In my journey with my camera and my family one thing I have come to understand is that with any frame worthy moment there is usually more then one story going on at any given time. Take for instance, a simple Saturday morning snuggle session with my biggest girl and her daddy. I looked over from my computer to the scene of my Chloë Yoshe cuddled up with her daddy looking so small and sweet and knew immediately it was picture worthy! But once I grabbed my camera I realized that there were many stories here to tell.

The story of my dear husband taking a break from his busy morning to just be a daddy while sneaking a glimpse of his wife. 

The story of my biggest girl taking advantage of the rare quiet moment while her sister napped to watch a cartoon. 

The story of a daddy's big strong hand holding his tiny daughter close. 

Or The story of the cuddle itself and my daughter's sweet expression. 

You always have options, so when you pick up your camera with each snap of the shutter think about what story you are going to tell!

Snap to it!

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!

TO MY CHILDREN

The tweet read, "RT @kirtsy: I've watched this 100 times. And I want to send it to every mom I know. http://bit.ly/cgZCwZ Thank you, @katherinecenter" I had a few spare minutes (ever looking for a diversion from what I SHOULD be doing) and after all, I am a mom... My heart stopped inside my chest and after several moments I realized that I wasn't breathing. I hadn't connected with anything this way in a very long time. It was the best spent 2 minutes and 41 seconds online ever. Thank you twitter!

I've watched this video now more times then I care to admit and shed a number of tears that only another mom could understand or guess. And you know what, I'm ok with that. It made me think of all the things I have wanted to say, If only I knew how. This is something that I have struggled with in my own journey as a mother. I have journals that were started with all the best intentions, that are still waiting for their pages to be filled. And there in lies my problem so many things I want to say, but am never quite sure how to say them. Whenever I write them down I feel like it's only part of the story, but doesn't paint the whole picture. I want them to know the whole picture, I want them to see themselves the way I did. Then I realized, It's through my images that I can tell the rest of the story. My camera is an extension of my heart, my mind, my hand, and my mouth. It tells my story in way that I never could before. I am so grateful to have found my voice through my lens, because now I can tell them the whole story, I can show them, and they can know.

Momtographers, this community is in it's infancy, but I hope that now as we lay the framework, it's built with the spirit of empowering every mom to find a voice to tell her story. To show her children all the things she want's them to know. We want to empower you so that you can use your camera in a way that brings you joy and satisfaction. If you are like me and find that sometimes words escape you, I hope that you feel powerful now knowing there is another way.

To my children:

Since the moment I felt you flutter in my belly I've loved you with a love that I never could have imagined. From your funny faces, to your sad ones, tears and giggles, first steps and first bites, you are beautiful, and sensitive, funny, clever, and a little naughty. The way you love each other amazes me more and more every day! I love you my sweet girls. And when words aren't enough or don't flow the way they should, there are the images...

Yesterday was my daughter's first-ever gymnastics lesson.  Gush.  I can't tell you that this post isn't a great excuse to tell you how proud I am that we may have found an outlet for our super-active chatterbox (after our *ahem* interesting experience with ballet), or how entertained I am by her fearlessness. But if I'm going down the emotional rabbit trail of my parenting experience, I need to disclose that it was a real nail-biter.

Ah, the push and pull of parenting. Let go. Stay close. Hide in the bleachers so you're there for the inevitable potty break, but

We couldn't be prouder in our premier edition of  "Help A Momtographer Out!" to introduce you to Los Angeles Photographer, Christa Meola. In fact, left on it's surface, describing Christa with just the term photographer is a little misleading. Treat yourself to a few minutes going through her portfolio, and you'll understand what we mean. She's an artist that truly captures the spirit of family with her unique voice - life, sung in the key of happy.  Every image radiates a joy and warmth, clearly infused with her sunny perspective.

So before we go trying to change her business cards to something like "Purveyor of Photographic Sunshine", let's ask her a few questions:

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!

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?!?

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!

We love love love window light! There is just something about it! We said it before in Brand Spankin' New - every home has at least one great pocket of light and often times it will be in front of a window, or better yet, a bunch of windows.

Window light is great for many reasons: you are almost guaranteed good catchlights, your light is lightly diffused and usually pretty even, (except for times when the sun is low in the sky shining directly through it), plus you have the added benefit of being indoors, sheltered from the elements - you never have the weather to blame for not getting GREAT pictures of your fam!

The other great thing about finding an awesome window is the predictability! Over time you will be so familiar with the light and how it come through your window, it will take little effort to create magic time and time again in your little "spot".

The key to really using good window light is to have the window behind you or to the side of you and your camera while your subject faces it. Here - sometimes it's just easier to SHOW you...

Adrienne's happy place in her Alabama neighborhood is her kitchen! As we see here, she has the window to her back and sweet Sydney directly facing the light streaming in.

And here is an example of some of that magic that Krista loves to conjure up in her living room! Krista is lucky enough to have a living room that is 3/4 covered in windows (quite the rarity in NYC!).  Needless to say, she spends a LOT of time shooting there.

She's actually sitting on her window sill with little Miss Luca directly in front of her, looking up at her.

Oh - here's actually a picture of the window Krista was sitting on... but used differently.  This picture is a whole other way to use window light - as a backdrop!  But that gets a little more complicated, so we'll save it for another lesson or we'll check it out in our learn by looking section!

Bottom line - consider window light the gift that just keeps giving to your family-documenting journey.  Even, beautiful, glowing light that will show your child in the best light!

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!