Practical advice for family photography
I realize that many of our readers have probably checked out our “Archives” section located at the top of our blog in the header, but for those that haven’t, check out our Archives. I have let it go but recently updated it. What I’ve done is made a list of all of our articles posted from the beginning and very brief one line descriptions to let you know what each post is about. I will try to stay on top of it.
Go to the archives section... NOOOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dead puppies… now that sounds morbid, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, my customers think it’s pretty funny. They think it’s funnier than saying “cheese”. I do too, but that is, in context, which I will explain in just a second.
My friend told me once that what it is that makes a joke funny is the unexpected punch line. If you can guess the punch line of a joke because it is so obvious, then it usually isn’t as funny as a really unexpected punchline. At times, a totally predictable punchline won’t conjur up any laughs or chuckles at all. So why I am I saying all this? Because I use dead puppies as a manner of getting families and children to smile for their portraits. I am big on having families say silly stuff like “say puppies” or “say kitties” but with families I’ll say, “say puppies” and then once they’ve said that, I’ll calmly and soberly say, “say dead puppies” with a slight emphasis on “dead”. This may seem gross or inappropriate, however, it almost always gets a great reaction… even from dog owners. In fact, I’m a dog owner myself. I love animals but this is just a shocking, joking way to get great expressions from families, especially adults. It almost always works on them. On children, over the age of six or seven, it works great. It’s crude humor granted, but it works wonderful. It’s pragmatic, yes, but not immoral. Here the end does justify the means.
The normal reaction to “Say Dead Puppies” varies but it’s usually shock followed by a grin and then bursting out into hilarity. People are a bit ashamed that they want to laugh and then they realize that they want to laugh because of the fact that they didn’t want to laugh but they did. I’ve gotten some great reactions from “dead puppies”, however I have to admit, I made a little girl cry one time because she just lost her puppy. So you never know. You may stick your foot in your mouth at times. But I’ve used that phrase countless times and never had a negative experience with it except for that one time.
All in all, I feel that it takes a certain personality to pull off something as crude as this. There is a way to be tactful and not come across as offensive. I think I have that ability. I’m a joker, not mean spirited, only slightly sarcastic. So, I think I can do it. If you laughed hard at my post, then what the heck, give it a shot! If you found yourself repulsed and trying to figure out how to take me off of your RSS feed, then you’re just like my wife (haha, she told me to write that! Boy is that true!!!). Anyway, it’s been a winner for me and I thought you guys could appreciate it. Now go give your pooches a kiss!
Believe it or not,"Dead Puppies" is what got this great expression!
Ever have problems getting your subjects to relax? Here’s a quick list of ten different groups and ways you can get all of them to loosen up a bit. After years of photographing each of these, I have learned what it takes to get each to relax for me, be themselves and even smile.
The thing you have to realize is that there is no set way to get any subject to smile, but the following ten groups will explain briefly how to get those individual groups to feel less nervous when in your presence. You think you’re nervous in front of your subjects? Trust me, they’re even more nervous than you! So here we go:
1 With friends or family - Remind them of something fun or funny that both of you would remember. Conjuring up memories that have fond memories work well. For example, “Steve, remember when you threw up on grandma!”
2 With your clients - Talk to them about their work. Also engage them about their families. If you dig enough, and I don’t mean that in a weird or intrusive way, but just talking in general will get your subjects relaxed and you can usually find something to converse about that you both will have in common.
3 With you young children - Pick your nose. Kids love when you’re willing to be silly and funny.
4 With pets - The best way for animals to relax is to exhaust them before you shoot. They behave best that way, so have their owners take them for a long walk before you photograph them. This advice complimentary of Cesar Milan aka The Dog Wisperer
5 With teens - Being silly, but not too childish will work. Though I am very silly and childish in my humor and teens do tend to appreciate it. I think however do not talk down to them or treat them like they are young kids. You can act silly but don’t treat them younger than they are.
6 Elderly people - Let them do the talking. They have a lot to share and lots of wisdom. Ask them questions about life in general or about their family and then let them take the wheel and steer.
7 With very shy people - Sympathize with them. If you’ve never dealt with shyness, then you have no clue, but if you have then you totally understand. Being shy really comes down to insecurity. So don’t do anything to make your subject second guess themselves. Just compliment and get on their level and make yourself very approachable and talk a lot. Talking more than them puts the pressure off of them to do the talking and this will usually relax them and help them open up to you. Also I find it helpful to “pick” on them a little and razz them a bit. I find if you don’t overdo it, it really helps them to loosen up a bit.
