Let me start by saying that while I have learned a LOT about taking photos in the past 3 years, I am by no means an expert. I’m not even a photographer, since my eyes glaze over when people start talking ISO and shutter speed. The only part of photography I actually understand is aperture, and even then I only know a small number means I get a fuzzy background and that looks fancy so, like, do that? Right?

But after owning a Nikon D90 for a while and reading a zillion articles and books and tutorials I feel like I’m qualified to give 5 tips for taking great photos even if you don’t know what you’re doing. And the top 5 things I’ve learned about photography DON’T involve super fancy camera settings or post-processing. Photoshop and Lightroom are amazing programs but if your main goal is to take better pictures of your kids – either for your blog or just for their scrapbooks – you don’t need editing software. I promise. Just be more mindful of the following things when you’re snapping away:

1. Use natural light. It’s all about the light. Yes, your camera has a flash and no, I’m not saying flash is evil. Skilled photographers can do amazing things with artificial light. But when I use flash, everyone comes out looking like a deer in the headlights and/or a flesh eating zombie so I take advantage of natural light whenever possible. I don’t mean direct sunlight – it can often be too harsh – but light coming through a window, a shady spot under a tree or that magical golden hour right before sunset are all better places to take you kid’s monthly baby photos than under your ceiling fan lights at 8 pm. (This goes DOUBLE for photos of food.)

August, 6pm – the light is behind the trees so even though Caroline is backlit it’s the nice halo-type of backlit. Plus it shows of her ginger curls in a way head-on light wouldn’t.

2. Pick a great location. My couch is moss green, filthy and makes a terrible backdrop for photos. My kitchen is OK but the dark counters and wood cabinets make it a cave. The rest of my home is always a mess. But the park less than a mile from my house is gorgeous – stone pathways, arbors, fountains, lots of shade, space for playing and running and bikes. I’m not capturing our “everyday” in the sense that we are in our house but I am capturing a typical afternoon in our neighborhood. It’s easy to bring the camera along, sit in the grass and let the gingers run in circles while I mess with my settings. Having a great location makes all the rest of the tips MUCH easier.

This was spontaneous wish-making…something that wouldn’t ever happen at home in our family room.

3. Pay attention to your background. This is why you’re shooting at the park instead of in your house (as cute as my tiny gingers are in those photos, the background prevents them from ever becoming prints I hang on the wall). But it also means take three steps to your left to avoid capturing that trashcan or people scooping dog poop or a couple having a fight behind your kid (all actual things I avoided during this shoot). Even if you are in your house, do your best to get blank walls, plain cabinets and doors in the background rather than piles of brightly colored toys and laundry. You can crop in post-processing – even basic, free programs allow cropping – but these are tips for AVOIDING all of that so try to remember to look behind your kid’s adorable face.

Things going on around Evan that you can’t see because I framed the photo well – trash can, people fishing, teenagers loitering and smoking and doing general annoying teenagery things.

There were some people sitting on the edge of the fountain at first, so I took close up shots until they wandered off. Then I backed up and let Evan throw his penny.

4. Children looking at the camera are better than children not looking at the camera. I should have just called this tip “Bribery”, but that seemed crass. I take a LOT of pictures of the backs of heads, butts, shoes, etc. But when you’re trying to take memorable photos, try to get your kid’s face as much as possible. Some of the best ways to get a child to look at you are shouting, waving your arms, playing “Can you see my eye through this camera?” and promising candy/ice cream/ponies. Mostly it’s a matter of following step number 5…

As cute as Caroline’s ruffle skirt is, her “leader of the tiny bike gang” face is way cuter. (Although, technically, the composition of the facing away photo is better…BIKE GANG. I MEAN COME ON.)

5. More is more. As long as you’re shooting digital, keep shooting. At a photography class just a couple weeks ago one of the pros told us to STOP taking so many photos and really focus on getting the shots right the first time. I am definitely going to work on that…soon-ish. But if you aren’t a pro, my advice is take tons of pictures, especially of kids. You might only get a few worth saving but that’s the magic of digital – delete, delete, delete. When your kid is running away from you, shout their name and start snapping – those just-turning-around faces are great and you almost always get eye contact. The same goes for jumping, swinging, splashing, dancing, and running kids – it’s better to have too many shots to choose from than miss a moment you loved.

Dancing kids are hard to keep in focus but too cute to miss, so I took at least 30 pictures in 60 seconds.

Swinging pictures are even harder than dancing pictures (plus the light on the playground wasn’t as good) but I got this one from a collection of many.

I’m not saying you’re going to get magazine-worthy photos from your point-and-shoot or your cell phone camera, but I wish I had known all this stuff from the beginning when I was taking pictures of Baby Evan with my Panasonic. Just remembering to set the baby down somewhere without burp cloths in the background would have made a huge difference.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I’ll try to help or find someone to help. And feel free to link photo tips that you’ve found helpful (or written!) in the comments.

All my photos in the post are straight out of my camera (Nikon D90, 50mm 1.8f lens) – no cropping, no exposure changes, no editing. All I did was watermark and resize the files for uploading. I did use my camera’s manual settings when I shot but I do that fairly often now and still don’t get great results. These photos look nice because I took them mindfully, not because I have amazing technical skills with a DSLR. 

