it. I have a hard time capturing him actually looking at me. One trick I’ve used is asking him to look into the camera lens to see if he can see mommy’s eyeball. Doesn’t work every time, but it’s done the trick more than once!

If you’re taking a picture of a big gaggle of kids (maybe a birthday party, or a family gathering) try asking them to all close their eyes and keep them closed until you say “Go!” At least you won’t end up with half the group blinking at the wrong time. Or for a really fun shot, ask them all to jump on the count of three. Even if you don’t get a good shot of them all jumping, chances are they’ll be laughing and smiling in the minute or so after they all jump.

This is my no-fail trick for getting a natural smile out of my boys. (Your mileage may vary, and I found it works less well with girls, but I’m sure you can come up with an equivalent.) When I’m just about to press the shutter and they’re making that godawful grimace that they think passes for a smile, I tell the boys “No matter what you do, don’t think about… boogers!” They burst out laughing, I snap the shutter, and viola: perfect capture. I’ve swapped out “boogers” for “purple ant-eaters” and “giant ice-cream-eating elephants” and yes, I am not ashamed to admit it, “stinky farts.” If you want the genuine smile, sometimes ya gotta go with what works.

Don’t forget, I’ve still got a few Canadian Family magazine subscriptions to give away on my blog, so drop by before the end of the week if you’d like to enter the giveaway.

I’ve got one post left in my guest blogging sojourn here at Canadian Family. Any thoughts on what you’d like me to talk about?

—Dani Girl, Postcards from the Mothership

In yesterday’s guest post, we talked about learning to see the light and how to use it in photography. Today’s topic is all about composition: deciding what to include in a picture, what to keep out, and where to put it.

When you start taking pictures, your first instinct is to snap your finger down on the shutter button as soon as you get your subject anywhere within the frame. No doubt, that does the trick; you’ll have a photographic record of whatever it was that caught your eye.

However, if you take a couple of seconds to think about the composition of your photograph, and another heartbeat or two to take a really good look through the viewfinder and be selective before you push that shutter button, you take the big leap from simply taking snapshots to making photographs that tell their own stories. When you’re shooting pictures, whether of your kids, your pets, the sunset at the cottage or your treasured rose garden, keep these principals borrowed from the fields of visual arts and design in mind.

Consider your perspective
Too many pictures of children are taken from the same angle:  you’re standing up and pointing the camera slightly down at your kids. Don’t look down at your kids, change it up: get down on your knees, sprawl on your belly, even lie on your back and shoot up at them. Almost all of my favourite pictures of my kids are taken from their eye level or even below. I’m belly-down on the driveway for this one:

Try taking the same picture from a couple of different angles:  from above, from below, from the side. Tilt your camera at an angle. Don’t be afraid to try something different.

Fill the frame
Getting your subject in the viewfinder is only half the battle. Think about what your “centre of interest” or main subject is and make sure nothing in the image distracts attention from it; in fact, everything in the image should draw attention your subject. Get in close and fill the frame—kids look great in close-ups!

Take a look at everything else that’s in the viewfinder and decide whether it should be in there or not. Check the background for tree branches sticking out of peoples’ heads and other distracting elements, and try to compose your image so that you only things that add to the story you are trying to tell.

Foreground, middle ground, background and depth of field
Think of each photograph as a story. The foreground is the introduction; it leads you into the story. The middle ground is your subject, the story you are trying to tell. And the background is your conclusion. If these things help tell your story, make sure you include them. If they don’t, try to remove them or minimize the attention on them.

Depth of field is an important tool that dictates how much of your foreground or background are in focus, and you can use it to help tell your photo’s story. A shallow depth of field will isolate your subject and make it more prominent by blurring out the background. You can usually achieve this on a point-and-shoot camera by choosing the “portrait” or “macro” setting.  On a dSLR, use a large aperture (low f-stop number) for a shallow depth of field.

On the other hand, the “landscape” setting on your point-and-shoot, or a small aperture (high f-stop number) on your dSLR will give you a large depth of field, meaning that more of the background and foreground are in focus. Use this to help put your subject in the context of the environment, or to keep a large group of subjects in focus.

See how the rocks lead you right into the photograph? And then the sea and sky beyond compliment the idea of freedom and play. It’s not just two buddies on the beach; it’s a story of adventure and exploration.

Rule of thirds
This is one of the hardest bad habits for me to break. Unless I really think about doing otherwise, I almost always put my subject smack in the middle of my viewfinder when I’m composing an image. Unfortunately, this often leads to boring, static images.

Imagine a grid of three horizontal lines and three vertical lines like a tic tac toe board superimposed on top of your image. Placing your centre of interest along one of the horizontal or vertical lines or, even better, at the points where they intersect, will add energy and interest to your photograph.

Now that you’ve learned some of the key principals of composition, take your camera out and start using them! And after that, take your camera out and start breaking them, because the best rules are made to be broken.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll give you a list of 10 more elements of composition you can use so that you *make* a photograph, instead of merely taking one. And if you love Canadian Family as much as I do, head on over to my blog for a chance to win one of five subscriptions, this week only!

—Dani Girl, Postcards from the Mothership