8 With babies and infants - It’s not that they are nervous, rather it’s that they’re fussy and need to be relaxed. Have mom cradle and soothe the baby. Take many breaks, as many as needed and give them all the time they need, but work quick. Timing is everything and if you miss the shot, you may not get it back.
9 With uptight people or those overly concerned about their appearance - These people can be a challenge to get to relax but the key here is to go with them where they’re going. In no manner, do you want to belittle them or their concerns. To them, whatever you may think is silly or overly concerned about on their part, is still big in their eyes. And after all, that is all part of being a good photographer, caring about what’s important to your subjects. However, engaging them in conversation can diminish the amount of thought they are putting into themselves.
10 Over protective mothers - Anyone whose photographed infants and babies before will know what I am referring to. Mothers, especially first time mothers and even fathers with their infant children, can be overly concerned that you’ll hurt their child or that they might get hurt in the process of being photographed. Other concerns may be that they will become cold if their children are being photographed with their clothes off. My suggestion to dealing with parents such as this, is to reassure them that you will keep their children safe and then actually do that. Take all necessary precautions to make sure that your studio is completely safe. Also, if you are photographing a baby nude, I suggest keeping the temperature up a bit by using a portable heater near the area where you will be photographing them.
I hope that this list, while simple and to the point has been helpful and beneficial to you. If so, feel free to leave a comment in our comments section. And join us again here on Pieces of the Picture, where we post at least three times a week with helpful, motivational and practical advice for portrait photographers.
The creativity and beauty of Kerry's children's photography
Sometimes, and actually quite frequently you run across someone’s work that really inspires you and for very specific reasons. Today’s guest is one of those people for me. She is Kerry Singh and like many of the wonderful photographers featured here on Pieces of the Picture, I found her on flickr. Her work is amazing. She is fairly new at all of this, but she is already doing amazing work.
What drew me into her work was two things. The simplicity of her portraits. The fact that they were portraits. Many today try to evoke emotion through their post production abilities and while Kerry’s got that, she does it through her lighting abilities, her composition and her manner of getting rid of the distractions. Her work is powerful. It is simple. It is emotive. It’s a breath of fresh air. And that is why she is here today to talk about her work and she has much to share with us. I hope you enjoy the interview and feel free to check out her photostream if you haven’t yet. But read this interview first!
Artful, emotive, fresh, stunning, inspirational. These are all words used to describe Kerry's work. And with good reason!
P.O.T.P.: First of all Kerry, I am unbelievably excited about having you here today. You are an inspiration to me. I am sure you inspire others with your work as well. I just love your portraits so much and feel that we can all learn something from you today. So, tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in photography.
Kerry
Kerry: I got my first digital SLR when my youngest daughter was born. She is four now. A friend had organized for a local photographer to come take some newborn pics of Imogen and when i saw the black and white photos, I thought, “Hey, I want to do this!”. My first photos were snapshots obviously and i had a real hard time understanding the concept of shutter speed and aperture and ISO and how they all related to each other. It has been a long journey. I can work the camera like I drive a car now, without thinking…but i have become quite lazy in terms of being creative. Its my new year resolution… well, one of… to be more creative!
More creative?! Wow, the rest of us have some catching up to do!
P.O.T.P.: That’s amazing, you’re attitude about being creative. I think your work is so creative! Where are you from? Where do you live?
Kerry: I am originally British and used to be a high school teacher there. I taught English and Drama to 11-18 year olds for seven years before I started dating my husband who i had originally met at UNI ten years previously. Long story but when we fell in love I decided to move back to his country, Malaysia, where I have been for eight years now. I live in Kuala Lumpur presently, but we have plans to move to Adelaide in Australia within the next five years. I cant wait to get out and about in Adelaide, specifically the beaches and the countryside, to get some really cool location shots!!
P.O.T.P.: So, how long have you been a photographer?
Kerry: I would say I have been “professional” for about a year now.
P.O.T.P.: Okay, let’s talk about your work a little. You have some great processing and textures in your photography. Tell me about your thoughts and ideas behind the look you’re trying to achieve.
Kerry: Thoughts and processes behind the looks I am trying to achieve?!! Hmmm. A lot of it is just playing around. I do use a lot of actions, but not all actions work on all images. There is a lot of trial and error and if nothing works, I end up just editing from scratch myself. I find actions easy to use and don’t want to pretend I DON’T use them. I love using textures…they can really transform an image. I preferred unadulterated images when I first joined flickr, but have since been desensitized and seem only to be happy with images that are super bright or brighter than life. It’s not a very natural look but rather more attention grabbing!! I prefer to play with my own images a bit now too. But I don’t spend HOURS editing an image. Perhaps I should. I will…this year. I don’t have a conscious LOOK I strive for. But I guess there must be some kind of look/style in the images. It’s a difficult thing to talk about really - it would be like trying to describe how other people see you. What I see in my images is probably totally different from how others see them! I tend to think of my own photographs as being quite boring.
