On the Level…
After my trip to the zoo last week, I came back with a whole bunch of Momshots. I took photos of my boys, my friend and her boy. I also took photos of a bunch of animals. When I downloaded my photos onto my computer, I found that I really had very few good shots of my kids. I was struggling with the camera settings. That is one of my biggest struggles currently - Making sure that my photos are not over exposed or under exposed. My camera has an automatic setting but I usually don’t like the results so I usually shoot in manual mode. The photos taken with the automatic mode always seem a little too dark for my taste. I think there is a way to alter that but I haven’t got that far in my reading of the manual yet.
Anyway, my husband, Ben was glancing over my zoo pictures and made a comment to me that really struck home. He said that I need to get down on their level a bit more. I am consistently taking shots from my height (nearly 6′) and so all my photos end up looking down on my kids. Same angle gets a little boring.
Brilliant idea!!! Thanks Ben.
So now when I am taking photos for my 7 day challenge, I have been thinking about ways to get down and more to their eye level. I’ve been crouching, kneeling and even laying on the ground to try to get a different angle.
Here is a great example of a photo that could have been much more dramatic if I shot it at a different angle. It is the white alligator at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, UT. He is a pretty big guy. I wouldn’t want to tussle with him in a dark alley way!
As you can see, I shot this from above. In reality, there were a bunch of kids there so I was just kind of taking what I could get easily. What I should have done was muscle my way down there and taken a shot that showed his body stretched out behind. That shot would have been much cooler. Maybe next time!
It’s a great zoo and so I’m sure we’ll be going back.
This next shot was taken at home. I had some fence work done on around my yard and when they guy left, he left the original cement with the broken post in a corner of my yard. So basically, I have a little fence grave yard next to a mud puddle my boys play in. Anyway… My son was sitting on one of cement blobs in the shade and I ran over and took his picture. I knelt down on the grass and started shooting. I think I’m a little bit below eye level so that we are slightly looking up to him, but I think it looks kinda cool. At this angle I feel more invited into whatever he is thinking. I’m not looking down on him and I think it makes for a much better Momshot.
One of the things that I love about this is that he is covered in grape popsicle. It had dripped down his chest and is all over his face. He is taking a break from the heat before he starts running again. I think this “break” only lasted about 15 seconds. He’s always on the go!
So moral of the story? Change the angle you are shooting from. Try any other angle than looking down on the kids. It changes the nature of your Momshot into something more interesting and inviting.
