Have you ever wondered why professional photoraphers need assistants? It's not so that the photographer doesn't have to carry their own bags (though I'm sure there are some photogs who see it that way!). It's because the photographer needs to be able to focus on the moment that tells the story - even if the backdrop and lighting surrounding the story isn't the best shooting scenario. By taking care of small details that would otherwise make a scene unusable, an assistant frees up a photographer to work their creative and technical magic.  Maybe it's holding a reflector to bounce more light into an area - or maybe it's using a diffuser to diffuse harsh lighting - there are so many things that an extra set of hands just out of the frame can do to help make magic within the frame!

Today I got in a little practice being the mommy of two - though I'm sure a real mom of two would tell me that I was cheating - I had two three-year-olds! We did all of the fun things that three girls could possibly do without a sleepover and nailpolish.  We got smoothies ("Hey Sydney's mommy - are we going to the movies?"). We went to a jewelry store where they ran to the engagment rings like tiny moths to a flame... proof that diamonds are in our DNA! We even went to the toy store!

I had a return to make to the local 'R' Us, so I obliged them to a walk through the store, store-credit in hand. We ran through the bouncy balls and tinkered with the toy trains, but when we got to the end of the play kitchen aisle, both girls stopped in their tracks, mouths gapped in awe. There, behind a wall of cardboard and cellophane was a shiny red cash register - complete with a headset, walkie talkie, hamburgers, frieds, chicken mcnuggets, a happy meal box and CREDIT CARDS! I didn't even pretend we were going to fight it.

When we got home, I tried to direct the girls to set up shop in the open shade of the back porch. No.such.luck. "Old McDonalds" was destined to go into business in one of the least ideal places in the yard - under the playhouse. As the bright full sun was lowering in the sky, the girls weren't safe from it's glare - but they didn't care - they had a drive-thru window! Meanwhile, mommy was stuck with the worst contrast imagineable, peppered with the shadow of the monkey bars overhead.

 

So I pulled out my pop-up diffuser - a round, white disk that photographers use to soften harsh lighting situation. But professionals usually have someone or something holding it into place - I needed it just over their heads at a 45 degree angle. Clearly I wasn't going to be able to hold it and shoot.  ASSISTANT!!!! (crickets.)

Enter the bed sheet. I grabbed an old sheet that we use to cover plants on the coldest of nights and tied it to the monkey bars. VOILA! It wasn't edge to edge coverage of the drive-thru, but it bought me some even open shade!  Next time I'll actually take the time to march indoors and find a white sheet because the redish plaid did give off a color cast that I'll have to work on in my photo editing software, but hey - it did the job!  And bed sheets can be tied almost anywhere - to tree limbs, fence posts - anywhere you need the harsh lighting of the sun diffused.

"Welcome to Old McDonalds, may I take your order please?"

"Okay, one french fry, one chicken nugget, one diet coke - would you like an ice cream?"

"Thank you - have a nice day ma'am."

 

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Want to see immediate improvement in your photographs?  It's one of the simplest things you can do, but it's by far, one of the most powerful. Turn off your flash!

You heard right - slap it down, turn off the switch, find it in your camera menu - do whatever it takes to turn off that flash in favor of more natural, available light.

Think about it - other than playing flashlight games at a campout, when in real life is someone assaulted with a direct beam of light, just a few feet away from their eyeballs?  Hardly ever - but that's exactly what an on-camera flash does.

Unnaturally bright skin, harsh shadows, and unusual reflections... there's more working against you, than for you!  For crying outloud, it's the secret weapon of the DMV.

Compare the following two shots taken moments apart - one with flash, and one using the natural light of a window to baby's left. 


Turning off your flash may prove slightly challenging at first as it forces you to learn how to "read" the light around you - but that's a good thing. It'll force you to look for places with adequate light and begin to recognize light that'll offer outstanding picture opportunities. We promise - in no time at all you will be able to gauge the light in a room with little effort.

Here's another example - taken on the same day, one with flash, one with natural window light. There was no way to "get" this first picture, taken in a dark aquarium, without a flash, but doesn't the second picture serve the same purpose... only much more beautifully?

Editorial note: Our daddy model would like to disclaim that, for some adult subjects, no amount of natural light will improve their appearance. The mommy objects but humors his request.

There are moments when there just isn't enough light or time to compensate for the conditions (i.e. 4:00am on Christmas morning when stockings are being ripped apart, or their first evening bubble sculpture in the bath) and by all means use your flash in lieu of missing the moment. But as a rule, you're on our territory and it's a no flash zone!

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EEvery home has at least one - a gorgeous pocket of light that will reward your efforts every time! A spot that will help you take pictures that just look GOOD.Your job is to find it.