When i am doing portraits, though, I just obsess about getting the eyes in focus. As crystal as I can. I like faces too. I like to get quite close. Probably not close enough though. A lot of clients prefer to see the whole head in an image so I tend to be quite boring with my crops now. I like to shoot quite wide open too. I am pretty much mostly shooting indoors, so really need that low f stop anyway! I think that goes some way to the look my images have.
P.O.T.P.: Your small series of images where the girl is dancing in that large room where the light is shining through is very beautiful and you can almost hear music coming from the photograph is so amazing. talk about that session and what you were trying to achieve there.
Kerry: The series of images of the girl dancing were taken on the top floor of our home which is quite an empty area. The sun was setting and streaming through the window and so I grabbed my then five year old and told her to spin and spin. She was getting a bit fed up but I bribed her with something or other (probably chocolate)!! I just knew I wanted some kind of silhouette kind of shot with sunlight and I don’t get much chance to shoot outdoors here…Then when I uploaded the images I decided to play with some textures, probably mostly from Ghostbones and voila! I was quite happy with those images. It was around that time that I changed my flickr name to Lightsongs too. The name was inspired by those images!! I do have an obsession with sunsets…and evening light which is why i wanted to get those shots. In fact as I speak, there is the most amazing evening light again…where is my camera??
P.O.T.P.: Who is your typical client?
Kerry: My typical clients are kids. Or rather, kid’s mothers! I am not a full time photographer so i do not advertise, but rely on word of mouth. Some weeks are quiet and some are busy. I like it that way. I would most likely get bored and overwhelmed if it was a 6 day a week thing. I do have to be careful though as I can be a bit obsessive with the whole thing. The most important thing to me is my two girls, and there was a time when I was doing nothing but photographing and editing, and I was neglecting them a bit!! But yeah, 99% of my photos are of kids!! The product stuff is probably a couple of handbag shots. I like bags. But I don’t shoot them professionally!
Kerry has an amazing ability to make her subjects look natural, relaxed and gorgeous!
P.O.T.P.: Do you prefer shooting indoors or outdoors?
Kerry: I would LOVE to be able to do more outdoor photography! I live in the tropics right now and there are a lot of mosquitoes plus its super humid. The outdoor sessions I have done have been murderous and you have to work super fast as the kids get fed up really quickly and end up with rivers of sweat running down their faces. Thus I tend to do most of my sessions indoors but it can become really really boring. I just spent a fortune on a puff stool to sit families and siblings on as I am so sick of seeing the same things in my photos. That is why I need to get more creative this year and also why I tend to try to focus on faces. I would LOVE to do location shoots more and incorporate the environment into the images but cant right now…Shooting indoors can be challenging regarding light. Mostly I am battling too much light or too little. I have a room with two huge windows at 90 degrees to each other - they provide a nice flat light which is good for the type of editing I do. If I want a more moody image, or have older kids/teens, I move to a side light area, for example, one window so there is some shadow to add depth. I try to keep my aperture around 2.8 or smaller as I have problems sometimes with focus issues! A two year old kid being photographed using a shutter speed of 125 and an aperture of 2.0 is a difficult subject to capture well!! It took me a long time to lighten up on myself. I would be so disheartened with how many out of focus shots I had! They were not out of focus, just had the focus in the wrong place!!! I am a lot more relaxed about the whole process now! I guess I am getting a bit more experienced right?!
P.O.T.P.: Yeah, I think all of that stuff comes with time for sure. Okay, what photographers inspire you?
Kerry: There are so so many photographers that inspire me. Annie Leibowitz is my absolute favorite famous photographer. But most of my inspiration comes from flickr photographers! Nichole Van was my first inspiration and I use a lot of her actions for my client work. Gosh, where to begin…I am inspired by so many. Tamara B, Mistybliss, Vaneska Thomz , Proverbs, you featured her a couple of weeks ago, ianton, oladios You seriously have to check out this girl’s work. Unbelievable. Beth Jansen, jinky (barbara uil). The list goes on. I need to discover some more varied artists. Most of my contacts seem to be children portrait photographers!!
P.O.T.P.: Well, I’m the same way! I love others who love what I love. My flickr contacts are the same way! What inspires you?
