Learn how to take good pictures of family at home and on vacation this year.
Everyone wishes he were able to take better family pictures. Kids can be great photographers too. Ever get home from a trip with great family photos? Ever finish with terrible ones or none to show at all?
Vacation Deflation:
Car trips and fishing and camping trips can be wonderful, but if the photos turn out badly, or not at all, it is a sad ending. Vacation time is coming and we are many of us planning travel this summer. We are planning backyard picnics and family reunions. We are hoping to have outings to the lake—camping trips with campfires and hay rides. All of these are wonderful opportunities for picture taking.
Disposable cameras:
One sweet little boy was excited about taking pictures at the zoo with a disposable camera. Yet, this little boy didn’t quite get the whole picture. In fact, he didn’t get any pictures. Leaving the zoo he chucked his camera into the park trash can. He thought that is what disposable meant and his pictures would arrive in the mail! Disposable cameras are great for kids. They take nice 35mm photos. They are inexpensive about $3.00, so they are not a great loss if a child leaves one behind and loses one.
They are pretty tough so mom can relax while her child snaps away. Give some out at the family reunion, wedding, picnic, or backyard barbecue. There will be plenty of poor shots, but a few great ones!
Cameras and Film:
Don’t try to buy a camera or a roll of film at the top of Pike’s Peak or some tourist shop. Buy a batch before you leave home on vacation. Remember that heat affects color film so keep your film cool and dry. Buy 400 speed film for best results inside and out.
Practicing Techniques:
Study your camera to be sure you know how it works. Learn to forward the film. Learn how to load new film or how to take a photo with a digital camera.
Keep used rolls of film in a safe and cool place until processing.
If you take a photo against a window glass, be sure to set your camera flash to “off” so that it will not reflect back on the lens and blank out the picture.
Background and Light:
Learn about the importance of background. We may be amused at a photo of Uncle Arnold with a tree branch appearing like antlers growing out of the top of his head, but it would not be a good photo. Watch out for the wreaths and bows at Christmas. We have a nice family picture of our cousins with Aunt Mary who appears to have a huge bun of brown hair with red bows which turned out to be the wreath on the door behind the group.
Take your photos before children get too cranky and old people head home. Before Johnny decides to roll in the mud, before someone’s dress get wrinkled ,and before the sun is directly in their eyes and you will get better results. Happy cheerful clean children make the best pictures. But then a picture of Susy in the flowerbed eating dirt might make a photo that will thrill her mother. Photos of animals and kids together are almost always winners.
About the sun:
When you take pictures outside, try to pose your people so that the sun is not shining toward their faces and making them squint. The background may not be as good in one spot but if the people can see you and look at you without squinting then your pictures will turn out better. Try to get the sun behind the people. Watch out for shadows. If the sun is behind you thyour shadow will be in the shot.
Taking pictures of scenery and non-living subjects is also a skill worth developing. Learn to hold the camera very steady and snap several shots of great scenes.
To take a photo of a very large landscape scene, take multiple shots while moving horizontally slowly turning. The photos can be lined up later to show the entire panorama.
The Value of People:
Usually, any picture is improved in value if people are included. Photos of things and places seem justified at the moment but later the photos seem disconnected and empty. “Who was there?” is the question most of us wonder. Who went somewhere? Who was happy sad, hot, tired, radiant, bubbly, silly? Who changed? Who was involved?
Take more photos of people together doing things not posed. Try to get candid shots or arrange the poses to look natural. You will have a good time learning to take good snapshots. Who know? You may soon be considered the official family photographer.
