Mac MWAC: Photography Tips for Modern Moms

When you're taking photos of your kiddos at home, you'll need a way to edit the photos. Many times you'll need to make the photo a little brighter, a little darker, boost the color a bit, etc. I'm going to take you through two ways you can edit your photos at home. First, here's the photo we'll be working with. This photo is straight out of the camera (SOOC) and has not been edited at all.

Your first (and best, in my opinion) option for editing at home is with Picnik.com. Soon, this website will be moving to Google, but I assume you'll have many of the same editing abilities there as well. First, open your photo with Picnik.com (you do not need to register for an account, and this service is free). The first adjustment I'm going to make is to make the photo lighter. It's just a bit too dark. So, I'll click on the "Basic" button at the top menu, then select "Exposure". You can either choose "Auto-Exposure" or do it manually if you don't like the auto-fix. You can see the settings I chose below.

Next, I want to get rid of the little red bump on his chin. I go to the "Touch Up" menu at the top of the page, then select "Airbrush". Now, go easy on the airbrushing. Keep it natural. If you make it too strong, just slide the "Fade" slider back to the left until it looks right.

Then, I want to make his eyes sparkle a little more. So I choose "Eye Bright", and then brush over his eyes a little. Again, go easy on it! We want it to look natural:-)

Next, we can add some effects. Personally, the only effect that I like in Picnik is Vibrance. The others may be fun to play with a little, but they make photos look pretty cheesy. So, I went to the "Effects" menu at the top of the page, then down to "Vibrance". I turned it up just a smidge, then I was done!

Et violà! This is the final image after editing with the free program Picnik.

If you have a Mac, you have another free option right in your computer. Open your photo in iPhoto (mine looked quite a bit darker when I opened it in iPhoto).

The first adjustment I made was the exposure. Click on the "Adjust" button, then use the "Exposure" slider to make your photo brighter or darker, whichever you need. I also used "Retouch" to get rid of the bump on his chin.

I thought I might play with the effects a little, but I didn't like any of them.

There you have it. The final image after editing in iPhoto.

Just for reference, I wanted to show you how I would edit this in my professional software. This is what I would do for any client of mine:

As you can see, I like to keep it natural. You always want your subject to be the focus of the photo, not the editing. So keep that in mind, and happy editing! Please comment below if you have any questions, and feel free to upload your edited photos to the Mac MWAC Flickr group to show me what you've done!

Aperture is like the pupil of your eye. When there's little light, your pupil dilates to let in more light. When it's bright, your pupil contracts to let in less light. This is what aperture does for your camera. Not only does aperture have the ability to let more or less light into your camera, it also controls the depth of field. This is the range of distance that appears in focus. We measure aperture in "f stops". See the chart below to understand the correlation between aperture and the number associated with it.

When your aperture is wide open (f/ 1.2-1.8), you can focus on one thing and let everything else in the photo go out of focus. The out of focus part of the photo is also referred to as "bokeh" (pronounced "bo-kuh"). For example, the photo below has an aperture of f/ 1.6. Notice only the honey bottle is in focus. Everything else is out of focus.

The next photo has an aperture of f/ 3.2. This is still pretty wide open, but you can tell that the lemon juice bottle and the Mod Podge is starting to get a little more sharp.

With an aperture of f/ 6.3, we now have all three items in focus, and the background is starting to become more sharp as well.

Now the aperture is VERY small at f/ 18, and our depth of field is very deep. You can see everything in the photo clearly.

So, how can you use aperture? If you're taking a photo of one person (your child, for example), you can open your aperture way up to f/ 1.8 for a nice dreamy photo. Just make sure you focus on their eyes! Conversely, if you are photographing a group of people, you'll need to close your aperture to at least f/6 - f/10 to make sure that everyone is in focus.

Keep in mind that your camera may only have a maximum aperture of 3.5. That is typical for a point-and-shoot camera. If you have a DSLR camera that allows you to change lenses, different lenses will have maximum apertures. I have a prime lens with a maximum aperture of 1.4. Most zoom lenses will have a max aperture of 2.8 or higher, so the lens you have will determine how wide you can open your aperture.

Now go take some photos, and play with different apertures. See what you can do! Have a question? Leave a comment below!

