so often you hear photographers say “having an expensive camera doesn’t make you a professional photographer.” true. though you would be irresponsible to call yourself a professional if you’re shooting with your iphone camera… the art of modern digital photography begins when you close your eyes and envision how you’d like a shoot to go, and ends when you hold in your hands a photographic print. so i don’t really consider this a true “before and after”. before would be when i pictured this moment in my imagination. and after will be when i hand her mother some gorgeous prints. but here’s an example of what my fancy camera gave me (after a few years of learning how to properly use it), paired with an example of what my fancy photo editing software gave me (after several years of learning how to properly use it).

enjoy.

technical info
Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/1.4
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400

SOOC (straight out of camera):

finished product:

oh hai!

in part one i said that i believe the most important key elements of a photograph to be connection, truth, and beauty.  in week one i discussed connection. In week two i talked about truth. connection is what draws an image to your heart, truth is what keeps it there, but beauty… beauty is what makes you wanna order a big print and hang it on  your wall.

now you may be thinking, “well, my child is beautiful, so of course a photo of her will by default be beautiful…” Oh touche.  while there is truth to that, you must remember, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.  YOU will, as i do, cherish every image ever taken of your child.  i, personally am one of those crazies who has never EVER deleted a single photo of my daughter.  like, even the out of focus, blinky, overexposed images still lay safe on my handy dandy mac.  but i know, deep in my heart, that ordering a 30×40 canvas and proudly displaying it on my wall doesnt make it beautiful.  you know what does make photos beautiful?  light.

you don’t need a fancy camera (like i said before – that’s what i’m here for!  hire me for the fancy cam photos! :) ), you don’t even need to know how to take your camera out of “Auto” mode.  the last key to fab momtographer photos is light.

think of it this way.  your photo is a beautiful painting of that moment.  light is the paint.  your eyes are the brush.  see it.  play with it.

this kinda light makes me wanna hug someone.  i wanna snuggle right up and be all like – thats *my* girl.

this light reminds me of the drama that is a two year old…

and we have here a clean, clear, crisp, THIS is *my* baby…

the number one rule in working with light is – get light in those eyes! of course there are exceptions to every rule,

hey, there are exceptions to all rules. :)  but what you should take from this blog entry is that  light is the paint in your portrait.  your child’s beautiful attributes, oh the cleft chin and the green-blue eyes,  the baby soft curls and button nose – decorate those beautiful curves and twists and puckers with some sunshine.  turn off your flash and open up those ugly mini-blinds.  go outside.  venture out in the early morning, or the early evening and experiment with light.  think before you snap.  move your body, get the right angle.  look for the light.  illuminate those pretty eyes, get the sun to dance in the blond curls, portray a naughty smirk with some dramatic shadows….  but most of all, look for the love.

when all else fails.  train your eyes to see love, and everything else falls into place.

the perfect momtographer photo.  connection, truth, beauty, and most importantly, love.

xo

katie

oh hai!  last week i talked about connection.  i’m working my way to the really boring technical stuff, i promise, but today we’re going to talk about truth.  connection is what draws your heart to a photo.  truth is what keeps it there.

truth can be as simple as a tilt in the head

or a giggle

or  curled piggies

be on the look out for those elements that are the honest truth.

not every photograph needs to be posed.  thats not real life! 

real life is forgetting to be lady like

baby bikinis

tantrums

love

there are so many amazing moments  in this life just waiting to be captured.  sometimes you just have to take the time to look for them.  think about what makes your child “them”, seek out those elements and click that big button on your camera when you find them.

truth is the difference between a photographing a piece of a person’s day, and a piece of a person’s soul.

cheers,

katie

every parent wants to take better pictures of their kids, right?  right.

in this blog series i will give you some insight to what i believe makes a great photo.  you don’t need a fancy camera or a photography business to take a great picture of your child (though if you want to hire someone who has a fancy camera and a photography business – i can make a recommendation… ;) )

but unfortunately i can’t be at your house every day.  so here’s some advice to capturing those really important every day moment like you usually do – but better.  i’ve used my own images of my daughter… some are really old and snapshotty, and some are newer and printed ridiculously large and hanging on my wall.  the point of this blog series is to show you that you don’t have to be a pro to capture great images of your babies for their scrapbooks.

in my opinion, the most important key elements of a photograph are connection, truth, and beauty.  

in this week’s blog i’m going to talk about my favorite element…  connection.

connection can be between the subject and the viewer:

two subjects:

or the subject and basicallyanythingelse:

connection gives the photograph a REASON.  it takes away the feeling of documentation and gives the image meaning.  it makes the viewer feel special, like they are getting a special peek at this great relationship.

