Book project: Mommy served a mission

When I was pregnant someone gave us a book called "When I go on a mission" that my son asks us to read every night.  It's a cute description of what missionaries do with lots of photos of different people on their mission.

For a long time my husband and I have been wanting to make a book for our son and future kids that tells the story of our time as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.    It'll have pictures of us a missionaries of course and a little story to go along. I'll share more when I'm finished.  Here is a peek!

I'll tell you all about it when I'm done!

Mommy and me pictures, self timer

Lately I feel like time with my little guy is passing so fast. All the sudden he started learning a bajillion words, got a haircut, and wanted to start potty training. He'll be two in March and I just want him to be a baby forever! Surely I'm not the only mom this has happened to.

I imagine like many other mom's, I'm the family photographer.  If there are going to be pictures of any event, it relies on me (mostly, I should give my husband some credit :) to get some pictures.  This also means almost all are pictures are of our little boy or my husband. It might look like I didn't exist in a few years if I don't actively make sure I'm in pictures. I feel silly taking selfies unless someone else is in the picture with me. So I had to do something!

I really wanted some pictures of us just doing our normal every day routines.  To capture this, I set up my Nikon D3200 on the tripod since it's just me and little Harrison all day. If you don't have a tripod, find a chair or something to prop it up with. Then I selected the self timer on the camera and ran into place. I probably should have done manual focus on some of these since when I pushed the shutter button it focused with me out of it, but it's not super noticeable.  Then I edited them. I don't know why but I really love black and white.  I plan on taking more, but these were some I definitely wanted to have when he's a smelly old teenager.  I didn't really clean up cause I wanted these to show our life just how it was, so I can look back later and say...oh ya I remember that pillow I made that was awful. :)

1. Potty Training

 2. Reading books (his favorite)

 3. Playing with me on the keyboard

4. Playing in the laundry room sink.

5. jumping on mommy and daddy's bed

 6.  kisses

7. Brushing teeth

You don't have to be a photographer to do this, I'm not. Just think of routines or things you love and get pictures. So much of our photos now a days are selfies or we're all smiling. But those candid moments are really special. 

What special or normal moments do you wish you had pictures of?

lessons in portrait photography

I took a photography class in college. It was all film and the teacher made us develop our pictures in slides. Who has a slide projector anymore? After all my art classes I still consider myself an amateur photographer. I did learn some good things about color and getting a good photo. Photography for me is all about knowing when to snap the photo, how to frame, the angle, and getting the exposure right. And if you're taking photos of people, you have to know how to make them comfortable and direct them so they look amazing!

If you aren't a pro you can still get good pictures of your family and friends with some of these tips.

Bad Example:

I asked my dear twin brother to take my husband and I's engagement photos.  Free pictures. Well you get what you pay for.  My brother can take pictures...but he didn't know how to direct us. I can't see through the lens to know what to do!  Here is some of the magic from that day. These are a little embarrassing and now makes me laugh. They did not turn out how I imagined. But I have to show you so you can see what I mean!

Several mistakes here.  It was windy that day, I didn't really do my makeup, and I chose a dress that made me look pregnant.  Aside from that...a photographer needs to get the right angle! Each of those pictures would have turned out much differently if my bro had stepped to the side or crouched down.  Photographers can't just stand there.  Also tell your subjects what to do! "Turn your head to the left", "Pretend like you are whispering something to her", "make a silly face", "laugh" etc.  Most people aren't natural born models, so tell them what to do!

I've done a few photography sessions for people.  I love it. It is SO much fun.  I did some engagements and some maternity shoots for my sister and sister in law.  You don't have to have a fancy camera to get some good pictures. Here are some from my little sister's belly shoot.

Isn't she adorable? I took these with a little Canon power shot.  Afterwards I did some editing. Editing makes all the difference! These photos are the unedited versions.  A really crappy photo can 9 times out of 10 look better in black and white.  Here are some I turned into polaroids (I LOVE the polaroid look):

There are lots of free programs and websites where you can add cool effects and lighting.  I like:

Picmonkey
Gimp
(gimp is the poor man's photoshop)
Turn pics into polaroids

Yesterday I took maternity pictures of my sister in law.  She is also tiny and adorable for being 36 weeks pregnant.  I took these with my Nikon D3200 that the hubs got me for my birthday :)

She craves popsicles and gatorade so we included that in the pics.  I also brought some simple props to the orchard where we took pics like: a blanket, mason jar, fun straws, streamers to hang in the trees.  There were deer running around in the orchard too!  I love how these turned out.

If you're taking pictures of your family, have them be themselves! Skateboard, swing, eat their favorite food, kiss each other, read books.  It's great to see pictures that capture their personalities.

Just have fun with it! Takes  a bajillion pictures.  Chances are with 200 pictures you'll have 20 really good ones.  Take a lot to get to those magic moments!