The shutter is the mechanism that opens and closes to let light into the camera. Think of the shutter like your eyelids. Shutter speed is how fast the shutter opens and closes. In a nutshell, the slower your shutter speed, the more blur you will see in your photos. The faster the shutter speed, the better you can stop motion. So, let's say you're outside photographing your son running around the yard. If you want to get a photo that crisp and clean with little to no blur, you need to have a really fast shutter speed. Shutter speed is measured with time. The photo below had a shutter speed of 1/50, or one 50th of a second. My niece is running around, and my shutter speed wasn't fast enough to stop her motion in the camera. On the other hand, you can show motion in your photo with the use of a slow shutter  speed if you want. It can be a cool look either way.

In the photo below, I was inside at a Central College basketball game. The lighting typically isn't great in gyms, so I had to raise my ISO to 400 so that my camera would be more sensitive to the light, and so I could have a faster shutter speed to stop the motion of the players. For this photo my shutter speed was 1/160, or one 160th of a second. Pretty fast, but there is still motion in the photo, which lets the viewer know that this guy was running pretty fast! Yet, I still have his torso in focus and sharp. Makes for a cool look.

Now for this photo, I wanted to completely stop my cousin's motion in the air. I was outside, so I had plenty of light to work with. I didn't need a high ISO, and I was able to set my shutter to 1/1250. That's one 1250th of a second. Pretty fast!

That's shutter speed in a nutshell. Any questions? Be sure to sign in and leave a comment below! You can also sign up for my newsletter here.

Taking a photo is all about managing light. Your camera has several tools to help you manage the light you're working with. As you read in my last post, 3 of these tools are ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. In this post, we'll focus on ISO. As I said in my last post, ISO controls your camera's sensitivity to light. On many point and shoot cameras, you can change your ISO setting if you're shooting in manual. On others, you don't have to option to change ISO. Of course if you have a DSLR you can always change your ISO.

Here are several examples of different ISO settings and the effect it has on a photo. This photo is lit with natural light from a window. The room is fairly well lit, so I would normally choose an ISO of 100 because my camera doesn't need to be as sensitive to pick up light since there is plenty of light in the room. If it were later in the evening, I would choose a higher ISO because I would have less light, therefore my camera would need to be more sensitive to the light. Also, notice that the higher ISO, the more noise we'll have in our photo. Below is a photo of the same subject in the same lighting for each photo. I've included a close up for each setting as well, so you can see the noise better.

Can you see a difference between ISO 100 and ISO 1600?

So, what does this mean for you? Well, as I've said before, shooting in full manual mode gives you more control over the outcome of your photos. If you're shooting in manual mode, you need to understand how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed work together to produce your photo. You always want to shoot with the lowest ISO number possible, to avoid unnecessary noise. If you're outside on a bright day, use ISO 100. That is the lowest ISO available to you (depending on your camera, you may even have ISO 50). If you're inside with very little available light, bump your ISO up until you get a bright enough photo: 400, 800, or 1600.

Got it? Okay now here's the tricky part. Since I changed my ISO in each of the photos above, I ALSO had to change my shutter speed to keep the photo properly exposed. I kept bumping my ISO up which means my camera was perceiving more light. So I had to make my shutter speed FASTER so that the shutter was open for less time, allowing less light in. Here's what would happen if I changed my ISO from 100 to 800 without changing my shutter speed:

Yikes! That's way too bright. This is why I need to make my shutter speed FASTER to keep the photo from being too bright. That is how ISO and shutter speed work together. Don't worry, my next post will be all about shutter speed, so I'll talk you through this again if you're super confused!

This week, if you have a camera that allows you to change your ISO, spend some time playing with it. Go into different light situations (outside in the morning, outside in the evening, inside, etc.) and change your ISO settings to see what happens.

There are three elements in your camera that work together to properly expose your photo for you. By expose, I mean give you a photo that is sharp (not blurry), bright enough (not too dark or too bright), with the depth of field that you want (I'll get into depth of field in a later post). These elements are ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. I'm going to give you a very light introduction to each element today, and I'll go into greater detail with a post for each one in the coming weeks.

ISO: sensitivity to light. ISO is measured in your camera with numbers like 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, all the way up to 3200. The lower the number, the less sensitive your camera is to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive your camera is. When you are taking a photo outside on a bright day, your camera doesn't need to be as sensitive to the light since there is plenty of available light. Therefore, you would only need an ISO of 100. Now if you are inside at your daughter's violin recital in a dark room, your camera would need to be much more sensitive to the light, so you would choose an ISO of at least 800, if not 1600 or higher.

