In my last article Fight those Winter Blahs, I pleaded that you not put your camera away for the winter. In our part of the universe (western Michigan), December through March are known to bring day after day of heavy, blanketed overcast. Along with these dark clouds come lots of dull lighting that tends to stifle the picture taking mood of many of us. I suggested that despite the dark skies, there’s plenty of opportunities to find ways to make your subjects “shine”.

So it was a very pleasant surprise to see today’s sterling bright sunshine. As I looked out the window, I could see a crystal clear blue sky and blinding reflections coming from our snow-covered lawn. But as I opened the front door to fetch the Sunday newspaper, the bone-chilling winds reminded me that a 10-degree temperature makes Grand Rapids feel like the Arctic.

After enjoying a cup of hot tea, a couple of the grandkids were prodding me to play outside in the snow with them. Despite the icy cold, I decided that I wouldn’t miss this chance to have some outdoor fun and maybe take a few winter photos too. So I tracked down my trusty ski jacket and soon followed the grandkids outdoors.

Don’t let the winter make you think hibernation. Look for those days when the sun will make an appearance. Think beyond the cold, endure the snow, ignore the clouds. Stay with it and make those winter photos shine. And have fun too!

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Written by Arnie Lee

 

 

Taking pictures of kids is one of the most popular uses for digital cameras. This is another article that we present to you for taking better kids pictures.
 

To Pose or not to Pose – the case for Candids When you ask a child to pose, you may get varying reactions, looks and faces. If your subject is cooperative you’ll probably end up with a nice portrait. But sometimes, catching your little one candidly – in a “surprise moment” – can often produce a more pleasing photo.
For this shot, we asked the young boy to smile for the camera. He cooperated with this open mouthed smile, but his pose otherwise seems kind of static.	Later in the day, we found him playing near the pool. Instead of posing him, we called out his name, he turned and we captured him looking more natural.
For this photo, the young lady was quite aware that we were taking her picture. We captured her with a nice smile	Using a telephoto lens, we waited patiently. She was unaware that we took this candid shot with a more relaxed look.
Here again we asked the young girl to stop what she was doing to take this shot. She cooperated by giving us a generous smile.	In this photo, you can see that we were able to capture her inner smile. We didn’t ask for one yet her running activity produced a great one.

 
Of course these tips are subjective and there is no right nor wrong way – especially if the subject is your own child! Candids are just another tool to add to your gadget bag.
 
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Taking pictures of kids is one of the most popular uses for digital cameras. From time to time, we’ll present tips for taking better kids pictures.

Fill the Frame When shooting portraits, the usual tendency is to carefully frame the subject in the viewfinder.
In this snapshot, we’ve left an even border around the head and upper body of the child. It makes for a nicely framed shot although the background is a little distracting.	For this shot, we moved in closer to fill the viewfinder with the child’s head. There is almost no border around the photo, yielding a more dramatic view of the child.

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