MomShots

I promised last week that I would discuss composition and the Rule of Thirds. I need to deliver on that promise; at least a little bit…

So the Rule of Thirds. Have you heard about it?

No? Hmmmmm…. How can I explain it?

I like to think of it as splitting a photo into thirds, both vertically and horizontally.

What exactly does that mean?

This is what you do… Place an imaginary grid over the top of your composition, like such.

Your goal is to make the subject line up with one of the lines.

That’s the gist of it. There really is a bit more to it than that, but that’s the starting point.

Here’s an example of a handsome young man I was recently able to photograph, Zack. See the original photo and how I framed him? He was right in the center. I did not follow the Rule of Thirds.

When I edited it, I cropped it and laid a Rule of Thirds grid over the top and rearranged how Zack sat in the composition.

I want to say that I didn’t actual place a grid over the top. Is that silly that I feel like I should say that? I just want you to know that this is an imaginary grid. Got it? OK…

I lined Zack’s body up with the far left line and also put his face on the top horizontal line. It’s kind of a double whammy since I lined him up with both horizontal and vertical lines. That’s not really necessary but it can’t hurt, right?

Here’s another example. My niece Gina. I can’t get enough of her! She is so beautiful. Here is the original:

I really liked this one. Her one eye is in sharp focus and you can see that when you lay the imaginary Rule of Thirds grid on top, it matches right up with the bottom horizontal line. Score! I didn’t have to do any editing or make any changes except to make it black and white.

The last example I want to show you is a bit more interpretive.

I really liked this photo of my son at the beach. I thought it caught a bit of the whimsy and joy he was experiencing. Every single time we would see a beach on TV, drive by a lake, river or even a puddle, Magnus would shout out, “Beach! Beach!” He has been wanting to go to the beach so bad this entire summer and this was his two hour chance to go. He was making the very best of it.

Sidenote: Did you see what I just did? I totally accessed the emotional aspect of photography for myself. This is why I take photos. This affects no one but me, but it is the number one reason I point that camera at my children. I’m sure you can all relate. It’s a MomShot and DadShot thing, isn’t it?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Now I lay the Rule of Thirds grid over the top and I see that things don’t quite line up. Not exactly, anyway.

But do you know what? I really like it like this. I think that the lines on my Rule of Thirds grid line up enough that it works.

Or maybe that’s my motherly emotions shining through.

Either way, I like it!

Plus, that’s the awesome thing about holding the camera; you are the boss! You get to choose how you want to frame the photo. You can choose to follow this rule to the letter, or you can choose to interpret it anyway that you would like.

An alternate title could be The Magic of Photoshop in Skilled Hands.

Remember this photo that we talked about a while ago?

Before:

After:

Magic? Yes!

My dear friend, Tye offered to fix the background for me. She used her White Photoshop Magic and made the background look so much better. She got rid of the car and now it looks like a photo I would like to print out and give to my sister in law as a gift.

Now my stance on photography is that we need to do as much “in camera” as possible. We need to try not to make mistakes like this that need to be fixed in Photoshop. But when we do make those mistakes, sometimes they can be repaired with a little help from Photoshop (and awesome friends who can make the fixes look amazing).

This is my current favorite postcard from my postcard project. I love detail shots. Shots of cute little piggies, eyes, ears or even an adorable curl are the kinds of things that as mothers, we want to bottle so we can pull them out and remember how cute they were at that specific age. Photographing those details is a great way to do that.

Here’s another detail shot from my postcard project that I love. My Magnus’s eyes will melt my heart every time. He gets in trouble and then smiles up at me with those sweet chocolate eyes and my anger is always lessened. I love those eyes!

Those are my three “C’s” for today. I think they speak for themselves. I am always saying that we need to get closer. Closer and then even more close to our subject. We want to fill the entire picture with our subject. We want to see those shining sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks and pouty lips.

What else can I say about this? Why wouldn’t we want to fill the entire frame with our subject?

Composition is a great thing to think about. We haven’t really discussed the Rule of Thirds much here. I haven’t been really sure how to explain it. Look at the photo below and see the yellow lines I drew on it. These lines break the photo up in three sections both vertically and horizontally. Basically you want to put the subject of your shot on or around one of these lines. It is more pleasing to the eye.

We will discuss this more in depth later, but think about it next time you have your camera out. Put the eyes of your subject, or your subject itself on one of these lines and see how you like your photo. Do you like it better?

The final C is Cuteness. Is this self explanatory or what?!? Just get out that camera and capture all that cuteness that is dying to be photographed! It just never stops. All stages of your child’s life need to be documented and you have the skills to do it. Take lots of shots and then take a few more!

I wasn’t busy enough… (sarcasm is oozing between these letters)

so I challenged myself to create a set of postcards.

I was trying to keep them within a self imposed range of non-personalness (yes, that is a made up word). I don’t usually take photos of object, mostly children, so this was a fun foray into another field of interest for me.

Shutter Sisters had a pen pal challenge a while back. You signed up and they paired you with another reader and then we would send snail mail to each other. I jumped at the chance to meet someone new and to send/receive snail mail. I love mail. Finding mail in my mailbox is just so fun. Especially when it is not a bill!!!

So with the pen pal project as my inspiration, I decided to make these postcards and then either send them to my new pen pal and/or to send them to people I actually know, kind of as a surprise.

I printed these through moo.com. I was really pleased with how fun and easy the whole process was. I made each image in Photoshop and then uploaded them. Then I received them about a week later in the mail. The quality was great. I will definitely order from them again!

Did this just turn into an add for moo.com? Unintentionally.

Just a fun thing you can do with your photos. You can use them for all sorts of things; invitations for parties, thank you notes or a fun surprise in the mail for your mom or a friend from high school. Your imagination is your limit!

Summer is zooming along! How is your summer progressing? We came back from a trip to SoCal last night. It was really a business trip with a little vacation thrown in. My husband had a bunch of meetings and the kids and I tagged along for the ride. We enjoyed spending time with family, going to multiple pools and spending a little time at the beach. Never enough time at the beach, in my book but I will take what I can get!

Photographically speaking, I have been trying to work a little more on my composition and focus. I have also been trying to think a little bit more creatively in my shots and using composition and focus to help them turn out better has been fun.

One of the things that I have been reminding myself about is to check the background. Is there something in the background that is distracting or unsightly? If the answer is yes, then I need to get up and move to a different angle. If that doesn’t help, then I may need to move the subject to a different spot.

Here is one where I wish I would have paid more attention to the background.

I like a lot of things about this picture, but there’s a pesky car in the background. Even though it is blurred, it is still really obvious that it is a car. I don’t know what I was thinking!! I cropped it and the car is mostly gone, but it is still there.

This shot, below, was taken in the same yard. I was just facing slightly more to my left. No pesky car in the background, just a nice bokeh tree.

Backgrounds. Pay more attention!!!!!!!

Action shots have been fun to play around with. Using a fast shutter speed, I am able to freeze the ocean, water droplets or kids in mid stride. The trick with a fast shutter speed is to use an aperture that is wide enough so that enough light gets in. Here is a sequence of Gar sliding down the slide into the pool:

Another trick is to set your camera to take multiple shots. I hold down my shutter release button and it takes a whole bunch - click, click, click, click, click, click, click. Until I let go. Most point and shoot cameras have that option too. It is a great option for active kids.

So next time you are out with the kids, think about action and backgrounds. See what you can do to avoid ruining great pictures by putting cars in the backgrounds and think about what you can do to capture the daily action that these rambunctious kids are overflowing with.