Here's the catch. The higher you go with your ISO (400, 800, 1600), the more noise you will see in your photograph. Here's an example of a photo with a lot of noise. See how it's really grainy?

Aperture: The opening that lets light into the camera. Aperture is measured with numbers like f/1.2, f/2.8, f/5.0, f/8.0, f/16.0, all the way up to f/22. Imagine aperture is like your pupil. When there is a lot of light, your pupil gets smaller to compensate. When there is low light, your pupil dilates to let in more light. Aperture is the same concept. Here is a chart to help you visualize this.

Shutter speed: how long the shutter is open. Shutter speed is measured with time. You can leave your shutter open for as long as you want, like 10 seconds, for example. However if you're photographing young children, you want a very fast shutter speed so you get a sharp photo with no blur. For example, this photo was taken with a shutter speed of 640, meaning 1/640th of a second.

If you're shooting in full automatic mode, you don't have to think about these things. However, you'll have more control over the outcome of your photo if you shoot in manual mode. To shoot in manual, you must understand how these elements all work together to produce your photo. It can be very confusing at first! That's why I'm going to dedicate a whole post to each of these elements. Slowly but surely, you can learn how to master these things! Stay tuned.  

Happy Valentine's Day! I made a special V-Day Logo for all my photos today. Enjoy!

Now, let's take a break from lighting and talk about composition. Here are 3 ways to make your photos more interesting.

1. Get Low

When photographing your kids, one of the best ways to make your photo pop is to get down on their level. To compare, here's a photo taken when I was standing up, looking down at my cute little model:

Yes, he is adorable from any angle, but now let's see what happen when I physically lie down on the ground to get to his level, since he's at the crawling stage:

This tip is especially key for babies. When I'm photographing babies, I always end up lying on the ground to shoot. It's definitely one of my favorite vantage points.  

2. Get Silly

Time to mix it up! Catch your kids in the middle of a tickling match, playing tag, or just jumping around being silly. Kids don't often sit and smile nicely for the camera, so we should take advantage of the times when they're naturally smiling or laughing.

Especially with toddlers, don't try to fight their natural urge to run around and be crazy. When they don't want to sit and pose, follow them around with your camera as they prance and play. And don't forget to get down on their level!  

3. Get in the Picture!

I love looking through photos of my childhood. Not just the photos of me as a kid, but I love seeing photos of my parents "back in the day". Your kids need photos of you too! So don't forget to hand off the camera to Dad or Grandma sometimes and get in the photo with your kiddos. Better yet, get a tripod and use the timer on your camera. You can have a tickle fight while you're waiting for the camera to take the picture:-)

Me, my brother, and my parents on family vacation. Oh, the 90's...

Get out your cameras this week and practice these tips. Then, upload your photos to the Mac MWAC Flickr Group to share!

Enjoy these posts? You can see more over at www.Wonderland-Photo.com!

The MOST important aspect of photography is light. The camera doesn't matter, the photo editing software doesn't matter, the model doesn't matter: the photo must be lit well to make an impact. With that in mind, I'm going to talk a lot about light before I get into other aspects of photography. We need light!

Time for a little quiz. Which do you think are the best lighting conditions for outdoor photos?

A) a bright, sunny day with no clouds

B) mostly cloudy or completely overcast

Contrary to popular belief, the answer is B! For portraits (photos of people or animals), the best lighting is nice and even. On an overcast day, the clouds act like a light diffuser so there are no shadows; just bright, soft light. This is most pleasing on a face. If you go outside on a sunny day without any shade, the sun will cast harsh shadows on the face. For everyday photos and portraits, this isn't flattering.

Let's look at two examples of harsh light. 

In the photo above, you can see my godson at the park on a sunny day. This was in the middle of the day, so the sun was high in the sky and there was no shade. See the shadows on his face?

Now take a look at the photo below. Again, it was the middle of the day, and there was no shade. You can see the shadows on his eyes and under his nose. It's a cute photo because of his expression, but the lighting isn't ideal.

Now here are two examples of soft light.

