Taking Great Pictures

We have a wonderfully talented friend who has a special talent for taking pictures and for teaching others how to do the same....I asked her if she would share some of the info that is on her blog and she said yes....so....welcome my guest blogger 
Carolyn.  

What Makes a Great Photograph

Let’s be real. Anyone can take pictures these days. Everyone has a cell phone, a point and shoot, or a fancy DSLR. That’s why it’s so hard to break out into photography…because everyone can be a photographer. Do you wonder how the photographers that have successful businesses make it past the “everyone can do it” to “people are coming to me so I can do it for them?” Well they have talent, they’re very business savvy, but they also know The Secret. Instead of setting their camera on auto and shooting aimlessly, they know the secrets to what makes a great photograph.

Composition:
As a building needs a strong foundation, so does a picture. You need a good composition that will grab the viewer’s eye from afar. Does your picture have interesting shapes? Lines? Contrast? Take for instance the picture below. Your eye is drawn to the contrast of the yellow leaf against the gray background. The line of the stick leads you right into the picture. Once you are drawn in, you then notice the other details. Like perhaps the small water droplet at the tip of the leaf.

Perspective: If you use the same perspective in every picture you take, every picture you take is going to have the same perspective. Well, duh! What I’m saying is- if you want to have new and exciting pictures every time…you have to change it up. Shoot above your subject, below them, to the side. Make your subject switch positions. I know some people take 5 pictures of the same pose. Don’t do that! Every time you hear the shutter click, switch up your position. You may be getting an awesome picture you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. 

First picture I’m crouching down with my subject.  

 Second picture I’m standing on top of my fiance’s shoulders! Oh the possibilites…(and the things you’ll find to use!) 

Framing:A subject standing against a plain background can be a very effective picture, but sometimes you’re looking for that extra spark. Sometimes your picture just needs that special something. Framing is using shapes and lines that draw your viewer to your subject. Here I used the four windows to frame our guitar player.

Here you have the doorway to bring your eyes right in to this charming senior.

There you have it. The Secrets. Not so much a secret because us photographers don’t like to share…but more a secret because not many photographers know. When you look at a picture and decide whether you like it or not, I can guarantee it has something to do with these 3 tips. If you find you’re stuck in a rut and aren’t getting the results you want…don’t go out and buy tons of expensive gear. Go back and learn the basic of a photo. This will help you learn what makes a great photo, and help you to re create it. Now these are just my 3 ideas…what are yours?

Happy shooting,

Carolyn

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Pictures Lost :-(

Can't even pretend that I know what happened to about 400 pictures on my camera, but they are gone. I have a habit of leaving my memory card in the computer and when I took it out to put into the camera....the camera said that I needed to "format the disk". :-( Of course I wanted someone to blame....I started asking who did "what" with the camera last and got the typical..."not me", "nothing", "it was fine when I was using it". (insert whimpering sound on my part, kind of a silent cry ) I cry because I'm a scrapbooker.

I can't even tell you what pictures were on there...probably a lot of the dog and some silly videos that the kids made, but I'm mourning the loss of the ones that I "probably" wanted....isn't that silly? The only thing I can think of is that maybe when the computer rebooted, a screen came up to wipe out all the pictures and someone in a hurry said "o.k."

But, it is time to move on and forget about it. (I'm not very good at that, by the way) I tend to hang on to things like this for years. In fact I'm still mourning the loss (at times) of my fathers toolbox that a certain "ex" took with him over 19 years ago. So I'm sure these pictures will haunt me for some time I'm sure. Kind of like the tickets and backstage passes to a concert, that we apparently lost, back in September. (BIG SIGH!!!!)

I think the only way around the issue is to start taking a ton of other pictures. Tomorrow maybe I'll start filling that card back up and maybe even trying to back it up more often. :-) Oh I just had a horrible thought.....I think Christmas was on there.....oh (big groan) O.k. I need to stop thinking about this or I'll never get back to sleep tonight, I mean today (2am).

Magnetic Picture Holder

Check out this new magnetic picture page for the refrigerator. Not bad for free...all stuff I had around the house. If you don't want to spend the money on a self adhesive magnetic sheet, just use old advertising magnets and glue them on the back. You may even know someone that could spare a page protector so you wouldn't have to buy those. The embossed metal accents you see are just foil stickers from the dollar store they came all connected. I cut them apart to make four "stamps". I wanted to keep it simple since I have a lot going on up on the fridge as it is. :-)