Posted on July 22, 2010
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I just got these in today and I had to share. I really loved these two pictures, taken as snapshots of the children when we went to Summer in Abu Dhabi . I had them mounted on 1/4 inch foam. This is a poster type mount. Not meant for fancy mounting as its not very long lasting, but perfect for children’s rooms, playrooms (as I meant to do with these) and therefore I could go fairly large without spending too much. The picture in the previous post I will probably also do big as my Bianca is only interested in BIG pictures in her room (yep teaching her photos should go large from early on, she already has a canvas 10 by 20 in her room, and another foam mounted print of her and her sister with Grandma that is 16 inch by 20 inches).
These will go up on the playroom wall, they are 24 inch by 24 inch each. They will be right next to each other on one side of the playroom. The houses here are so gigantic that to make an impact one need to go large. 24 inches by 24 inches sounds huge but it isnt at all too big for what I had in mind.
I always advise my clients to first really think of what you want to achieve, where are you planning to hang your pictures. Don’t think ah, a popular size is 16 by 20 or whatever, really decide what you want. Each house, each family is unique and your art work should fit you personally. Are you someone that adore square pictures, then ask your photographer if the picture you love could be cropped that way.
Aren’t these just adorable, and perfect for a playroom?
Also got an unbelievably exclusive album in today, will take some photos when I inspect it for quality.
Posted on July 22, 2010
Its been sometime for me to post some snapshots. I took a ton while Mom was here. A snapshot could be such a wonderful capture of a special moment. So are all snapshots created equal? Well sadly no, but there is a few things that might make them better.
- A good camera would be lovely. Not everyone has SLR’s. If you plan on making a book or something specific and you have an SLR then use that camera for taking snapshots this summer. However the only reason I say so is that the higher definition could come in handy when you want to make a beautiful book. Even the very best SLR will not give you good pictures if you don’t use it right though. I’ve noticed in point and shoots the reflex cameras like the Canon power shot also tends to give better focus than the regular point and shoot. But whichever camera you use it will be completely useless if the composition, focus etc is not correct.
- My rule of thumb is also – take pictures in the highest resolution possible for your particular camera. It might mean there can’t be as much photos on the SD/CF card but just think of it. If you selected the lowest resolution because you wanted to get 1000 pictures on your card and you happened to catch a perfect shot, it might be completely pixelated and not really usable. It would be so sad. When I do photo shoots I prepare about 30 or a little more per session (I take about 70, but weed through to the very best 30). You do not need 1000 pictures that are all bad. Rather go for 30 that are excellent, of high quality and that you can blow up to a meter wide if you so wish! And honestly even that is too much, if I get 2-3 photos that are really good for a afternoons play then that’s enough. I plan to start scrapbooking but havent so I mostly print out most stuff and there just isn’t enough space for too much photos.
- When taking a photo of someone never have the sun shining high right from behind or just off to the side if their face can’t be illuminated in some way. All you will be doing is creating a silhouette of them. Completely blacked out person and blown/ white skies. If the light comes from the side to their back but they are still facing some light, gorgeous back lighting could happen but that is a little more complicated and I won’t get to it in detail now. Artistic silhouettes of course is also another topic that we can discuss in another post.
- Try to frame your person properly, get the composition right. Some tips for composition:
- The subject should be the focus point. (easier to focus on a specific area if you use a SLR and toggle the focus points, but when using life-view on a point and shoot, be careful to search for the subject press the shutter ever so slightly to lock in focus before you click away)
- Its preferable that the subject (eyes) is in the top 3rd of the frame. If its a close up then it looks better if subject fills 2/3 of the frame at least.
- One’s eye draw to thirds. Photogs often talk about the 1/3 rule. So basically (and this is the most basic I can think of to say it), try to place the subject in the 1/3 line intersections. If you were to make a grid on your photo of thirds from top to bottom and left to right the 1/3 axes would be where the lines cross. Most cameras have this grid in their menu (even point and shoots) and as a start out to practice it might be a good idea to have this be visible when you set up your shots.
- Snapshots are quick shots/ spur of the moment shots and shouldn’t be set up too much, but you can still take pictures of the children playing and have it be spectacular rather than just snapping away without a care in the world. Trust me in the end that 5 seconds consideration will make the world of difference.
- So when you download the pictures to the computer pay attention, are they all in focus, are their colour good etc. If they need work try to edit if you can. Because lets face it, a person just isn’t supposed to be orange, or green or completely blue or magenta. I just shudder when I see this on photogs’ websites as it just is not right and will never be no matter how much you pretend it was a “style” you were trying to go for. You have to start of with colours true to the reality. Once you have this right then of course you can add artitistic things. Unfortunately when you take pictures with a point and shoot the possibility of getting the white balance perfect is not as good. (even with a SLR it needs work afterwards). I will place some pics in a minute to prove a point.
- Cropping. when you’ve taken the picture and like the outcome, just give some thought as to what exactly the crop should be. With a very high resolution camera you can of course crop down much more than a lower resolution camera.
So that is just some super basic tips. Once you have mastered the basics and getting consistent appealing photos, one can try some more artistic stuff though that breaks the basic rules.
