Mom Guest -Take Crazy Pics Like A Pro

When I was about 8 years old, I received my first camera. It was a little red point-and-shoot canon (and yes, it used film…no digital back then). I LOVED it. I took tons of pictures, and they were all insanely boring to look at. They were pictures of my stuffed animals, pictures of grass, pictures of the wood on our deck outside….you know, the pulitzer prize kind of stuff.

My Norwegian grandfather (we called him Bestefar) always said that it wasn’t the equipment that made a good photograph, but the person behind the camera. Now don’t get me wrong. Some good equipment can certainly help make a good picture great, but if the person taking the picture has no idea what makes a good picture, that pricey equipment is not going to matter. I’ve seen plenty of awful pictures taken with $5000 cameras. Yup….some of them are just as bad as those pictures I took of my Cabbage Patch Kids with a $40 camera, when I was 8 years old.

I’m 32 now. My husband and I own a wonderful photography business, and we get to capture some pretty amazing moments with our cameras. The bulk of our business comes from weddings, but we also do family, baby, and senior shoots. Ultimately, though, what we really love to do, is to capture moments that happen outside of our own culture. We long to bring awareness of the world that goes beyond the borders of the United States. Many readers of this blog have some connection to international adoption. So, more often then not, you will see pictures from places like Ethiopia, Haiti, China, and Russia (just to name a few). These pictures capture our hearts. I cry pretty much every time I see pictures from a child’s Gotcha Day. I think most of us are moved by these images. We all know the old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” There couldn’t be anything more true. When we see a mother meeting her daughter for the first time, the image of that embrace is burned in our memories. It is meaningful. It is powerful.

So, today I thought I’d share a few basic tips for those of you who may not know much about photography, but would like to be able to capture the beauty of a moment within the confines of a single photograph.

Tip #1 – Don’t be afraid to take a LOT of pictures.
Back in the day, we had to conserve our picture taking, because we had to consider how much film we had left. But with the great digital era of photography, we can often take several hundred shots without ever having to change a card. And even then, we can download them right on to our computer and take several hundred more on that very same card.

Tip #2 – Don’t be afraid to go off-center.
For many beginners, it is a natural inclination to make sure their subject is in the center of the picture. This isn’t always bad, but sometimes, the background can tell a greater story about the subject. We went to Haiti back in April, and everywhere we looked we saw piles of rubble. If we had just taken pictures of the people without including the background, you may never have known how devastating this earthquake was to the people and land of Haiti. As you can see, the people and the building in this image go hand in hand. Oddly enough, life seems to carry on as usual, despite the vast destruction that this earthquake caused, as is made evident by the couple walking down the sidewalk.

Tip #3 – Get up close and personal.
Sometimes, just the beauty of someone’s eyes is powerful enough to capture our hearts. Don’t be afraid to get close. Sometimes too much background information can be distracting, or our subject can get lost in it. I look at this little girl’s eyes and I see so much beauty behind them. There were probably 2 feet between her and I. You can see the curiosity in her eyes, and the slight smile that is beginning to form behind that little hand. I love it.

Tip #4 – Lighting. Lighting. Lighting. The sun is NOT your friend.
I can’t tell you how many times a good picture can be ruined by too much sunlight. The best times to take pictures are usually right after sunrise, or an hour or two before sunset. The sun is much less harsh at this time of day, and you avoid raccoon eyes (deep and dark shadows around the eyes that come as a result of midday sun). You may ask, “What if I can’t take the pictures at that time of day?” Well, that’s a good question. If you’re really lucky, you’ll have an overcast sky, and the sun won’t be as big of an issue. You’re best bet, though, is to look for a shady area. Shade and clouds are a photographer’s friends! And if all else fails, and there is no avoiding that harsh sun, take the picture. Better to document a moment in time, than to not document it at all because conditions aren’t perfect.

Tip #5 – Think Outside of the Box.

Sometimes we are in situations where we may have to think outside of the box. This past December I traveled to Costa Rica to work with an organization that ministers to the prostitutes that work on the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We held a big party for them, and just tried to shower them with love. Many of these women who work in prostitution have children of their own. Many of them brought their children to the party we had. And while I captured a few shots of those children’s beautiful faces, this is one of my favorite shots. You may not be able to see their faces, but those little legs speak so much to me in conjunction with the story that is unfolding in this part of the world. These are living and breathing children. They are more than statistics. They have real needs and desires. They exist, and those little legs prove it.

Tip #6 – Awareness vs. Exploitation. Think before you shoot.

This is something I have always struggled with, especially when traveling to third world nations. As a middle-class American, when I travel to a place like Calcutta, India or Port Au Prince, Haiti, the poverty is shocking and a bit overwhelming. I have seen people lying sick on the sides of roads, people begging for food, and malnourished children walking around aimlessly in the streets with no parents in sight. It is tempting at times to take pictures of all these things, because it is so different from what we know. But before you click the shutter, think about why you are taking this picture. Are you taking it because you want to make people more aware of a world in need? Or are you taking it for your own personal gain (perhaps for shock value for the people back home)? There is a very fine line here, and it is important to be full of integrity when taking these pictures. Pray about what you should capture with that camera. If it is obvious that the person you are taking a picture of is uncomfortable with it, than that is probably one of those times you should put the camera away.

So as you walk through life, whether you have the simplest point-and-shoot camera, or the fanciest digital SLR, remember that photography is an amazing tool to bring attention to the world around us. We can tell stories with the click of a button….with one single image. We can freeze moments in time that we will never get back again. So, remember to have fun, and shoot away.

Nina
http://www.ninamullinsphotography.com
http://ninamphotographyblog.com
http://whenwebelong.blogspot.com