Since we live in Kansas and have many sunny days, how do we beat the sun? Your first option is to find the shade. Step under a tree, in the shade of a building, or any other shade you can find. Your other option is wait until a different time of day. The morning and evening offer more even lighting. For example, the photo below was taken on a sunny day, but this was about an hour before sunset so the sun was nice and low in the sky. No harsh shadows!

This family photo was taken in the middle of the day, but it was nice and overcast. The clouds diffused the light and we're left with beautiful, even, bright light. No harsh shadows here either!

In my  last post I talked about finding the light, and now I want you to find the shade! Go outside and get some practice, then upload your photos to the Mac MWAC Flickr group so we can see what you did! Don't forget to tell us where you took your photo (by the window, outside under a tree, outside on a cloudy day, etc). Happy shooting!

By the way, have you checked out the lastest news at Wonderland Photo? We're having a party!

We love to snap photos of our families throughout the year. Birthdays, playing at the park, and vacations are all great photo opportunities. When is it time to hire a professional photographer? Really, any time is a great time for professional photos. Special occasion or not, professional photographers can give you custom art for your home that you can treasure every day. Do you have current photos of your family? Now may be the perfect time for an update!

Photo by Beautiful Isolations Photography

  1. So, you know you want professional photos, but how do you go about finding a photographer? Before you go searching, my first piece of advice is to decide where you want to display your photos. Do you just want some new pics for Facebook, do you just want one shot for a Christmas card, or do you want to invest in some beautiful wall art for your living room or bedroom? This information will give any photographer you speak to a better idea of your end goal, and will impact the way they shoot your session.

Photos by Wonderland Photo

2. Next, come up with a budget. Every photographer has a different pricing structure based on their experience and quality of services. A good rule of thumb is that you get what you pay for. If you're looking to invest in wall art for your home that will become a keepsake in your family, set your budget accordingly. However, if you just want some small prints for your desk or a scrapbook, then you can expect to pay much less. When you already have a budget in mind, you can focus on finding a photographer based on the quality of their work.

3. When you know what you want photos of, where you want to display them, and how much you can afford to invest, now you can start asking around for recommendations and searching online. The first thing you will probably see from a photographer is their website. You will want to find out these things first: do they specialize in the type of photography you're looking for? Family photography requires a much different skill set than newborn photography, for example. Some photographers are passionate about photographing high school seniors, others are passionate about weddings, and others are passionate about babies! Be sure to look through their portfolio and be mindful of how it makes you feel. Does it take your breath away? Does it bore you? You want your photos to bring up an emotional response each time you see them. Does the photographer capture that emotion?

Photo by Wonderland Photo

4. Contact a photographer. You should be able to find a way to contact the photographer via their website or Facebook. Tell them what you want (ex: family photos of you, your husband, and your 3 year-old daughter), when you're thinking of having this done (early spring, end of summer, etc.), and why you want these photos (ex: we want a big canvas over our sofa in the living room!). If the photographer doesn't show their pricing online, you can also ask them about their pricing structure.

Tip: Usually photographers will charge a session or sitting fee, in addition to your print or product order. This pays them for their time and talent during the shoot, and also their time after the shoot for post-processing your photos. The prints and products are also priced according to photographer's experience, demand, and cost of running their business. Don't forget, a professional photographer has bills and taxes to pay! Not to mention their professional equipment.

5. You should have some sort of consultation with the photographer via email, phone, or in person to discuss if they are a good fit for your needs. If they are, then book them! If you don't get a great feeling from them, it's okay to move on. You want to make sure that you have a great experience, and the photographer is a huge part of that! Make sure you are comfortable with them. All in all, you're investing in an experience as well as custom art for your home. It's so fun to go through the process of doing a photo shoot, then seeing the final result displayed in your home. Have fun with it!

COMING UP: MORE ABOUT LIGHTING!

Professional photos are a wonderful investment to make every year or two. However, there are so many picture perfect moments in our everyday lives we want to capture! Here are a series of tips to help you get the most out your camera at home.

Find the Light

One of the best ways to light your photos is with a natural source, such as a nearby window if you're indoors. Here's an example of a photo in which both my niece and I are sitting parallel to a window. See the shadows on one side of her face?

  Here's an example where my back is to the window, and she is facing the window. Her whole face is lit up naturally from the window light. No flash needed!