I was careful to plan extra time into my trip to NYC next week for sight seeing, since last year in San Diego I was so rushed with conference events I didn’t see anything besides the inside of the hotel. This year I planned time for relaxing, unpacking, and a walking food tour of Chelsea Market. But when Adorama announced The Blographer Event on Thursday, August 2rd I threw ALL my plans out the window (Deep, sincere apologies to the friends I cancelled on, but thank you so much for understanding.)

The Blographer Event is a chance to learn from and connect with some extremely talented photo bloggers, whose specialties range from urban landscapes to food to children and families. I’m extra super excited to hear Rachel Devine speak on how photographs can be just as important as words when it comes to telling our stories online. I imagine I will spend most of Thursday yelling “Yes! Perfect! Exactly! Amen!” – but I promise to yell quietly so I won’t bug you if you’re sitting next to me. (Please come sit next to me?) You’ll also get to meet Jill from Baby Rabies – Miss Blographer herself.

I promise this isn’t just for pros and experts (heck, if I’M going I can assure you no one is checking portfolios at the door.) Here’s a quick list of people who should attend this event:

1. Bloggers.
2. Photographers
3. Blographers
4. People who shoot on manual all the time
5. People who don’t even know how to set their camera on manual
6. People who have read their manuals
7. People who can’t find their manuals
8. People who really love photography no matter what their level
9. People who love to be inspired
10. YOU!

Here are the details: The Blographer Event runs 9:30 am – 5:00 pm on Thursday August 2nd at the Metropolitan Pavillion (2.2 miles from The Hilton – a 7 minute cab ride). There are 3 sessions, each led by two experts. Drinks, snacks and lunch will be served and each attendee will get some amazing goodies (aka swag) to take home. Really, with tickets priced only $69 I guarantee it’s worth it JUST for the swag and food. If you can find a buddy to go with you can buy two tickets for $99 and it’s an even more amazing deal.

Are you as excited as I am now? Are you ready to register? You DON’T have to be attending anything else happening that weekend to come, so if you’re within a couple of hours of NYC I recommend calling in sick taking the day off because this is a very, very special event. Here’s the coolest news so far: I have one free ticket to give away for The Blographer Event!

Time is short so this is going to be a quick turn around! Leave a comment on this post saying “I WANT TO GO!” (if you want to comment but can’t make it to NYC, you can leave a comment too but I won’t count ones that don’t specifically say “I WANT TO GO!”) I will count up all the comments and draw a winner using Random.org early Monday morning.

p.s. If you buy a ticket now and end up winning, Adorama will happily reimburse you. So go! I mean come! I will see you there!

 Disclaimer: One comment per person, winner must provide a valid email address so I can contact them Monday. I was given a ticket to this event along with one to give away, but I was already planning to ditch my friends and go because it sounds super cool. No other compensation was provided and all really excited and caps-locky opinions are my own.

I have one zillion more pictures of this (and plan to drag my husband down for some family shots on Friday) but the kids and I did Sunflowers for Wishes yesterday and had a blast, as usual.

Still catching up on vacation photos, but I promise I’ll be done after this week. While we were visiting my parents, we tried to take Evan on a train ride but somehow kept miscalculating when and where they started (you’d think trains wouldn’t be that hard to predict). Eventually we settled on Burke Lake Park, even though it was literally 104 degrees out. My dad dragged out his canoe and fishing poles, we bought a few bucks worth of worms, and we splurged on train tickets, carousel rides and ice cream. It was like an entire summer wrapped up in a few morning hours.

Caroline is doubtful of this “canoe” thing

GET ME ON THAT BOAT

Despite the giant “DO NOT FEED THE WATER FOWL” signs, I suspect these guys get fed a lot

Evan caught his first fish!

But he wasn’t a big fan of the fish flopping around.

Caroline loved the fish.

Adorable mini-train

Incredibly weird and random fact: The guy driving the train was my boss 12 years ago when I worked at a campground/county park for the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college. I quit in a huff on my second-to-last day because it was 104 degrees and he was mad I wore my t-shirt sleeves rolled up. I did NOT say hello (and he didn’t recognize me).

FINGER GUNS

Longest carousel ride ever – the kids loved it.

And then we all stuffed things in our faces. The end.

Does anyone really NEED 15 pictures of Caroline on a tire swing? No. Will your day be a little brighter because of it? Possibly. Will my mom’s day be a little brighter? Absolutely! Happy Friday!

Grandpa was the most patient pusher ever

Checking out the big kids

While we were on vacation in South Carolina, my friend Erin explained ISO to me in the very simplest terms possible AND magically fixed the manual mode on my camera so it doesn’t do the wonky changing-my-settings thing (although she swears she doesn’t know how she did it). What I’m saying is I took all of these on manual and I’m pretty proud of myself even if some of them are a little blurry. Catching movement is hard, and these are totally unedited except for size.

I think I’ll have number 4 blown up and put on a piece of wall art.