This post is Part Two of a Two-Part Series. Read Part One here.
I don’t know about y’all but I can’t believe it’s already the middle of July! Hopefully, y’all have been enjoying the long summer days and making memories with your loved ones.
And now I’m back to help y’all beautifully capture those moments.
In case you missed it, in my previous post I gave y’all 10 easy composition tips and now I’m sharing 7 of my simple, go-to, general photography tips to level up your travel and family photos. Try 'em at home, on your next trip, or wherever the next adventure takes y'all.
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE.
First, let’s talk gear. There’s a popular saying in photography that the best camera is the one who have with you. And that couldn’t be more true when it comes to vacation and the everyday moments. Capturing the memories are more important than your gear, so keep it simple and something easily accessible. For most people, this is going to be your cell phone camera, which are really pretty good nowadays.
2. BE PREPARED.
Whatever your camera using - whether a camera phone, a point and shoot, or big ol’ pro DSLR like me — make sure it is handy and ready to go with charged batteries and formatted memory cards.
With an iPhone (not sure about other models), you can add a camera shortcut or widget to your lock screen so you don’t even have to unlock it. This makes it really easy to access the camera. And if you don’t have it handy and ready, how are you going to capture those shots?
3. SWITCH UP YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Have young kids or pets? Get down to their level and capture the action from there. Try laying down on the ground to see what the world looks like from their perspective. Your subjects will probably appreciate the change as well.
Even if you’re not photographing kids or pets, changing up your position and getting down low can also give you a beautiful foreground in your landscape images and maybe even provide a surface for reflections or simply a new interesting perspective to your images.
After you’ve gone low, try switching things up again and get up high for some images or use a bird’s eye perspective. The thing to remember here is to change things up and try shooting from a different position than you usually do.
4. MOVE YOUR FEET.
Like switching up your perspective, move beyond standard portraits or travel landscapes and shake things up with both wide and detail images. After you grab the “traditional” image/portrait that you’re happy with, take several steps back, look at your surroundings, and see what changes. Sometimes the environment can better tell the story and you can also use it to show relative size.
After you’ve gone wide, move in closer to create a more intimate portrait that keeps the focus on your subject. You can also get creative and photograph any details that you love or capture your eye. Capturing those details will bring you right back to the moment and feelings when you look at the images later.
5. LET THEM BE.
This might be the simplest, yet the hardest one for some people to do — or actually let go of — but just let your people be themselves. How ever — perfect or imperfect — they are in that moment.
Focus on the connection not perfection.
Welcome the real-life moments, alongside the posed ones, and together these will be the images that will matter most a few years down the line.
6. SAVE THE CHEESE AND JUST KEEP IT MOVING.
Trying to capture a portrait of that someone special? Nothing makes a portrait stale faster than keeping your subject frozen in place. Sure they can look at the camera and smile for a few frames, but after that keep it moving and keep people touching and connected.
I often ask my families to run, dance, twirl, tickle, turn the kids upside down or throw ‘em up in the air. I’ll encourage little ones to chase me, photographing them as I run backward. I even do what I can to get my big kids, teens, and adults moving somehow. Not only does this create more interesting images, it also relaxes them resulting in more authentic smiles.
7. DON’T FORGET TO GET IN THE FRAME.
If you’re the family historian and are not careful, you’ll end up not being in a single photo. Not a one.
And even if you think you don’t care now, I promise there will come a day when this changes, or perhaps even more importantly, your kids, family, and friends WILL CARE if you’re missing from these tangible memories.
So please do yourself and the rest of your family a favor and remember to pass the camera off every now and then so you’ll also be in the photo album. Ask your partner/spouse, your kids, a park ranger, a stranger, use a tripod, whatever you need to do to ensure your lovely face is in some photos.
Interested in your own photography session with me?