portraits

Photo Tips- Lomography

| Smart Cookie Books

…back in the days of film

That’s one of my favorite phrases I’ve been hearing lately. Old school photographers reminiscing about the good ol’ days of film shooting.

Well, I’ve got some great news for ya. The good ol’ days are alive and kicking at Lomography.com.  This is a fun and hip site that specializes in promoting analog photography.

They re-create old cameras, lenses, film… you name it.

They also love it when you send in your pictures too.

Follow this link and if you come across something fabulously cool, let me know. I love new ways to have fun.

Lomography.com 

Cheers and happy shooting!

New Kind of School Photo…

| Smart Cookie Books

So, for my latest project I photographed the children at a nearby preschool. This is my most successful shoot yet. Everything went so smoothly and I am really happy with the images! I’ll post a few and I hope you enjoy them!

Photo Tips- Lenses, explained

| Smart Cookie Books

bananas

Do you collect things?

I do. Cameras and lenses.

I love lenses so much that I wrote up some quick tips on them. Here’s a little breakdown of the obvious and not so obvious lenses to use in every situation:

Portraits are best taken with an 85mm or longer. The shorter the focal length of the lens, the more distortion or ‘stretching out’ you get near the edges of the frame, and you don’t usually want to stretch out someone’s face. The longer the lens, the more proportionate the image will be. In old-school photo talk (back in the days of film photography, but lens conversion is a topic for another day) a 50mm lens is most accurate to what the natural eye sees, so any lens longer than that will give you a nice looking portrait.

Landscapes and wide angle lenses (short focal length 35mm and below) are best for group shots and landscapes, for the reasons listed above. These lenses have a wider view and you can get more image into your image. Again, not something you necessarily want to do to a person’s face. Fisheye lenses are an extreme example of wide angle/short focal length lens.

Zoom and telephoto lenses are best when you are far away from your subject or when you want to zoom in closely. It’s often the case that your camera won’t take the picture if you are too close and the image isn’t in focus, so if you want to get in REALLY CLOSE, then…

Macro lens. These lenses can be purchased as macro lenses or you can do a little research/shopping online and find what’s called a Macro Ring. Just attach this handy little gadget to your favorite lens and don’t be afraid to get up close and personal!

Happy shooting!

Photo Tips- Tips on taking portraits

| Smart Cookie Books

Hi there!

I’ve recently admitted to myself that loooooove taking portraits.

So, here’s a few quick tips to get you started on an adventure in portrait photography!

#1  Keep your subject a few feet away from any backdrop. When you have a person’s head resting or nearly resting against a wall or other backdrop, the scene can feel cramped and too posed. 3 feet or a little more is a good distance.

#2 Backlight can be beautiful! Don’t be afraid to photograph someone with a bright light behind them. Follow these steps if you don’t know how to meter for the light in this situation: Set your camera to ‘manual’, get a meter reading off the subject, adjust your camera settings for that lighting situation and shoot away! Your subject will be lit properly and the back will be beautifully blown out. My fave!

#3 Don’t be afraid to be non-traditional. Make goofy faces! Tell your subject to stick out their tongue or stick their fingers in their mouth. People are taking photos by the millions these days, so not only is everyone getting used to seeing certain types of images, people are expanding their concept of what a portrait is. Be brave! Push the boundaries!

Here’s a link to one of my favorite photography sites. There’s loads of cool tips and tricks and inspiration!

http://digital-photography-school.com/tips-portrait-photography/

Joy and fun to you!