M&M: Momtographers & Mentoring
Challenge Yourself!
When we created this site - we had two main goals. The first was to create a fun, warm, safe place for moms to show off pictures of their kids. Done - check! The second was to create a place where moms are continually challenged to learn how to take better pictures. Almost done- half check! :)
I (all bias aside!) think we are off to a GREAT start! The information is here and available to you, but I really want to to challenge you to take it a step further and start the process of taking better pictures! Don't worry, we are going to help! :)
So here's what I want you to do:
1) Participate in the monthly challenges! It's fun and there are cool prizes!
2) We are starting a thread called M&M (Momtographers Mentoring)- On this thread you post a picture with your settings and as MUCH information as you can about
your set up. Myself and/or Adrienne will critique and give suggestions for improvement for every picture posted, from composition, to post processing, to focus, we will get down and dirty with SPECIFIC suggestions. We ask that you follow up our suggestions with another picture attempting to put them into action! It's going to be a conversation, give AND take to help you improve.
This thread will be in the same vein as "Critique Me", but will be much more in-depth and focused. Other members are welcome to jump in if they have something to add or a question about anything posted, but we promise to do the heavy lifting here. The goal is to have at least one thread strictly dedicated to helping you take better pictures! :)
SNAP TO IT!
Serious Snap
Hey you photo buff (or aspiring one!)...
This section is for you! It’s the meat. The comprehensive pieces of the puzzle that will help you harness the power of your camera and turn it into some serious snap.
Photography, at its core, is the science of capturing light. When that light is interpreted by your camera’s sensor, it becomes an image. In order to understand how to capture that light, there are some things we have to break down that end up looking and sounding more like a science lesson than your regularly scheduled Momtography program.
But we know that you care infinitely more about the end product than the equations and technicalities that get you there. We just want to take great pictures of our kids! So we've taken the advanced side of photography and stripped it down to the nuggets you must know to achieve your goal.
We call it The Momtographer's Methodology. It's where we take out the irrelevant, break down the jargon and tell you what it all means to a time-crunched mom. If you keep searching beyond our site, you will see that all of this stuff has much broader implications then what we are presenting, but do you really care? We didn’t think so!
So go hide in a corner with a delicious beverage of choice and dig in, it won’t take long and you can go back to doing what you love best, USING your camera to capture all those things that make you smile.
If, you haven't already, switch your camera dial to "M" (manual), grab the camera manual that you probably banished to the basement and dig in!
What is exposure?
So what is a good exposure? Simply put, it's an image that is an accurate and artistically satisfying recording of what you saw when you took the picture.
Every pixel that lives on your camera's image sensor records either red, green or blue, each measured in increments of 0-255. 0 = black and 255 = white with every shade inbetween. It's those numbers that make up a digital photograph.
In fact, your images are natively recorded in a color mode that your computer understands as RGB, referring to - you guessed it - red, green and blue. This will be important later when you bring your images into your computer... but for now, let's get back to exposure.
If too much light is let into your camera and allowed to land on the pixels that make up your image sensor, then you will get pictures that are a sea of white! Those tiny little pixels were slammed with more light than they could handle, so they recorded 255 (all white!) and BOOM - you lose important color information. This is called an overexposed photo - your image sensor was over exposed to light!
Anyone wanna play spot the child in this overexposed picture on the left?
Clearly, so much light was let into the camera that the pixels were all "blown out" (that's cool speak for pushed to 255 or all white). Not all examples are this extreme - think of when a blue sky appears white instead of blue, or when just part of your little one's nose or cheek gets lost in a sea of white. There was too much light let into the camera for the sensor to give you an accurate representation of what your eye saw so the actual color information is lost!
Compare that photo to one taken just a few seconds later on the right - this time with different camera adjustments.
It's your job (and sometimes your camera's) to determine how much light is allowed in. This is done by adjusting your aperture, shutter and image sensor settings to prevent images like this from happening. But before we get to how we determine what those settings should be, we need to look at what happens when not enough light gets into your image sensor.