imagine a picture that lacks connection… oh wait, i’ll just show you…

is its pretty? yes.  does it make me happy?  of course, it’s my baby.  but do i want to hang it on my wall as much as i want to hang this one on my wall? 

no.  or this one?

no.

the images that really get my heart a pumpin’ are the ones with CONNECTION.  i want to remember how she used to splash in the tub and squeal like a crazy person, i want to remember how she used to think i was the funniest mama EVAHH when i sang old mcdonald and moo’d like a cow.  i want to remember those feelings.

 i’m super thrilled that she has a beautiful profile and elegantly glances down and to the side thoughtfully – but it doesn’t make me feel, it doesn’t make me remember that day.

…and of course there is always an exception to any rule. :) sometimes an image might not exude a “connection”, but instead it will tell a story. and that works too!

story telling is particularly popular in those every day snapshot photos. see below how the trail of baby is evident in the sheets from her slithering off the bed? there’s no real “connection” here to be felt, but instead i get a chuckle out of the story and the memory.

so i hope i explained connection well.  in my eyes, a photo can be a technical train wreck but i still get teary-eyed looking at it because of the connection.

this image was taken with with my arm extended out and a cheap point and shoot camera before i knew a thing about photography.  it will probably always be my favorite picture of my daughter and i.  you can see the love, you can feel the connection.  talk about a happy accident…

——————————————————————-

i hope this has been helpful, to even one person.  every day photography is such a simple and easy way of preserving your memories.  i want to help you not only document what things looked like – i want your images to make you feel a certain way…  THAT is what makes a great picture.

best,

katie davies

i remember one day i decided i wanted to become a photographer. it sounded simple enough. i had a nice camera. i could take pretty pictures. i could use photoshop. that’s it, right? notsomuch. as i started to read and ask around and learn i found that there was all these things i didn’t even know existed. and every time i thought i was mastering photography someone would point something out like “your white balance is way off” and i’d be like “thank you, WTH IS WHITEBALANCE??!!” there were things i needed to know that i didn’t even know existed. and i wasted a lot of time learning things in the wrong order. thinking that photoshop could fix every mistake, rather than learning how to not make mistakes.

i have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are tinkering with photography and wondering where to even begin. so i wrote a list. the 5 basic steps to becoming a photographer. obviously there is a lot more involved than just five steps, but its a good start. remember that each step will take time. you cant just read an article about shooting in full sun and be like “oh yeah, i could do that… next!” you need to practice, fail, learn, practice more, practice in different scenarios, get to the point where you can not only consistently master each technique yourself, but you could teach someone else how to do it as well.

obviously there are different types of photography and everyone has different goals. so take these tips with a grain of salt… a rough general outline to give you some direction.

here goes.

how to become a photographer

1. read your camera manual. it will make ZERO sense the first time. but read it anyway.

2. master composition. read every tutorial you can find on composition. practice. you want to get to the point where you almost don’t even have to THINK about comp – it just comes naturally. nothing worse than an image with perfect focus and exposure with a chopped a limb. make comp second nature.

3. focus, exposure and white balance are your friends. read a bunch more tutorials. practice. read your manual again. it will make a little more sense this time. ask stupid questions, ask for critique from people who are better than you. critique might leave you feeling like you suck. you do. everyone does at some point. don’t make excuses… “well i know its totally blurry and his skin is orange, but *i* like it”… that’s great if your goal is to have blurry orange images, but quite likely its not. so focus on the goal, listen to critique and make a change. master the technique, then you can have an opinion. once you have the basics of white balance focus and exposure, learn about LIGHT. how to shoot in full sun, backlighting, sunflares, silhouettes. read all the tutorials one more time. and while you’re at it, read your camera manual again. know what every button and menu option does. practice!

4. learn how to proof your images in a program like photoshop. again, read a boat load of tutorials. find an image you like online or in a book. look at it. what is it about that image that you like? what makes it different from the way that your images look? play around in photoshop to achieve that look. ask for more critique. people will probably tell you that you “overdid it”. you did. everyone does at some point. find the happy medium. know that there will be images you are so proud of, that 6 months from now you’ll cringe at. learning to proof is a roller coaster of ups and downs. trying new things, overdoing it, underdoing it… find your balance. experiment with different styles.

5. you can consistently nail comp focus exposure white balance and proof beautifully. break some rules (what blown sky?), know when its ok to break them. find your style, know how to describe it. practice saying “i’m a photographer”. :)

katie davies

los angeles child photographer