A Surprisingly Sane Blog

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my photography, so I thought I’d give you a breakdown on how I take pictures.  I am not by any means a professional photographer, but I have done a lot of it as a hobby for several years and took a class on it while at the university.

I don’t like to photoshop my pictures, so with the exception of re-sizing and an occasional cropping, everything I post on my site is the picture taken as-is.

Here are a few tricks/tips I use to get my best shots:

1. Natural lighting is usually the best.  If it’s too bright, though, it washes your subject out unless you change your shutter speed, etc… Most people don’t want to mess with that or are just using a simple point and shoot camera instead of an SLR (single lens reflex like the one I use).  I prefer soft natural lighting… a few clouds or a setting/rising sunlight, or a shady (though not too dark) spot.
2. Get a little closer to your subject than you’re comfortable with.  I find that my close-ups usually turn out better than the ones taken from a bit of a distance (unless it’s a landscape shot).  Don’t be afraid to cut off the top of someone’s head or focus in on just their eyes.
3. Play with where your subject is in the shot… I like having mine a little off to the side- makes it more interesting.
4. Practice.  It’s the only way to get good at anything unless you’re just one lucky son of a bitch.
5. Backgrounds are important.  You don’t want an ugly one behind your cute kid!
6. You don’t have to have a killer camera to get a good shot- just a simple camera will do.  Of course, a nice one helps, but you really can get great pictures with a simple, inexpensive camera.  Learning to focus it correctly is the trick.  Aim the center at your subject’s face, hold the button halfway… usually cameras make a little beep or light up internally to let you know it’s focused…  from there, you can move the view around a little, then press the button all the way down.
7. Take multiple shots of the same thing from slightly different angles.  You’d be surprised how a little change in direction can make or break a picture.
8. If you have difficulty getting a still shot, hold your breath as you take the picture.
9. Read your camera’s manual so you know how to use the different settings.  I’m horrible at sitting down to read it… I just want to use the camera.  But, I’ve learned a lot by taking the time to figure out what the different settings mean and when the appropriate time to use them is.  It’s helped a lot!
10. For close-ups, use the close-up setting (duh).  This works for flowers as well as people and other objects.
11. Use the action-shot setting if you are taking pictures of moving objects… helps reduce blur.  If I’d had my camera set correctly, the carousel picture on my Seattle post would have come out clear!
12. Finally, I really recommend becoming proficient using an inexpensive camera before investing in an expensive SLR.  Even though my Nikon D40 takes beautiful pictures, I think I would have been frustrated trying to use it had I not learned on a simpler camera.

Hopefully, that helps a little and answers some of your questions about basic photography skills.  If you have questions, shoot ‘em my way and I’ll do my best to answer them!

Current Mood: Cool

Great.  Just freaking great.

As if having a swollen, painful Bartholin Gland wasn’t enough (which is almost better, by the way, thank God), I’m 99% sure I have another fucking yeast infection, too.

Me and yeast infections?  Oh yeah, we go way back.  Let’s just put it this way:  When I was 7 months pregnant with Julie, I had one that got so out of control that I ended up in the hospital for half a day.  Yeah.  Not cool.

So now I have another one.  I’m not even going to bother calling my midwife to get it checked.  I know the drill.

Arggggg.  Now that’s the kind of itch that you just can’t scratch.

It just doesn’t end.  Woe is my twat.  I need a replacement.

Current Mood: Alarmed