So what happens when too little light is let in? The pixels lose out on information too - just to the opposite end of the spectrum. All the important information for your image gets lost in a sea of black! Your picture becomes underexposed - your image sensor was under exposed to the amount of light it needed to make the picture!
We weren't going for a silhouette of a rocking chair in this photo! There wasn't enough light let in the camera to accurately record these sweetie-pies' faces (or much else). So most of the pixels on the camera's image sensor recorded 0 - or black.
How then, do you control how much light hits the sensor? By finding the right combination of settings for the three most important parts of your camera. Again - aperture, shutter and image sensor.
Sounds simple right? Well, it's not. There are an infinite number of combinations and finding the right one for your situation can be really daunting at first.
We'll get to the part where we walk you through how to find the right settings for you, but first, we've got some learnin' to do. Specifically about aperture, shutter speed and your image sensor.
Silhouettes
If backlighting is what happens when your subject is lit from behind while you expose for their face, then silhouettes are what happen when a subject is lit mostly from behind and you expose for the light.
Silhouettes are created in extreme lighting situations when the light behind your subject is bright and the light on and in front of your subject is low. When you expose for the bright background, you render your foreground and suject to be darker, giving you a silhouette. It's a great storytelling trick that puts just the form or the "idea" of your subject completely in context with it's background. Just look at this story told at the beach near sunset...
When using a point and shoot camera or shooting in automatic, turn off your flash and the camera will do the work for you - automatically exposing for the brightest part of the image (the backlight). When shooting in manual, spot meter for the background (the brightest light) by pointing your camera at the backlight and get your settings from there!
One of the best things about Silhouettes? They're easy to accomplish with just a little bit of trial and error and they go a long way to help you understand how your camera handles exposure. Artsy and informative - what's not to love?!?
Backlight
It's one of those things. You probably nailed it on accident once or twice and had no idea how to do it again. You've certainly seen in some really jaw-dropping photos but you could never put your finger on exactly what was going on. But wow, once you understand how backlighting works you can reap it's benefits and rock it in your own photos!
Backlighting is easy to describe. It's that beautiful light that shines from behind your subject, illuminating them to the point where they quite literally glow! It can truly take your breath away when done well. But it's not always the easiest effect to acheive - it's one of those lighting opportunities you have to be on the lookout for, and then know how to take advantage of it!
Generally, backlighting works when the light behind your subject is far brighter than the light in front of them. Momtographers will likely find when the late afternoon sun is low in the sky, there's plenty of opportunity for backlighting. Just position your tot facing away from the sun (look for that glowing rim around their hair!) get infront of them, and snap away. They don't have to be directly between your lens and the sun, in fact, it's better if the sun hits them more at an angle. And you'll have to be on the lookout for lens flare depending on how much light is directly entering your lens. It's a practice that takes, well, practice. But it's an effort that pays off in glorious images.
But once you find your backlighting - you still have to get your camera settings right. This can be tricky in and of itself. Backlighting creates a dynamic lighting situation that can be hard to meter for. Where do you meter? The face? The hair? And what mode do you meter in? Spot? Center? (Yes, yes, we promised simple, but you said you wanted "serious snap" so it's time we start asking some of photography's harder questions).
We suggest starting with spot metering and going off your child's face. You're going to get lots of blown exposure around the hair and in the sky - but that's part of what makes this look work. In fact, you're just going to have to learn to accept that with backlit photos, you will end up with some overexposed, blown out backgrounds. Because unless your cutie is a glowing ball of brightness like your light source, chances are their skin is go ing to be darker than the background. You can try slightly underexposing thier face to maintain more detail in the background area - you can always play with it in post processing to brighten up the face or bring the background down further. This is what we've found works best most of the time. Well, that and learning to live with overexposed, blown-out backgrounds in exchange for an illuminated glowing angel child!
There's one final challenge with a backlit photo... that's getting nice light on the face and a catchlight in the eye! Why? Well, the light's BEHIND them. But, if you have them facing a reflective source like a reflector, a body of water or a bright wall bouncing light at them, well then, voila!
