It’s been too long since I posted part 1 of this series!  While enjoying the summer months, time has slipped away from me.  If you haven’t read part 1 please do so by clicking before reading on:

Part 1 – Selecting a Camera

So the next tip I want to give you all is quite simple.  Take photos OUTSIDE!  Any point and shoot on full auto or even your camera phone will take photos 10,000 times better when there is a lot of available light.  What is available light you ask?  Wikipedia defines it as:  “Available light:  The term usually refers to sources of light that are already available naturally (e.g. the sun, moon, lightning) or artificial light already being used (e.g. to light a room).”  Right now we don’t need to worry about lighting up a room- so lets use the light that is available to use for free OK?  The sun it’s self is one of the best, most flattering lighting for photographing people in a natural way.  You just need to know how and when to use it.

First things first.  The time of day for hoping outside to capture portraits of your kids does matter.  Early morning or late afternoon/early evening just before sunset are the 2 best times to photograph outside.  If you go outside at 12 noon on a super bright day and try to take some portraits of your kids they will be squinting and complaining that it’s too hot outside, right?  Right.  Also the more overhead lighting at mid-day can cause unflattering under eye and nose shadows.  The light is to harsh at that hour.  During the early morning (and I mean early- we were up and at the beach by 7am for this recent beach session) and late afternoon as you can see in the photo above produce beautiful lighting coming from a 45 degree angle, not over head.  Think of a flashlight being held directly over your head when it’s the middle of the day and then hold the flashlight at a 45 degree angle of your face and in front of it just a little, it’s much softer and more flattering.

The second thing for this post is to find open shade.  We may get into more advanced topics on changing your camera settings but for now I’m guessing everyone is just using auto mode so I’m helping you use that mode to the best.  Auto mode on your camera will work wonderfully in open shade or shady areas of your yard/park/favorite outdoor location.  Open shade can be the shade of a tree, building, porch or other structure where your kids are standing/playing/sitting in shade while still allowing plenty of sunlight to illuminate your kids.  When outside using the shade of trees the one thing you have to watch out for is sun spots filtering through trees and hitting your kids on the head or face, try to move them around so that there are no sun spots on them since they can ruin your images.  Also at this point in your learning make sure there is not any sun coming in from behind your kids.  Keep them under or near a few trees so that there is a lot of shade behind the tree as well.  See the illustrations below that I drew to help you understand with a visual.  Don’t mind the stick people.  😉

When it’s cloudy or overcast you do have more options as there is more shade available to you.  The more you take photos and practice the more you will be able to see the direction the light is coming from.  If you have someone who is willing to be a test model(or if you can bribe your child with chocolate), I suggest to take them outside and take some test shots all over your yard.  Try them facing different directions, in different locations and at different times of the day.  This will help you learn and it’s fun!

Now get on outside and take those photos.  It’s cooler now so you won’t sweat to much and the weather for this weekend looks perfect!  Again if you have any questions or recommended blog post topics please email me or leave a comment below.  Enjoy and happy shooting!