What we're looking for is an area of your home that bathes your beauties in bright, even sunlight.  Think of a large window in your kitchen or living room, or bedroom. No good windows?  Open a door!  No good doorways?  Open a garage door!

One of Adrienne's favorite places to take pictures of her daughter is in the bright light of her kitchen - it's one of the spots in her home that just works.

Too little light and she can open the door.  Too much light and she can adjust the shutters.

Krista loves shooting in her living room, with it's 3 full walls of windows, but she also has a lot of luck in her bedroom with only one large window. 


Just think bright, bright, bright when you're looking for the spot.  When in doubt, snap a picture- the proof will be in the snap.

One you have found and mastered your indoor pockets, move outside and start investigating your neighborhood.  Weather won't always permit you to be outside, but when it does, it's nice to know exactly the right spot to set the stage for those picture perfect moments.

Outside can be a little tricky with ever-changing light, bright sun, and dappled shade, but don't let that stop you! Our suggestion is to find a nice shaded doorway or overhang of a building and practice there. Check out our section on open shade for the nitty gritty!

As you get further along you will find lots of helpful tutorials about shooting in full sun, but for now, stick to evenly lit shade. The exception to that rule - well, any and every moment that you must capture that may not happen in the right lighting conditions!   Happy snapping!

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Light.... ahhhh sweet light! There is nothing more central to taking phenomenal photos than LIGHT! From the beautiful glow of the early morning sun to the golden hour right before the sun sets, learning to read light, see what it does for your photos and use it is truly at the heart of great photos!

We could literally go on for days talking about different types of light, why we love it, how to use it, etc.  But since we know you still need to raise your kids in between taking photos of them, we will try and stick with the Momtographers' less is more approach here too.

Essentially, there are three types of light:

Natural light

Available Light

Artificial Light

Natural Light

We will start with the one we use most often and suggest that you do too - natural light! It's exactly what you think it is - natural. It comes from the sun... period. Now whether it's filtered through the clouds or by a window or shines harshly down on your subject at high noon is another story altogether, but all the same, if it comes from the sun , it's natural light. You could also call moonlight natural light if we were talking night photography - but even that comes from the sun!

As long as you aren't getting help from an artificial source such as a flash or a lamp, then you are working with natural light. The beauty of natural light is that it adds an element of authenticity to a photo that is incredibly hard to recrate with artificial light. There are conditions that exist in nature -such as the golden hour at dusk or just as the sun is rising at dawn - that are simply stunning and impossible to recreate any other way than by just going outside and snapping it up!

Natural light is also great for more practical reasons - IT'S FREE, it's always there, and there is no equipment involved! For the record, with very few exceptions, The Momtographers, Krista and Adrienne are natural light girls. But that won't stop us from diving into the yummy details of the other two for those of you more adventurous folks!

Available Light

Available light, like natural light, is exactly what you would think it is by reading it's title. It's the light that's available in any given situation. More often than not, the moments we want to capture as momtographers are happening as life is happening, which means we have to lea rn to be flexible and use... well, what's available. Let's say you're standing in a room photographing your two-year-old blowing out her candles. Unless you positioned the whole party, cake and all around a bank of windows, it's likely you have a mix of light contributing to the scene. Light from a window, that flouresent kitchen light overhead and light from the candles. Welcome to the world of available light! It can be tricky sometimes, mostly when it comes to color, but nothing that a few tricks can't help you overcome. For more on the different colors of light - see our article on White Balance.

Artificial Light

The last type of light is artificial light. Studio lights, flashes, speedlights, etc. are all forms or artificial light. In some ways, once you learn how to use these different tools created to help with photography, they are WAY easier to master than natural or available light because, quite simply, you can control them! There are no variables, nothing changes unless you want it too.

That's why so many professional photographers operate out of studios with artificial light. There's no hoping the clouds are going to be available for that 11:30am shoot. They set up their lights to look how they want them to look, when they want them to look. People who are super skilled with artificial light even know how to use it out in the field to fill in the holes when natural light isn't giving them the look they're envisioning.

The downside - it can be costly to invest in, cumbersome to set up, and intrusive to many of the spontaneous moments you want to capture, but not disturb. It's so involved, that most professional photographers who shoot on location have assistants who do nothing but help wrangle all the lights! Like everything else in the world of art (and photography, in particular), there is a time and place of artificial light. But in our humble opinion, perhaps with the exception of a speedlight (which can help deliver light in a pinch!) artificial light is the least Momtography-friendly of the lot.

As we said before, we could talk and debate all things light for days on end. But we promised to keep it simple and relevant so we're starting you off with 6 of our favorite most-common lighting situations, showing you the path to mastering them.

Have a look at one of our all-time favorites, window light!