Open Shade
If every day were a bright cloudy day, the world would be yours for the picture taking. Ah - if only we controlled the weather, right? But since we haven't yet figured out how to cue the clouds, we have to look for "pockets" of good light to optimize our picture taking conditions. Enter your friend, open shade.
Just like it's cousin, the cloudy day, open shade creates conditions favorable to picture taking because it is an evenly-lit soft place. When taking photographs outdoors with all-natural light, your biggest obstacles are hard-cast shadows and extreme brights and darks.
So what is it? Open shade is the place where light and shade meet to create an evenly lit space that is just off of the bright light, but not in it. You find it by looking for the hard line at the edge of the light - and then place your subject TOTALLY IN THE SHADE, but FACING the light.
Think garages, doorways, porches, overhangs, and alleyways. Anywhere a nice solid shaded area comes smack up against a wall of light.
You would never know by looking at this picture that just in front of Chloe was the high noon Las Vegas summer sun! The ottoman that she is laying on is right up to the edge of a cabana opening where she is facing that bright light, but not actually in it. 1/2 a foot back towards the wall and it she would have fallen into the dark. 1/2 a foot forward and it would have been too bright for a good picture! But right at the edge of where the two meet is MAGIC!
What to watch out for -
A common mistake made by beginners and (surprisingly) even some seasoned momtographers is when looking for open shade they go right to that beautifully shady spot under the tree in the backyard. While this may seem like a great idea, unless your shade tree area is very dense, most trees create what is known as dappled light. You know when you look at someone and see cheetah-like spots all over them from the shadows created by light coming through the trees?
Look at the top picture! The baby's got spots! What looked like a nice shady area really wasn't one!
Now look at the spots on the ground all around the stroller - that should have been our first warning. Before you start snapping under the tree - inspect the ground - do you see any of the telltale spots? If not, then go for it. If so, then it's really not true open shade - it's more like broken shade!
Again, your safest bet is to look for true shade next to or under a real stucture. Find that line between light and dark - put your subject i n the shade facing the light and VOILA!
Positive and Negative Space
This part of composition is really quite simple - but very crucial to taking pictures with artistic appeal. If we all spent a day in art school, the concept of positive and negative space would definitely be one we'd spend some time on. Quite simply, your subject is the positive space - everything else is the negative space.
Okay, great, well what does THAT help us do?
It's just a different way of looking at your frame to help you make creative decisions. Have a hard time deciding if the background is cluttered? Pretend that pretty little face isn't there anymore - now what are you left with? Is it clean? Does it tell a story? Does it take away or add to your subject?
This driveway creates a perfect canvas of negative space for Sydney to take her doll for a walk. It's almost as if it transports you into the imaginary world of a two-year-old going into the great beyond. Even more perfect - the subtle ray of light pointing in the direction beyond.
And how's this for negative space? The dark curtains behind leave nothing to focus on but the sweet sensation of getting valentine candy.
Now lets contrast this to a picture with negative spce that's a little more complicated.
While our rocking princess is as cute as can be - there are elements in this picture competing for her crown. It's not so much that the rocking chair is busy - that's really still part of our positive space since it's part of our focal point. Look at the negative space (everything outside of the rocking chair). It's pierced by harsh lighting differences that subtly distract from our subject. Is this a horrible picture? No. But do we wish the negative space wasn't so dappled? Yes.
Really - understanding positive and negative space is just another way to make sure that your subject is the center of attention. It's the more studied version of Brand Spankin' New's Lose The Clutter lesson. Plus, it makes you sound really smart around all the art people (*wink*)
Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is a term you may or may not have heard thrown around? It's actually pretty straight forward. The Rule of Thirds is a photography imperative that basically says in order to bring balance and interest to an image points of interest should happen in the thirds sections of an image.
Imagine a grid over your image that divides it into thirds both horizontally and vertically where the lines meet should be your guides. You never want points of interest (for us this usually means your subjects eyes, directly in the center). Here let us show you.
