Worst case scenario: you have a photo shoot scheduled for a certain day and it’s raining. That is what happened to me and my sweet friend who needed her senior portraits done. Thankfully, it wasn’t pouring. But it was wet and misty. And sometimes a little pouring. Here are the results.

Find outside shelter. Duh, right? But sometimes we can be quick to think if its raining, we’re forced to stay inside for photos.  I wanted the photos to be outside, but didn’t want to ruin the camera. Or have a drenched student. So we went to a park with a gazebo.

Take advantage of the rainy background. Rain makes everything look more vibrant. Shoot with rain drenched nature behind your subject.

Use the umbrella. If the rain lets up a bit, venture out. Let her play, laugh, dance, and be silly. And capture it all.

And she could even use the umbrella to keep dry. I regret not taking a few with her holding the umbrella Mary Poppins style so her face would not be so lost in the dark background.

Go downtown and stick close to the store fronts. It began out of the need to stay dry, but I really liked the storefront background.

Look for color. Since the sky was gray and drab, it’s important to find other sources of color. These storefronts were perfect. Or you could always have her stand in the middle of the street.

Love those yellow lines and red brick. A lull in traffic became an obvious photographic moment. I saw the opportunity as we crossed the street. Quick! Pose!

Finally, bring along a friend to hold the umbrella. And to make the senior laugh. That always helps.

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Tips for the Lazy Photographer: A Series

Tips for the Lazy Photographer: Faces

My camera (for those curious)

Nikon D80 with a Sigma 18-200 mm lens and Nikor 50 mm lens

1. When photographing faces, get close. I know it seems obvious. But when I want the face, I want the FACE. Especially with kids. Grown ups tend to shake, giggle, or threaten physical harm when you get too close. But with kids, start out as close as you feel comfortable.

Then, GET CLOSER. Bring the camera to the point where you feel uncomfortable. Then move in another inch. Yes, that is what I said. This is where a zoom lens comes in handy, as you can get close without being annoying.

2. Lose the background. In photographing people, I prefer the background to be blurry. It keeps the focus on the face. If you have a fancy camera like a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex), you can control some of that depending on the size of the aperture. But if you are lazy or don’t have a fancy camera, fill the frame with face and person so the background is unnoticeable.

3. Don’t wait for the smile. Remember film? You had 24 or 36 chances to get a good shot. Those days are over. Click before, during and after the shot you want. Some of my favorites happen this way.

Provoking your subject with potty humor works sometimes too. In fact, I highly encourage it.

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Tips for the Lazy Photographer: Indoor Lighting

Photography is not my profession. I have never taken a class or read a book about photography. I have never read the manual that came with my camera. I don’t know a lot of the technical terms, I shoot mostly in automatic and I utilize only 20% of my awesome Nikon D80.

Even so, my friends ask me questions about photography and trust me to take photos of their kids. Just yesterday, my friend Melissa was desperate for some photos of her two year old. Long distance Grandma wanted to see her baby. She knew she didn’t want to drag him to Wal-Mart and get the posed ugly studio shots. She also knew she couldn’t afford to hire a fancy photographer to take candid shots.

So she called me.

I’m not fancy. I’m no professional. I don’t have Photoshop. But I can relate with Melissa because I don’t want to spend the money or the time to have someone else to take pictures of my kids. So I am learning to do it myself.

Today was a cold, cloudy, wet ground kind of January day. Taking shots outside was not an option. One might be tempted to think that because we are taking indoor photos, we must use the flash. One would be mistaken if one thought that.

The first step to better photos is all about lighting. Look around your house for the most natural, warm light. If the kid has the perfect outfit with the perfect smile but the photo is too dark, it is hard to work with, especially if you don’t have Photoshop like me.
In my house, the brightest room is our sunroom. Lined with windows and skylights, this room provides great light during most times of the day. Cloudy days are actually better, as I don’t have to worry about shadows.
If I knew more about the manual settings on my camera, I could control the light and exposure a lot better. And the photo would be better for it. There is no doubt. But I haven’t the energy, time, or motivation to learn about settings. So I put my dial on the “P” for “Program Mode” and shoot away. Sometimes when the lighting doesn’t seem quite right, I do something real fancy: I make the photo black and white.
If you don’t have a sunroom in your house, no worries. Just open wide your front door and plop the kid on the steps in the foyer.
No foyer? No front door? No problem! Find a bedroom with a window, pull those curtains back, sit your baby in a red rocker with a couple of trains and shoot away.
You may not get a frame-worthy photo every time, but you will get lots to choose from: some for you and some for Grandma. And you don’t have to leave your house or pay a dime.

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