To give you an idea about white balance and what you might be able to do editing/ cropping wise here is a snapshot I took while we were all out and the girls were playing. They weren’t keen on a photo but since they are never together and very dear friends we had to have a picture. The set up was not perfect because out and about, well you have to go where the kids are. I did have them in the shade as shade is much better than full sun. Unfortunately not enough sun/ light were on their faces so I added a degree of light in there. The white balance on my camera was way off (still set to a previous inside shoot) so I had to correct that too. Lastly I cropped out the distracting background and voila, a workable picture for the girls’ walls as both will soon have one of these in their rooms.
I have decided to place some really basic and intermediate tips form time to time. These are meant not for photogs but for completely amateurs so I will try my very best to write it in as simple language as possible and try to explain what has worked for me.
If you have a snapshot that you adore that you think might have more behind it, you are welcome to contact me. I will gladly have a play with one photo for everyone that mails me on brunilda@brunilda.me
So grab those camera’s and have fun.
Posted on April 23, 2010
As I mentioned on my facebook fan page I am looking into starting an on-line course in the basics of getting to know your camera better and also gain some skills in photo editing.
The course will be around 6 weeks long and mainly will be run through e-mail. Every two weeks we could meet to practice skills. I will help evaluate your photos etc.
If you are interested, pre-register by sending me a mail, at brunilda@brunilda.me and in the heading have “pre-register july/aug” or sep/oct
Details of course index and will be sent to you later and you can then opt in or out. If there is enough interest I will run a course both in July/August and in Sept/Oct.
In your e-mail please mention how far along you are in knowing your camera, which camera you have and what would you like to gain from the course.
Hoping to meet and work with everyone that has been asking about this.
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Posted on September 1, 2009
So often an event occurs that you just have to capture. Usually snapshots will be the way to go, as you cannot always focus on perfect composition or see to perfect settings of apertures/ ISO’s and shutterspeeds when your little one goes to big school for the first time, for example. These are the times I take snapshots, I am even relaxed enough to take the camera off full manual and move to Tv setting.
Using the Tv setting one sets the shutterspeed (stay above 1/125 for children) and put the Iso on auto. The camera will then automatically change the Iso and aperture to try to get to the best exposure. You don’t have as much control as before and your pictures as a result might not be as perfect, but for those snapshots occasion its far better than trying to struggle with manual settings and then missing a special moment, or worse, having a crying child to attend to.
When you do have those snapshots and want to do something different with them, I’ve found collages to be lots of fun. You could even process the pictures differently (here I added a teensy bit of paint effect and used another OTSS action called “a little sweetness”) and combine the pictures together. If they were to go in a home album or journal why not add a banner bar with the title.
One can go so much more elaborate (and all the scrapbooking ladies could make these collages look super, even if its digital and not physical paper) but since it is Bianca’s first day of school after all I don’t want to be late to go pick her up, therefore I only did a quick collage as example.
For photogs: The top left picture was taken at 3200 Iso! Not a perfect shot but I am well impressed with how the Canon 5D Mark II handles noise. Now I don’t have to miss any snapshots because of a lack in lighting (seeing as the 5D does not have a built in flash).
Posted on August 15, 2009
Another tip today, is to try to get some Bokeh if you really don’t have any good backgrounds going around. What is bokeh you ask?
Bokeh is the term when the “background” goes out of focus. It is a Japanese word and has nothing to do with “bouquet”. It creates a haziness and there is your lovely background in itself. No need for a material background.
Unfortunately a low F stop lens will be needed to create this kind of effect and opening up too wide makes it also difficult since too close a depth of field could cause you to have a lovely in focus eye and out of focus tip of the nose. So pay close attention.
This was the first test run for my new 85 mm lens 1.8F . This photo was taken in our playroom. Erika was amongst all the toys, playing with her mobile phone talking with grandma. Those shots were unfortunately ruined as the depth of field was too shallow, but this one survived. I love how the bokeh created a background where there was chaos around her.
Another shot from me testing out my new lens, taken for grandma’s birthday card (she turns 64 tomorrow!)
Posted on August 13, 2009
A few of my friends that have gotten into photography are bemoaning the fact that now that they have switched to manual settings or use DSLR cameras they never seem to enjoy taking photo’s anymore. They miss the snapshot moments.
I tend to still take lots of snapshots. Granted mostly with my little point and shoot since my Canon Ixus is always handy for those quick videos of Erika if I just have to catch a moment. Recently though I bundled the girls into the bedroom and snapped away. Little Erika loved playing on our mattress. She would sit upright for two seconds clapping and then would dive down and peer out at me again.
It’s moments like these that one need to capture and not bother that there aren’t the perfect backdrops ready. Play with the children, and just enjoy the children. Afterwards go and see if there is anything that a clone brush could make into something special.
With these, I took out some light fittings, and used an extra special action from On The Spot studios called “Babysoft” which made the photos look soft and dreamy.
The first would not have been a good portrait shot since Bianca was out of the shot. For a snapshot I love it since she “looks in” on her sister. It makes it a special family time and bonding time, even if it was cut in half so to speak.
The second shot is where they had so much fun clapping along. They are at different distances from me so Erika is more in focus than Bianca. The interaction between the two makes the shot.
Enjoy your snapshots, and remember to keep shooting!