It's a good idea to try and get in the habit of doing this when composing your shot versus doing it in post via cropping. You lose pixels and often times important information. It can be a bit challenging at first just like everything else, bit once you get it, you got it!
One thing we found that helps with this in the beginning is to move your focal point on your camera from the middle to one of the outer options. This way you don't have to think about recomposing your image once you have locked focus.
See this diagram most focus points on DSLRs look similar to this. Avoid the middle point which is generally the default and instead try using one of the ones we have highlighted in pink and see if that doesn't help you get the hang of ROT!
Props - A Cautionary Tale!
In the early stages of "learning" photography second only to nutso crazy post processing is the urge to go prop happy! And while props can be fun for sure, most times they end up just looking silly OR worse steal the glory from the star of the show!
So a word of caution, before you go out and invest little joey or jill's college savings on that chair, couch, background paper, miniature castle, crystal tiara, chickens, rabbits, birds or the like, DON'T! :) You will end up using them much less then you think or wish you had!BUT, if you insist on using props, please take note of a few suggestions we hope will help offer a more rewarding experience!
1. Before hanging up that gorgeous new sheet or swatch of cool fabric as your very first background, grab an iron or a steamer and get rid of the wrinkles. Yes we know it seems obvious but, in all your excitement, we promise it's easy to forget or just not "see" the wrinkle s. We can't tell you how hard it is to get rid of the wrinkles later, so save yourself some heartache and either skip the fabric or grab the iron!
2. Resist the urge to use props that have more "wow factor" than your subject! The last thing you want to do is have a sofa or baby chic upstaging your cutie patootie! Props should be subtle aids to help tell a bigger story, they shouldn't BE the story!
3. Don't underestimate the "novelty factor"! Some of the best moments happen when your little one sees something for the first time, so don't spoil that by letting them play with the prop ahead of time. The element of surprise is one of your best tools as a momtographer!
4. Before spending countless hours and dollars setting the scene ask yourself one question, "will I still think this was a good idea in 6 months?" If the answer is yes then by all means keep truckin'! But if the answer is "hmmm I'm not sure" then drop the glue gun and run!
(What is it about holidays that wrecks our judgement?!?!?)
Finally, PLEASE always keep safety in mind! Sometimes we get caught up in the cute factor and overlook things that have potential to be hazardous. We KNOW no one would ever intentionally put their precious little munchkins in harm's way, it's just so easy to do without realizing!
If you made it this far then feel free to be on your prop happy way! Snap to it!
Backgrounds
Before you think we suffer from short-term memory loss, we know that we say this often, but we can't say it enough. Everything that you choose to include or not include in the frame of your picture has the power to turn your picture from just ho-hum to wow wow super wow. And the background you choose sets the scene for not just visual impact (or lack thereof), but storytelling as well.
Backgrounds - we're not talking the painted kind that you stood in front of for prom - (though bonus points if you can make something like that work). We mean a living background. Everything that sets the stage behind your child as he or she zooms through their great big world.
It's hard to lay out definitive rules when choosing a background because the options are endless and ever-changing - but here are some things that we find helpful to look for when setting the scene for our little one.
LOOK FOR CONTRAST
Here we see Sydney with her blonde hair and bright white outfit practically jumping off of the screen in front of a wall of dark green shrubbery.
The same thing goes for Chloe - only in reverse. Her raven curls and cafe-au lait complexion command your eye against the blown-out path ahead. It's also worth mentioning that the brigade practically leads your eye smack to this incredible moment between daddy and daughter. 
LOOK FOR FRAMING
Under the Camelias and dreaming, the canopy of brush around, overhead and the petals leading to Sydney frames her naturally. Don't see what we mean? Squint your eyes and look how everything around her is dark while she alone glows. 
LOOK FOR STORY
Sure, at first glance this graffiti's wall may look too busy to be a good backdrop, but it's the perfect setting for this super dope daddy and his cutie-attitudie. 
Bottom line - we can't tell you the rules, because you'll find limitless scenarios when it comes to backdrops. But look for opportunities to practice the examples we've given, and your eye will begin to instinctively see what will put your little star on center stage.