Kerry: My kids inspire me. And light. I wish I could get out into the light more. When we move to Australia my photography will change. There will more light. Color inspires me too though I never seem to get it quite right!!
P.O.T.P.: Where do you want to go from here in terms of your photographic abilities?
Kerry: I would definitely like to improve my photography a lot. I know I have a long long way to go. In fact I am rather surprised you have asked me to do this interview as I do not consider myself to be a good photographer at all. Not in the least. In fact, the more I learn, the more I realize I have left TO learn. I would like to do a lot more “fine art” type photography. When my kids are a bit older. There is plenty of time. All in time…
P.O.T.P.: That’s really interesting. Which leads me to my next question. Your images of your young subjects really seem to capture them in their natural moods, not necessarily happy. there are some sober expressions. how do you find is the easiest way of guiding your subjects?
Her young subjects may be serious, but they look natural and amazing!
Kerry: I don’t really guide my subjects. I just talk to them. I have conversations. And I blow raspberries a lot. The more somber images are probably of Olivia, my oldest. She is my muse!! She is a happy, silly child but for some reason when I turn the camera in her direction, she starts to pull these crazy serious faces that come across all moody! Its good as it makes for an interesting image in my mind. Her grandparents don’t like those kinds of pictures though. They prefer happy smiling ones!
P.O.T.P.: Any quick photography tips you’d like to share?
Kerry: Tips? I really don’t feel qualified to give tips! Seriously!! Oh I know. Always take LOTS of shots. I used to take an average of 600 per session. Now I try to keep it around 400. Unless the kids are particularly difficult in which case I will definitely take more!! You just never know! Another tip…for portrait photographers, always over expose a bit. Its easier to edit. Also, the LCD is not a useful indicator of what you get in RAW. I always always shoot raw. Oh, another tip!! It took a while for me to really understand the importance of this. I used to think it was a snobbery thing. But I would NEVER shoot in jpeg now. Never. Even though my exposures tend to be pretty much spot on 99% of the time, I just really like to know I have the info for every single pixel!! Anyway, as I was saying, the LCD shows the images in jpeg, I think, and thus is not a useful indicator of how your image will look once you have downloaded it and opened the file. Thus, wherever possible, i always over expose by a half to a stop.
Even her baby portraits are serious, however, it isn't difficult to see how she can make them look amazing as well!
P.O.T.P.: Your dream photography assignment.
Kerry: My dream photography assignment would be to quite simply accompany Annie Leibowitz on any of HER assignments!
P.O.T.P.: Photographic rule you find yourself breaking most often.
Kerry: Not sure about rules I BREAK, there are not many. Perhaps the one about not hand holding the camera below certain shutter speeds. I have taken shots at ridiculously slow shutter speeds, though always make sure I take a lot of pics. I know i DO stick to certain rules though. Like rule of thirds and stuff like that. I also like to keep things simple. I like uncluttered backgrounds. I like to focus on faces and try to make the eyes draw the viewer in.
P.O.T.P.: I think that’s about it for today. Wow, I have learned so much and am excited about my photography again just talking to you. Thank you for the time you’ve taken with us and we wish you all the best and we’ll be looking for big things from you in the future!
Once again folks, thank you for checking us out and supporting us with your visits! We look forward to bringing more interviews with fantastic photographers to you on a weekly basis here on Pieces of the Picture. Got a suggestion? Drop us an email or here in the comments section.
Though not tack sharp and a bit blurry, these types of photographs often times make the best memories.
We haven’t had a “Thought for Thursday” in a while. Well today is the first day of 2009 and I thought to myself, what the heck, let’s do it. Today we’ll look at the idea of making sure every single shot you take is perfect and weather or not technical imperfections ruin photographs.
Rules are meant to be broken. I don’t normally subscribe to this way of thinking but I will today in one aspect. And that is in the area of photography. It is believed by many, that photographs in order to be worth anything have to have perfect focus. However, while I normally think this way and try for this in my own work, I don’t feel that it is crucial for this to be the case 100 percent of the time.
While handholding my camera today, I took some photos of my son by window light. Most came out sharp and focused very well. However, I wasn’t as happy with his expressions and pose as much as the ones where he was moving around. In fact, his photo I took today, which is out of focus and blurry because of his movement, is one of my favorite photographs I have ever taken of him. I absolutely love it. No, it isn’t technically well done, but I feel the movement justifies the mood of the portrait. I don’t think this is a good attitude and way a photographer just starting out and learning should look at how they take photographs. However, I feel once you understand how to take good portraits, you can get away with this every so often.
