1. Learn to look for light.
Light that comes from overhead is never very flattering. Taking a picture outside in the midday sun can result in bright highlights, harsh shadows, and dark eyes. If you are shooting inside with an overhead light, the effect is similar.
You want to look for light that has a softer spread from light to shadow and comes in angled towards your subject (instead of from directly above).
If you are outside, find patches of shade from an overhanging playground structure or a group of trees or shoot early in the morning or late in the day when the sun is lower in the sky.
If you are inside, turn off all the lights and shoot next to the window or use a side table lamp to get dimensional light.
2. Think about perspective.
Changing up your shooting angle from above, eye-level, or below can create a drastically different story for your viewer. Think about what perspective you’d like to shoot from in order to better communicate your message.
If you want your viewer to feel involved in the action while it’s happening, get down on your subject’s eye level.
If you want to give the impression that you are removed from the action and an observer, shoot from above.
For larger than life shots that make your subject seem big and powerful, shoot from below.
3. Keep fingers and toes inside the frame.
When your eye travels around your subject, it wants to continue exploring the picture. If you chop off a hand, your eye follows the arm right out of the picture which can leave the viewer feeling like the experience is unfinished. Keeping all of the fingers and toes inside the frame lets your viewer get the full picture (see what I did there?).
This isn’t to say that you need to capture your child’s entire body within every picture, just keep the important body parts inside the edges of the picture.
If you’re shooting waist up, keep the hands in.
If you want a close up of their ice cream covered smiling face, don’t worry about limb chops at all.
If you do want a picture that shows their whole body, make sure those toes are in the frame too!
I hope these tips help you step up your photo game this summer. As with all rules, there are certainly times when these suggestions can be ignored. If it’s high noon and you are having a moment that needs to be documented, snap away! Better to have a picture (even if it’s not perfect) than to not have caught the moment at all. Whatever adventures your summer holds this year, bring along your camera and capture those memories!
I would love to see your summer pictures. Share them with me on my Facebook page or tag me on Instagram so I can check them out!
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