Now we can get a little creative. My niece is still facing the window so the front of her face is still nicely lit from the window. However, now I'm off the side a bit. Now you can see a bit of shadow so the photo has dimension, but you can still see the subject's face.

  See if you can try this technique this week. Have your subject sit by a window and try out some different angles to play with the light a little bit. Avoid using your flash. If you photographing a child, you can give them a toy to play with while you take pictures. Pay attention to where the light hits their face, and where the shadows are. Now go shoot and upload your photos to the Mac MWAC Flickr group to share so we can see what you did at home!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. A common myth is that the quality of your camera equals the quality of the photos you take. That's like saying a hammer can build a house by itself. A camera is just a tool that we use to create a photo. I'm here to tell you that it really doesn't matter how awesome, trendy, or expensive your camera is. The photographer's skill is what will make a good image.

"You don't take a good photograph; you make it" --Ansel Adams

So, how do you make a good photograph? Stay tuned because I will have a lot more to say on this subject. Before you can make any photograph, you need a camera! There are many choices out there when you're shopping for a camera, which makes it completely overwhelming.

First, let's decide what you want to use your camera for.

1. "I just want to take pictures"

In this case, you might as well just buy the cheapest camera you can find. These days, all digital cameras are really great quality. In fact, you could use the camera on your iPhone for just about everything (the photos of the camera below were taken with my iPhone). I've seen professional photographers do entire photo shoots with iPhone cameras, and you can't even tell when you see the finished product. Now, I would suggest that you look for a point and shoot camera that allows you to change settings like ISO, shutter speed, and aperture (don't worry, I'll get into what these mean in later posts). This will give you more control. Like I said, the photographer makes the photo, not the camera! Also, if you want to shoot video, many point and shoot cameras can do that too. You might consider cameras like the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS  and the Nikon Coolpix P300.

2. "I'm interested in learning a little more about photography"

If you have any interest in learning photography as a hobby or think you might in the future, I'd go straight to an entry level DSLR. DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex camera, but for our purposes, it just means that you change the lenses on your camera.

Above: A Canon 20D body with a 50mm f/1.8 lens attached

Below: A Canon 20D body with no lens attached

A few great entry level DSLR's you might want to check out are the Canon Rebel series, the Nikon D3000, and the Sony Alpha series. If you buy a kit, the cameras typically come with an entry level zoom lens. Be sure to read reviews on any camera you're considering. However, you might take them with a grain of salt because like I said, what? Right---the photographer makes the images, not the camera! :-) Your camera is a very important tool, but it's just a tool.

Have a question about a certain camera? Feel free to send your questions to karilyn@wonderland-photo.com and I'll do my best to answer them!

COMING UP: PHOTO BASICS -- LIGHTING

Hi! I'm Karilyn.

I was born and raised in McPherson, and graduated from McPherson High School. After two years at North Park University in Chicago, I married the love of my life and we moved to Kansas City. After a short stint there, my husband got a new job in the Pacific Northwest, and off we went to Washington state. While living there, I finished my degree at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Being in the PacNW was one of the best experiences of my life. I met so many inspirational people like my friend Kathy, who was a professional photographer. Kathy and her husband Jake had three gorgeous children, and their home was filled with huge canvases and wall displays of family photos. Their photos were SO BEAUTIFUL. So, I started to get curious. How could I have photos like that? I wanted to fill my home with beautiful images too. About a year later, I bought my first DSLR camera and started on my journey with photography.

Now my passion is with maternity, home birth, and newborn photography. You can see me talk about this awesome venture here. I own Wonderland Photo, and it's the best job in the world. I come from a long line of teachers, so I love to share information I've learned, and teach others how to be curious about their own interests. That's why I'm writing this blog for you!

If you're not familiar with the term MWAC, it stands for "mom with a camera". This blog is for all you moms in McPherson who would like to learn how to take better photos of your kiddos at home. If you're not a mom, don't click away yet! You don't need kids to use the information I'll be sharing here. If you're interested in photography, you'll find this blog very useful.

Each week I'll bring you a new post about an aspect of photography that you can work on at home with your camera. Don't have a camera, or looking for a new one? I'll cover that in my next post! You can upload your photos to the Mac MWAC Flckr group to share what you're working on, and we can all learn together. I may even have a photo contest every now and then! In the mean time, you can learn more about me on my website, www.Wonderland-Photo.com and like me on Facebook! See you soon.